Vermonter's help! Is Eugene/Portland, OR similar to Burlington and VT over all? (Newport: sales, rental market)

[quickdraw]

I've visited Portland and loved it, it is one of the few places I've vacationed where I was somewhat jealous of the locals who got to live there.

Portland is more of a typical metro area than Burlington though. A huge part of the area is made up of southern californians who fled their homes because of the large influx of mexicans and crime. They set up shop up there and brought their values with them. Your house and what you drive are still a big deal. There's definitely more of a keeping up with the Joneses feel, maybe not so much in the city, but the metro area. Not nearly as bad as most of the country, but more than Burlington.
Plenty of BMWs and Lexus in Portland, compared to our supply of Subarus and Honda CRVs.

Still, if I was younger, I'd love to live in Portland for a while. One thing I noticed last time I was there
was how many dogs were around and the number of stores that let you bring them in.

[Champ le monstre du lac]

Portland is a river city, and although Portland is pretty in parts, it has that gritty river city industrial element to it. Burlington has a much prettier setting on the lake. Both have excellent mountain views. As explained by another poster, Burlington is full of old infrastructure with not much desirable selection in the way of housing unless you make buco money (most of New England is like that). Portland, OR has much better housing selection whether it be a modern urban condo or a restored old bungalow house in a leafy neighborhood. Portland is alaso expensive but I feel as far as renting or home ownership is concerned you get a much better value and slection there.

Both cities have simalar politics, philosophies, lots farmers markets, lots of hippies. Burlington is like an overgrown small town, yet it acts bigger than it really is. It has a city population of around 40,000 but it has more to do than some cities 10 times it's size. Ironicly Portland, OR is a VERY overgrown small town. Sure it's somewhat of a big city with about 500,000 inhabitants but there is a small town mentality that permeates the atmosphere in Portland. Portland is also big enough to have an excellent Mass transit system and a very nice airport.

What I like about Burlington if you get bored with it, Montreal (fabulous cosmopolitan city) is only 90 minutes away, and Boston is about 3 hours. In Portland you do have Seattle 3 hours to the north, but not the contrast of the other 2 cities mentioned earlier as Seattle has a very simalar character to Portland, just bigger, more entrepreneuial, better skyline, and a more scenic setting on the water (the Lakes and Puget Sound).

Eugene, OR did not impress me at all. To me it seemed like a an overgrown Rutland. A mediocre college city crawling with hippies.

[RunawayJim]

Another NW city to consider is Bellingham, WA. It's about twice the size of Burlington in population, but it has that small town/city feel to it with all the amenities of Burlington. It's got the mountain views and the water. It's got the quaint Fairhaven section and the busy downtown area. It's also a very green city, like Burlington. If I were to ever move to the NW, Bellingham would be at the top of my list. Due to my family being here in New England, that's not gonna happen though. It's about 2 hours north of Seattle, which is also a pretty cool city, though much much larger.

I haven't really heard too many great things about most of the smaller cities in the NW.

[Champ le monstre du lac]

Originally Posted by RunawayJim

Another NW city to consider is Bellingham, WA. It's about twice the size of Burlington in population, but it has that small town/city feel to it with all the amenities of Burlington. It's got the mountain views and the water. It's got the quaint Fairhaven section and the busy downtown area. It's also a very green city, like Burlington. If I were to ever move to the NW, Bellingham would be at the top of my list. Due to my family being here in New England, that's not gonna happen though. It's about 2 hours north of Seattle, which is also a pretty cool city, though much much larger.

I haven't really heard too many great things about most of the smaller cities in the NW.

I like Bellingham, and agree that would be a good match for Burlington. Also Bellingham is a college town with the WWU campus, it is close to the San Juan Islands (one of the most beautiful spots in the NW), and only an hour from Vancouver, BC which is an awesome city. Skiing at Mt. Baker is also just up the road. And I would bet that it's cost of living is considerably lower than Portland or Seattle.

[beenhereandthere]

Burlington reminded me a lot more, of Seattle/Tacoma, than it did Portland.

[Not2bforgot10]

Thank you everyone. At this time, Portland, OR is still in the "mix." I'm considering Burlington, Portland, and Eugene.

I am wanting to hear a little bit more about Eugene... and particularly how it compares to these other cities, especially Burlington.

Also, some people mentioned Bellingham, WA is like Burlington... Burlington knocked my socks off, and so I'd like to find another city like it that's green, political, active, progressive, educated, smart, health conscious, liberal, beauty (trees/water) that's maybe a little larger (NO larger than 120K).

Lets hear more about the cities listed and any other smaller cities that are like Burlington!

PS- Burlington was my first "home" away from home... the first time I really felt comfortable, happy, etc. I thrived in Burlington. I am just ready to expand.

Thanks =)

[Not2bforgot10]

Thank you guys for possibly opening up my mind to parts of WA, too... Here's what I'm looking for:

40K and 125K on the WEST COAST (CA, OR, and WA) city almost identical to Burlington?

ie, progressive, liberal, green, beauty, educated, smart, active, health conscious, organic, political, trees/water, and once again, progressive!

I will be looking for somewhere that has ample opportunities for kayaking, poetry slams, art/music, and nonprofit human services programs.

NOTE: The city must have low humidity and heat (Comparable to Burlington) and not super SUNNY for more than 65% of the time, ie: CA.

Burlington, VT (Downtown, Church St):

http://http//yfrog.com/4bburlingtonvtchurchstraij (broken link)



http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/9991/burlingtonvtchurchstbor.jpg (broken link)

Thanks!

[looking4home]

Why don't you just move to Burlington?

[Not2bforgot10]

I lived there for 4 years, and I would like to move somewhere new that has a public transit that I can learn, that's slightly larger (Burlington's pop is 38K) and that has poetry slam competitions.

Burlington has a bus system, but that's it. I would like to have assess to light rails, trolley's, etc. I would take value in learning this stuff in a city that has a multidisciplinary system.

I would also like to be able to go to poetry slams. Burlington does not have any poetry slam competitions. They have one place (Radio Bean) that does poetry, but it's not a slam, and it's not strictly poetry... it's "open mic." I need to be able to express myself, and I enjoy slams quiet a bit.

I also enjoy museums... Burlington does not have any major awesome museums

Lastly, a little larger population might be nice... although Burlington wasn't horrible. I enjoyed the population; I just wouldn't mind going larger. Also, do you -- or anyone, know whether the populations provided on different sites include the COLLEGE population? ie, Burlington is "38,000;" is this with or without the college body?

So yeah, I am looking for a city with those extra bonuses that's just like Burlington. Burlington honestly would be perfect if it had the different transportation options (I really want to learn/teach myself and rely solely on it) and if it had poetry slams...

Hope this helps!

[68vette]

I saw that you crossed Boulder off your list, but the Pearl Street mall is just about identical to the Church Street Marketplace. I believe the same planner that layed out that area of Boulder did Burlington as well. I'm not sure if it's just a coincidence, but many of the streets in the two cities also share the same name. If you love Burlington or Vermont for that matter, Colorado should be high on your list. Many of the things Vermont prides itself on are also what Colorado prides itself on, such as quality of life and health. It's usually ranked as the best state in the country to live in.
The Marketplace is really what makes Burlington. If this type of layout (Pedestrian mall) is what you desire you can also check out places like, the Downtown Mall in Charlottesville, Virginia; Ann Arbor, Michigan; Oak Park, Illinois; the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, California; the Buffalo Place Main Street Pedestrian Mall in Buffalo, New York; Ithaca Commons in Ithaca, New York; St. Charles, Missouri; Salem, Massachusetts; Ped Mall in Iowa City, Iowa; Lincoln Road in Miami Beach, Florida; the Fulton Mall in Fresno, California; the 16th Street Mall in Denver, Colorado; State Street in Madison, Wisconsin; Nicollet Mall in Minneapolis, Minnesota; The Grove in Los Angeles, California; Fort Street Mall in Honolulu, Hawaii; City Center in Oakland, California; Walnut Street in Des Moines, Iowa, Downtown Crossing and Faneuil Hall/Quincy Market in Boston; Washington Street Mall in Cape May, New Jersey; The Downtown Cumberland Mall in Cumberland, Maryland;and many others. Typically these downtown pedestrian malls were three or four linear blocks simply blocked off to private street traffic, with fountains, benches, sittable planters, bollards, playgrounds, interfaces to public transit and other amenities installed to attract shoppers. There are at least 75 pedestrian mall in the country. You can do a google search for pedestrian malls to pull many of them up. They are in large cities and small.