Are you glad you moved to Portland? (Medford, Glendale: appointed, how much)

[khyron]

Originally Posted by classicanne

Being 3 hours behind Eastern time. I thought I'd get used to it, but I still find I'm late watching games and cable movies (the regular channels rebroadcast for the west coast, of course), and I feel out of sync with my eastern counterparts.

This is one of our best perks! Back on the east coast, you would find TV shows online an hour or two after they aired (thanks mostly to Newfoundland). Here, you can have them downloaded and ready to watch before they even come on, and watch them in 2/3 the time with no commercials. I love it.

[EnricoV]

Originally Posted by Dom1964

Portland driving habits... just awful... Portlanders drive way too slow on freeway, don't know how to merge without almost coming to a complete stop, yield when they have the right of way, and drive faster in a downpour than they do when its dry and clear.

I must be a true Oregonian. I always thought the really bad drivers were the ones who drove too fast.

[ccjarider]

Originally Posted by classicanne

ABSOLUTELY glad we did it (we moved here from Florida in May of 2010)!

The hardest things to adjust to seem rather silly to mention:

1. Being 3 hours behind Eastern time. I thought I'd get used to it, but I still find I'm late watching games and cable movies (the regular channels rebroadcast for the west coast, of course), and I feel out of sync with my eastern counterparts.

2. NFL football here in the west. The games we are slated to see on TV are usually lousy; nobody does football like the eastern and midwestern U.S. The Seahawks have been hard to warm up to.

We did extensive homework for a year before moving here and I have to say there were no bad surprises, only happy ones, mainly that we found it more beautiful here than in any pictures we'd seen.

Good luck to you!

Great post!
We moved here from Chicago this year and west coast
time for tv watching is weird - haha.

I don't know if I should have coffee or beer when the first nfl games start on Sunday. I agree football games are generally crappy on network tv here. It seems the Portland public is not that into it the game anyway. You can find fans, but they are not as ravenous as east coast or midwest.

We found some transplants to hang with for games so it's all good. Had to go with nfl package to get the games we want. Minor issue in grand scheme of life.


As far as negatives, no biggies. Folks are nice, and as others said, pretty laid back. Almost too nice - some days. Sometimes I miss a good Chicago style - in your face "debate."

I told my wife that this entire area is ripe for "conquer" by an aggressive East coast tribe. It really would not be too much of a battle.

Now that winter is coming, I like the fact that I put on a jacket as opposed to a heavy parka and long johns.

[hamellr]

Originally Posted by ccjarider

I told my wife that this entire area is ripe for "conquer" by an aggressive East coast tribe. It really would not be too much of a battle.

Until the chain saws, hunting rifles, and fishing poles came out. Not to mention the tractors and beat up work trucks.

[PNWdreamin]

Hamellr......I noticed you live in Beaverton. How do you like living there? Do you think it's better for families vs. downtown Portland? It would be great to live within walking distance to everything, but my prorities would be good schools, safe neighborhoods, affordable housing (under $300,000). But I definitely don't want to be too far away from the action

[ccjarider]

Originally Posted by hamellr

Until the chain saws, hunting rifles, and fishing poles came out. Not to mention the tractors and beat up work trucks.

OK maybe you are right.

You post reminds me of one other really cool thing about this area. Everyday I can see cool 60's and 70's cars that folks are literally using as their everyday drivers. I am surprised by the good shape that many of them are in.

In the midwest, all those cars are long gone as the salt ate them away years ago.

[hamellr]

Originally Posted by PNWdreamin

Hamellr......I noticed you live in Beaverton. How do you like living there? Do you think it's better for families vs. downtown Portland? It would be great to live within walking distance to everything, but my prorities would be good schools, safe neighborhoods, affordable housing (under $300,000). But I definitely don't want to be too far away from the action

It depends on what area of Beaverton you're looking at. The City itself is quite huge and a lot of non-Incorporated areas are considered part of Beaverton. Aloha and Reedsville being good examples. Plus pretty much everything on the West side of the West Hills tends to get lumped in with Beaverton, even though much of it is actually Portland.

I moved from East 17th and Burnside just over ten years ago to Central Beaverton Neighborhood thinking I'd be here only six months, maybe a year. I now own a house and am looking for a second one in the area.

I do not have children, but from what I hear of those who do, is that Beaverton Schools are consistently better then Portland. With some schools being extremely good. Ones that are near Intel are better off, but those neighborhoods are fairly new with McMansions and are the very definition of suburbs.

Depending on your definition of "Everything" walking distances are possible. I'm within walking distance of Downtown Beaverton and Cedar Hills Mall which has everything I need and want other then great dining options. (There are good options, just not great ones.)

I know people who live near 185th and Evergreen who claim that that area has everything they want within walking distance, although I personally disagree. Areas like Aloha, Reedsville, Raleigh Hills and Garden Home aren't walkable at all. Reedsville is almost rural in fact, and it's extremely easy to get to U-Pick farms of all sorts on the South West side of Beaverton.

3 bedroom, 2 bath houses are in the $180-$250 range depending on the neighborhood. Many have been on and off the market for years so there are some motivated sellers out there. In my neighborhood, I'm literally the last person to have bought a house there, almost three years ago. Unfortunately the only houses for sale in my neighborhood are a $170k that I'd buy to tear down, and another that bounces between $350 and $400k.

There are no unsafe neighborhoods in Beaverton. Just less desirable areas that are mostly high density apartments that cater to minorities. Crime in those areas tends towards domestic violence, car prowlings, and vandalism. Around the Beaverton Transit Center is one example.

The only problem I have with Beaverton is commuting to Downtown Portland. I tend to ride the MAX a lot, but it can get crowded and it might take an extra train or two to find room onboard. When I drive, I can pretty much depend on it being a 45 minute commute.

Although the same drive is rarely more then 25 minutes outside of rush hour.

[hamellr]

Originally Posted by ccjarider

OK maybe you are right.

You post reminds me of one other really cool thing about this area. Everyday I can see cool 60's and 70's cars that folks are literally using as their everyday drivers. I am surprised by the good shape that many of them are in.

In the midwest, all those cars are long gone as the salt ate them away years ago.

Be sure to visit some of the car shows in the late Spring and Summer. A huge number of the cars at those shows are daily drivers.

[pdxMIKEpdx]

I think quite a bit of the driving habits people complain about are driving habits acquired in the gray wet winter months that carry over into the dry months.

When it's drizzling, cloudy, dark, with headlight glare on wet roads at night, pedestrians wearing dark colors (dark brown, dark green and black seem to be way popular in the winter) and you have poor visiblity because of rain on your windows, with windshield wipers smearing around all the road schmutz, you tend to drive slowly and carefully.

Not to mention that Portland considers automobile drivers third class citizens and does nothing to make a commute easy or safe.

Spend a couple of years here and you will be the one newcomers are complaining about!

I do agree about people that wave you through when they have the right of way.
I see this all the time at four way stops.
It just infuriates me to no end.
I experiment sometimes by either ignoring them, waving THEM through, or just pretending I don't see them.
It's amusing the reactions you recieve, everything from anger to them just sitting there waiting on you until the person behind them honks.
I have even been flipped off by a person that clearly had the the right of way waving me through and me trying to wave them through instead!

[Nell Plotts]

Have you noticed that there have been two pedestrian-car accidents in the dark in Beaverton this last week? Last year I almost hit a pedestrian in NW, they were dressed in dark clothing and practically invisible in the dark. Pedestrians need to wear something that is bright in headlights.