Does Portland feel stuck in the past to you? (Beaverton: lofts, home)

[take57]

Originally Posted by valsteele

There's a joke about that in the show Portlandia, and I think there's a lot of truth to the idea that Portland is stuck twenty years in the past. On the bad side the infrastructure here (the roads, heating and cooling in apartments, etc) tends to be dated and inadequate and the food is not nearly as yummy as it is in a lot of other parts of the country. In the past American food was a lot less good and variable in general and to a large extent this is still the case in Portland.

I think a quick trip to any number of Midwest cities would offer proof-positive that if Portland is stuck twenty years in the past, Detroit, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Des Moines and fistfull of other's are cryogenically locked even twenty years further back.

Using food selection as an example is particularly amusing. Tell me how the search for something along the lines of Gruner, Olympic Provisions, Pok Pok or Tasty N' Sons goes in Omaha and we'll have something to talk about.

[eric351982]

The upkeep of the roads and freeways is definitely stuck in the past. The I5/405 interchange and ramps look like they are going to fall down at any moment.

[portlandphi]

Hopefully, pot taxes will be used for roads etc...
I am surprized our lottery doesn't generate more for this sort of thing.
Hope the pot revenue will be spent for things that are a little more visible.

Where does all that lottery money go anyway?The schools seem to be whining just as much as always, roads need repair, parks need funding...

[urbanlife78]

Originally Posted by portlandphi

Hopefully, pot taxes will be used for roads etc...
I am surprized our lottery doesn't generate more for this sort of thing.
Hope the pot revenue will be spent for things that are a little more visible.

Where does all that lottery money go anyway?The schools seem to be whining just as much as always, roads need repair, parks need funding...

This is where lottery money goes.

And you can look at the break down of the 2011-2013 by county.

[portlandphi]

The schools get 57% and taxpayers percentage on top of that? Does not seem to make sense.

[BIMBAM]

Originally Posted by rzzzz

Not really. I actually feel like most of the rest of the country feels stuck in the past compared to PDX and Seattle. Like for instance there's a handful of new stuff in LA but most of it still looks like Jack Tripper's neighborhood. If you want to see where the dream of the 90s is really alive, check out Minneapolis.

Portland does feel different than most places in the USA, though. To me it feels like a city you would find in Canada or Australia.

I wish, Portland is much more affordable then any city of that size would be in either Canada or Australia.

For real though, Portland is an incredible city and felt like one that could only exist in the US, and I mean that in a good way. Portland has most of the elements that I really admire and love about the US, and fewer of the things that I find off putting. It's one of my favourite cities in your country and I travel there at least once a year from Vancouver. Its people are gregarious, entreprising, inventive and unpretentious in a way that is typically American and I love it.

I don't think it's stuck in the past, it's a nexus of youth culture, very in tune with the trends and values of the younger generation that are shaping how the future unfolds. If anything, Portland is not only in tune with the modern zeitgeist, it is helping shaping it and the future it will birth.

[urbanlife78]

Originally Posted by portlandphi

The schools get 57% and taxpayers percentage on top of that? Does not seem to make sense.

What doesn't make sense about the links I provided to you? It gives a full breakdown county by county.

[Anders15]

As a transplant from the south, I think Portland is an older city but still productive. My last city was much worse than Portland. At least Portland KNOWS it's kinda old and stuff, my last city sees no problem whatsoever with it's aging and disgusting condition. Portland has light rail, pro sports team and many other modern immunities. My last city barely had sidewalks on major roads, primitive bus system could not even take you as far as a local walmart, and overall the city was just literally crumbling and ghetto.

I think Portland is.. unique. It has it's identity/gimmick of being in the past but I think if it had to, Portland could (and seemingly is) modernize if it wanted to. My last city has no hopes of ever evolving, rumors of "new projects" have been floating since my grandparents were young and all the other cities around them have since come up leaving them in the dust.. and that city was the state capitol!

[backdrifter]

Anytime I ride the bus, wander on foot through downtown, or venture to or past 82nd Ave, or out to much of Clackamas County, I feel like everything is stuck in the 90's or even the 80's. Or, more likely, it's just all the kooky people that are stuck in the 90's that live in these areas, and not in a good way.

But overall, for the heart of the city, I think it is starting to feel quite a bit more new and shiny. All these construction projects--the PMLR and the Tilikum Crossing, the complete renewal of Division and Mississippi in recent years, the Vancouver-Williams corridor, the northern stretches of the Pearl, OHSU's expansion into the South Waterfront, the Fair-Haired Dumbbell, to name a few--are all making Portland feel like it is heading into the 21st century.

I'm really looking forward to a lot of these changes. I just hope it leads to Portland becoming more like Vancouver, Seattle, and SF. I'd love it if we were more worldly and cosmopolitan and not so provincial and insular.

[SyraBrian]

I don't think Portland is stuck in the past.

If you want to visit a city stuck in the past, I'd like to point out that I live in a city that has based its financial future on expanding a shopping mall.