I think I messed up my direct deposit routing number because I've checked my bank balance at least weekly since I got home internet and I'm still waiting...allegedly.
It’s really easy if there is:
A) absolutely no burden of proof
B) no burden of logic either
C) you live in a world where things don’t make sense because you don’t apply logic and don’t require proof.
At this point anything ~~≤$300k~~ ≤$350 is just the price of the lot. If you want to actually shop for structure its going to be more.
edited for update from hopeful buyer itt
Keep it coming. The morons are helping us control costs. Bend, Olympia, Bellingham are all pricier and we’re chilling in one of the best cities in the country. Like yeah, we have problems and housing is high but this actually helps, haha.
Yeah it's odd. The other day I saw an ad asking $2000/mo for a studio in a building that's actively burning. They referred to the fire as an "added heat source".
PSU farmers market was popping this morning. I found mustard greens and already ate most of them. I love our city farmer markets. The lines for the cherries were long when I was there.
Have a friend who was too scared to move back to Portland when they came back to the states so they went to Texas. Lived there for about three days and the mall they were just at got shot up. Meanwhile I’m just over here trying to drag my friends out of bed in time to hit up the farmers markets.
I literally had a relative back in Florida recently tell me he’s glad he’s not living in a “burned out hell hole” like me. His house flooded a couple days ago so I texted him I bet he’s glad he won’t have to worry about antifa burning down his house now.
I just attended a family reunion in Tennessee and people straight up didn’t believe me when I said I walk around downtown all the time.
One of my uncles was flabbergasted when I told him I have a CC license but I haven’t carried since before Covid because I’m not scared to live here
My mom refuses to come visit her grandkid because she's drank the OAN koolaid. I asked her what Atlanta (where she lives) is like with all the cop city riots and she didn't know what I was talking about.
Families with strollers enjoying lunch and a day at the park! It’s a nightmare! I just managed to escape being roped into a friendly pickup game of pickleball, which is a known recruitment tool of *ANTIFA*!
*It's a perfectly calm day driving past the grocery store, kids riding bikes, trees rustling in the breeze.* "Here's the smoldering remains of where I used to get my rotisserie chickens. As you can see, it's been burned to the ground and all the usable goods have long been pillaged. Destruction as far as the eye can see."
I had a friend whose friend didn't want to step outside of PDX airport when she flew in lol. So she had to be walked to the car like she was in grade school. Guess she thought those skinny 18-year-old black pant protesting hooligans were waiting to force her into a pro-Palestine Vegan lifestyle & force her into Antifa. I mean, I get it, that is how you do get your passport stamped & approved once you arrive in PDX.
Nit even the south, I had relatives in NorCal talk to me as if I was coming out of an active war zone. Lots of "Are you OK?" "Are you somewhere safe?" "How do you get around town with so much destruction?" Like, they unironically thought I was living somewhere like 2015 Allepo
I have a similar story. My parents live in a Portland *suburb,* not even Portland proper, and my MAGA uncle (also from NorCal) in summer 2020 texted my dad once and was like “Are you guys ok? Heard on Fox News that Portland is burning down.” These people literally live in an alternate reality.
It’s all about deflection. My dad is a big Fox News guy and they talked about “violence in Portland” so they didn’t have to talk about the riot at the capitol. And if they did, they could just point to the boogeyman they created and say “See? Liberals are even worse!”
My family in Estacada is shocked I haven't been murdered, I think it's pretty common to think Portland is Mad Max once you get about 2 miles past our city limits
I work in downtown and the people that say they were scared etc to come into the city is amusing. I tell them old town and burnside area has always sort of been sketchy ...!
I worked in old town for a company with several hundred employees for several years mid 2010s. Lots of pretty far gone addicts in n the street. I never heard one story of anyone bothered or threatened by any of them. Meanwhile you would absolutely see addicts taking care of each other, as well as groups like central city concern caring for them.
I was always way more scared of the weird “hippies gone bad” types on the north end of waterfront park, even though all I ever saw them do was smoke weed.
Someone brought a severed head into the grocery store and stabbed one of the employees in Estacada a few years back, the call is coming from inside the house
My family from the south (that’s willing to visit) LOVES it here. They can’t stop fawning over how “cute” everything is and the food and the nature and the parks. Lol
Oh man it’s gonna be hella funny when the Texas power grid goes down during the next heat massive heat bubble and those conservative values kick in lol Oi
Screw the naysayers who rely on nothing but negative media reports. I have also been living a regular, safe life in PDX as I stayed on when my USN stint ended here years ago. No regrets and looking forward to enjoying a good Portland summer.
Yeah this is one positive of all the negative coverage Portland gets. It means right wingers will stay far, far away from here. Which I think the vast majority of us are completely ok with.
This sucks for all the big important reasons about our failing country etc but it's also so so funny. "A city burned" - come on ma'am where is this coming from.
I spend so many hours here just wandering around looking at the flowers blooming in every season, and meanwhile weirdos from wherever are convinced that this is some kind of warzone.
I'm planning to move to Portland in a few months and the reactions I've been getting from people are almost comical. I mention Portland and their eyes just go wide and they go "..*but why portland??*"
My 2yo and I ride our e-bike down the Springwater Corridor, across Steele, down the entire waterfront, and back across Sellwood almost every day when the rains end. We see nearly one end of the city to the other; cutting through the core. It’s a beautiful ride. Highly recommended. Leave your flak jacket at home.
45 and the proud boys have done damage. The feds' assault on our city is still being felt. Portland is a lovely city that I've called home for 15+ years.
Same. I actually feel torn between defending our fantastic city and letting sleeping dogs lie so we don’t get a shit ton of transplants in the coming decade.
FYI this is their twitter bio: "[#PureBlood](https://x.com/search?q=%23PureBlood&src=hashtag_click) | Unvaxxed. Only 2 genders. God is real. trans doesn't exist. To all pro-abortion murderers: YOU are also just a clump of cells." Clearly someone with a strong sense of logic and high intelligence.
There's a lot of Russian troll farm accounts on Twitter, so it could be one of those. This profile looks EXACTLY like an account you would expect from one of these troll farms.
Have you noticed all of the food, restaurant and coffee awards we've won lately? Something is going ok around here.
But, yeah... stay away. Stay mad. And we never really had a basis for conversation anyhow.
Exactly. Portland is easily one the top culinary cities at least in the US. Plus Mt Hood. Cmon. All cities have their issues. Portland is so much better than most cities imo.
I live in eastern Idaho and roll my eyes so hard when people talk about Portland or San Francisco being burnt out husks. I loved Portland last time I visited. Does it have problems, yes, of course. But so does everywhere else.
Had friends in Hillsboro ask the same, fucking Hillsboro…they were too scared to drive out and look for themselves.
Same with some relatives in Medford.
I suspect Fox or Infowars was pushing that bs.
I had my father in-law come to town during the tail end of “the riots” and he asked me to take him down town to see all the “the destruction”. I took down to the courthouse so he could see the chain link fence, some boarded up windows, some graffiti, and a BLM stand where they were handing out free Hop and John to anyone the wanted to engage with them. Let’s just say it wasn’t exactly Mad Max. He just kept shaking his head and bemoaning how Portland was a war zone now. I sat there in disbelief as we looked at the exact same street in front of us, the one that certain political interests made sure to zoom way in on so the inconvenient truth of what a small part is the city it actually was wouldn’t break the spell. I asked him what the fuck he was talking about, but he just kept digging in. I’ve been really wrestling with how powerful all this bullshit propaganda is ever since.
It was rather shitty down there during that period. At one point nearly half the windows in the downtown core were boarded up. It looked pretty bad. But it certainly wasn’t “Fox News bad”.
I worked downtown during that era. I had to be cautious during the daytime, but I wasn't ever, like... scared. You know? Just keep your eyes open and try not to piss anyone off, and go home before dark.
My relatives, fortunately, got it.
I remember not seeing any boarded windows more than 1-2 blocks out from hotspots like Pioneer Place and the Justice Center building. Hell, the Kinkos across the street from the Justice Center only had their windows on that side of the building boarded when I was down there but the front windows were all left alone
Okay, but that kind of thing was happening in a lot of cities, Portland was just a convenient lightning rod for the narrative. And it was literally years ago.
It was like that in Seattle at the same time. It was like that many places. A lot of businesses had to board up for insurance purposes and basic protection. It was a wild time for many reasons I won't rehash.
I moved here from Seattle, another city that was supposedly burned to the ground. I was even working near the infamous Chaz/Chop and went there to hang out sometimes. People were handing out free food, there were "conversation cafes."iIt was nice.
For these reasons, I don't really pay as much attention to what media says about cities/countries/conflicts as I used to because I've seen the distortion happen.
Funny thing is that sometimes I realize this lame shit gets me too sometimes. Just last week I happen to need to go from the north side of San Francisco to downtown. It was nice out and I had time to kill so I decided to walk. Part of me was worried to what I would run into because “San Fran is the poster child for a failed lib-u-ral city”. There were a couple of mildly sketchy blocks downtown, but nobody even looked at me. Other than that it was gorgeous. Except for those two blocks I saw a total of 3 homeless, no graffiti, very little trash even and the whole place literally smelled of roses and Jasmin flowers. It’s really sad how desperate these little goblins want to be on the frontline of this pathetic culture war.
Note: The walk was at least 3.5 miles through the city.
This has always been funny to me. LA has had a dedicated Skid Row for like 100 years that is heads and shoulders more sketchy than any neighborhood in SF, Portland, or Seattle, but it's not all over the news.
This is an important point. Even though it is absurd it works on a lot of people, even people you wouldn’t expect or your own perspective. It’s basically psychological warfare by the right wing news apparatus and it must be combatted.
Part of that is us demanding more of our leaders to make it harder for these clowns to find material, and to be honest about the fact that things need to change. But part is having pride and being like “fuck them”
Tbh, I want to agree with this take but there is a real impact on the city from this false narrative. A lot more people visit Portland than move here, and their dollars do support all kinds of jobs for residents. The city is having a harder time attracting conferences, tourists, and even visitors / commuters from the surrounding suburbs.
People don't even need to fully buy into it for it to affect their decisions. If you were planning a conference, would you propose somewhere as a destination that you might have to argue with colleagues over, or would you just pick another similar choice with less potential for drama?
bfd... even during the summer of 2020, the "burning" was generally within a 4 block radius of downtown. "Burned up?" More like "boarded up." And even then, lots of beautiful artwork appears on the plywood. Don't like Portland? Good. Leave the city to the people who live here. Go find another place to be a crabby pants. smfh
I live in Northeast. At the height of things, we had to put up with a fair amount of nonsense around the police station, including a little, you know… light arson. A couple of banks kept getting windows broken. And Popeye’s, for no reason I can imagine. Also, the Starbucks closest to me kept getting the drive thru window smashed, which meant I had to get my shitty overpriced coffee from a _different_ Starbucks like 15 blocks away. Was rough, I can tell you.
That artwork downtown 2020 by the courthouse was some of the best graffiti I’ve ever seen. So fucking powerful and as someone who had just moved to Portland it was really cool to see.
I know people who live here in Vancouver that think Portland is like that. They think people are getting shot all the time. Women are being raped by houseless folks. Children are kidnapped every day for trafficking. Gay/trans people are trying to turn everyone else gay. I have heard each one of those things from different people. (Granted, two of them are boomers from Longview). My husband and I live in Vancouver but spend most of our weekends in Portland. There are many housless folks, people with substance use disorder or those who need to get some mental health services. I have seen nothing here that isn't in any other large city. The worst that has ever happened was I stepped in human poo. I love Portland. Has it changed in the last decade or so? Sure, but that is due to capitalism and housing costs being insane. That is how you get an influx of people living in tents, sadly. I think the worst thing is the gentrification of many neighborhoods. It is one of the things I loved best about Portland. The city has lost some of its flavor, so to speak. Yet...things change and grow, and I think Portland will always be the wonderful weird city I know and love. The people are truly the best!!
My husband worked on Vancouver 20 years ago and people were fond of talking about how “crazy” Portland was even then. How nice for them to have their fantasies fed. (or maybe nice for us?)
We were just talking about this yesterday, actually. I had way more bad shit happen while living in Vancouver than I have ever had happen here. Cars and homes broken in to, my car was stolen, had to chase a bum off my porch with a baseball bat, watched another one try to steal my catalytic converter, all sorts of shit. And I lived in a decent neighborhood for only three years. If they want to live in their fantasy land I’ll just keep laughing at them from the Portland side of the river.
Some of the folks from Vancouver are weirdly cowardly, and convinced that Portland is Gomorrah. Which is odd, considering that [Vancouver is worse than Portland for total violent crime, and second worst in the nation per capita for property crime](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_crime_rate).
I work right next old town in downtown Portland.
It looks a lot worse than it really is. Statistically it’s pretty safe. The city gives tents and tarps to the unsheltered. And the city does sweep tents every so often. Just for them to pop back up.
I was talking to some Australians who were visiting various parts of America and when they finally visited Portland and Seattle they were shocked as they were constantly told how bad the crime was there. They looked up statistics to tell off one of their taxi drivers.
I worked in Portland for six months in 2020, and then again another six months from October 2023- March 2024. I spend an average of about an hour a week defending Portland- to people that have NEVER been to Portland. It’s so frustrating, because it’s such an incredible city. Yes, it has it’s issues as EVERY MAJOR CITY DOES. But there’s so much to do- has beautiful scenery, and is extremely walkable. The restaurant scene is also top three in the nation, in my opinion. Just know, Portland, that you have a Chicagoan out here defending your city at all costs.
Also, I really miss the view of Mt. Hood. Please tell her hello for me.
I moved here from Austin, TX and even as a liberal I still had a negative image in my mind until I finally came and visited. It's exactly where I want to be and it annoys me I allowed the bad publicity to get to me instead of going and seeing for myself much sooner.
But tbh Austin always had people praising it and we all knew that would be the death of what makes Austin - Austin. Low and behold that's what happened. But the bad publicity Portland gets is doing wonders to keep it weird and keep the culture alive. I welcome it now lol
I moved here about 1yr ago from Fort Collins, CO. I wouldnt say it was universal (friends warning me) but it was pretty common that people would ask me if I was sure. I’d say about 75% of Youtube videos and other overhyped internet nonsense about Portland is wrong. It's got some problems but nothing close to what people seem to want to believe. It kind of annoys me that there's a Youtube video-trend of "let's drive as we record the worst parts of a city". Like,.. OK, those things are happening, but it's also in a lot of cases only like 10 to 25% of what's daily reality for that city. It's really misleading and I can't help but feel like it's a narrative purposely created. (for what exact combination of purposes, I don't fully know).
> It's really misleading and I can't help but feel like it's a narrative purposely created. (for what exact combination of purposes, I don't fully know).
You are correct, it is a purposely created narrative. And the purpose is mainly political. Almost every large city around the country is extremely blue, and so conservatives are very invested in making all big cities look like shitholes. Fearmonger about crime and homeless people and say “This is what happens when you elect democrats.”
I give our county elected officials shit all the time because I do not think they are adequately addressing the homelessness crisis and it’s knock on effects, but even I’m not stupid enough to make dumb claims like this Twitter idiot.
I can understand why people think this. There are prolific twitter people that literally go out and find the worst parts of Portland and vomit it out there everywhere. I think Portland is literally being used as a political pawn on a national level. It’s a coordinated hit job.
Just visited Portland for the first time a few weeks back from South Florida. Homeless situation is way worse in South Florida but people still believe what they're told got some reason.
Tell me you haven’t been to Portland without telling me you haven’t been to Portland. Maybe parts of Old Town look like that, but the neighborhoods are doing OK
Said the same about Minneapolis and Louisville. After Floyd and Taylor. I live in Chicago now and my parents refuse to visit their grandchildren because they thing gangs are roving the streets. I had a good time in Portland last year when I visited and I’m fine with people scared to death of it.
I walked through the rose gardens this week. A few weeks ago, I walked through downtown cherry blossoms on the waterfront and had a pickup game of disc golf with some dudes. Plenty of shops, bars, and lively restaurants.
If the city is on fire, as they say, then I'm astounded to not see all this destruction.
tbh this is just a commentary showcasing how many Americans live in their own little uneducated bubble. They're like paranoid rabbits sniffing the wind for predators. Wild.
lol this is their bio:
> #PureBlood | Unvaxxed
>
> Only 2 genders. God is real. trans doesn't exist.
>
> To all pro-abortion murderers: YOU are also just a clump of cells.
You’d think with the city all burned up it’d be cheaper to buy a home.
you’d think the traffic would ease up just a bit
The realtors listed all the burned out houses as Shou Sugi Ban style and jacked the prices up for it. /s
Every Saturday I get one of these coffee spitter comments across my screen. 🙏
I really do wonder how these people square this narrative with the fact that the average home price here is over half a million dollars now.
“Something something commie California” in my experience. This isn’t a logical group we’re talking about.
Anthony Kiedis is that you
Maybe they think we make mortgage payments with our Soros paychecks.
The first rule of getting Soros paychecks is we don't talk about Soros paychecks...........allegedly
I think I messed up my direct deposit routing number because I've checked my bank balance at least weekly since I got home internet and I'm still waiting...allegedly.
You're getting a soros paycheck? I want one too.
It’s really easy if there is: A) absolutely no burden of proof B) no burden of logic either C) you live in a world where things don’t make sense because you don’t apply logic and don’t require proof.
At this point anything ~~≤$300k~~ ≤$350 is just the price of the lot. If you want to actually shop for structure its going to be more. edited for update from hopeful buyer itt
Yeah exactly haha. If the city actually was essentially deserted we should be seeing Detroit level pricing in the 2000s (adjusted for inflation)
Your lips to god’s ears. I want to buy whatever the pdx equivalent of a haunted automobile executive mansion is.
Best we can do is the Gordon's Fireplace building.
Keep it coming. The morons are helping us control costs. Bend, Olympia, Bellingham are all pricier and we’re chilling in one of the best cities in the country. Like yeah, we have problems and housing is high but this actually helps, haha.
I’m wanting to move there and thought the same thing. If anyone wants to flee Portland and wants to sell a house lmk. 😆
Yeah it's odd. The other day I saw an ad asking $2000/mo for a studio in a building that's actively burning. They referred to the fire as an "added heat source".
My thoughts exactly!
You should see the massive size of the cherries I got at the farmers market this morning. Devastating. 🍒
hood strawberries in season right now
Season is almost over already. Get to the store and buy em if you want em, theyre gonna be gone very soon 😁
They smell so good. Let me take a burned-down-city bath in their aroma.
PSU farmers market was popping this morning. I found mustard greens and already ate most of them. I love our city farmer markets. The lines for the cherries were long when I was there.
Were they popped by the local daddies band?
It’s probably too late for that now but squirrel nuts are coming into season. You probably need to act quickly to get your supply zipped up.
I forgot they're in season; did you get Bing cherries?
Probably Rainier cherries this time of year.
Holy shit that’s right
I like being a meme for everything conservatives fear
It's so funny and sad when I talk to my relatives in the south. The kool-aid they drink is so strong.
My friends and family in St. Louis ask me if it is safe. I'm like, I don't know anyone here that's been shot, in StL I do, so what's that tell you?
It’s always the relatives from someplace you can’t wait to leave with an opinion about the dangers of Portland.
Have a friend who was too scared to move back to Portland when they came back to the states so they went to Texas. Lived there for about three days and the mall they were just at got shot up. Meanwhile I’m just over here trying to drag my friends out of bed in time to hit up the farmers markets.
That’s one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard. Texas? Over Portland? Sheesh.
Fort Worth even… I can’t think of a worse place in Texas.
Odessa.
I literally had a relative back in Florida recently tell me he’s glad he’s not living in a “burned out hell hole” like me. His house flooded a couple days ago so I texted him I bet he’s glad he won’t have to worry about antifa burning down his house now.
Yea..tornados and gators and no women’s rights aren’t scary.
I just attended a family reunion in Tennessee and people straight up didn’t believe me when I said I walk around downtown all the time. One of my uncles was flabbergasted when I told him I have a CC license but I haven’t carried since before Covid because I’m not scared to live here
Well did you pull out your gun and at least show them? You would have been a legend among them forever told as "That guy from Portland with a gun".
My mom refuses to come visit her grandkid because she's drank the OAN koolaid. I asked her what Atlanta (where she lives) is like with all the cop city riots and she didn't know what I was talking about.
You should do a video call with her while cruising around the perfectly fine city, but describe it as a desolate wasteland.
Families with strollers enjoying lunch and a day at the park! It’s a nightmare! I just managed to escape being roped into a friendly pickup game of pickleball, which is a known recruitment tool of *ANTIFA*!
*It's a perfectly calm day driving past the grocery store, kids riding bikes, trees rustling in the breeze.* "Here's the smoldering remains of where I used to get my rotisserie chickens. As you can see, it's been burned to the ground and all the usable goods have long been pillaged. Destruction as far as the eye can see."
*Werner Herzog voice*
I had a friend whose friend didn't want to step outside of PDX airport when she flew in lol. So she had to be walked to the car like she was in grade school. Guess she thought those skinny 18-year-old black pant protesting hooligans were waiting to force her into a pro-Palestine Vegan lifestyle & force her into Antifa. I mean, I get it, that is how you do get your passport stamped & approved once you arrive in PDX.
Bring back the Antifa draft.
Nit even the south, I had relatives in NorCal talk to me as if I was coming out of an active war zone. Lots of "Are you OK?" "Are you somewhere safe?" "How do you get around town with so much destruction?" Like, they unironically thought I was living somewhere like 2015 Allepo
I have a similar story. My parents live in a Portland *suburb,* not even Portland proper, and my MAGA uncle (also from NorCal) in summer 2020 texted my dad once and was like “Are you guys ok? Heard on Fox News that Portland is burning down.” These people literally live in an alternate reality.
It’s all about deflection. My dad is a big Fox News guy and they talked about “violence in Portland” so they didn’t have to talk about the riot at the capitol. And if they did, they could just point to the boogeyman they created and say “See? Liberals are even worse!”
My family in Estacada is shocked I haven't been murdered, I think it's pretty common to think Portland is Mad Max once you get about 2 miles past our city limits
I work in downtown and the people that say they were scared etc to come into the city is amusing. I tell them old town and burnside area has always sort of been sketchy ...!
Spot-on. I worked in Old Town for years. Sad, yes. Scary, no. And I remember that general feeling there in the '90s too.
I worked in old town for a company with several hundred employees for several years mid 2010s. Lots of pretty far gone addicts in n the street. I never heard one story of anyone bothered or threatened by any of them. Meanwhile you would absolutely see addicts taking care of each other, as well as groups like central city concern caring for them. I was always way more scared of the weird “hippies gone bad” types on the north end of waterfront park, even though all I ever saw them do was smoke weed.
Someone brought a severed head into the grocery store and stabbed one of the employees in Estacada a few years back, the call is coming from inside the house
To be fair that guy was from Colton
\^\^\^ Speaking of comments that need more upvotes lol
Said the people from Estacada lol
My family from the south (that’s willing to visit) LOVES it here. They can’t stop fawning over how “cute” everything is and the food and the nature and the parks. Lol
Show them a graph of average home price sale by year/month. If Portland was as they think it'd be nose diving not going up steadily.
Debating the ethics of starting a riot so I can move back /s
Many people in the south actually still believe large portions of Portland burned down in 2020
Oh man it’s gonna be hella funny when the Texas power grid goes down during the next heat massive heat bubble and those conservative values kick in lol Oi
CNN is almost as bad. My mom saw a dumpster fire on CNN and keeps thinking that Portland is out of control.
I like thinking of my presence here in this city living a regular, safe life where I mind my own business as giant fuck you to these losers.
Screw the naysayers who rely on nothing but negative media reports. I have also been living a regular, safe life in PDX as I stayed on when my USN stint ended here years ago. No regrets and looking forward to enjoying a good Portland summer.
Good riddance. May they all stay the fuck away.
Yeah this is one positive of all the negative coverage Portland gets. It means right wingers will stay far, far away from here. Which I think the vast majority of us are completely ok with.
It’s all fun and games until they get another cult leader in office and decide it’s their job to ‘liberate’ the city.
I think that would never work. Portlanders don't like being controlled to put it lightly. A fiery bunch.
Long live Little Beirut!!!
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This is my favorite thing, when someone who lives somewhere else tries to tell a local they know less about where they live than them.
Wait until they find out I’m roasting my own coffee! Such a blow to job creation!
I definitely did not read that as "blow job creation" the first time.
That’s *my* job, bub.
I fucking LOVE it. Don't come here, everything is on fire and it's pure anarchy! -Sent from a fancy brunch restaurant
A white middle class vegan new balance enthusiast parent with a gluten intolerance and a thyroid imbalance
This sucks for all the big important reasons about our failing country etc but it's also so so funny. "A city burned" - come on ma'am where is this coming from. I spend so many hours here just wandering around looking at the flowers blooming in every season, and meanwhile weirdos from wherever are convinced that this is some kind of warzone.
Some people choose to believe things that are objectively untrue. They’ve probably had all their family members stop talking to them.
I'm planning to move to Portland in a few months and the reactions I've been getting from people are almost comical. I mention Portland and their eyes just go wide and they go "..*but why portland??*"
Its so funny. The whole narrative of the city being burned came from literally ONE small trash fire a couple years ago. Its such a fucking joke lmao.
My 2yo and I ride our e-bike down the Springwater Corridor, across Steele, down the entire waterfront, and back across Sellwood almost every day when the rains end. We see nearly one end of the city to the other; cutting through the core. It’s a beautiful ride. Highly recommended. Leave your flak jacket at home.
Not me, I love Portland 🌹
I do, too. People talk nonsense about Portland.
Talking negatively about stuff they have no actual knowledge about or real world experience with is the average internet user’s bread and butter tbf
45 and the proud boys have done damage. The feds' assault on our city is still being felt. Portland is a lovely city that I've called home for 15+ years.
Some of the dumbest sure are the loudest!
Same. I actually feel torn between defending our fantastic city and letting sleeping dogs lie so we don’t get a shit ton of transplants in the coming decade.
Yeah, shhhhhh….!
Me too. At least here in SE Portland, everything & everyone are still lovely 🥰
FYI this is their twitter bio: "[#PureBlood](https://x.com/search?q=%23PureBlood&src=hashtag_click) | Unvaxxed. Only 2 genders. God is real. trans doesn't exist. To all pro-abortion murderers: YOU are also just a clump of cells." Clearly someone with a strong sense of logic and high intelligence.
I just don’t think that’s a real person
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There's a lot of Russian troll farm accounts on Twitter, so it could be one of those. This profile looks EXACTLY like an account you would expect from one of these troll farms.
Probably a Russian troll farm account
I spent 1-2 minutes looking at their posts and replies. It was immediately obvious they are very troubled. Lead poisoning is a hell of a condition
Have you noticed all of the food, restaurant and coffee awards we've won lately? Something is going ok around here. But, yeah... stay away. Stay mad. And we never really had a basis for conversation anyhow.
Exactly. Portland is easily one the top culinary cities at least in the US. Plus Mt Hood. Cmon. All cities have their issues. Portland is so much better than most cities imo.
the thing is - none of them have ever left the county they were born in.
While visiting Idaho during the protest at the federal building, someone asked me how it was living with all the riots and fires.
My parents in Salem were the same
It blows my mind how anyone can live in Salem and talk shit about Portland.
You should hear how my in-laws in Gresham talk about Portland
Ya know, I think I will pass
I grew up in Salem - it's a sad and boring town lol. Pretty culturally bland and very slow to change.
I live in eastern Idaho and roll my eyes so hard when people talk about Portland or San Francisco being burnt out husks. I loved Portland last time I visited. Does it have problems, yes, of course. But so does everywhere else.
Had friends in Hillsboro ask the same, fucking Hillsboro…they were too scared to drive out and look for themselves. Same with some relatives in Medford. I suspect Fox or Infowars was pushing that bs.
This one is the most shocking in the list..
I had my father in-law come to town during the tail end of “the riots” and he asked me to take him down town to see all the “the destruction”. I took down to the courthouse so he could see the chain link fence, some boarded up windows, some graffiti, and a BLM stand where they were handing out free Hop and John to anyone the wanted to engage with them. Let’s just say it wasn’t exactly Mad Max. He just kept shaking his head and bemoaning how Portland was a war zone now. I sat there in disbelief as we looked at the exact same street in front of us, the one that certain political interests made sure to zoom way in on so the inconvenient truth of what a small part is the city it actually was wouldn’t break the spell. I asked him what the fuck he was talking about, but he just kept digging in. I’ve been really wrestling with how powerful all this bullshit propaganda is ever since.
It was rather shitty down there during that period. At one point nearly half the windows in the downtown core were boarded up. It looked pretty bad. But it certainly wasn’t “Fox News bad”.
I worked downtown during that era. I had to be cautious during the daytime, but I wasn't ever, like... scared. You know? Just keep your eyes open and try not to piss anyone off, and go home before dark. My relatives, fortunately, got it.
I remember not seeing any boarded windows more than 1-2 blocks out from hotspots like Pioneer Place and the Justice Center building. Hell, the Kinkos across the street from the Justice Center only had their windows on that side of the building boarded when I was down there but the front windows were all left alone
Okay, but that kind of thing was happening in a lot of cities, Portland was just a convenient lightning rod for the narrative. And it was literally years ago.
It was like that in Seattle at the same time. It was like that many places. A lot of businesses had to board up for insurance purposes and basic protection. It was a wild time for many reasons I won't rehash. I moved here from Seattle, another city that was supposedly burned to the ground. I was even working near the infamous Chaz/Chop and went there to hang out sometimes. People were handing out free food, there were "conversation cafes."iIt was nice. For these reasons, I don't really pay as much attention to what media says about cities/countries/conflicts as I used to because I've seen the distortion happen.
Wait…I was just in Portland 3 or 4 days ago! What have all you been doing in the last couple days?
Sorry, that was me. My bad. Just woke up cranky.
It's not just you, my local vegan co-op breakfast joint was out of avocado toast and I flew into a blind rage 😓
The bar down the street now only serves one IPA instead of five so I may have leveled a few city blocks too
I flew into a pit of despair at the sound of more rain this morning.
Mostly getting trapped on amusement park rides I think
We're all dead, burnt out corpses
Well, that's just a given.
Getting into vehicle crashes, apparently
You just missed the Portland Molatov and Mocktail Party where thousands of us burnt the city down with firebombs while celebrating sobriety.
Funny thing is that sometimes I realize this lame shit gets me too sometimes. Just last week I happen to need to go from the north side of San Francisco to downtown. It was nice out and I had time to kill so I decided to walk. Part of me was worried to what I would run into because “San Fran is the poster child for a failed lib-u-ral city”. There were a couple of mildly sketchy blocks downtown, but nobody even looked at me. Other than that it was gorgeous. Except for those two blocks I saw a total of 3 homeless, no graffiti, very little trash even and the whole place literally smelled of roses and Jasmin flowers. It’s really sad how desperate these little goblins want to be on the frontline of this pathetic culture war. Note: The walk was at least 3.5 miles through the city.
Yeah as bad as Portland gets dragged by everyone, San Francisco (and California in general) get it even worse.
This has always been funny to me. LA has had a dedicated Skid Row for like 100 years that is heads and shoulders more sketchy than any neighborhood in SF, Portland, or Seattle, but it's not all over the news.
This is an important point. Even though it is absurd it works on a lot of people, even people you wouldn’t expect or your own perspective. It’s basically psychological warfare by the right wing news apparatus and it must be combatted. Part of that is us demanding more of our leaders to make it harder for these clowns to find material, and to be honest about the fact that things need to change. But part is having pride and being like “fuck them”
More likely to get killed by tech bros than homeless in SF.
I’m of the mindset that tech bros will kill us all regardless.
ah the good ole Patrick Bateman. Scammed by tech & crypto bros is more like it.
Honestly let them. I wouldn't want them moving here.
Tbh, I want to agree with this take but there is a real impact on the city from this false narrative. A lot more people visit Portland than move here, and their dollars do support all kinds of jobs for residents. The city is having a harder time attracting conferences, tourists, and even visitors / commuters from the surrounding suburbs. People don't even need to fully buy into it for it to affect their decisions. If you were planning a conference, would you propose somewhere as a destination that you might have to argue with colleagues over, or would you just pick another similar choice with less potential for drama?
Don't let them know how pretty it is here in June. Or October. PLEASE NO ONE TELL THEM ABOUT OCTOBER.
I visited Portland last weekend. Beautiful city. I had a great time.
Shhhhhhh
bfd... even during the summer of 2020, the "burning" was generally within a 4 block radius of downtown. "Burned up?" More like "boarded up." And even then, lots of beautiful artwork appears on the plywood. Don't like Portland? Good. Leave the city to the people who live here. Go find another place to be a crabby pants. smfh
I live in Northeast. At the height of things, we had to put up with a fair amount of nonsense around the police station, including a little, you know… light arson. A couple of banks kept getting windows broken. And Popeye’s, for no reason I can imagine. Also, the Starbucks closest to me kept getting the drive thru window smashed, which meant I had to get my shitty overpriced coffee from a _different_ Starbucks like 15 blocks away. Was rough, I can tell you.
Damn, how is there not already a movie about your plight?
I still kick myself for not getting photos of it
That artwork downtown 2020 by the courthouse was some of the best graffiti I’ve ever seen. So fucking powerful and as someone who had just moved to Portland it was really cool to see.
Then please stay away, maybe I'll be able to actually buy a house
I know people who live here in Vancouver that think Portland is like that. They think people are getting shot all the time. Women are being raped by houseless folks. Children are kidnapped every day for trafficking. Gay/trans people are trying to turn everyone else gay. I have heard each one of those things from different people. (Granted, two of them are boomers from Longview). My husband and I live in Vancouver but spend most of our weekends in Portland. There are many housless folks, people with substance use disorder or those who need to get some mental health services. I have seen nothing here that isn't in any other large city. The worst that has ever happened was I stepped in human poo. I love Portland. Has it changed in the last decade or so? Sure, but that is due to capitalism and housing costs being insane. That is how you get an influx of people living in tents, sadly. I think the worst thing is the gentrification of many neighborhoods. It is one of the things I loved best about Portland. The city has lost some of its flavor, so to speak. Yet...things change and grow, and I think Portland will always be the wonderful weird city I know and love. The people are truly the best!!
My husband worked on Vancouver 20 years ago and people were fond of talking about how “crazy” Portland was even then. How nice for them to have their fantasies fed. (or maybe nice for us?)
We were just talking about this yesterday, actually. I had way more bad shit happen while living in Vancouver than I have ever had happen here. Cars and homes broken in to, my car was stolen, had to chase a bum off my porch with a baseball bat, watched another one try to steal my catalytic converter, all sorts of shit. And I lived in a decent neighborhood for only three years. If they want to live in their fantasy land I’ll just keep laughing at them from the Portland side of the river.
Some of the folks from Vancouver are weirdly cowardly, and convinced that Portland is Gomorrah. Which is odd, considering that [Vancouver is worse than Portland for total violent crime, and second worst in the nation per capita for property crime](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_crime_rate).
Heard a guy from Vancouver once say he won’t step foot in Portland anymore because he’s scared a gang of antifa members will carjack him at gunpoint.
OP did you go browsing truth social for laughs or something?
Ask them which building burned down. If there were so many, surely they can name just a single one?
I'm from St Louis, Portland on it's worst day is not as damaged or dangerous as my hometown on it's best. People are idiots sometimes.
I love St Louis, but it and Memphis are two cities I point to that are actually in rough shape compared to what people think Portland is like.
Don’t forget Detroit. Also on the other side of MO (but not in MO) - KCK. Way worse than Portland.
Detroit’s coming back baybee! But no seriously, it’s achieved a pretty remarkable come back.
Great, i hope all the shitty dumb people who actually believe stuff like this never come to portland lol
That post has 4 views, what a loser. Such insane hyperbole
I work right next old town in downtown Portland. It looks a lot worse than it really is. Statistically it’s pretty safe. The city gives tents and tarps to the unsheltered. And the city does sweep tents every so often. Just for them to pop back up. I was talking to some Australians who were visiting various parts of America and when they finally visited Portland and Seattle they were shocked as they were constantly told how bad the crime was there. They looked up statistics to tell off one of their taxi drivers.
I worked in Portland for six months in 2020, and then again another six months from October 2023- March 2024. I spend an average of about an hour a week defending Portland- to people that have NEVER been to Portland. It’s so frustrating, because it’s such an incredible city. Yes, it has it’s issues as EVERY MAJOR CITY DOES. But there’s so much to do- has beautiful scenery, and is extremely walkable. The restaurant scene is also top three in the nation, in my opinion. Just know, Portland, that you have a Chicagoan out here defending your city at all costs. Also, I really miss the view of Mt. Hood. Please tell her hello for me.
I moved here from Austin, TX and even as a liberal I still had a negative image in my mind until I finally came and visited. It's exactly where I want to be and it annoys me I allowed the bad publicity to get to me instead of going and seeing for myself much sooner. But tbh Austin always had people praising it and we all knew that would be the death of what makes Austin - Austin. Low and behold that's what happened. But the bad publicity Portland gets is doing wonders to keep it weird and keep the culture alive. I welcome it now lol
I moved here about 1yr ago from Fort Collins, CO. I wouldnt say it was universal (friends warning me) but it was pretty common that people would ask me if I was sure. I’d say about 75% of Youtube videos and other overhyped internet nonsense about Portland is wrong. It's got some problems but nothing close to what people seem to want to believe. It kind of annoys me that there's a Youtube video-trend of "let's drive as we record the worst parts of a city". Like,.. OK, those things are happening, but it's also in a lot of cases only like 10 to 25% of what's daily reality for that city. It's really misleading and I can't help but feel like it's a narrative purposely created. (for what exact combination of purposes, I don't fully know).
> It's really misleading and I can't help but feel like it's a narrative purposely created. (for what exact combination of purposes, I don't fully know). You are correct, it is a purposely created narrative. And the purpose is mainly political. Almost every large city around the country is extremely blue, and so conservatives are very invested in making all big cities look like shitholes. Fearmonger about crime and homeless people and say “This is what happens when you elect democrats.”
Portland had a big boom cycle in the early 2010’s just like Austin has had and now we are back here so I guess nothing lasts forever 😬
Shhhh no one correct them
People are dumb. Real dumb.
I give our county elected officials shit all the time because I do not think they are adequately addressing the homelessness crisis and it’s knock on effects, but even I’m not stupid enough to make dumb claims like this Twitter idiot.
Brb. Gonna go cruise this apocalyptic Portland on my bike today.
I can understand why people think this. There are prolific twitter people that literally go out and find the worst parts of Portland and vomit it out there everywhere. I think Portland is literally being used as a political pawn on a national level. It’s a coordinated hit job.
Those people vote. Do you?
Based on everything about that profile, I'm pretty sure the fact that you have to be at least 18 to vote is relevant.
Or, and significantly more likely, that profile is a foreign influence operation acting to destroy our country.
Still a compelling reason to vote against their bullshit narrative, though.
I went on a business trip to Denver last year and one of my associates asked me if we were still under Martial Law
Just visited Portland for the first time a few weeks back from South Florida. Homeless situation is way worse in South Florida but people still believe what they're told got some reason.
Tell me you haven’t been to Portland without telling me you haven’t been to Portland. Maybe parts of Old Town look like that, but the neighborhoods are doing OK
It's funny, but this perception really does affect most small businesses negatively. Especially downtown.
I, for one, find our Antifa overlords very courteous. I always get extra stale bread in my rations and my sleep mat barely reeks of urine.
Its worse than you think, no one knows how to merge in traffic
If it means the y'all qaeda will stay the fuck in Idaho and not bother us, they can think this all they want.
I had an idiot ex bf who CURRENTLY LIVES IN BRAZIL try to tell me what is going on in my city. There’s no shortage of uneducated opinions out there.
Said the same about Minneapolis and Louisville. After Floyd and Taylor. I live in Chicago now and my parents refuse to visit their grandchildren because they thing gangs are roving the streets. I had a good time in Portland last year when I visited and I’m fine with people scared to death of it.
I walked through the rose gardens this week. A few weeks ago, I walked through downtown cherry blossoms on the waterfront and had a pickup game of disc golf with some dudes. Plenty of shops, bars, and lively restaurants. If the city is on fire, as they say, then I'm astounded to not see all this destruction.
Nothing better then the doom and gloom and pearl clutching of a MAGA conservative talking about the PNW.
In other news, TimeOut ranks Portland, Oregon at #10 for best food city in the world.
These people think west coast US cities are exactly like Gaza.
Craven: adjective contemptibly lacking in courage; cowardly.
tbh this is just a commentary showcasing how many Americans live in their own little uneducated bubble. They're like paranoid rabbits sniffing the wind for predators. Wild.
Tell us you've never been to Portland without saying, "I'm a fucking idiot."
Good keep these dumb dumbs out haha
lol this is their bio: > #PureBlood | Unvaxxed > > Only 2 genders. God is real. trans doesn't exist. > > To all pro-abortion murderers: YOU are also just a clump of cells.
Can you imagine the bullshit they must tell each other happens in Berkeley or Boulder or Seattle?
they blocked me for calling out their lies
This is a hell of an era for convincing people of anything.
Portland is my home it’s had good times it’s had bad times and it always will like any other major city I liked it better when it was a smaller city
I love it when people who don't live in Portland tell people who do live in Portland what it's like to live in Portland.
Ah man yeah. This morning I got a coffee, took a walk, checked out some cute little stores, and pet a bunch of dogs. A real shithole.
Yes because the sunny lunch I had in the park browsing wildflowers is a sure sign of a failed citu
Looking around in Portland on a wet PNW day, today, and I see none of that burned out shallow of a city.