Portland exit notes (how much, transfer to, law)

[Cinema Cat]

Originally Posted by ca_north

they're already talking about major water projects to "meet growing needs." ... People never seem to learn.

Sound like Oregon has learned.

California has plenty of water. "Drought" does not mean a lack of water. It means a lack of available water to meet current demands.

The reason California has a drought is because the state hasn't built a major water project -- no new damns -- since the 1970s. (A desalination plant finally went online in San Diego, pushed through by the drought -- but environmentalists had held it up for years.)

Southern California expects major rains this winter, but all that water will be wasted -- flushed into the ocean. We don't have the damns to capture all that water. We rely on melting snowcaps from up North, sent South via aqueducts.

We need new damns in the South -- new "major water projects" to "meet growing needs." If we did that, we'd be fine with water. But environmentalists keep blocking new damns.

Thanks to environmentalists, we're even flushing fresh water into the ocean to protect the Delta Smelt fish from extinction: In drought-stricken California, court rules smelt fish get water | Reuters

California's drought is the result of "green" policies.

If they built new "major water projects" in Oregon, then Oregon will avoid future drought.

[texasdiver]

Originally Posted by Cinema Cat

Sound like Oregon has learned.

California has plenty of water. "Drought" does not mean a lack of water. It means a lack of available water to meet current demands.

The reason California has a drought is because the state hasn't built a major water project -- no new damns -- since the 1970s. (A desalination plant finally went online in San Diego, pushed through by the drought -- but environmentalists had held it up for years.)

Southern California expects major rains this winter, but all that water will be wasted -- flushed into the ocean. We don't have the damns to capture all that water. We rely on melting snowcaps from up North, sent South via aqueducts.

We need new damns in the South -- new "major water projects" to "meet growing needs." If we did that, we'd be fine with water. But environmentalists keep blocking new damns.

Thanks to environmentalists, we're even flushing fresh water into the ocean to protect the Delta Smelt fish from extinction: In drought-stricken California, court rules smelt fish get water | Reuters

California's drought is the result of "green" policies.

If they built new "major water projects" in Oregon, then Oregon will avoid future drought.

Actually drought does mean lack of rainfall. The technical definition of a drought is a prolonged period of below normal rainfall. It is all relative to what is normal for an area. Western Oregon can be in drought and still get 10x what would be normal rainfall for Las Vegas.

Building dams and other water projects does not prevent drought, it just mitigates the human effects of drought. The landscape and environment will still be just as dry whether or not you build dams.

[NWGirl74]

Originally Posted by SyraBrian

Portland is an OKCupid town. Online Portlanders have much more mating potential than the people you actually come across walking around.

I have absolutely no luck with OKCupid. If my life depended on getting a message from someone, I'd be screwed. I'm no "10" but I'm not a hideous 300 lb troll, either.

Originally Posted by VelouriaPDX

I will offer my perspective as a woman in my mid-thirties. I've become increasingly careful about how friendly I am towards men I don't know because I'm tired of being hit on especially when it happens when I'm with my kids, sometimes in really creepy ways. I'd say for every nine men that will just return my smile and hello, there is always 1/10 that will be a creep about it and it's not worth it to me anymore to smile at everyone.

As a woman in my early 40's, my experience over the last few years is that if I try to make eye contact and smile at or nod hello to a man, 9 times out of 10, he will look at anything but me or he will look panic stricken, like I'm about to attack him.

It's exhausting, and sad, to try to be friendly around here.

Originally Posted by Mini-apple-less

They still seem to only want a "specific type".

Yep. Read enough profiles and it doesn't take long for them to all sound the same. Though, I'm sure men feel the same way when it comes to reading ours.

Originally Posted by CanuckInPortland

That's true--though I think we can all agree that people with WA plates are the worst drivers in Oregon. Even worse than those Californians coming up I-5.

Hey! I resemble that remark!

[Tulippsy]

Every single thing on the OP's list of negatives is true of a number of other places. In Fort Lauderdale, the housing is insane, the traffic is horrific, the weather mostly awful except for 4 months in the winter, there are no jobs but service jobs, and all my single friends male and female, complain that they can't get a date. See, underneath we're all the same!

[Port Pitt Ash]

Originally Posted by pdxMIKEpdx

What stands out is that there are a lot of whiny unhappy people in this part of the world, and it seems that quite a few of them recently moved here from somewhere else expecting something unrealistic...

I always saw it as a place many of the kids who got picked on at school moved to and in turn picked on lesser nerds.

Expecting something unrealistic...CD posters seem to be guilty of this when it comes to many cities. Over hyped & under delivered is practically the M.O.

Portland isn't one of them oddly. Hype from other sources is like Portlandia.

Worked with a guy who was a right wing Christian and he always asked about Portland and said he was going to move there because he heard it was a great place. That's what gets me when it comes to hype. People not taking into account that all places are not for everybody.

Seattle had its hype phase. Now it's Portland's turn.

[karlsch]

As if greedy landlords with exorbitant rents, no jobs, gang violence, unfriendly people, massive earthquakes, giant tsunamis, winter depression, drought, too much rain, traffic jams, frightening homeless people, poisonous asbestos, mass shooters, a bad economy, and a paucity of attractive mates both male and female weren't enough to make you want to leave Oregon, now there's THE PLAGUE: Oregon girl with bubonic plague moved out of intensive care

[Port Pitt Ash]

Originally Posted by karlsch

As if greedy landlords with exorbitant rents, no jobs, gang violence, unfriendly people, massive earthquakes, giant tsunamis, winter depression, drought, too much rain, traffic jams, frightening homeless people, poisonous asbestos, mass shooters, a bad economy, and a paucity of attractive mates both male and female weren't enough to make you want to leave Oregon, now there's THE PLAGUE

You forgot to add nasty, nasty spiders to your list.

Basically once a city tips on the hype front it doesn't ever go back to anything like what it was without total collapse. Yeah Detroit, I'm looking at you.

Hype trumps reality for many people.

Just looks at California. It hasn't lived up to its image of an affordable, golden paradise of fun and sun since probably the early 70s. If you think high cost is going to keep people away just look at SF. High crime? Oakland isn't particularly affordable or safe. Not much to do compared to the hype? Just look to any of a dozen CA cities with over a 100,000 people. All out gang warfare in the past? People still move to LA. Strange laws that make living difficult for everyday folk? Yeah, CA has those too.

Only three things could make Portland undesirable enough to put things back to something like they were and those are:

1. Global warming. The few months that people can universally agree on as being good weather stop being so.

Could happen. But then again lots of people move to places like AZ.

2. Large scale pollution. I've noticed if a place stinks people tend to avoid it.

Paper mills are going away. Portland is particularly focused on being green. You're not likely to see a reprieve here.

3. Violence spreads over the entire city. Probably would only happen if the city became a hot spot for drug traffic between gangs and no area was safe.

I could see this with the way people are becoming overly concerned with the way the police operate and as such has led to less policing. I don't see the NYC head busting style to take over here. Nor does the broken windows theory hold up here because it's already free of blighted looking areas for the most part. Plus the ever growing homeless and transient population could contribute. Also seems gangs have figured out it's a nice, somewhat safe area, and are following the hype to do their dirt with less interference. Although for it to become a complete hellhole probably won't happen for many decades if ever.

But why not just enjoy this beginning of what is probably the last decade of a livable city transforming into a boutique destination? PacNW "holes" are still better than holes just about everywhere else I've been in the US.

[VelouriaPDX]

Originally Posted by karlsch

As if greedy landlords with exorbitant rents, no jobs, gang violence, unfriendly people, massive earthquakes, giant tsunamis, winter depression, drought, too much rain, traffic jams, frightening homeless people, poisonous asbestos, mass shooters, a bad economy, and a paucity of attractive mates both male and female weren't enough to make you want to leave Oregon, now there's THE PLAGUE: Oregon girl with bubonic plague moved out of intensive care

Ha! I've been so grateful we don't deal with the Lyme disease epidemic here, but I guess we get the plague instead. I hope this poor girl recovers quickly.

[ca_north]

Originally Posted by sloyd

I LOVE Portland, but I'm also not a Californian, maybe that's the difference.

I'm returning to this thread and noticed your post, which is a ridiculously broad brush that sheds no light on the negatives of this area. The comment is as obtusely written as many of the attitudes up here. It explains a possible what, but not the why or how.

I'd like to see more comments from long-time and/or native Portlanders who acknowledge common observations about sour people. There's just something "off" about many attitudes up here and there's got to be a scientific explanation vs. an enigmatic mystery. Stoic northern European bloodlines is the closest I've come to figuring it out. It's as if the pleasing scenery must be tempered by human coldness per some universal law of balance. It reminds me of Garrison Keillor's humor about long-suffering Lutherans; not so funny when you're stuck around such people!

I'm nearly out of the Portland area (just ended an apt. lease) and will travel south to figure something out. I may or may not post back here, as I'm also getting weary of online forums, helpful as some have been.

Good luck to all who try out this area.

[ca_north]

Originally Posted by Yankeemama

California is the most populated state in the U.S. so of course you will see more Californians moving here from CA than from a less populated state. I don't care personally, what angry people on the internet think of my home state as I have been treated VERY WELL by native Portlanders and native Oregonians from outside of Portland. My kids' new schools in Beaverton have staffs that include many Oregon born people and they have been more than kind to my kids and me. I am sorry but I just don't buy the whole, "Oregon is not like anywhere else in the whole world" mentality. People are people. We are all human. Trust me. Oregonians are not special people who think, feel, and act so differently from humans from other places. Treat others well and in general, you will be met with the same. Act a fool and well, you know. I have had many native Portlanders teach and help my children with more compassion and zeal than anyone in NYC ever did. You can only believe stereotypes and generalizations to a point then you need to use the God given common sense that you were born with. Oregon, California, Washington, Arizona... All states in the U.S.A.! People need to accept that each state is part of a great country and deal with it. This thread is just ridiculous.

No, it's far from ridiculous. Many have pointed out the PNW's aloofness and it's not some mass illusion. Obviously, that's not to say everyone up here is like that, just a notably larger percentage that causes frustration. The odds seem higher up here of dealing with obtuse, fake-friendly people.

You're only speaking from personal experience, and I made a point in the original post to say experiences will vary. I don't know where you got married and how you met, but women will always find it easier to get a mate and won't have the same experiences as men in any city. Once settled into a family situation (which often becomes a woman's entire life) you don't have the time or context to notice the same problems that men encounter.

This whole topic could be male-specific, now that I think of it.