'Don't move to Portland, Oregon' movement aims to de-hype the over-hype (transplants, 2015)

[Raisinet]

Filed Under: You Can't Make This Stuff Up.

'Don't move to Portland, Oregon' movement aims to de-hype the over-hype | Local & Regional | KATU.com - Portland News, Sports, Traffic Weather and Breaking News - Portland, Oregon

http://www.dontmovetoportlandoregon.com/

[CanuckInPortland]

This has been going on since the James G. Blaine Society and Tom McCall's famous quote(and probably before). It's really not a new thing and it won't stop many people from moving here(it never has).

[VTHokieFan]

Originally Posted by CanuckInPortland

This has been going on since the James G. Blaine Society and Tom McCall's famous quote(and probably before). It's really not a new thing and it won't stop many people from moving here(it never has).

What IS new is the spread between wage growth and the cost of living.

[urbanlife78]

This has been going on for a long, long time. It is kind of a running joke in a sense, my mom is visiting friends back east and even though it was sunny and warm here this week I told her to say it was cold and rainy....we can't have people thinking we have nice weather here or they might want to move here.

[Yankeemama]

I thought the transplants in the 90's would get scared when they felt their first earthquake and SF would go back to being affordable. Nah. I was wrong. Just like the SF Bay Area...Portland is never going to be " cheap" ever again. I watched this city change drastically in five years so I can imagine what will happen during the next five! It's hard to accept but there are people all over the country that can work remotely and are just trying to find a place to live that meets their lifestyle criteria, including a good airport. It is a free country and the wealthier and upper incone earners are choosing Portland. There is only so much room so the lower middle income to lower income families are going to have to live outside the city of Portland. The word is out and just like SF and Seattle... Portland is next to becoming a boutique city.

[Minervah]

Originally Posted by Yankeemama

I thought the transplants in the 90's would get scared when they felt their first earthquake and SF would go back to being affordable. Nah. I was wrong. Just like the SF Bay Area...Portland is never going to be " cheap" ever again. I watched this city change drastically in five years so I can imagine what will happen during the next five! It's hard to accept but there are people all over the country that can work remotely and are just trying to find a place to live that meets their lifestyle criteria, including a good airport. It is a free country and the wealthier and upper incone earners are choosing Portland. There is only so much room so the lower middle income to lower income families are going to have to live outside the city of Portland. The word is out and just like SF and Seattle... Portland is next to becoming a boutique city.

Very thoughtful post.

I watched Portland change in the 36 years I lived there. I wouldn't move back even if I could afford to because it's no longer the city I moved to all those years ago and it's not the type of city in which I want to live today. But that's okay. That's not meant to be a negative. Plenty of people wouldn't want to live where I live now either. If Portland suits the people who live there now that's fine.

Everyone has to find their place. Those who live in any city eventually make it what they want it to be. Sometimes that means very drastic changes very quickly. I think that's a big reason why people who have been living in a city for awhile have a difficult time adjusting. Those more recent transplants don't because they haven't experienced what the long(er) time residents have. You can't miss what you never had.

I would only caution anyone planning to move anywhere to spend as much time as possible to thoroughly investigate a possible relocation destination not by hype and not as a tourist but as a real honest-to-goodness prospective resident to get a good idea of what the place is like. By all means, visit first.

I just witnessed too many new transplants to Portland with visions of "Portlandia" having to turn back after realizing they had gotten their information about the city by watching make-believe TV when they had thought they were watching a reality show.

[urbanlife78]

Originally Posted by Minervah

I just witnessed too many new transplants to Portland with visions of "Portlandia" having to turn back after realizing they had gotten their information about the city by watching make-believe TV when they had thought they were watching a reality show.

NYC was the same way, people would get this misconception of what living in NYC would be like from TV shows, expecting these cool grand old apartments, then they find out for their price range all they can rent is a single room with a closet that has been converted into a bathroom and a hot plate and mini fridge as an excuse for a kitchen.

I personally am not a fan of Portlandia, I think it is a dumb show that portrays Portland how people in LA and Hollywood see Portland.

[Nell Plotts]

I read a report that the State is lending a technology company money on the promise that they hire 200 employees here. If they do that by a date certain they won't need to re-pay the loan. California startup GuideSpark will expand in Portland, add 200-plus jobs | OregonLive.com

Let's assume that of the 200 half are new residents. 100 new employed residents increases our population by about 250. Then there is growth in the service and construction workforce as a result. Technology employees typically make above the median income and the housing crunch only gets worse for ordinary wage earners.

My DD & family live in the Silicon Valley. The Bay area is full up, their housing costs make ours look like campsite rentals.

[Yankeemama]

Originally Posted by Minervah

Very thoughtful post.

I watched Portland change in the 36 years I lived there. I wouldn't move back even if I could afford to because it's no longer the city I moved to all those years ago and it's not the type of city in which I want to live today. But that's okay. That's not meant to be a negative. Plenty of people wouldn't want to live where I live now either. If Portland suits the people who live there now that's fine.

Everyone has to find their place. Those who live in any city eventually make it what they want it to be. Sometimes that means very drastic changes very quickly. I think that's a big reason why people who have been living in a city for awhile have a difficult time adjusting. Those more recent transplants don't because they haven't experienced what the long(er) time residents have. You can't miss what you never had.

I would only caution anyone planning to move anywhere to spend as much time as possible to thoroughly investigate a possible relocation destination not by hype and not as a tourist but as a real honest-to-goodness prospective resident to get a good idea of what the place is like. By all means, visit first.

I just witnessed too many new transplants to Portland with visions of "Portlandia" having to turn back after realizing they had gotten their information about the city by watching make-believe TV when they had thought they were watching a reality show.

Thanks, Minervah! Just an example of the change is that the newer, wealthier residents at my kids' school never follow the drop off/ pick up policy at the school. When we first arrived at the school in 2010 there were mostly families that bought in the hood maybe 10-15 years earlier so the homes were pretty affordable and you saw a lot of educated but not wealthy families. That has changed because the ave price of a home in the hood is way more than double the ave Portland home so it's a different demographic moving in. I curiously noted the last few years at the school the absence of parking and driving courtesy. Lots of entitlement. This happened to so many hoods in SF too! I could not have foreseen how trendy and posh Portland would start becoming in the five years that I lived there. My kids schools out here in the burbs are but only more etnically, religiously, and racially diverse but socio-economically diverse as well. Kind of funny that one has to move "out to the burbs" for what used to be an "urban" environment. I would recommend that new transplants rent first because it takes time to explore an area and the Portland quadrants vary quite a bit, not to mention the suburbs and surrounding cities.

[VelouriaPDX]

I spent some time on NW 23rd last week with some visitors we were hosting. It's been quite some time since I just browsed over there and had a meal. I noticed many, many more Mercedes and Jaguars, sullen fancy ladies with dogs in bags, and some employees of a long time boutique bemoaning the increased rent. It's always been one of the fancier streets to spend time on, but the change was striking.