Honest Opinion of Portland (Gresham, Pendleton: sale, apartments, city hall)

[sstarrx3]

There are allot of nice things about Portland. Downtown at night is a relative save place to go with theatres and clubs. They have allot of fun things going on downtown on the river in the summer. It is extremely liberal, if you are of that mind set you will like that. If you want diversity, it is diverse culturally, African Americans are just not one of the cultures. It is one of the whitest cities in the US. If you plan on having children, you better be willing to go private. the public school system is not so hot. On the bright side of that, the ones that do graduate do really well and have great test scores.

[expdxer]

As someone who lived in Portland 7 years, 13 yrs in San Francisco before that, and moved to NYC 2 years ago (where I am originally from), I feel the need to put my 2 cents in regarding public transit. First, I miss Portland and would rather be living there, BUT, I think there is something to be said about NYC transit being safe. The safety, however, comes with a price: overcrowding. Besides the large number of police, there's always safety in numbers and there are always a lot of people around you on the subways, except in the middle of the night perhaps (but at least it's a 24/7 system). It seems like everyone has an I-pod or other electronic device and isn't worried about it being out in the open. Also, people in NYC wouldn't dare put their stuff on the seat next to them and act oblivious, you just can't survive that way here. But unlike riding Tri-Met, riding the subways can be exhausting if you're in a sardine can in rush hour, plus it's a 100-year-old system that is dirty, and not modern and pleasant like the Max. In other words, the two places are very different, each with their positives and negatives. I think Tri-Met could just use some more cops; otherwise it's a very good system.

[JTJ1977]

Wow, that truly is depressing. I noticed the same thing about Chicago, where I have some family members located. I always had this stereotypical idea that the Northside was generally white and that the Southside was Black. Well, lo and behold, the racial and ethnic diversity was stunning. However, I noticed the same patterns in Chicago that you described in Philadelphia. On one bloc--African American. On the other: Irish (or whatever white group). So my questions about Portland came from that angle; do people truly embrace diversity? Or is it an embrace that real estate companies and Chambers of Commerce have when making a business sell, and nothing more? What is the crime rate like? And, to you (or anyone else on here), what are the starting prices for monthly or yearly TRI-MET bus or rail passes?

[karlsch]

Interesting guest editorial in today's Oregonian:

Getting left behind by urban renewal
Tuesday, March 04, 2008

I 've lived in Portland for the past 20 years. I was educated here at PSU and worked at David Douglas High School. I've had the chance to live in just about every part of this town, and I loved it all. But when it came time to buy a home, I chose one close to my school. After living there, however, I have to wonder what in the world is wrong with Portland. .................
the rest of the story:
OregonLive.com: Everything Oregon

[oldtintype]

It depends on what zone you're in--if you need a 2 zone or 3 zone pass. The pass is good for all the transport here--bus, streetcar, MAX. It's $65 for a 2 zone and $76 for an all zone. It's about $800 for a yearly 3 zone and $700 for a yearly 2 zone.

[oldtintype]

It's pretty true (the editorial mentioned) anything east of 205 is considered "out there" and not part of Portland proper. It's even worse with Multnomah County in terms of Gresham, Troutdale, etc. Most everything is geared towards close Portland. It really does feel like another world when you get east of 205 though in most of the areas. Most of the money is in closer in Portland as well and higher crime is east of 205, which is what I think skews the crime stats for Portland as a whole.

[atlantagreg30127]

Originally Posted by oldtintype

The few publicized cases in outer SE were pretty bad but the majority of MAX issues can (and are) found on any public transport system heavily used anywhere.

95% of the time I'm on it it's problem free. The only issues I've personally experienced is loud and obnoxious people. Other stuff may happen, but it's not a regular thing to where people need to proclaim the system is completely unsafe.

Is it ok for me to step in and ask exactly what the stuff is that people complain about (regarding safety) on MAX that has some folks freaking out?

I live in Atlanta and our MARTA system is heavy rail (subway). Atlanta is let's be honest, in some ways an armpit and has one of the highest crime rates in the U.S. per capita. Still, crime on MARTA is relatively low, and even though police presence isn't very visible on it, there are few instances of anything bad. As a matter of fact, a couple of months ago a man was mugged on the train while riding out from the airport station and it was considered big news on the local stations - stuff like that just doesn't happen often at all.

So am I missing something? Atlanta leaders once came to Portland to study the MAX system to model after a light rail type thing they want to do here (but probably won't). It was advertised here in the article as being a very "efficient and safe" system. What instances are people talking about that has some so concerned about MAX?

[roneb]

Originally Posted by atlantagreg30127

Is it ok for me to step in and ask exactly what the stuff is that people complain about (regarding safety) on MAX that has some folks freaking out?

I live in Atlanta and our MARTA system is heavy rail (subway). Atlanta is let's be honest, in some ways an armpit and has one of the highest crime rates in the U.S. per capita. Still, crime on MARTA is relatively low, and even though police presence isn't very visible on it, there are few instances of anything bad. As a matter of fact, a couple of months ago a man was mugged on the train while riding out from the airport station and it was considered big news on the local stations - stuff like that just doesn't happen often at all.

So am I missing something? Atlanta leaders once came to Portland to study the MAX system to model after a light rail type thing they want to do here (but probably won't). It was advertised here in the article as being a very "efficient and safe" system. What instances are people talking about that has some so concerned about MAX?

There were a couple of beatings/muggings out in the Gresham area of the light rail line. Big news here because we'd like to think it shouldn't happen in Portland. When you combine this with the fact that, like any public transit in any city, you have some transient, homeless, and mentally ill riding, and the whole thing starts to get a bad rep. Then toss in some loud and obnoxious youth... Personally, I've never felt unsafe on MAX, annoyed yes, unsafe no.

[Rhiannon29]

Originally Posted by JTJ1977

Wow, that truly is depressing. I noticed the same thing about Chicago, where I have some family members located. I always had this stereotypical idea that the Northside was generally white and that the Southside was Black. Well, lo and behold, the racial and ethnic diversity was stunning. However, I noticed the same patterns in Chicago that you described in Philadelphia. On one bloc--African American. On the other: Irish (or whatever white group). So my questions about Portland came from that angle; do people truly embrace diversity? Or is it an embrace that real estate companies and Chambers of Commerce have when making a business sell, and nothing more?

It's hard to say. I've visited here countless times and have been living here for a few months. I think Portlanders truly do embrace diversity and that it is not something they just put on. I'm sure some have their secret prejudices or stereotypes inside their head, but don't have ill will. In terms of race, I never feel out of place when I go out or that people are looking at me crooked. There are also large populations of interracial couples of all combinations and in some neighborhoods, I've noticed, its extremely mixed and diverse, and not just by block, but really integrated. And then there may be wackos, but that can be in any state, and certainly not particular to Oregon.

[michelangelo88]

Originally Posted by oldtintype

What do you think kept you off the streets? Did you have any kind of support structure after aging out?

I had a caseworker who was amazing and frequently fights the "powers that be" or flat out ignores them when he feels that what they suggest is not in the best interests of the kids on his caseload. (He also has one of the highest caseloads in the state, because despite how much he causes the higher ups to gnash their teeth, he has an extremely high success rate.) He was the reason why I didn't get dropped before aging out.

As far as why I didn't go to the streets after aging out, that's because anyone who turns 18 in foster care is entitled to a 5000 a year scholarship. While a lot of kids just don't have the ability to make it in college after foster care, I have always been a bit of a child prodigy in regards to all things academic. So I was lucky enough to be able to take advantage of that opportunity. Although it's still would be a lot easier if I could have parents to fall back if I mess up. But basically, since I've spent my whole life surrounded by astounded teachers drilling in to me just how smart I am, I've always known that I have more than enough ability to make it. So it's kinda like I really had no choice but to succeed, if I didn't it wouldn't have been the state's fault, it would've been mine. So it wasn't really because of a support system as much as it was because I'm too smart and too arrogant to allow myself to fail.

Although I must say there are a lot of kids I met who scored considerably higher than I did on the I.Q. test they give foster kids, unfortunately they usually had a lot of emotional problems that severely hindered either their ability in the classroom and workplace or destroyed their self esteem and convinced them of the inevitability of their failure. Because I was well spoken and outgoing I had the boost of self esteem from the teachers, but they were likely to go unnoticed unless they were doing something wrong.

Also to deal with the common problems they face they often get addicted to drugs. That makes things more difficult. The state's desire to diagnosis and shove pills down every foster youth makes drug use easier to get into in my opinion and probably causes more problems than it solves. When I was entered care it took just a couple weeks before they proclaimed that I was suffering from (and this is actually not exaggerated)
Severe Depressive Disorder,
Bi-Polar Disorder,
Anxiety Disorder,
Oppositional Defiance Disorder (which means you don't like doing what your told with out good reason, I thought until then that that was just thinking independently, apparently I was quite wrong)
And in addition I was showing symptoms of, but enough to be diagnosised with
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
and Borderline Personality Disorder

Well, they were right about the depression at least. ha ha. sigh.

Oh and they gave me so many meds that I gained 40 pounds and became foggy mentally. As I was preparing to leave care I quit the meds, found out that I felt better than I had since... oh yeah, since before I ever took them. I went into a new (and much better) psychiatrist and after a brief discussion he undiagnosed me with everything and canceled all of my prescriptions and apologized to me for how poorly my mental health had been handled by his peers.

In short, other than being depressed and over medicated I didn't really have the problems that many other foster youth have. Many of them are actually and obviously bi-polar, schizophrenic, severely depressed and most suffer from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder as a result of what got them into foster care to begin with. In addition I only was at three different placements during my stint, far beneath the average.