Please Tell Me Portland Has Less Tension Than Seattle (Gresham: felony, unemployed)

[dicecobb]

Originally Posted by skiffrace

How much do you know about Pearl? Have you ever been there?
I know one black man who lives in Pearl, and likes it there. He is an MD.
Who are you? Can you get a 6-figure job, buy a condo in Pearl and a BMW?
If so, you will fit right in, despite the fact that Pear is overwhelmingly white and asian, and you are black.
Otherwise, you will be on the outside, looking in.
Once you come out of your Freedom Center project (put there on the insistence of the city for political correctness reasons),
you will be as unhappy as you were in Seattle, if not more.
The "racial discrimination" you claim is in to large extent based on income. I have a black friend who is and Ophthalmologist.
He lives in the fanciest part of San Francisco, makes $350K per year, and is treated like a demi-god by everyone he meets.
Not a trace of discrimination for him. Again, who are you?
You can come to Portland, fail the same way you did in Seattle, and explain it by "the racists keeping you down".
Or look at the word as a realist. Here is an EXCELLENT post by Hamellr about the job situation in Portland, and how to deal with it.
How to make it in PDX
Portland and Seattle are white\asian cities. As a black man you will always stand out, unless you are very succesfull, and everybody will admire you for that.
You call it "racism" but it's simply Homo Sapiens group dynamics, regardless of the social aspect you choose: race,
ethnicity,laguage, age, income etc.
You can accept it and deal with it, or continue playing the "victim" role. Based on your posts, you prefer the later.

Wow, you make it seem like a black guy has to be goddamn celebrity to live happily on the West Coast. Not all of us want the adoration and attention of whites. Who am I? I am a damn good man and deserve a good city that will value my contributions. Why would I need a BMW in a neighborhood with a 96 walk score? I'm not flashy; I want Pearl for its smart architecture, walkability, good food, and reputation. Are you saying only rich highly intelligent black guys can be happy on the west coast? Greg Oden, the former #1 pick for the Blazers told ESPN that Portland wasn't a great city for rich black guys. Maybe he's bitter but it's unusual for a player to criticize a city because it's bad business. Surely I could be happy with a tiny studio at Freedom Center and 50K finance job. Never visited Pearl but read a lot about it on trip advisor site. Raas said people come to PDX for the lifestyle not to impress rich whites and asians; I agree.

[oldtintype]

I live in the Pearl. One thing people don't realize is 22% of the people in the Pearl live below the poverty line. There's a lot more diversity in income/class than people recognize. While I wouldn't call Pearl incredibly racially diverse, there are several black men/women in my building alone (as a one building example) so the "one black person in the Pearl thing" is inaccurate. I live near Freedom Studios and it's mainly younger people, seems quiet, they apparently have tenant barbecues with free beer monthly and there are lots of dog owners. Beyond that nothing stands out. No one cares that they're there, no one is upset about the Sitka or the Ramona either, which are 60% median income buildings, or Station Place tower, for low income seniors, and while I don't think everyone loves Pearl Court, because it's HUD housing and they have managed to fill it with a lot of people experiencing mental illness and the cops are there semi regularly, as a whole the Pearl has embraced the low income buildings because they're done right, and you can't really tell which ones are necessarily lower income.

I know someone who lives at Hoyt and he seems to like it. Rates are cheaper because many units overlook the old post office and it's not the best view. But the building is nice.

I can't afford to eat out at all the restaurants either but there are actually a number of inexpensive places to eat such as Chipotle, Hot Lips Pizza, Laughing planet, Supa, Bridgeport Happy Hour (actually most of the pubs have great happy hours), Noodles and Co, Little Big Burger, etc. There are lots of inexpensive to moderate restaurants so it's easy to avoid the expensive ones.

Anyway, despite the "elitist" image of the Pearl there are lots of regular people living here and not all the units are expensive. There are also lots of rich snobby people but who cares--being walking distance to everything and meeting lots of 'regular' people, makes it so you can just ignore the snobby people.

[skiffrace]

Anyway, despite the "elitist" image of the Pearl there are lots of regular people living here and not all the units are expensive.

Yes, but most, if not all the inexpensive units are subsidized. Still, the main problem with OP lies elsewhere - read on...

Not all of us want the adoration and attention of whites....
Raas said people come to PDX for the lifestyle not to impress rich whites and asians; I agree.

You came here with bitterness and anger, easily explained (by you) through racist discrimination. Those (white and asian) racists are the reason you are leaving Seattle. Too bad Portland is very much like Seattle, even whiter.

You don't need the adoration of whites or asians?
How about respect? You come to them asking for a job, after all.
But can you emulate their ethics? Hint: work, no sense of entitlement, more work, humility (asians)

Can't do that, can you? But you demand a job, (and subsidized housing in Pearl) anyway. Is that the "lifestyle" you mentioned?
What? You say you don't have sense of entitlement, "just want to live smart, without feeling hated or unwanted... Is this unrealistic for a Negro male in PDX 2014"
This might be a reasonable statement, except you mentioning of the "Negro" and insinuating racism at every opportunity, which completely changes the nature of what you have to say.
Alas, you know what you know, and will listen only to cajoling and placating "advice". That's human nature, too.

Your problem is not your race, but the state of your mind, and that takes a long time to change.

[oldtintype]

Originally Posted by skiffrace

Yes, but but most, if not all the inexpensive units are subsidized. Still, the main problem with OP lies elsewhere - read on...


You came here with bitterness and anger, easily explained (by you) through racist discrimination. Those (white and asian) racists are the reason you are leaving Seattle, but Portland is very much like Seattle, even whiter.

You don't need the adoration of whites or asians?
How about respect? You come to them asking for a job, after all.
But can you emulate their ethics? Hint: work, no sense of entitlement, more work, humility (asians)

Can't do that, can you? But you demand a job, and subsidized housing in Pearl, anyway. Is that the "lifestyle" you mentioned?

Just as a FYI Hoyt and Freedom Center are not subsidized. I mentioned the others, he mentioned those. Both have lower than average rents for the pearl--$900-1300 but are not subsidized. Pearl Court is subsidized, and I think Station Place Tower is, Ramona and Sitka are tax credit housing (flat rates, not a monthly percentage based on income so not exactly subsidized, just under median income to rent).

[Nell Plotts]

If the OP is looking for diversity and economic opportunity he really should look at Oakland. There are a couple problematic neighborhoods but the chance of finding a well paying job and a social life is much better there than either Portland or Seattle.

[urbanlife78]

Originally Posted by Nell Plotts

If the OP is looking for diversity and economic opportunity he really should look at Oakland. There are a couple problematic neighborhoods but the chance of finding a well paying job and a social life is much better there than either Portland or Seattle.

Actually that is really good advice, and based on all the posts in this thread about this topic, Oakland does sound like a really good choice for the OP.

[oldtintype]

Originally Posted by urbanlife78

Actually that is really good advice, and based on all the posts in this thread about this topic, Oakland does sound like a really good choice for the OP.

I don't understand why Oakland is such a great match. Have any of you spend much time there?!

[rass33]

Originally Posted by GetmeoutofMA

Think Boston only more laidback and backwater ish. Is the op crazy or something? Why would anyone black want to even consider Portland? I was Italian and had a heavy Italian last name, look a little jewish to some and didn't do too great there so.. unless you're playing basketball for the blazers, I just don't see it.

I agree that Portland is a very different city for minorities but especially African Americans. When I go back home to Chicago to visit and tell people I moved to Portland , they give me a look like, "why the hell would you want to live in Portland?" Portland really isn't an area that most African Americans even consider living. The small number of blacks living in Portland were born here. The rest are recent African immigrants from Somalia and Ethiopia.

[Leisesturm]

O-M-G... call me late to the dance, but I had no idea what the 'tension' alluded to in the thread title had to do with. Seemed highly subjective and unanswerable, so I ignored it. Until now. Bored I guess, and also curious as to what takes nine pages to sort out. And what do I find... I mean... did anyone need to be told that the o.p. was biased? I didn't. But... that said, I don't see that any great attempt is being made to prove him wrong about racism in Portland. I notice a great amount of open hostility gets directed at posters who present as black who present negative points of view to the forum at large. Over the top, uncalled for, hostility. I guess black posters are never seen as weak, or misguided or simply wrong, like other people. No, they have to be smacked around because they have dared to call attention to themselves. FWIW I do not share the o.p.'s opinions, but I don't think it takes nine pages to say that. In fact, it never usually does. How many threads in this forum run to nine pages? Come on. How many? We should lock this one if some people can't discuss the issue without being all superior or confrontive or offensive.

H

[Yankeemama]

Leisterturm- good post! Oldintype- nice advice!