Is all of Portland really this depressingly bad? (Seaside, Adrian: apartments, renter)

[roneb]

Originally Posted by YoAdrian

You're right, it's not like DC. At least DC has the Northwest side, where you don't feel like you're going to die walking down the street.

Anyway, we just got back from Seattle, and it turned out to be pretty much everything we expected Portland to be. Vibrant, hip, friendly, welcoming, beautiful. It has its share of problems like any big city, but at least it wasn't a dump riddled with aggressive bums on every corner.

This is humorous really. You live in DC, but one has to wonder how many parts of DC you spend time in. I can honestly say there are very few parts of Portland in which I would be afraid to be alone after dark and I've certainly NEVER felt like I was going to die walking down the street. I've been to DC and I definitely saw places that I wouldn't want to be alone in the daytime, let alone after dark.

Maybe you'd get a different reaction if you tried to be a little more objective or rational with you're posts. When you make farcical statements about feeling like you're going to die walking down the street, seeing a bum on every corner, etc. you have to realize that nobody is going to take you or your opinions seriously.

Personally, I'm not a huge Portland fan and I believe the place IS over-hyped, just like almost every medium to large city that is growing. I'm even interested in moving someplace smaller. But I also think it has numerous good points and isn't even remotely close to what you're trying to portray.

As for Seattle, it does have many of the qualities you described... Along with much higher housing costs, worse traffic, inferior public transit (compared to Portland), higher crime rates... You get the picture. Actually, judging from your previous posts maybe you don't get it! Not sure I'd really choose SEA over PDX.

[checar]

Driving through Sellwood one afternoon we saw a middle aged guy urinating in his front yard, right out in the middle of the grass, not near a tree or anything the way it is usually done outdoors. He saw us and smiled. Anyway that was what happened when we went to check out one of the "good" neighborhoods you hear a lot about in Portland.
P.S. It looked like the homeowner, not a homeless person.

[Journey2LS]

Originally Posted by checar

Driving through Sellwood one afternoon we saw a middle aged guy urinating in his front yard, right out in the middle of the grass, not near a tree or anything the way it is usually done outdoors. He saw us and smiled. Anyway that was what happened when we went to check out one of the "good" neighborhoods you hear a lot about in Portland.
P.S. It looked like the homeowner, not a homeless person.

In Portland it's kinda hard to tell the difference.

[checar]

Good point.

[checar]

ksgator - I hope you know you're going to be in big trouble for that one.

[oldtintype]

Originally Posted by YoAdrian

Well, it's too bad you think you know what kind of planning went into my trip.

Actually, it doesn't appear you planned well at all, at least in terms of looking for things YOU'D like. Given your obvious desire for a more suburban or conservative type environment why you went to Saturday market instead of the PSU Farmer's Market, or why you went to Alberta (?!) instead of something like Multnomah Village is beyond me. My point is that the areas you were excited about seeing were things that aren't really up your alley so of course you didn't like them. And hanging out near Old Town and lower downtown doesn't exactly give you information about Portland other than you see the worst of the worst given that social services for mentally ill and homeless people are right there. You missed about 75% of Portland by your descriptions yet you feel you know the city and it's a "dump." It's too bad that you spent most of your time doing things that most people, knowing your likes and dislikes would have told you not to do.

I just returned from a weekend in Seattle where traffic was a nightmare and there were plenty of homeless people as well as street kids. A big difference is that it's way more spread out and you can spend time in areas (just like you can here if you'd gone to them) that make you think those other things don't exist.

You can call Portland a dump all you want, but given that you only saw a small percentage of it (I still have no idea how you found trailer parks) your information isn't totally accurate. Your opinion may be given what you saw, but you missed a lot of things you probably would have greatly enjoyed and painted a different picture of Portland for you, or at least a more well rounded opinion. That's the unfortunate part. There are a lot of really nice B&Bs in nice neighborhoods that would have been up your alley and you would have had a different experience most likely.

I think the reason you've gotten responses is that you're sure you saw all Portland had to offer when in reality you're basing your opinions on areas that most of us wouldn't go to or walk in unless we absolutely had to (such as Old Town). You basically seemed to hang out in the areas with the worst poverty, crime and mentally ill people and bypassed most everything else.
That doesn't mean that's Portland. Portland is pretty large and parts such as Terwilliger are almost like living in the country. And there's Germantown Road which IS is in the country and everything in between, ending with the issues of Old Town.

[jazzmipdx]

Peace & beauty wise, I'd visit Multnomah Falls (out I-84 East) you can't miss it. Also the Sandy River off Stark Street in Troutdale (Otto Park) was my brothers and I stomping grounds back when we were kids. Simply gorgeous. The Oregon coast with Lincoln City, Newport or Seaside and their attractions are excellent entertainment. The Wildlife Safari south of Salem is very cool. Near there is the Enchanted Forest with Old Mother Hubbard and all the rest of the gang. If you like snow, there's no better than Mt. Hood, especially at the base at Timberline Lodge. McMennimens has several lodge/gallery/restaurant & lounges througout Oregon. Bend (southeastern Oregon) is up & coming. It's more of a resort town. Very nice. But unfortunately, inner Portland IS now a totally different place than it used to be. As a black 43 yr old female, I was born & raised here (besides the military, marriage, etc.) and have never experienced seeing heavily tatooted white folks parading down Alberta Street. That was unheard of just 10-15 years ago. Back then, from the Willamette River to 33rd Ave and from Jantzen Beach to the Lloyd Center was 90% black homeowners. We had the hottest clubs, the cleanest streets, no huge gang issues, etc. Then, as with many other urban cities, came crack, loss of hope, unattainable or preditory loans, and a greedy, corrupt city government with a hint of racism who decided to capitalize on the broken and make it look juicy to the white & able. Portland was a beautiful, easy, inexpensive and hometown diversified place to live until rich narcissists arrived. Most intelligent blacks cashed out early before the inexperienced pilgrimage began (with proceeds from home sales 3-4 times what they paid for it), because it was clear no one solicited local participation. They thought we were all government assisted uneducated folks who didn't know what we had. We knew, but the new narcissists felt Portland was too big of a goldmine to share. Now its expensive, bureaucratic, and every other jazz wannabe entertainment venue seems to go belly up weekly. We have local newspapers taking cheap shots at each other. We have laws passing, bribes & corruption in secret. Personally, I grew up in upper middle class white suburban neighborhoods. I wanted different for my kids so I raised them in NE Portland and glad I did. My sons have so much heart. The outskirts of Portland are now whats happening. Everyone has pretty much left those scrambling boarderline bankrupt narcissistic junior Portland bureaurocrats to the mess that they've made. Hopefully, they'll be screaming for help soon.

[suncat]

Originally Posted by checar

ksgator - I hope you know you're going to be in big trouble for that one.

Not from me, he won't!

[Adrian71]

Originally Posted by YoAdrian

Well, it's too bad you think you know what kind of planning went into my trip. I've been on this forum for at least a year, I've been elsewhere all over the Web, I've scoured at least half a dozen tourist books. We stayed out by the airport, and there was a run-down RV park maybe a mile away. I also didn't say the city was full of tar-paper shacks; I said one side street we turned down was. But it was amazing how widespread the blight was in many parts of the city.

Don't ask me how I managed to "meet these people." It's not like I sought them out. They were just there, everywhere. It was hard NOT to find them. Hell, I found them right in the heart of downtown, and around all of the tourist activities.

Yep, I was in Laurelhurst. Walked the streets, went to a market, even had lunch there. Decent neighborhood, but nothing to write home about. Not as desperate as much of the rest of Portland, I'll grant you that. But I didn't see enough to make me want to move across the country, especially considering the surrounding environs.

You're right, it's not like DC. At least DC has the Northwest side, where you don't feel like you're going to die walking down the street.

To another poster, I wouldn't flatter yourself on calling Portland a "big city." It's a midsized city, but it has all the squalor of a massive city, and seemingly an unusually large homeless and mentally ill problem for a town of its size. Shame, really. I will hand it to the travel guides, though -- they do a great job of pimping Portland as a great, hip, fun place to live and (yes) somewhat of a green haven. Sure, the Japanese Garden was gorgeous, but I'm not going to live in the Japanese Garden. Tigard was nice, east Vancouver was nice, Camas was nice. But I have no need to live in a place where I do all my things in the burbs and avoid the city. I do that now (for the most part) with DC.

Anyway, we just got back from Seattle, and it turned out to be pretty much everything we expected Portland to be. Vibrant, hip, friendly, welcoming, beautiful. It has its share of problems like any big city, but at least it wasn't a dump riddled with aggressive bums on every corner.

I know people get defensive and want to stick up for the places they live. I get that. But if this is the attitude most Portlanders have when people criticize their city, I'm even more glad we're not moving there. You can have it. Portland is a dump.

For the record, I'll also add that yes, we did visit Sellwood, too, and spent a few hours antiquing. Again, sorry, it was nothing special. Oh, and the screaming guy was up around 21st and Lovejoy, not exactly some remote side street.

[jojo4]

Yeah.., we do have a lot of weirdos here. I guess they just faded into the background after a while.
I haven't seen people doing #1 and #2 in the street though, that's pretty nasty.
Seattle is a much bigger metropolitan so if you like bigger, Seattle is your town.
21st and Lovejoy is pretty close to "needle park", there have always been sketchy characters in that area.
I would love to live near Japanese Garden, that area is really nice but super expensive.
I live near PSU now and living downtown is great for me, lots of stuffs to do.
Sellwood is ok, the really nice residential neighborhood is just a few streets East near Reed college. I guess you didn't make it there.

The trailer parks are kind of an eyesore, but po white trash gotta live somewhere right. There are some large trailer parks near Beaverton TC too if you want to tour them.

DC is a dump. heh, heh..