Young man needs help on decision to move to portland (Gresham: crime, find a job)

[issie2215]

i apologize for the bad grammar and punctuation in advance i am a African america gay male who lives in oklahoma one day a friend told me about portland so i started looking at everything i could find on blogs about portland and i liked what i found out so that's what brings me here i am getting the money together for my big move and i only have a 11 questions.

1. As a majority are the people of portland friendly?

2. is portland Diverse?

3.is the cost of living high?

4. is it hard to find a job?

5. is there good pubic transportation systems? ( im mainly wondering about the city bus system)

6. major public events?

7. cool hangouts?

8. being gay in portland and LBGT events/support in portland?

9.best places to go shopping?

10. dangerous places to stay away from

11. is portland big on religion

that's all i could think of on the fly, please feel free to answer and if i post any move question i would greatly appreciate more answers from you all. Thank you!

[doggiemama]

Hi, issie2215--

I'll give your questions a shot. See below.

Originally Posted by issie2215

i apologize for the bad grammar and punctuation in advance i am a African america gay male who lives in oklahoma one day a friend told me about portland so i started looking at everything i could find on blogs about portland and i liked what i found out so that's what brings me here i am getting the money together for my big move and i only have a 11 questions.

1. As a majority are the people of portland friendly?

Yes, folks in Portland are generally friendly. They're not loud, slap you on the back friendly, but most people are kind to their fellow human beings here.

2. is portland Diverse?

Not really. 76% White, 7% Asian, 6.3% Black or African-American, 1% Native American, .5% Pacific Islander. (from 2010 census)

3.is the cost of living high?

Yes, coming from Oklahoma. I put Tulsa into a cost of living calculator and people need to earn about 35% more in Portland to keep the same standard of living. If you make 35,000 a year in Tulsa, you would need to make about 47,000 a year here to maintain the same lifestyle.

4. is it hard to find a job?

It can be. It depends on what you are willing to do. Is it hard to find the perfect job? Yes. But there are jobs out there.

5. is there good pubic transportation systems? ( im mainly wondering about the city bus system)

Yes.

6. major public events?

Yes.

7. cool hangouts?

Yes.

8. being gay in portland and LBGT events/support in portland?

I'm not gay, but from what I've seen and heard, Totally ok and Yes.

9.best places to go shopping?

That varies but there are plenty of places. Things will cost more here than in Oklahoma. For instance, coming from Texas, food prices were a bit of a shock to me.

10. dangerous places to stay away from

Not very many in Portland. I'll let other folks field this one.

11. is portland big on religion

You can find just about any type of place of worship you would like here, but short answer is no one is pushy about how or if you worship. You may have someone hand you a pamphlet but they are nice and not judgmental. My first day living in Tennessee, next door neighbors knocked on my door to ask what church I belong to and if I would go to church with them on Sunday. I'm 99% sure that will not happen here. People live and let live. More likely, someone will knock on your door and ask you to vote a certain way or sign a petition.

that's all i could think of on the fly, please feel free to answer and if i post any move question i would greatly appreciate more answers from you all. Thank you!

You seem sincere and I truly hope you find what you are looking for. Roommates would be a great idea to start out. Good luck, Issie!

[rass33]

Originally Posted by issie2215

i apologize for the bad grammar and punctuation in advance i am a African america gay male who lives in oklahoma one day a friend told me about portland so i started looking at everything i could find on blogs about portland and i liked what i found out so that's what brings me here i am getting the money together for my big move and i only have a 11 questions.

1. As a majority are the people of portland friendly?

2. is portland Diverse?

3.is the cost of living high?

4. is it hard to find a job?

5. is there good pubic transportation systems? ( im mainly wondering about the city bus system)

6. major public events?

7. cool hangouts?

8. being gay in portland and LBGT events/support in portland?

9.best places to go shopping?

10. dangerous places to stay away from

11. is portland big on religion

that's all i could think of on the fly, please feel free to answer and if i post any move question i would greatly appreciate more answers from you all. Thank you!

1. People in Portland are ok. They're more reserved, most are friendly but they don't go out of their way to show it.

2. Nope. People who were born and raised in Oregon will tell you Portland is diverse but most never even traveled east of the Rockies where real diversity can be found. I'm a black guy from Chicago so Portland is not really diverse to me. Portland is mostly white. Hispanics and Asians make up the largest minority groups with a small community of blacks.

3. Yeah its kinda expensive. I'm paying $800 for a one bedroom and I live in outer SE Portland.

4. Yeah you can find a job here but it may not be exactly what you looking for but if you're planning on living here you need a gig to pay the bills.

5. Transportation is kinda slow to me but people here in Portland seem to like it.

6. I don't know of any major events but the festivals in the summertime are pretty cool.

7. Portland has great bars to hang out at and if you like the strip club scene you're going to be in heaven or hell based on who's judging you.

8. Being gay in Portland will not be a problem for you because you wont be alone. In fact people here support gay rights causes more than they do causes centered around race or ethnicity.

9. Clackamas Town Center, Pearl District. Most people will tell you to stay away from Lloyd Center but I never had any problems there.

10. Portland is pretty safe dude. 122nd around Powell, certain parts of N/NE and out towards Gresham are really the only hot spots other than that Portland is like Sesame Street no worries.

11. Not really.

[oldtintype]

Are people still saying to stay away from Lloyd Center? I've lived here 14 years now and have never been told that. But, maybe I'm not hanging with the right "scared of everything but myself" crowd. Actually I think part of the problem is that some people have lived in the Portland metro for 10-30 years but haven't actually visited the areas in the last 10 years they're claiming are so "bad." There's nothing wrong with Lloyd Center.

[bler144]

Originally Posted by issie2215

1. As a majority are the people of portland friendly?
2. is portland Diverse?
3.is the cost of living high?
4. is it hard to find a job?
5. is there good pubic transportation systems? ( im mainly wondering about the city bus system)
6. major public events?
7. cool hangouts?
8. being gay in portland and LBGT events/support in portland?
9.best places to go shopping?
10. dangerous places to stay away from
11. is portland big on religion

1) Somewhere in the middle
2) Compared to what? It's moderately diverse, though who you see depends on where you are. Southeast/82nd has higher representation in east Asian groups, westside (Intel) has a broad spectrum if east and south Asians, and African-Americans have been highly present in NoPo, though gentrification is making a lot of those neighborhoods increasingly white. Portland, Oregon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
3) For a big city, it's not that high, though still high compared to what a lot of industries pay
4) depends on your field, really.
5) Depends. Routes to the city center are pretty good, but parts of the periphery are underserved.
6) of course - question is are there any to your taste
7) This is the land of hipsters - everything cool is uncool, and vice versa.
8) Portland is pretty gay
9) hard to answer - depends on what you're buying and where you live
10) The highest crime areas here involve property theft and auto break-ins and public disturbance. Can't think of anywhere I'd fear for my life.
11) Everyone will say no, but it depends on where you live in the city. Get far enough east and there's a fair amount of not just religion, but evangelicals. In any case, if you're wanting to join a church, there's a wide swath to choose from, but if you're trying to avoid religion on the whole it won't be in your face most of the time.

[oldtintype]

Speaking of religion, I was at the Keen garage in the Pearl yesterday and saw several Mennonite women in there buying sandals. It really stood out.

[Steve Pickering]

Portland is maybe the most diverse city in Oregon.

[bler144]

Originally Posted by Steve Pickering

Portland is maybe the most diverse city in Oregon.

A fairly safe pronouncement, though OR isn't exactly the most diverse state. One exception being that Oregon is 10th in Native American/Alaskan population, and the tribes are fairly active culturally.

Particularly for anyone coming from the east (13 of the top 14 states are in the west), that will probably be noticeable, though less so than in Alaska/NM/AZ.

[Steve Pickering]

I don't know a lot of blacks who consider anywhere in the west diverse. Doesn't mean there aren't any, it just means I don't know any. But at the same time I don't know any who are not as happy here as they would be anywhere else.