Things that annoy me about Portland (attorney, to buy, contractor)

[jjpop]

This thread seems to me to be another case where a person found that Portland didn't live up to its hype. Belmont, IMO, if the only things you like are the trees, a couple of restaurants, and Powells, that's not really enough to build a life on.

It bears repeating--Portland is Just.Another.City. It has nice things and crappy things, just like every other city. Newcomers: Portland will NOT be your Xanadu. Guaranteed. Even the cheerleaders here can point to several things to gripe about.

[Yankeemama]

Belmont- you make some great points and I can truly empathize with you. I don't know if I would live here as a younger, single person. Nope, I would not. I would have to have an incredible job offer. As a stay at home mom in her mid 40's who has sown some serious oats in big cities... Portland is working out well. I go to bed at 9 PM except for Sunday nights when I stay up for Homeland. I always encourage young people to keep moving until you find your place. It doesn't sound like Portland is for you. BTW, I developed a bunch of allergy problems after moving here. Taking medication now. I do wish you the best of luck. Thanks for sharing your personal observations.

[topaz420]

as someone who only spent 2 nights in portland and was very intrigued by it, you haven't changed my mind about visiting again, but you have succeeded in bumming me out about it

[HeyHowdy]

Originally Posted by topaz420

as someone who only spent 2 nights in portland and was very intrigued by it, you haven't changed my mind about visiting again, but you have succeeded in bumming me out about it

Lol


:e ek:

[psichick]

Every place has it's good points and bad points. What I never understood is complaining about the place you live in. If you're not happy, find somewhere that will make you happy.

Transit.
At least they have something for those that want to use it or need it. There are many cities in this country where you can't live w/o a car, at all. I love driving, but am happy that there are alternatives. Coming from SoCal, there's really no other choice but to drive.

Poverty.
It's everywhere. If you don't like seeing it downtown, don't go there. I'm just glad I don't see some guy begging on every off-ramp. That's SoCal. And that's not even talking about the ones you see downtown. I dunno. I do feel bad for them, but honestly, there are so many that are making more money than me, tax free, that no, I don't feel too bad. Some are there by circumstance, some due to mental illness, but I don't judge and I don't have money to help them, otherwise, I'll end up there with them.

Food, music, nightlife.
Well, unless you're in a huge metropolitan area (I don't consider Portland to be one), I'd think most cities shut down. I hear Vegas is open 24/7. As for the food, when you're in an area that is predominantly Caucasian, why would you expect to find good Chinese food? That's like me expecting to find good sushi in the mid-west. Just not going to happen (for the most part). Or awesome Mexican food in Maine. If you want good Chinese, take a drive to Vancouver BC.

Weather.
OMG. Are you serious? You're complaining about 35-50% humidity? That's not even high. Honestly, if your health is suffering, maybe you should move to a drier climate, like Arizona or something. Granted, not sure that'd be good for your allergies. My friend made a good comment, she told me we're on the same longitude line....and she lives in Pittsburgh, PA. I didn't realize how north I really am. So, although the weather is more temperate here than PA, it's still going to dip and rise. If you want temperate, move to San Diego. Oh wait, but you wanted snow. You do realize you can't have snow without it dropping below 32, right? Can't have one without the other.

I moved here because I love it here. I never realized how hot summers can get, but oh, I learned this summer. I never realized how cold it can get either, but I learned this past week. But, this is part of Portland. Plain and simple. I accept it all.

[EnricoV]

Originally Posted by psichick

Weather.
OMG. Are you serious? You're complaining about 35-50% humidity? That's not even high. Honestly, if your health is suffering, maybe you should move to a drier climate, like Arizona or something. Granted, not sure that'd be good for your allergies. My friend made a good comment, she told me we're on the same longitude line....and she lives in Pittsburgh, PA. I didn't realize how north I really am. So, although the weather is more temperate here than PA, it's still going to dip and rise. If you want temperate, move to San Diego. Oh wait, but you wanted snow. You do realize you can't have snow without it dropping below 32, right? Can't have one without the other.

Actually, Portland's much further north than Pittsburgh. We're on the 45th parallel ... which is roughly at the border of New York/Vermont and Canada.

And what's really unusual about it all is, the same parallel runs roughly through Southern France! Los Angeles is on the same parallel as Morocco and Algiers in Northern Africa.

[belmont22]

Originally Posted by psichick

OMG. Are you serious? You're complaining about 35-50% humidity? That's not even high. Honestly, if your health is suffering, maybe you should move to a drier climate, like Arizona or something. Granted, not sure that'd be good for your allergies. My friend made a good comment, she told me we're on the same longitude line....and she lives in Pittsburgh, PA. I didn't realize how north I really am. So, although the weather is more temperate here than PA, it's still going to dip and rise. If you want temperate, move to San Diego. Oh wait, but you wanted snow. You do realize you can't have snow without it dropping below 32, right? Can't have one without the other.

I moved here because I love it here. I never realized how hot summers can get, but oh, I learned this summer. I never realized how cold it can get either, but I learned this past week. But, this is part of Portland. Plain and simple. I accept it all.

This summer and winter have been pretty unusual, it was pretty damn muggy last summer and we had the coldest winter blast since '72 end just a couple of days ago. You're right 35-50% humidity's not that bad, but with the open sun and the allergies, combined with the fact AC is so rare here summer is surprisingly miserable here. And winters while not that cold are very, very long. I don't mind cold weather below freezing, I actually prefer it to the mildewy 35-45F we get here.

Pittsburgh is actually quite a bit further south than Portland in fact! Montreal is more like our latitude. Or Portland, Maine.

[turquoise1]

You can find good to great Asian food in Portland and surrounding areas:

Chinese: Szechuan Chef (SW), Wong's King (SE 82nd), Ocean City Seafood Restaurant (SE 82nd)
Vietnamese: Yen Ha (NE Sandy)
Korean: Koreana (Beaverton), Hae Rim (Beaverton)
Japanese: Sho (SW Barbur), Mirakutei (E Burnside), Kurata (L. Oswego), Maki (Tigard)

[bler144]

Originally Posted by belmont22

Another is the delusion that Portland and more broadly Oregon are progressive. Didn't Oregon vote for Bush in 2004 and strike down gay marriage and legal weed? Race relations are not that great either and the history is ugly, most Portlanders are anti-racist and will chastise people who use the wrong lexicon but deep inside harbor racist feelings they are trying to mask. I'm sure that PC vegan over there wouldn't want to leave Division St. and their white privilege and go north to live in King. Recycling is huge here yes but we also have the 8th worst traffic in the country, Trimet is a joke and I would never feel safe biking in many parts of town. Portland's "green" reputation is built upon tokens. Oregon is really just as conservative as your average state, it's just a little bit less Christian.

In general I think that's a fair assessment, but I think the failure of the marijuana bill is a bit misleading - the bill itself had a variety of policy flaws, and if I recall even many marijuana advocates opposed it, particularly the existing medical dispensaries. Backers of the measure reportedly raised under $100,000, compared to the millions that were put into the CO/WA campaigns.

Just because a bill leans in the direction you favor doesn't automatically make a good bill. I suspect we'll see OR expand legalization in the next 2-5 years.

I wouldn't go so far as to say Trimet is a joke, but it is really framed around getting people downtown. If you live and work on the periphery, it's not as liable to be useful, which is a key concern as more and more economic development lies outside the downtown.

[BeantownJoe]

Transit - Unless you live and work right downtown or off the MAX, you will need a car. And that is fine with me. It does amaze me how many people bike here, though, especially in the rain.

Poverty - this is something I have wondered about too: How to balace our altruisic, compassionate side with reality. The city is too liberal with how it handles the homeless. It actually attracts homeless from out of state, especially the young street kids. At a certain point, the easier you make it to live that way, the more people that do it. It is like feeding pigeons. And of course many of the agencies and kitchens are right downtown.

Food/music/nightlife - no problems. this isn't NYC. Once you are over 30 you probably won't care much that the bars aren't open until 4 in the morning. (Seriously, who does that and works a regular M-F 40 hr/week job?) I think the food here is great. There is actually a lot of creativity in this town.

Weather - Yep. weather sucks 6-9 months per year. The rain and gray can be depressing. summers are great though.

What you didn't mention:

home prices - over-priced for what they are and most of the local jobs don't pay enough to support the high prices. but it is supply and demand. People keep wanting to live here.

too many slackers - part of the charm of this city is that it is off the beaten track and not caught up in the rat race. But the flip side of that is a lot of underemployed slackers. (I don't have direct experience with the trust fund kids but I hear they are here too.)

not very diverse - very white

lack of good jobs - it does seem to be a very trendy place to move to right now, however, there are not a lot of good-paying professional jobs. Intel, Nike, and OHSU make up most of the economy here.

OVERALL - it is still a much better quality of life than many other parts of the country.