Portland Gloom (environment, jobs, diversity)

[SteveMark]

Provo, UT. I love it!

[saraperez]

I grew up in the Portland area (Vancouver, etc.) and I'm moving AWAY. I pay far too much on housing and the public transportation system is TERRIBLE! People hype the NW b/c we're so close to "everything" like the mountains, sea, dessert, etc. But com'mon people how many of us actually go do those things or are we too broke by the time we're done paying rent? I'm a portlander at heart but need to escape the high cost of living before it encroaches our family more!

[oldtintype]

Where do you live that public transport is terrible?

[Topaz]

I think the hype surrounding Portland makes it all the more disappointing if you move here and find it a lot less liveable than you imagined it would be. For my family, the biggest problems were the cost of living and the poor economy. Everything else might have been manageable but if you are stressed out about money, then all the other potential problems about a place tend to bother you a lot more!

But on a clear sunny day, this place is absolutely gorgeous. If you can afford to live here, those days are amazing.

[Leisesturm]

Originally Posted by Topaz

I think the hype surrounding Portland makes it all the more disappointing if you move here and find it a lot less liveable than you imagined it would be. For my family, the biggest problems were the cost of living and the poor economy. Everything else might have been manageable but if you are stressed out about money, then all the other potential problems about a place tend to bother you a lot more!

But on a clear sunny day, this place is absolutely gorgeous. If you can afford to live here, those days are amazing.

There is a woman, her name escapes me who has written a book called "Bait and Switch". The premise of her book is that the hype surrounding the entire U.S. makes it all the more disappointing if you immigrate here and find it a lot less liveable than you imagined it would be... ...

It might not be obviously true of the majority of immigrants from Central and South America but a fairly large proportion of immigrants from Eastern Europe and Asia were and are highly educated and skilled people but when they arrive in America they discover that all they can get are service sector jobs. Very low end service sector jobs at that. In most cases they used everything they had to get here and are essentially trapped here.

Portland does not have a cost of living that is significantly higher than the national average. I am very curious about where all the people planning to flee Portland because of its high cost of living plan to go. Provo, UT... landlocked, wacko politics, extreme weather, I'll pass thank you. But that's me, obviously each person has to do what makes them happy but allow me to make a point: Obviously there are places where the cost of living is actually below the national average or below Portland's or Seattle's COL, and at first it might appear to be a victory over the cruel turn of fate that took you to Portland in the first place but when you are cleaning up after the first Category 3 hurricane that comes through after you move there... ... or you discover that it takes three figures worth of heating oil to get through a 'mild' winter!? A cheaper city is still no bargain if you cannot find a job there and chances are good that if the cost of living is enough below the national average to warrrant moving there then employment might be hard to come by and people that have lived there already will have seniority over you, a newcomer. Money alone should not be IMO sufficient motivation for a relocation when in all likelihood you are trading down maybe 5 percentage points in COL. Criminy, leaving NYC and moving to Portland is trading down 75 percentage points!! That is a way different matter than leaving Portland for Provo. How different can the COL's possibly be to make up for Mormons? Sorry, couldn't resist.

H

[Topaz]

Originally Posted by Leisesturm

There is a woman, her name escapes me who has written a book called "Bait and Switch". The premise of her book is that the hype surrounding the entire U.S. makes it all the more disappointing if you immigrate here and find it a lot less liveable than you imagined it would be... ...

It might not be obviously true of the majority of immigrants from Central and South America but a fairly large proportion of immigrants from Eastern Europe and Asia were and are highly educated and skilled people but when they arrive in America they discover that all they can get are service sector jobs. Very low end service sector jobs at that. In most cases they used everything they had to get here and are essentially trapped here.

Portland does not have a cost of living that is significantly higher than the national average. I am very curious about where all the people planning to flee Portland because of its high cost of living plan to go. Provo, UT... landlocked, wacko politics, extreme weather, I'll pass thank you. But that's me, obviously each person has to do what makes them happy but allow me to make a point: Obviously there are places where the cost of living is actually below the national average or below Portland's or Seattle's COL, and at first it might appear to be a victory over the cruel turn of fate that took you to Portland in the first place but when you are cleaning up after the first Category 3 hurricane that comes through after you move there... ... or you discover that it takes three figures worth of heating oil to get through a 'mild' winter!? A cheaper city is still no bargain if you cannot find a job there and chances are good that if the cost of living is enough below the national average to warrrant moving there then employment might be hard to come by and people that have lived there already will have seniority over you, a newcomer. Money alone should not be IMO sufficient motivation for a relocation when in all likelihood you are trading down maybe 5 percentage points in COL. Criminy, leaving NYC and moving to Portland is trading down 75 percentage points!! That is a way different matter than leaving Portland for Provo. How different can the COL's possibly be to make up for Mormons? Sorry, couldn't resist.

H

The author of "Bait and Switch" is Barbara Enrenreich. She also wrote "Nickel and Dimed."

As to the cost of living in Portland, it is the ratio of the cost of living to the average income that doesn't score well on lists I have seen.

I agree that money may not be the sole reason to relocate but it is way up on the list. As for my family, we're leaving Portland for an excellent employment opportunity that happens to be located where we have good friends, which is worth more than any dollar value.

I'm actually really glad I had the opportunity to live in Portland because otherwise I would have romanticized it my whole life and now I won't.

[catrinac]

I lived in Portland in the summers of '94 and '97; I left as soon as it started to rain both times. I don't know if Portland is really cooler than other places, it might be. There was a certain indescribable "something" that I've never been able to find anywhere else.

Originally Posted by aawest

Portland isnt as smart and hip as people would like you to believe. It isnt recreation heaven and isnt free of traffic and sprawl. The weather sucks, the economy is bad, its expensive, traffic is getting worst, and recreation is over rated. Portland hasnt won me over with its charm and I'm happy to be leaving.

[argo69]

Basically, if gloomy, overcast weather for much of the year is not your thing you should pretty much write off Portland, Seattle, anywhere in Alaska and all of Canada too. The number of cloudy days in each of these areas is fairly comparable...what does set the Northwest a bit apart is the number of days with measurable precipitation. That said, the few months of summer in each of these areas IS pretty spectacular.

[suncat]

Originally Posted by argo69

That said, the few months of summer in each of these areas IS pretty spectacular.

Usually, but were you here last summer? If you hate winters here, you wait patiently for the gorgeous summers, but occasionally they don't happen. Portland got gypped pretty badly in 2007.

[Wood & Creek]

After reading 14 pages of replies on this thread and countless other threads on Portland. I think I'm seeing a major trend. It seems that the people who move to Portland, hate it and leave really should have never moved there in the first place. I see people complain ruthlessly about the very reasons I WANT to move there. I've been doing research on Portland for years now and it's the weirdness, the extreme liberalism, the tolerance of homeless, the progressive environmentalism the scorning of conservatism.. that I actually want. Oh, and I can't wait for misty fog and green moss everywhere rainy winters either.

It seems like the people who, like me, pipe up and say those are the things they are looking for tend to be very happy once they get there. My experience travelling to Portland only reinforced all the research I'd done and confirmed that it would be a great fit for my personality.

Why in gods name do these mainstream/religious/conservative people keep moving there? Didn't they google the damn place first? RESEARCH people!