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I have to agree with the OP, there are areas that are really depressing and some that are pretty frightening.
There's nothing like going downtown to show up for work dodging the gauntlet of homeless people demanding money, doing weird things, and defecating in corners. I've only been here since the end of May and I see homeless doing their business around and about at least once a week, when they aren't yelling at me for change. If this kind of stuff is not the norm for Portland, I must be a freaking magnet to see it so often.
It really has gotten depressingly bad around here, at least in my own experience since I left in 2003, and I think it's an awful shame. More and more people are crowding around the max stations and corners to demand money, hell I won't even go near the courthouse or yamhil or skidmore stations because there are so many people there begging for cash (esp after dark).
The burbs around Portland are kind of nice, especially the newer developments, but the problems of the city are pretty quickly migrating out. It's too bad energy costs are soaring, it tends to get nicer the farther you get away.
It's a terrible thing that the city seems to have placed the welfare of the needy, destitute, and drug addicted population above their working citizens. For those who shout classim and judgemental, yep...it is. The sad truth is that if you get commuters disgusted and fed up enough with getting hassled by freaks, they leave. Guess where your tax base goes too...yep, along with your workers.
I have to agree with the OP, there are areas that are really depressing and some that are pretty frightening.
There's nothing like going downtown to show up for work dodging the gauntlet of homeless people demanding money, doing weird things, and defecating in corners. I've only been here since the end of May and I see homeless doing their business around and about at least once a week, when they aren't yelling at me for change. If this kind of stuff is not the norm for Portland, I must be a freaking magnet to see it so often.
It really has gotten depressingly bad around here, at least in my own experience since I left in 2003, and I think it's an awful shame. More and more people are crowding around the max stations and corners to demand money, hell I won't even go near the courthouse or yamhil or skidmore stations because there are so many people there begging for cash (esp after dark).
The burbs around Portland are kind of nice, especially the newer developments, but the problems of the city are pretty quickly migrating out. It's too bad energy costs are soaring, it tends to get nicer the farther you get away.
It's a terrible thing that the city seems to have placed the welfare of the needy, destitute, and drug addicted population above their working citizens. For those who shout classim and judgemental, yep...it is. The sad truth is that if you get commuters disgusted and fed up enough with getting hassled by freaks, they leave. Guess where your tax base goes too...yep, along with your workers.
The same thing is happening here and everyone is getting pretty damn sick of it. Hurricane Katrina didn't help by providing us with a few thousand homeless evacuees from New Orleans who have decided to stay.
I don't walk to the restaurants downtown for lunch anymore while I'm at work... it's not worth dealing with all the beggars on every corner. There is an area along a creek downtown where the walkway goes through some wooded areas and we refer to it as "Sherwood Forest", because once you get to the bridge over the creek, you're usually required to pay a "toll" to get across.
I think that the problem with being a liberal and tolerant city is that you eventually have people who take advantage of this mentality and milk it for all it's worth.
If anyone is moving from Portland to Seattle to "get away" from the homeless and street urchins, boy are they in for a rude surprise. That's like moving from Portland to Seattle in search of better weather. The only thing that might make this group a tad more visible in Portland is that it's a smaller city and many of the homeless services are located right downtown near the public transit while in Seattle it's a bit more spread out. But try wandering down by the old courthouse in downtown Seattle any time of day...
Last weekend, in an area north east of downtown (U-dist) I encountered numerous characters wandering about, clearly mentally ill, asking for money. The other week there was a fellow going from person to person (all 25 or so) at one of the busiest bus transit stops in downtown Seattle asking for money for him and his wife.
From what I've read on City-Data, the homeless situation is at least as problematic and visible in San Francisco...
If anyone is moving from Portland to Seattle to "get away" from the homeless and street urchins, boy are they in for a rude surprise. That's like moving from Portland to Seattle in search of better weather. The only thing that might make this group a tad more visible in Portland is that it's a smaller city and many of the homeless services are located right downtown near the public transit while in Seattle it's a bit more spread out. But try wandering down by the old courthouse in downtown Seattle any time of day...
From what I've read on City-Data, the homeless situation is at least as problematic and visible in San Francisco...
No way, never moving to California or Seattle. Add into the mix terrible congestion and even higher taxes...
While I feel for Katrina victims, but there are a number of the evacuees are still bums...but with a story. I started grad school right before Katrina hit, and a bunch were relocated to the Lowery redevelopment in a number of buildings that were part of the old air force base. A good 75% of them are still on former base housing after almost 3 years! They are sitting there getting free housing from generous uses of aid, food stamps, and medicaid for as long as they aren't working.
DENVER — Busloads of refugees from Hurricane Katrina arrived Sunday at the Community College of Denver on the former Lowry Air Force Base, bringing (read ... http://www.summitdaily.com/article/2.../NEWS/50904001 - 71k -
For those 25% (very rough estimate on my part) who pull themselves up and did their best, I congratulate them. For those who aren't, it's another example of overly generous help that gets abused.
Thanks for your opinion, please don't move here! If you think Portland isn't safe, you really have never been anywhere dangerous. (Oh, and it certainly wasn't necessary to say you were "white" -- that was pretty obvious.
Quote:
Originally Posted by gnab gib
We're on vacation in Portland right now, and we are seriously underwhelmed so far. The scenery out in the countryside is some of the most beautiful I've ever seen, anywhere, but the city has so far given us the creeps.
We parked down along Naito Parkway to head to the Saturday Market, and one of the first things my wife saw as we left the parking garage is some guy crouched behind a bush, taking a dump. I smelled urine in at least three spots along the streets, and I saw one kid whip it out and take a leak at a park down by the Portland Building. There was some lunatic wandering around Pioneer Courthouse Square, wearing gloves and a winter coat on a nearly 80-degree day, stopping every few steps to look skyward, gesture, mumble something to himself, turn, take a few steps, and do the same thing all over again. There were bums everywhere, and lots of them were kids. One guy thrust his arm out at me and then another at my wife, explaining that perhaps his other arm was easier to read. He had something tattooed on his arm about giving him change for beer money. So this guy is apparently in a permanent state of begging, if he went to the trouble to get his begging mantra tattooed on his arm. And he didn't even want money for a meal, or a place to stay. He wanted BEER MONEY. Nice.
Then there are the strip clubs all over the place, and lots of lots of sketchy neighborhoods. Trailer parks, RV parks ... we were going to eat at a restaurant out on Alberta Street, but we turned on a side street to get there and thought we'd been transported to the world of tar-paper shacks down in the Mississippi delta. It was horrible. Our car probably wouldn't have been there when we came back, had we actually stopped.
Are there actually any nice areas in or around Portland? Anyplace with nice, clean neighborhoods, where the windows aren't boarded up or have bars on them? No strip clubs on every corner? A place where we can walk down the street without being accosted by some bum at every intersection? I've heard so many wonderful things leading up to our trip, and now that we're here, frankly, it's a dump so far.
Please don't lecture me about how I want too much, how I sound elitist, or whatever. We're a white couple in our mid-30s, and we now live in an older but safe neighborhood in Alexandria, Va. I've dealt with bums in D.C., but I've never had them throw their arms in my face, asking for beer money. We're out in the PNW now to scope things out for a possible move here, but right now, from what I've seen, I wouldn't feel comfortable moving my wife out here. We're just looking for a decent neighborhood. It doesn't have to be upscale yuppie heaven, just safe, quiet, clean, and family friendly.
We drove out to see Vancouver, Wa., today, to see what was there, and the west side wasn't too bad. From what I've been reading tonight, the east side, around Fishers Landing, is worth checking out. Would anyone agree with that? And are there are comparatively decent places on the Oregon side of the river?
We're on vacation in Portland right now, and we are seriously underwhelmed so far. The scenery out in the countryside is some of the most beautiful I've ever seen, anywhere, but the city has so far given us the creeps.
We parked down along Naito Parkway to head to the Saturday Market, and one of the first things my wife saw as we left the parking garage is some guy crouched behind a bush, taking a dump. I smelled urine in at least three spots along the streets, and I saw one kid whip it out and take a leak at a park down by the Portland Building. There was some lunatic wandering around Pioneer Courthouse Square, wearing gloves and a winter coat on a nearly 80-degree day, stopping every few steps to look skyward, gesture, mumble something to himself, turn, take a few steps, and do the same thing all over again. There were bums everywhere, and lots of them were kids. One guy thrust his arm out at me and then another at my wife, explaining that perhaps his other arm was easier to read. He had something tattooed on his arm about giving him change for beer money. So this guy is apparently in a permanent state of begging, if he went to the trouble to get his begging mantra tattooed on his arm. And he didn't even want money for a meal, or a place to stay. He wanted BEER MONEY. Nice.
Then there are the strip clubs all over the place, and lots of lots of sketchy neighborhoods. Trailer parks, RV parks ... we were going to eat at a restaurant out on Alberta Street, but we turned on a side street to get there and thought we'd been transported to the world of tar-paper shacks down in the Mississippi delta. It was horrible. Our car probably wouldn't have been there when we came back, had we actually stopped.
Are there actually any nice areas in or around Portland? Anyplace with nice, clean neighborhoods, where the windows aren't boarded up or have bars on them? No strip clubs on every corner? A place where we can walk down the street without being accosted by some bum at every intersection? I've heard so many wonderful things leading up to our trip, and now that we're here, frankly, it's a dump so far.
Please don't lecture me about how I want too much, how I sound elitist, or whatever. We're a white couple in our mid-30s, and we now live in an older but safe neighborhood in Alexandria, Va. I've dealt with bums in D.C., but I've never had them throw their arms in my face, asking for beer money. We're out in the PNW now to scope things out for a possible move here, but right now, from what I've seen, I wouldn't feel comfortable moving my wife out here. We're just looking for a decent neighborhood. It doesn't have to be upscale yuppie heaven, just safe, quiet, clean, and family friendly.
We drove out to see Vancouver, Wa., today, to see what was there, and the west side wasn't too bad. From what I've been reading tonight, the east side, around Fishers Landing, is worth checking out. Would anyone agree with that? And are there are comparatively decent places on the Oregon side of the river?
Thanks for dragging "the tar paper shacks of the Mississippi Delta" into your diatribe on life in Portland. Sorry if the misfortunes of the economically depressed in our region have somehow negatively affected your life. Instead of complaining, how about you get out and do something to change the world.
While tunning my banjo I stumbled upon this enchanted post . And after reading this post from the hapless traveler I just had to register and respond. I admitedly was born in Portland were I lived for the first twenty years of my life. Then moved to Denver for a while where the economy was better. After realizing I was land locked being that from Portland to some of the best beaches on the west cost is an hour's drive, I moved to Maui. After driving around on a rock for several months I found myself back in ...Portland. There are better places to live on this planet if you want to deal with the cost of living, traffic, over population, pollution and few other things. I can't think of many other cities where you can ski or surf less than 1 & 1/2 hrs. away. Portland probably is within the top ten cities in the U.S. for musicians. Per capita Portland has a very high % of doctor to patients and the Oregon Health Plan has helped thousands of lower income people. The micro brew pubs put out amazing products and there are alot of the artsy fartsy types. No place is perfect. It rains ALOT here and thats good. If it didn't it'd be So Cal. Sure there are places where the homeless will piddle or deficate & druggies will congregate. Every city has em'. I stay away from those areas. If your looking for your fantasy vacation I suggest you try Disneyland. Meanwhile I have to go out and polish the hubcaps on my house cause' weze' havn' company from out of town.
Unfortunately those of us who are lucky enough to have jobs and work downtown cannot avoid them. Yesterday I did the 6 block gauntlet from the bus stop to my job having to avoid all the puke, pee, sleeping bodies and people begging for money. And it was Saturday. Having to do this everyday is depressing. As fast as the cops chase them away, new ones come back to take their place.
On the one hand I do feel bad for them but on the other, I can't give them all money not should I. Occasionally I will give the run-away kids food. If they are legit they are just as happy to get that as money. But the adults are scary. I have been threatened a number of times, sworn at and otherwise pestered. I don't know the solution to the problem but I am wondering if some of those well-intentioned people like some who post here asking about the weather, social life etc instead of the job situation are among these homeless when they find themselves unemployed after relocating here.
Recently I saw a young man with a sign that said "Please, I am trying to earn enough money to go back home." He didn't look very threatening, only sad. I decided to ask his story. He was one of many who came here without a thought as to how to survive. He went on to say he had done everything in in the city where he had come from, from waiting tables to janitorial work to office jobs and others. He came to Portland feeling that getting a job would be no problem. But after six months of not being able to find a job he ran out of money and wanted to go back to his hometown.
It could have been a scam, but somehow I believed him. So I gave him $5.00. it wouldn't get him home but I figured at least he could buy some food. As I walked away, I looked back and saw him entering McDonald's.
Sure it may be the same everywhere but I don't live everywhere. I live here. And here is where I see these people on a daily basis. I don't know what the solution to the problem is but I do know that adding to the population is not helping. That is why I keep harping on would-be newbies to reconsidered relocating here unless you have a job waiting for you, enough money to live on for at least a year (you may lose that job) and a ticket free and clear to go back to where you came if necessary.
...I am wondering if some of those well-intentioned people like some who post here asking about the weather, social life etc instead of the job situation are among these homeless when they find themselves unemployed after relocating here....
...I don't know what the solution to the problem is but I do know that adding to the population is not helping. That is why I keep harping on would-be newbies to reconsidered relocating here unless you have a job waiting for you, enough money to live on for at least a year (you may lose that job) and a ticket free and clear to go back to where you came if necessary.
I agree totally, but so many folks just don't listen. They have a fixed idea in their minds, and they are here looking for validation of decisions they have already taken. It doesn't help when some posters describe the area as a sort of Paradise where it's easy to get a part-time job and just kick back. And it's going to get worse this coming year, as unemployment rises.
While tunning my banjo I stumbled upon this enchanted post . And after reading this post from the hapless traveler I just had to register and respond. I admitedly was born in Portland were I lived for the first twenty years of my life. Then moved to Denver for a while where the economy was better. After realizing I was land locked being that from Portland to some of the best beaches on the west cost is an hour's drive, I moved to Maui. After driving around on a rock for several months I found myself back in ...Portland. There are better places to live on this planet if you want to deal with the cost of living, traffic, over population, pollution and few other things. I can't think of many other cities where you can ski or surf less than 1 & 1/2 hrs. away. Portland probably is within the top ten cities in the U.S. for musicians. Per capita Portland has a very high % of doctor to patients and the Oregon Health Plan has helped thousands of lower income people. The micro brew pubs put out amazing products and there are alot of the artsy fartsy types. No place is perfect. It rains ALOT here and thats good. If it didn't it'd be So Cal. Sure there are places where the homeless will piddle or deficate & druggies will congregate. Every city has em'. I stay away from those areas. If your looking for your fantasy vacation I suggest you try Disneyland. Meanwhile I have to go out and polish the hubcaps on my house cause' weze' havn' company from out of town.
Nimby, I think you should run for Gov.
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Wow, you're really awful
