Honest Opinion of Portland (Gresham, Oregon City: appointed, for sale, condos)

[angelbug]

Originally Posted by Leisesturm

Portland has high rape statistics but 90% will be date and domestic rapes.

Do you think so? Why would Portland's rate of these kinds of rapes be any higher than say, Seattle's, or any other city? Portland's rape rate for the last reported year was 54 per 100,000, and Seattle's was 22, less than half. Why would there be less date rape there? It's a city with lots of dating singles, just like Portland.

A couple months ago when we were discussing crime states on the forum, I noticed and pointed out how high Portland's rape rate was, and upon further investigation, I found some articles on some news websites that indicated that the rape situation in the city is disturbing a lot of residents and that there is a general feeling that the police are not doing anything much at all to address it.

Not to be alarmist - I plan to move to Portland next year and this particular situation wouldn't dissuade me, since I tend to be careful about my surroundings and interactions with strangers, but I don't think you can just write it off as date and domestic rape.

[bclark3434]

Originally Posted by HeadWest

I appreciate the replies! Some I'm getting the vibe that gentrification is putting pressure on the city...? speaking of neighborhoods... we're looking for probably a 1br or 2br apartment and the 800 range... does that seem realistic for safety sake? noise-sake? for two bus-riding people's sake?

thank you again. I am appreciating the responses.

gentrification is really going in lower NE portland. Im from Chicago, came to Portland cause of Job offer and been here 20yrs. Positive I can say, Portlans is beautiful in the summer and the Oregon Coast is the best. Not that I feel that Portland is racist like most places(Idaho), I am white male and feel that Portland is GREAT for whites. It seems that all(90% plus)the Public officials(police,firemen,state senate,mayors,congress)CEOs are white. If you are AA or hispanic and you want high advancement here....I dont think Portland is the place, or I have not seen it in 20yrs. Chicago, although it can be a racist city,Very diverse and you have MANY MANY minorities as Police,firemen,Bankers, Politicians ...ect. I also have family in Houston and Atlanta and its the same. I do miss the diversity from Chicago. Strange that here and in Seattle, not much of it. If these things don't matter to you and you are white....portland will be great. SKY is the limit!

[oldtintype]

Actually most county, city, state, etc. jobs are being highly pushed towards bilingual (spanish, russian, vietnamese, chinese) or racially diverse candidates. The push for a diverse workplace in jobs is in full force, at least in the public sector. The difference in the last few years is pretty eye opening.

[Cheeto]

60 percent of the people moving to metro Portland since 2000 have been minorities, mostly hispanic followed by asians. Maybe Portland will be more diverse in the future,

[GucciLittlePiggie]

portland isn't too big or too crowded. it's a small, empty city compared to almost anywhere i'd consider living. the weather sounds annoying, but it's better than the northeast. the job market is the sticking point to me. it sounds to me like i'll be drastically underemployed for the rest of my life if i live there, which is unappealing to me. no one has been able to really allay this fear for me, and honestly, it's the one thing that's making me have second thoughts about moving there. some people are a bit more hippie-ish, and don't mind work at the bookstore and renting a little apt their whole lives. but i'm not moving across the country to do that, just because portland is a cool place.

[oldtintype]

There are plenty of people here with good jobs.

[internat]

Link that work http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/200...ortlandusa.usa and discussion from the thread it was posted: http://www.city-data.com/forum/portl...ttle-city.html

Originally Posted by RxMarcus

Listen to what oldintype has to say and read this article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/200...ortlandusa.usa (broken link)

[babycoleslaw]

Originally Posted by HeadWest

My wife and I are planning to relocate to the NW. Right now we're in the process of job hunting both in Portland and Seattle. We're looking for social science oriented jobs so research, etc. Anyway we had a chance to visit seattle and form an opinion, but portland seems a little harder to access.

Please keep in mind that we are coming from Kansas City (we lived in Providence, RI before that), which is as many may know one of the highest crime cities in the country. This is what is confusing us. We felt 100% safe in Seattle and the crime there is significantly lower than in K.C. But when I read some comments people act as though Portland is a scene out of 'Escape from New York' or something but when I've run the crime numbers they are lower in many ways than Seattle and certainly lower than where we've lived in the past.

I guess we're just trying to get the best view of the city from people who live there.

Are people nice? or combative?

What's the organics situation?

Can my wife commute to work and back on bus without being concerned about being raped or robbed? (frankly she can't in the city we currently live in)

How is the food?

Are there social activities?

basically all that. Just trying to understand, sorry if any of the questions are too blunt.

My husband and I moved to Portland last summer from Omaha and absolutely love it! You made no mention of the weather which usually plagues this forum but
the people who go on and on about the dreary weather are people who must have sun 100% of the time. It hasn't affected me in the least, other than I just love it and actually wish it were rainier right now!
I am originally from Houston and when I visit there the news each night depicts atleast one shooting each day. It is sickening!!
Here, they talk about shootings once every few weeks or so, and most of those are injuries, not fatalities.
We live in Tigard, which is in SW Portland and has easy access to most areas though right now the only public transportation (which is safe here, overall, with minor infractions now and then and a shooting near Gresham a few months back) is through bus usage until the commuter station is complete (sometime in '09 I think?) which will link Tigard to the MAX station in Beaverton (It's not too far to drive to the park and ride in Beaverton to catch MAX though).
I have already made several friends who are rapidly becoming 'close friends' so people here are open...one interesting thing is that I have only met a handful of locals. An overwhelming majority of people have relocated here from elsewhere in the U.S. or internationally (and of course, the illegals...).
Great, great area!! LOADS to do...we just love it and have not regretted the decision once!!
Good luck to you!!

[internat]

Sorry but shootings once every few weeks is still horrible for a supposedly civilised first world country.

Originally Posted by babycoleslaw

Here, they talk about shootings once every few weeks or so, and most of those are injuries, not fatalities.

[West coast at heart]

Originally Posted by oldtintype

You have to read these boards with a grain of salt. There are many on here who come only to say negative things--true or otherwise. Portland is not a dangerous place. There are some "bad" neighborhoods just like anywhere else, but that's not the norm. It's a very safe place. It's smaller than Seattle, so a little less hectic, but still has a great food, art, music scene, lots to do, great outdoors activities and is the green capital of the US. Organics are huge. The New York Times has done some great articles on the food scene in Portland recently that you should google.

I live downtown, am female and take public transport everywhere. Other than a few obnoxious idiots (i.e. loud or rude people), public transport is fine. I feel completely safe here. I walk all over and have never had a problem.

I appreciate hearing this. My wife and I are planning to move out west in a year or so. The Portland area sounds pretty good. Thanks for putting things in perspective.