moving to portland (living, business, humid)

[EnricoV]

Originally Posted by pdxMIKEpdx

PLEASE

Do not for a second believe all the hype about Portland being a "free living hippie-radical, eco green communal living lush green groovin' oasis where everybody wears hemp clothes and gets high and dances in the rain" junk.

It is NOT "Portlandia". In truth, those elements do exist here, but not near as much as you are led to believe. Portland is just a small city.

I don't know. I passed a guy on the street yesterday (in SE, of course) with a purple goatee. It was a pretty "Portlandia" moment for me.

And everyone needs to just give it a rest about the weather. For god's sake look out the windows while watching the weather news from the rest of the country.

[Minervah]

Originally Posted by dejo44

Columbus is far enough from Lake Erie to escape the brunt of the lake effect as far as snow goes but Columbus is still pretty cloudy. I like Columbus better for livability. When I visit Cleveland it feels harsh and dank. Sadly, it is a true rust belt city in decline. But, I will always root for Cleveland and it has many good attributes, University Circle, Cleveland Clinic, Coventry area, the lakeshore, Ohio City, baseball, football, basketball, Rock n Roll hall of fame, and some very good restaurants. I think lakewood is a good comparison to a neighborhood in Portland. Lakewood has a very liberal gay friendly vibe.

Cloudiest Cities in US - Current Results

First I apologize to the OP for the slight thread hijack but I am planning to move to Cleveland in the near future and I wanted to know about the previous statement made by dejo44.

dejo44 thanks for your response.

[Nell Plotts]

You will find the price of homes in Cleveland metro at almost give-away levels compared to Portland. In that area it is all about neighborhood. Stay close to the U or Cleveland Clinic for marketability. I have a friend who retired from the Clinic, moved to Portland a year ago, whose house still hasn't sold. Read about the Cleveland schools to understand why.

[sueisme]

Originally Posted by dejo44

I am confused when well meaning people dog the Portland schools and steer me toward Beaverton. Am I missing something?

I suspect it's a case of well-meaning folks lumping all schools in an entire system together after seeing reports of a few failing schools. I think there are very good public schools in PPS -- as well as some very lousy ones (as you find in NYC and just about any city that's socioeconomically diverse, as well.) I also think there's the fear of how budget cuts will adversely affect city schools -- but I've read that the upscale, often-mentioned-as-being-one-of-the-best-systems-Lake-Oswego schools are facing closures over cuts.

And, PPS has to live up (or down?) to the Doonesbury comic strip from a few years ago, about the school funding debacle. How I love Garry Trudeau!

[sueisme]

Originally Posted by EnricoV

I don't know. I passed a guy on the street yesterday (in SE, of course) with a purple goatee. It was a pretty "Portlandia" moment for me.

Another Portlandia moment: I was almost hit by a bike guy. I half expected him to yell, "Go vegan!" at me.

Oh, how I wish that show was funnier.

[skylar0201]

Originally Posted by Ryant

True, not everyone is radical/hippie. But more so then I've seen anywhere else...

Oh yeah? You haven't been around the country then.

Try Berkeley, CA
or Iowa City, IA
or Boulder, CO
or upstate NY

and this is just a start.

[Or3g0n]

First of all, calm down on weather. Its BEAUTIFUL here. Ingore the 8 months of gloom and dark preception. We have a mix of suns and clouds with sunny summer. We don't get lots of RAIN. But we get lots of mist, drizzle, and showers. Look up our weather forecast. Its showers, showers, few showers, etc. Its rarely stating "rain", its always scattered showers. Its off and on for a long time. We have no winter. We have 6 months of spring time, temperature slooooowly rising up from near 50 in middle of dead winter to wonderful 70 in late spring. I know you are coming from ohio, hot, humid summer,and cold, snowy winters. We don't get both of that, if we do, its only what.. 3 days out of whole year. We see snow during each other year. Our summer is dry, sunny, sometimes it is light overcast in morning then gives away to noon sun until sunset. Snow, heavy rain, thunderstorm is so rare here. its like hawaii in term of cloud cover, preciptation, mix of sun with showers and mild winter, except its cool here

[skylar0201]

Originally Posted by Or3g0n

First of all, calm down on weather. Its BEAUTIFUL here. Ingore the 8 months of gloom and dark preception. We have a mix of suns and clouds with sunny summer. We don't get lots of RAIN. But we get lots of mist, drizzle, and showers. Look up our weather forecast. Its showers, showers, few showers, etc. Its rarely stating "rain", its always scattered showers. Its off and on for a long time. We have no winter. We have 6 months of spring time, temperature slooooowly rising up from near 50 in middle of dead winter to wonderful 70 in late spring. I know you are coming from ohio, hot, humid summer,and cold, snowy winters. We don't get both of that, if we do, its only what.. 3 days out of whole year. We see snow during each other year. Our summer is dry, sunny, sometimes it is light overcast in morning then gives away to noon sun until sunset. Snow, heavy rain, thunderstorm is so rare here. its like hawaii in term of cloud cover, preciptation, mix of sun with showers and mild winter, except its cool here

I totally agree with your comment here. When people complain about the weather here, that should not be their main complaint. The economy should--and even before the recession. Other states are shedding their 10% unemployment levels; yet we're still mired above 10% for going on over 50 consecutive months. I heard once that Oregon *always* has a bad economy, and has since the 1960's, except for the dot-com boom of the early 90's. Make sure you have a good, stable, well-paying job here first and foremost, and then think about the weather.

[Portlandboundmoms]

Can another "looking to move there" person jump in? My partner and I are planning to come to Portland. It is actually a move her company has asked her to make, so that hurdle is one we don't have to make, luckily.

We are attracted by the liberal politics/green sensibility and we hope tolerance, that we have heard about the City. We are actually thrilled to be near a city at all again as we have been in a very rural setting for the past 8 years.

We are two moms with two elementary age boys, so our first priority is living near good schools. But next for us is a tolerant community where folks are involved in their community life. We'd like to be near the City so we can bike down to the river, check out downtown on weekends, that sort of thing. We hear SE a lot, does anyone have an opinion? Oh yeah, we love rain!

[Yankeemama]

I would recommend the Hollywood area where I see more than the average amount of same-sex couples with children. My kids' school has a few open lesbian couples that are quite visible in the parents' groups but I think the Beverly Cleary School (Hollywood feeds into it) has more gay parents. I am not an expert though and maybe sueisme on this forum can direct you in regards to Sellwood which is in SE. Good luck.