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I didn't notice the 'allure' until I left Portland (home) in the 1990's and worked in California where there was a bunch of job openings requiring workers to relocate to Portland (rolling eyes). From a local's perspective, Portlanders wouldn't see the lack of allure as a loss per se, simply going back to normal. Portland has always been minor league, Portlanders never sought to be major league, and city government is frustrated by that sedating fact. Believe me, Portlanders feel just fine about people not moving here. That attitude alone triggers a word-of-mouth campaign full of reverse psychology and Portland as a well-advertised 'best kept secret' that will keep people coming in droves without the magazine ads and TV commercials. lol
Portlanders wouldn't see the lack of allure as a loss per se, simply going back to normal. Portland has always been minor league, Portlanders never sought to be major league, and city government is frustrated by that sedating fact. Believe me, Portlanders feel just fine about people not moving here.
As a native Portland Oregonian, I sometimes have difficulties in understanding the "draw" of Portland.
Having lived here about 95% of my life, it just seems boringly normal to me. And I have visited many towns and places that I wouldn't mind living in if my family wasn't here.
Could you please describe what you were expecting compared to what you found here?
Your feelings are to be expected. I would be surprised if you didn't feel this way.
In my experience, to truly appreciate anything that is inherently emotional, like how you feel about where you live, you need to experience a situation that is much worse than what you have. Your entire life, your psychology has accepted the environment in Portland as normal. Its your default setting. Hence, there is no excessively positive emotion about where you live.
This mechanism of being in a worse situation works with every emotional thing in your life, whether it be with your relationships, money / job situation, personal freedom, etc...
Coming from Philadelphia, some of the things that people complain about from other cities comes off as absolutely ridiculous and coddled to me. Like when the woman from some hill town in North Carolina complains about the crime, or when someone from San Diego complains about the traffic. I know its nothing compared to here, and that I would view there problem / boring situation as something to be appreciated.
To most people coming from other cities, Portland is a huge improvement. Hence, they feel better than you about the city. However, their emotional response system (limbic) will, too, adjust with time. But the memories of where they lived before serve to remind them of how lucky they are, and keep their appreciation of the area alive. Unfortunately, you don't have that advantage.
Your feelings are to be expected. I would be surprised if you didn't feel this way.
In my experience, to truly appreciate anything that is inherently emotional, like how you feel about where you live, you need to experience a situation that is much worse than what you have. Your entire life, your psychology has accepted the environment in Portland as normal. Its your default setting. Hence, there is no excessively positive emotion about where you live.
This mechanism of being in a worse situation works with every emotional thing in your life, whether it be with your relationships, money / job situation, personal freedom, etc...
Coming from Philadelphia, some of the things that people complain about from other cities comes off as absolutely ridiculous and coddled to me. Like when the woman from some hill town in North Carolina complains about the crime, or when someone from San Diego complains about the traffic. I know its nothing compared to here, and that I would view there problem / boring situation as something to be appreciated.
To most people coming from other cities, Portland is a huge improvement. Hence, they feel better than you about the city. However, their emotional response system (limbic) will, too, adjust with time. But the memories of where they lived before serve to remind them of how lucky they are, and keep their appreciation of the area alive. Unfortunately, you don't have that advantage.
Well, thanks for the journey into my mind (), but sometimes I do have "excessively positive emotions" that I live where I live!
What I am interested in though, is what is being said in places like the east coast magazines, and peoples expectataions and the hard slap of reality good or bad when they arive here and see what it's really like.
I mean, what did you hear Portland was like? How did what you belived Portland was like in YOUR minds eye differ from the real thing? Not generalities but specific things.
I just wonder about the "fairy tale image" of Portland and where it comes from.
I just wonder about the "fairy tale image" of Portland and where it comes from.
I think somehow cities get this reputation but I don't know why. When I was in my 20's back in the 70's Denver was the Nirvana of the day. It is interesting how places get different reputations.
Your feelings are to be expected. I would be surprised if you didn't feel this way.
In my experience, to truly appreciate anything that is inherently emotional, like how you feel about where you live, you need to experience a situation that is much worse than what you have. Your entire life, your psychology has accepted the environment in Portland as normal. Its your default setting. Hence, there is no excessively positive emotion about where you live.
This mechanism of being in a worse situation works with every emotional thing in your life, whether it be with your relationships, money / job situation, personal freedom, etc...
Coming from Philadelphia, some of the things that people complain about from other cities comes off as absolutely ridiculous and coddled to me. Like when the woman from some hill town in North Carolina complains about the crime, or when someone from San Diego complains about the traffic. I know its nothing compared to here, and that I would view there problem / boring situation as something to be appreciated.
To most people coming from other cities, Portland is a huge improvement. Hence, they feel better than you about the city. However, their emotional response system (limbic) will, too, adjust with time. But the memories of where they lived before serve to remind them of how lucky they are, and keep their appreciation of the area alive. Unfortunately, you don't have that advantage.
But how to know the place is really bad that you live in is if you had it worse before, but you go back and within a month later or less, you still feel the same way about that place you left to go to the worse hell.. In the case Im describing, the problem isnt totally location, its when you lived with a more difficult parent vs a better parent to live with even if that location is worse or almost a draw to where your other parent is to where you have the better parent to deal with. I still long for another place even though Ive had difficulties in another place before where Im livng now...
I'm bullish on the Portland metro area, and the Pacific Northwest in general. I don't really care if the New York Times has stopped writing puff pieces about our fair city/region. There are so many positive long term indicators, I don't know where to start:
-We're not overbuilt or overly reliant on growth for growth's sake like much of the south/southwest;
-Hillsboro is on verge of becoming a vibrant 2nd economic engine for the metro area (and the business tax burden is still relatively small even after 66/67 passed);
-We have an awesome airport (lots of direct flights to Hawaii!!!) that isn't reliant on being a "major hub" like many of the other hurting metros (Minneapolis and Cincy with the Delta/NW merger, St. Louis w/AA, Cleveland with United/Continental, Pittsburgh w/US Air, etc. etc.);
-Our scenic wonders are not overcrowded (OK maybe Mult Falls on a sunny day), in fact many of them are still relatively undiscovered gems (Bandon Dunes, Wallowas, Hells Canyon, 90% of the coastline);
-Eventually the Columbia River Crossing mess will get sorted out, which will enhance the region's economy;
-MLS is coming here in 2011, and that will be huge community asset along with something to root for in the Blazers' off season;
-The wine industry is poised to explode here in the coming years/decades;
-OHSU and PSU are going gangbusters with capital campaigns and corporate connections (this is a huge deal to anyone who has noticed how much Seattle has benefitted by having UW in the city);
-Light rail will be extending to every section of town soon, and the streetcar will be looping through every section of downtown soon as well. This enhanced connectivity will be a great boost to the value of the entire transit system;
-Barring a major catastrophe, we're still an hour from the beach, an hour from the mountains, and a short walk from lots of other fun stuff to do
Yeah we have problems, some of which are unique to our area, but overall I think that we have as much "allure" as ever.
I totally understand this. We have a green container for yard debris, a blue container for metal, paper, plastics and cardboard, a yellow tub for glass, and a normal trashcan. But it is amazing how little actual trash we have left over after the sorting. The recycling is part of the weekly trash pickup.
When I visit my brother in Colorado, I ask where the cans go, where the cardboard goes, etc....I am always told "in the trash"!
I always feel guilty as heck just throwing everything away after years of recycling.
And yes, people do get fanatical about it here.
To clear things up, this is because Oregon (technically Metro) had the first machine that auto-sorted garbage and recyclables. But it was rather limited in it's capabilities, so some sorting still had to be done at the curb.
20 years later, new auto-sorters are much more efficient, but the money has not popped up to replace the one being used right now.
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), but sometimes I do have "excessively positive emotions" that I live where I live!
