Portland in comparison to other liberal cities: (Green: how much, new home)

[aroseinrain]

Portland is full of strange people with strange demands out of life. The good news: You should fit right in! Life in the big city, trees all around, coast within driving distance on one side (coast, not beach-more beautiful) and mountains within driving distance. Arts, theatre, coffee galore, free-thinking folks (you may think they're too free-thinking) any sort of outdoor activity you want. But the weather drives a lot of people away (mild and moist - like spring all year) And you seem to be looking for that sort of dichotomy.

[rhodan653]

Originally Posted by Minervah

I think it's because the majority of my friends were born here and have had family living here for decades. They don't tend to be as liberal as newer residents. In fact in most issues they tend to be on the conservative side.

Can you introduce them to me?

All kidding aside, if there is a more overall liberal city in America I would like to know where it is. Portland is not just liberal, it is militantly liberal and the environment can appear VERY intolerant to people who do not toe the Portland line. A lack of political and societal balance may be of concern to some thinking of moving here. As an example, Boston/MA is orders of magnitude less liberal than Portland from an every day living perspective - it is far more balanced. In Boston, people of moderate or conservative view points will not be ostracized or feel like outcasts and you will not see protests in the streets over the most ridiculous things like you do here. The upside is Sam Adams beer does not hold a candle to Deschutes so score 1 for Portland.

[rhodan653]

Originally Posted by Not2bforgot10

My favorite place I have ever visited (I have never visited the cities above) is Burlington, VT, so maybe a similar feel but larger city (one of the cities above).

My values:

-Meaningful, passionate work
-Healthy living (Sleep, Exercise, Nutrition)
-Spiritual Growth (Alanon)
-Aesthetics
-Leisure (Gym, Kayaking, Camping, Writing, Concerts, etc).
-Learning & Educational Opportunities
-Self Expression

Having spent a lot of time in Burlington, Vt, I think you will find Portland to your liking and a huge improvement from Burlington in that it is not 20 below zero in the winter here. The more I think about, the more similar they seem in my mind so that was a good piece of info to provide.

Other than your point about meaningful, passionate work your list should be very well satisfied here. On the work comment, I am not sure exactly what you mean. Portland has a poor economy and usually does even in non-recessionary times so that is a drawback - work may be hard to find and it may be hard to change jobs if/when the need rises. Good luck!!

[Ophelia42008]

Originally Posted by Not2bforgot10

Boston, MA
Cambridge, MA
Northampton, MA
Ithaca, NY
Philadelphia, PA
Asheville, NC
Ann Harbor, MI
Boulder, CO
Berkely, CA
San Francisco, CA
Portland, OR

I am wondering if you can help me out by listing (If you do not know all of these, it’s okay; if you’re bored and want to help me out, feel free to research some of this… we can research together):

-The top 3 most expensive in apartment rent
-The top 3 lowest rent

-The top 3 highest minimum wage (along w/the current wage if knowledgeable)
-The top 3 lowest minimum wage (along w/the current wage knowledgeable)

-The top 3 most expensive public transportation (along w/monthly price if knowledgeable)
-The top 3 least expensive public transportation (along w/monthly price if knowledgeable)

-The top 3 most expensive HEALTH CARE/INSURANCE (along w/monthly price if knowledgeable)
-The top 3 least expensive HEALTH CARE/INSURANCE (along w/monthly price if knowledgeable)

-The top 3 most GLBT (Gay/Lesbian/Bi/*****) friendly?
-The top 3 least GLBT (Gay/Lesbian/Bi/*****) friendly?

Other comments:

-If you were to live in 3 of these places, which 3 would you choose, and why?
-If you were to NOT live in 3 places, which 3 would you choose, and why?

Thanks! I hope this helps with my moving decision!

Well, I won't be able to answer alll those questions but I can say that if I had to choose between those cities I would choose Portland #1. San Fran is too expensive. I think that Boulder would be my #2. Phili I've heard is pretty depressing, but I've never been there. My family lives outside of Pittsburgh, and I lived outside of Pittsburgh for 4 years. I'm not a big fan of frozen (and snowing) winters without much sun. I can take either but not together. For example, I would be able to handle the lack of sun if it wasn't snowing for 2 months! ha ha. I believe Portland to be pretty GLBT friendly, but I have never lived there. Obviously San Fran is GLBT friendly. Boston is very expensive as well and GLBT friendly.

San Fran is VERY expensive.

Anyway, I know I'm probably not much help. You can find all this info on city-data.com/ Should be fairly easy.

[philwithbeard]

Originally Posted by rhodan653

.... if there is a more overall liberal city in America I would like to know where it is. Portland is not just liberal, it is militantly liberal and the environment can appear VERY intolerant to people who do not toe the Portland line. A lack of political and societal balance may be of concern to some thinking of moving here. .......

Which is why I selected to move to Portland in the first place.....
The overwhelming voting record to the Democratic Party.....

BTW, there are cities with just a strong Democratic Party voting record: Berkeley CA, Madison Wisconsin, to name a few.

And as you stated, the liberalism of Portland should be as an important part of the decision for newcomers to Portland as the weather. Because, it may be just what they (the newcomers) are looking for.

Phil

[aroseinrain]

I found this site when I was looking for places to live:

Best places to live 2009 - Comparison tool - from MONEY Magazine

*I've only ever lived in Oregon or SF bay area, so I can't comment on much, but I can tell you that the BART (the mass rail system) here in sf bay is about $5.25 per trip to go from my home to the city center and that's just for the train; if you also need a bus it's going to start getting expensive. OR you can drive there but parking will cost about $30 a day (there's no free parking in existence) whereas in Portland you can buy a transit pass for a year that costs $975 and includes all forms of transportation.
*the minimum wage in SF bay area is different depending on where you live; if you live in the city I think its about $10/hr, which is not enough to live on unless you live out of town (here you'd refer to the price of commuting) if you live in San Jose its about $9/hr, if you live anywhere else its $8/hr. In Portland i believe its $8.40 or $8.50 and hour.
*health care insurance I don't know anything about, my employers have always helped out on that end (A LOT!)
*In SF itself the average person can absolutely not afford to live there. In Fremont (where I live - it's about 40 miles away- the Bay area is gigantic) the average two bedroom apartment is about $1600/month. But I have a run down, bug-ridden, no-dishwasher piece of crap 2bed/1bath apartment for $1280 but it's in a nice neighborhood with good schools for my 2 kids. We are moving to Beaverton (7 miles from Portland) soon because the minimum wage is at least $0.40 more per hour and we can get a 3bed/2bath apartment with dishwasher and laundry in unit for about $850/month.
*as far as GLBT...of course SF is going to be more friendly..Let me qualify that statement by saying I have never lived in or around Portland, but I did live in Eugene most of my life and despite claiming to be so liberal, I saw a lot of discrimination anyway. I also saw a lot of GLBT friendly attitude too though, I think the problem was that the people that you meet on the street are so, so diverse that I can't really group them all together as friendly or not (some real redneck a-holes all over Oregon, living side-by-side with the extreme left, so....hard to tell what might happen)

[rainierman]

You're comparing Fords and Chevys. Better to base it on hard data like election results, party affiliations, etc. ex. Obama got 80% of the Portland, Oregon vote, even though Portland is more homogeneous than other cities. I'm sure other liberal cities were more in the 70% range.

[Not2bforgot10]

Thank you to all who responded... I will be revising my posts/selection throughout this discussion, so bare with me! Now my "large" city search/exploration, is down to living in THESE cities:

Portland, OR
Burlington, VT
Northampton, MA
Boston, MA (maybe)
Portsmouth, NH

and it was close, but I would like to rule out:

-Asheville, NC
-Ann Arbor, MI

I'm not sure if it's because these two are in the midwest or what... but I need intellectual and progressive... hmm.

Last but not least, I would like to compare all of these places not only to one another, but slightly to Philadelphia, only because I am in Philly now and may be for a while longer...

Nevertheless, the most important thing to me is that the city support my well-being and enhance my life... what's really important to me #1 health, so health-conscious/friendly people... ie, organic/exercise.

I want to be able to live somewhere where everyone is taking care of themselves... running, walking, gyms... rollerblading... and where there are preferably trees... because I LOVE to kayak and camp... rafting would also be awesome and maybe back packing though I have never been either of those

If there are not trees, I NEED parks... green is essential to me.

My main values (again, I may revise this so bare with me!) are:


-Career Satisfaction
-Healthy living (Sleep, Exercise, Nutrition)
-Spiritual Growth (Alanon)
-Leisure (Gym, Kayaking, Camping, Writing, Concerts, etc)
-Learning & Educational Opportunities
-Aesthetics
-Financial Independence
-Authentic quality relationships
-Honesty & Integrity
-Personal growth
-Self Expression
-Creativity

I would like to work in NONPROFIT where I can make use of my personal strengths:

Personal Strengths:

-Honesty
-Self-Awareness
-Insightful
-Ingenuity -Organizational abilities
-Writing and verbalization skills
-Commitment to values and ideals
-Commitment to personal growth
-Solid energy and drive
-Excellent at foreseeing possibilities
-Self-determination
-Intrapersonal and interpersonal awareness
-Creative thinking ability
-Ability to see the big picture
-Exceptional intuitive ability
-Persistence
-Ability to tackle obstacles and barriers

With that being said, which top 3 cities listed here would be best for me?

[DoctorRain]

St Pete FL should make this list wtf.

[philwithbeard]

Not2bforgot10:

Dude, you seem to be an East Cost person, and your selections seem to be mostly within, what,.... 100 Miles of the Atlantic Ocean.

Go with a New England city, unless very limited snow is high on your priority. The left coast is different than the East coast culturally. You didn't seem to be rejecting the East Coast chauvinism with regards to what is important news.

Find out which city has, on average, the mildest winters, and go with that.

Forget Portland, there is just too much on your two lists that Portland would not match up to, and what Portland is known for, is not on your list.

Please don't take this personally, it's just my opinion based on what I read in your posts in this thread. Specifically, I don't see any strong urge for you to leave your family and current-friends several thousand miles away, and spend a couple of years out on the Left coast building a brand new support group of friends. It will take a long time to cultivate new close friends in Portland.

Phil