Considering a Move to Portland from Pittsburgh. All info helpful.

[khyron]

I'm a Pitt grad married to a physician who did a Pitt residency, very happily now settled in Portland and raising a family...please message me with any specific questions you want. I'm not especially interested in the kind of dialogue that CD posters get into about either real estate or racism, but am all for a one on one conversation. I think you could be very happy here and am excited for you!

[urbanlife78]

Originally Posted by Squidlo

Portland loves a protest.

As far as traditionally black areas not much left these days. The gentrification in the inner urban area has displaced a lot of folks.

As fas as the town being racist not so much. SocioEconomic snobbery is more likely. I accidentally let the cat out of the bag when I worked in Beaverton that I was from North Portland and people actually stepped back a foot or 2 during the conversation.

That is funny, especially seeing North Portland is pretty nice these days and kind of expensive in parts. My guess is it would be Beaverton suburbanites that rarely go into Portland that suffer from stereotypical ideas of Portland that no longer exist.

[urbanlife78]

Originally Posted by Chunkymama

My husband has a possible job offer in Portland and we are looking for any information that might help us make this decision.

We are going to rent (3-4 bdrm) home, townhome or apartment not to exceed $1500/month.
Looking for safe, good schools and neighborhood. Family friendly neighborhood (suburbs are fine - more our speed).
My husband would be working at the VA, so an easy commute would be nice; however, he doesn't mind a commute.
We've heard many warnings about racism in Portland. We are an interracial couple (black/white) and our children have faced bullying/racism here in Pittsburgh. Are they going to face this in Portland (I'm not talking about the occasional ignorant individual - more than that).

Reading over this, you guys might like Southwest Portland and the Eastern part of Beaverton if your husband works at the VA. The area is a bit hilly, it will probably remind you of Pittsburgh, and it has some good back routes into the hospital district on the hill. I use to cut through that way when I would try to avoid traffic on 26.

As for being an interracial couple, that shouldn't be an issue in Portland. I haven't known people here to show any serious racism to people in an interracial relationship, but that doesn't mean you won't find a racist idiot from time to time.