Are there anyone here thinking of leaving Portland ? (Fairview: home, high school)

[rhodan653]

Originally Posted by skylar0201

Boulder wouldn't be too bad, but that is a bit smaller of a city than I would feel comfortable with. However it is close to Denver. How many miles from Denver is it?

Boulder is about 30 to 40 minutes from Denver depending on traffic. It is a lot smaller than Portland. I also find Boulder to have a bit of a pretentious aspect to it that I didn't care for. There are a lot of very wealthy people in Boulder who tend to display that wealth much more publically than people in Portland (of course, that can be said for almost any other city in the country compared to Portland which is a good thing). This was my observation strictly as a visitor, not a resident.

[PNW-type-gal]

I'm actually thinking about coming back - at least splitting a small condo with another couple and week/weekending spring and summers. Absolutely hate the winter weather, but I miss the city proper and oh how I miss that Farmer's Market on the Park Blocks.

[knrstz]

Originally Posted by skylar0201

Boulder wouldn't be too bad, but that is a bit smaller of a city than I would feel comfortable with. However it is close to Denver. How many miles from Denver is it?

I'm not sure on mileage but it's part of the Denver metro area. You never come across wide open spaces between the two. It's also one of the more scenic parts of the Denver metro area.

[Juxtaposition109]

I'm leaving Portland for a few reasons but the main reason is the lack of sunshine. I moved here from Las Vegas and I didn't think that the lack of sunshine would get to me but it has really gotten me down over the last year. I tried SAD lighting and going to the tanning bed once a week just to get some kind of sunshine but in the end it just isn't the same. Portland can be great if you don't mind the overcast days but if you think that the lack of sunshine might get you down then it's not the place for you.

[hoffdano]

Originally Posted by Spec 1

I'm thinking of leaving Portland, but moreso the Northwest in general than just this city. I think Portland is THE best city in the Northwest, but due to climate (specifcally: constant clouds & rain) and overall friendliness in interactions with others I'm wanting somewhere different.

Looking into Austin, TX now, as it's a "sister city" to Portland, being a liberal and progressive place (live and let live) but is still in Texas, so weather will be much better and will get more of that Southern hospitality I so dearly miss.

Don't overstate Austin's liberalness. Compared to the other big cities in Texas Austin has a younger and and more policially active vibe. But this isn't a city (nor state) that anyone who loves Portland politics will find hugely agreeable. Austin is a live and let live place. We have many liberal minded people here, but we also have a lean government and anti-tax mindset.

People are genuinely kind and friendly here. It is warm here and we have lots of sunshine. Austin isn't nearly as humid as Houston. It is particularly beautiful this week - 76 degrees, sunny, and 31% humidity. Our economy is a bit wounded but compared to most areas in the US we are in good shape.

[hoffdano]

Originally Posted by skylar0201

Austin would be great except for that nasty humidity they get down there. I was in San Antonio, TX for about a month and half fortunately, 20 yrs ago and a day didn't go by where the A/C wasn't cranked and you'd still be sweating--and all those nasty cecada's flying around everywhere they land in your hair, on your food, you name it LOL

However, the economy in TX is one of the best in the nation, and you can get a lot of land down there for not even a 1/4 the price tag you pay for it up here, so there are some bonuses of living there.

Hmm, what other sister-cities are there to Portland besides Austin when it comes to politics? Someone told me Berkeley, CA, but Berkeley is a lot smaller...I think Denver might be close too, and as far smaller cities, Iowa City would definitely be listed...that might be worth starting a new thread about

Hmm...that's pretty funny about the cicadas. You must have been in San Antonio at just the right time for an unusually high population. I have lived in central Texas since 1976 and cicadas just aren't that prevalent.

[Spec 1]

Originally Posted by hoffdano

Don't overstate Austin's liberalness. Compared to the other big cities in Texas Austin has a younger and and more policially active vibe. But this isn't a city (nor state) that anyone who loves Portland politics will find hugely agreeable. Austin is a live and let live place. We have many liberal minded people here, but we also have a lean government and anti-tax mindset.

People are genuinely kind and friendly here. It is warm here and we have lots of sunshine. Austin isn't nearly as humid as Houston. It is particularly beautiful this week - 76 degrees, sunny, and 31% humidity. Our economy is a bit wounded but compared to most areas in the US we are in good shape.

By liberal, I meant liberal for Texas. I in no way need to have liberalism forced down my throat like it is here in Portland/Seattle. I'm personally a very independent thinker and tend to have views on both sides of the aisle, so a 'live and let live' atmosphere coupled with a bit more conservative feel is perfect for me.

I visit in one week! Excited!

[AnotherPDXGuy]

I think about it more and more. I'm a native Oregonian, from down the Willamette Valley. I was excited to move back here after five years in Seattle. Moved back in 2003.

During that time, I feel like I've watched Portland become more and more self-conscious and full of itself (and I know this had started well before we arrived in 2003). People in Portland make a very big deal about Portland. It's like a whole city staring at itself in the mirror. Annoying, and the opposite of "laid back" which of course is what everyone says about this place. And I'm tired of being made to feel like a conservative around here, when I'm really a left-leaning moderate.

We're considering moving somewhere else in Oregon (no, not Bend), or leaving for something new. I think the saddest thing for me is the feeling that people who come here and fall in love these days aren't really falling in love with Oregon as it has ever been. They're falling in love with a veneer that has been put together by other recent arrivals. In my experience, people new to Portland have VERY little understanding of people in the rest of the state (i.e. Oregonians), very little interest in building that understanding, and are often downright chauvinistic towards them, dismissing them as hillbillies and such.

[rosecitywanderer]

Wow...the above poster has it spot-on. I will, however, provide my opinion.

My problem with Portland (and Oregon in general) is that it is WAY too left...almost Socialist left. The people who feel this way are utterly fanatical about it and I have been personally attacked by people because I don't agree with 95% of this city's plans and policies. They seem to be incapable of any sort of critical independent thinking and want the government to do EVERYTHING for them, the complete opposite of my beliefs. I was born and grew up here but every day I feel more and more like a visitor in my own town. Just as AnotherPDXGuy said, this isn't the real Oregon or the real Portland. It's a fake facade put on an increasingly ugly town to give the illusion of a Utopian paradise when the reality is just beneath the surface. Smoke and mirrors, folks...smoke and mirrors.

For now I have more than enough reasons to stay such as my good friends, regular food joints, and volunteering with the Southern Pacific 4449, a steam locomotive that makes her home nowhere else. But those things can only keep me here so long...staying in this liberal bastion is slowly killing me inside. I am slowly becoming a bitter, angry person because I am so miserable dealing with the B.S. politics here. I don't like talking about politics but it's so prevalent and so forced in Portland, there's no escaping it. And because I agree with practically none of it, I am made into a bad person. The feeling is enough to make you ill and it is having just that effect on me.

As soon as my parents retire, they will be leaving due to the insanely high taxes on retirement funds. I may hang around but it all depends on my career and what happens in my personal life. If my friends all bail out (which many are thinking about doing) and I get offered a job elsewhere, I'll probably leave, too. My dad is originally from Texas and I could honestly see myself living there.

[jsNOLA]

I moved here in June, 2009 with the intention of staying. Took a 10 month lease on an apartment in NE PDX. In 19 days I'm moving out of here and out of the state.

My major issue is with the weather. For over 5 months it has been gray and rainy (totally depressing), however, there are other factors which led me to become disenchanted with this city. I got rid of my car and use a bicycle and/or mass transit. This means that in addition to being exposed to the elements, I regularly get hit up by the panhandlers who clog up parts of downtown. A good percentage of the beggars are younger people who appear to have made a lifestyle choice to be on the streets. On Monday I was waiting for a Max train and had a very clean and well nourished looking teenager come up to me and ask for $20 so he could buy food. He was hurt when I started to laugh uncontrollably.

I don't think the neighborhoods surrounding the downtown area are anything special. It's nice that there is no sales tax, but I had to write a state income tax check covering six months of residency in Oregon that was more than 12 months in California.

Since 2005 I've lived in Tallahassee, Fl, Biloxi, Ms, New Orleans, La, San Luis Obispo, Morro Bay, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Ca, and Portland.
Portland is the only one of these I would not move to again.

Could go on but my other issues have been covered in previous postings. Other than the weather, I don't have these similar problems with Seattle, or Vancouver BC.

Likes - the food carts, no sales tax, the emphasis on bicycling, good venues for seeing films out of the mainstream, the fact that people here recycle not just waste, but also household items and clothing.