Good Times Coming for Portland (Beaverton, Beaver: house, to buy, incomes)

[ccjarider]

Originally Posted by SyraBrian

I'm guessing that the next wave of college grads to hit Portland will consist mostly of disaffected liberal college graduates from places like Madison and Austin who are getting annoyed about always being on the losing side of elections.

I know of one University of Texas grad from Austin who said she'd move to Portland if Greg Abbott became governor and light rail got voted down. She arrived in Portland last week.

Kind of hope you are wrong in this prediction. I think you are.
You assume politics is a major driver in many folks life decisions. It isn't.

People say silly things. remember certain actors saying things like he/she will "leave the country" if so and so is elected. They don't.

[eric351982]

Originally Posted by Nell Plotts

With respect to high school graduation rates I think the following factors come in to play:

3. Rural and forest communities are loosing population, some can barely keep their schools open let alone pay for police. For the life of me I don't know how they can trace the graduation rate for families who leave.

What is a "forest community?" Lived here all my life and I've never heard that term used before.

As for tracking graduation dates, wouldn't they track people who move at the next school they attend?

[Nell Plotts]

A forest community is dependent on sawmills. Some times they are real towns such as Trouble in Timber Town: Decades after an industry downfall, towns still grapple with what's next , often they are a cluster of homes just off the highway with log trucks parked in back.

[eric351982]

I read test wrong. I get it: people who live in the forest.

Wouldn't all the rural people and stuff apply to other states as well?

[Nell Plotts]

There are rural agricultural communities. Their economic situation is different than wood products/forest communities. Many of those farming communities in Oregon are doing fine. It is the ones in California that are impacted by the drought that are devastated.

For example: the children of migrant workers have educational special funding and tracking from the Department of Agriculture. Because those kids are moved from teacher to teacher they deserve all that attention.

In many ways those forest products related communities are little different from those in Appalachia. The accent is different, they haven't been in poverty as long, but their economic condition is similar.

[SyraBrian]

Originally Posted by ccjarider

Kind of hope you are wrong in this prediction. I think you are.
You assume politics is a major driver in many folks life decisions. It isn't.

People say silly things. remember certain actors saying things like he/she will "leave the country" if so and so is elected. They don't.

The person in question backed up her words. She makes a good living as a writer so you're not going to have to worry about your tax dollars supporting her or anything like that.

[bler144]

Originally Posted by SyraBrian

The person in question backed up her words. She makes a good living as a writer so you're not going to have to worry about your tax dollars supporting her or anything like that.

At the level of anecdote it's possible, but as an actual trend it's atypical. Your friend is in the minority of people with a firm political conviction, economic flexibility in her work, and seemingly relatively weak family/social ties.

In many ways I'd love to move away from Portland, but at this stage in my life it's much more complicated than just deciding some other place sounds appealing because of X, Y, or Z.

[SyraBrian]

Originally Posted by bler144

At the level of anecdote it's possible, but as an actual trend it's atypical. Your friend is in the minority of people with a firm political conviction, economic flexibility in her work, and seemingly relatively weak family/social ties.

In many ways I'd love to move away from Portland, but at this stage in my life it's much more complicated than just deciding some other place sounds appealing because of X, Y, or Z.

I don't actually know her. Every once in a while, I search "moving to Portland" on Twitter and try to determine the kind of folks headed your way.

[bler144]

Originally Posted by SyraBrian

I don't actually know her. Every once in a while, I search "moving to Portland" on Twitter and try to determine the kind of folks headed your way.

I know a guy who's seen the Loch Ness monster, fwiw.

If it's not someone you actually know, it's hard to comment on whether anything they post on a forum about their personal experience is likely to be true, or just someone who's angry enough to say "I'm going to do it for real this time!" while drunk and raging on the internet.

[urbanlife78]

Originally Posted by bler144

I know a guy who's seen the Loch Ness monster, fwiw.

If it's not someone you actually know, it's hard to comment on whether anything they post on a forum about their personal experience is likely to be true, or just someone who's angry enough to say "I'm going to do it for real this time!" while drunk and raging on the internet.

True, all we can really do is look at migration numbers.