Portland is cool...but the SUBURBS...hmm...questioning here...

[sayulita]

Other than saying it was a long way to get anywhere - which is sort of the definition of a suburb - I said nothing at all that was stereotyping. You did, with your remarks about shoeboxes and the homeless. Aren't you being just a bit defensive?

[John Shaft]

SUMMARY:

Everyone on this thread: Suburbs suck. There's nothing but big box stores and every one of them in America is exactly the same and worthless.

Me: [Stereotype about inner-city Portland.]

Sayulita: Wow you are judgmental and defensive.


(btw From time to time I do pass through Hillsdale in my evil automobile, and it does seem like a pretty nice area. I guess because it's within the city limits that it technically is the city of Portland - ?? - but it doesn't "feel" like the city, any more than the West Hills really feels like "the city.")

[backdrifter]

Originally Posted by sayulita

Just to clarify backdrifter, I was replying to John Shaft and his jabs about "overpriced shoeboxes" and puking homeless". I live in Hillsdale (which is very close to downtown) but am temporarily living out here in the suburbs. What you say is pretty spot on, but still a lot of nice folks live in the "burbs. But I guess some a pretty judgemental as well.

Just to clarify what I said too... I was mostly just replying to the OP's question if Seattle would be any better.

But I agree, there are some great people who live in the suburbs, and almost all of my extended family members live in suburbs of Portland, LA, Phoenix, or Yuma, and I'd say they're all great people. It's just the way of living that you have to live if you live in the suburbs (big box stores and car-oriented) is kind of a drag and that's what I was describing.

[juggler]

I think you guys are making too big of a distinction between suburbs and Portland proper. I live on the west side and do a lot of bicycling in Beaverton and southwest Portland. As I'm riding through Beaverton, I see lots of large houses, lots of cars, some pedestrians, and lots of strip malls -- icons of suburbia. As I pass the sign that says "Entering Portland", guess what? I still see cars, and lots of them; I still see large houses (some are really large), I still see a few pedestrians, and I still see lots of businesses, even (gasp!) strip malls.

If you want to compare suburbia to downtown and the Pearl District, that'd be different, but most of Portland is not that different from suburbia. City limits are just a political boundary, nothing more.