Portland Negatives (Corvallis, Oregon City: schools, illegal, suburbs)

[GB1]

I didn't move here from California, so those comments have never been directed right at me, but I've certainly heard them.

Oregonians would likely be highly insulted if someone made blanket statements about the state based on a small sampling of Portlanders, but they make those same blanket statements about Californians all the time. It's like drawing conclusions about John Day or the Gorge based on the purse-dog women on NW 23rd.

California is a huge state, highly diverse racially and economically, with sprawling megalopolises and bucolic small towns, mountains and deserts and agricultural areas and urban cores...but the popular perception of California is, sadly, Paris Hilton. Or status-conscious suburbanites who will fire up the SUV for a trip to the store to buy a four-pack of diet water or something.

And California is so huge - and proximate - that a good number of transplants are bound to come from there. But they're not likely to be the Paris Hilton types, because there's nothing here for those people.

Much of the sentiment seems to be rooted in the fact that housing prices are rising as the city becomes more populous...ignoring the corollary facts that a) housing prices are insane in many urban centers these days; and b) the growth in Portland is attributable to a variety of causes, including the urban growth boundary.

In the 1970s, freeway signs were erected at the behest of then-Gov. McCall that said Welcome to Oregon. Enjoy your visit, but please don't stay. Those considering a move here need to know that attitude persists today (though not as openly), and I consider it a huge negative for the state, as well as a city that prides itself on tolerance, diversity, and all the other buzzwords.

People have explained it to me as an attempt to keep Oregon's "culture," but it's an attitude that few other cities have felt the need to adopt...and those cities have managed to retain their uniqueness without the need to exclude others or behave like the public sphere is a gated community.

[rye-rye]

The responses are so typical. Portlanders are in love with their city and are quick to brag about it. But how dare anyone bring up anything negative or point out some of the city's short comings, they'll get attacked.
Portland, have a big ole' bite of humble pie, we can always improve. geeez louise...

[oldtintype]

Honestly, what I don't get is so what if someone doesn't welcome newcomers? It certainly wouldn't stop me from coming to and/or enjoying Portland. For every 1 person bitching about newcomers there are 50 who could care less. Just depends on what you focus on and there are enough people who aren't Native Oregonians here that you could spend your entirely life here never interacting with one. When I lived in CA I heard bitching about so many immigrants moving to CA. There's always someone complaining about something and if you don't want to hear it you surround yourself with like minded people that you enjoy. Ignore the others.

[robertpolyglot]

Originally Posted by suncat

Robertpolyglot, I wish I could bronze your post. You nailed it.

Thank you. I love analyzing the places I live or have lived. They've all been different.

In Portland and Seattle, the 3 words "come on over" are not in many people's vocabulary. Elsewhere, they seem to be quite standard. Gosh, people, is it THAT hard to utter those 3 words? That's how friendships are forged.

For "oldtintype," I hardly think that most of the 1990s versus your 1999 arrival makes much of a difference. (I was in Portland in the early 1990s and in Seattle in the late 1990s through 2000).

[oldtintype]

I'm not talking about 1999, I'm talking about 2004 to present. It's drastically different from when I came here in 1999.

[GucciLittlePiggie]

Originally Posted by GB1

In the 1970s, freeway signs were erected at the behest of then-Gov. McCall that said Welcome to Oregon. Enjoy your visit, but please don't stay. Those considering a move here need to know that attitude persists today (though not as openly), and I consider it a huge negative for the state, as well as a city that prides itself on tolerance, diversity, and all the other buzzwords.

People have explained it to me as an attempt to keep Oregon's "culture," but it's an attitude that few other cities have felt the need to adopt...and those cities have managed to retain their uniqueness without the need to exclude others or behave like the public sphere is a gated community.

that's so annoying, because first of all, every white person in america is an immigrant living on someone else's land, and secondly, the only reason oregon has a culture is because people moved there and brought stuff with them.

i've become somewhat soured on moving to portland in the last few months, and honestly, this doesn't help, as i'm already depressed at the thought of having no friends...

[PNW-type-gal]

Okay, here's an actual negative:

Portland has terrible radio stations. The majority of stations (I think it's like 75%) belong to the three big media conglomerates, and your odds of hearing something not in heavy rotation are poor. The only real exception is KBOO, but that's a little too eclectic for me.

There is "Modern County" and "Today's Best Country" (pretty much identical playlists), a total of 6 rock stations, four of which are "oldies" and one bills itself as "alternative" but isn't really.

The only real "college station" is KMHD, a jazz station.

The local public radio station (KOPB) is run by someone enamored of talk radio, and the music programs during the week got cut way back. I loved David Christensen's show and was irritated when it was cut. Plus I pledged money to the radio station and got absolutely bombarded by pleas for money for the TV station.

Now that I live in Southern Oregon, I can get public radio stations that are focused on classical music and news, "rhythm" (folk, jazz, eclectic) and news and just news, plus KLCC out of Eugene, giving me far more music and new variety living in a town of 716 than I ever got in Portland.

[GB1]

Do you know the story of the "Oregon Ungreeting Cards"? Times have certainly changed since then (though not completely; this was only 30 years ago), but a good deal of the isolationist attitude and dislike/distrust of foreigners has not changed. Here's a capsule summary from the Oregonian:

You could walk into many stores in Oregon during the 1970s and find the perfect greeting card to send out-of-staters.

"Tom Lawson McCall, governor," read a typical card, "on behalf of the citizens of the great state of Oregon, cordially invites you to visit . . . Washington or California or Idaho or Nevada or Afghanistan."

This and other Oregon Ungreeting Cards ("People in Oregon don't tan in the summertime, they rust," read another) summed up all the pride and self-satisfaction that typified Oregon in the 1970s....

Oregon's decade of the 1970s lasted eight years, nine months and 28 days. It began Jan. 12, 1971, when Tom McCall went on national television and told people to stay out of his state.

Well, not really. Try as he might, though, Tom McCall spent years untangling the message he sent to the world that night.

As McCall prepared to start his second term as Oregon's governor, CBS correspondent Terry Drinkwater asked him to sum up his views on conservation, which had already made him famous.

"Come visit us again and again," McCall said for Drinkwater's national audience. "But for heaven's sake, don't come here to live."

[UltraVioletMama]

Originally Posted by cn1221

These forums are meant to show an opinion of a city both positive and negative. Unfortunately there are people in Portland who have an attitude that their city is the best in the world and can do no wrong. This isnt true. Portland has problems like every other city. So I created this thread for people to post what they don’t like about Portland.

Portland Negatives:

Gloomy weather 9 months of the year that will depress you if you have SAD (seasonal affective disorder).

Economy in Oregon is never good. If you are looking for high paying jobs in Oregon you should look elsewhere.

Politics in Portland is extremely liberal. This might be a positive if you are a liberal.

Schools are underfunded in Portland. Public schools in Portland have had to shut down early because of a lack of funding.

Too many homeless people in downtown Portland. Also Portland has problems with homeless children.

Traffic is continuing to get worst. The I-5 bridge into Vancouver was rated the worst bottleneck on I-5.

haha! finally, someone else in this town who doesn't think this is the greatest place ever!

the taxes, the gambling, the lack of funding for schools but liberal policy (strip clubs and sex shops all over), and definitely the weather ("but that's what makes it so green!")

there are many places in the USA that are green but also take care of the working class.

[UltraVioletMama]

Originally Posted by oldtintype

I'm not talking about 1999, I'm talking about 2004 to present. It's drastically different from when I came here in 1999.

i would agree, i've been in PDX since 87, and right around 99 is when it changed.