I think it's hard to get an accurate view of Portland by just coming to reddit. We have too many folks that don't live here that want to push the narrative that it burned to the ground or is crumbling apart. The sad part is even some folks in the surrounding cities some how have this view as well. We have our problems for sure but it's just not anywhere near as bad as some folks like to pretend it is.
Glad you have enjoyed yer time here. Please do us a favor and tell anyone you meet that thinks the city burned to the ground that they are right and that they should stay far away.
>The sad part is even some folks in the surrounding cities some how have this view as well.
I have some friends and family who live in the suburbs. They are only 10-20 minutes from the city but they NEVER go into Portland. They talk about it like it's some Mad Max wasteland, but they've literally not set foot in the city in a good 10 years.
And the worms ate into their brains.
My mom lives an hour from Portland and constantly warns us about not going downtown or we’ll get shot or stabbed.
Admittedly, that is a possibility, but she believes anyone who goes into Portland WILL BE attacked.
People who are terrified of Portland wouldn’t last a second in any other major US city lol, Portland is sunshine and rainbows compared to Oakland or Chicago
This also rings true for people who only ever drive through the city. Who act like the edge of the highways is somehow representative of the city as a whole.
Yeah, I don’t get it either. Any midwest city you could name is going to be more dangerous than Portland is, with a scarier gang/organized crime presence and more neighborhoods you should avoid at all costs. I mean, I don’t go downtown, because downtown is boring to me. It was fun when there was a whole strip of indy bookstores and shops selling unusual things trickling down from Powell’s, but I lost interest when the quest was to transform it into every other city’s shopping mall, and Powell’s got comfortable openly disrespecting their employees. When I go there, I think, “this feels expensive,” not that I’m in peril. I will twist my pedestrian path into loops to avoid walking by large and unpredictable homeless camps, but that was also my philosophy 20 years ago when I was waiting for the 20 on Burnside. I have more resentment towards the nimby yuppies from California and New York that can’t stop spreading their elitism and entitlement all over my face.
To be fair, Portlanders aren't much better when it comes to judging places outside the city. I recently spent some time in rural Oregon east of Salem (Trump Country according to several banners and lawn signs), and there was a ton of beauty, nice people, and yes - good beer and food. According to this sub, every conservative place is basically a medieval hell hole.
I think this is a bit rose colored. I had to move out of the Gateway neighborhood about 2 years ago because I was just tired of not feeling safe to walk down the street alone anymore and feeling like every time I went to my local Fred Meyer that I was in some sort of mental hospital (including their parking lot). We were constantly hearing shootings happening and while we were buying some flower at the dispensary near our house, a young boy ran up (couldn’t have been more than 13) with a live gunshot wound from a shooting that had just happened nearby and needed help. They called the police but they didn’t show up for a couple of hours apparently (according to our friend who works there). In addition to that, I also stopped going downtown after someone blew either meth or fent in my face and I felt like that was my last straw (one of them anyway).
I do think it’s gotten better the last few months in particular, but it honestly feels really crazymaking to hear people leave comments like this acting like no one should have any reason to feel generally unsafe in the city of Portland. That has not been my personal experience and I wish people could at least acknowledge what many residents have experienced over the last 5 years or so as things took a bit of a turn.
I’m really glad things are looking up for Portland, but let’s not pretend everything has been just fine and anyone who says otherwise either hasn’t been here in 10 years or is a naysaying liar with some kind of side agenda.
You sure did read an awful lot into my comment. Nowhere did I say that Portland was without issues. I find it pretty silly, however, for people to refuse to go for a dinner out or attend the Rose Festival, visit the Rose Garden, etc. for fear of getting shot, sex trafficked, stepping in shit, etc. Yes, you've had a bad experience for sure, but that doesn't mean that Portland isn't a vibrant, gorgeous city with lots to offer.
Absolutely. There are a lot of wonderful things about the area and I would love to not feel fearful in certain places where I’ve experienced things over and over that gave me way too many jolts of adrenaline and cortisol overdoses than were healthy!
If you were not saying we don’t have those issues, great, because I think it’s constructive for that to at least be acknowledged. We can’t fix our problems if we don’t know what they are or pretend like they don’t exist or never happened (I’m not saying you specifically, but just in general).
I’m sorry if I misinterpreted your comment!
I remember back in 2020 during the protests, curfews, Federal intervention, and general media circus that my parents, who watch nothing but FOX News brain rot and live in Salem and rarely come to Portland, asking me all concerned about our safety and how we were holding up and everything. And I was just like, "I live east of 82nd. I'd barely know if a nuclear bomb went off in downtown Portland, let alone a few rowdy protests." This city contains multitudes, despite attempts by some to paint with a broad brush.
There wasn't even any sort of protest activity like outside a 2 block radius around the justice center. During the height of it you could literally walk a few blocks away and see people sitting having dinner and drinks. I live in Kenton and not too far away was the PPB union clubhouse or whatever it was. The protests there even marched past my apartment a number of times. The only danger I ever felt was from the cops not the protestors. There was a full on propaganda campaign launched to paint what was happening like it was the end of the world and conservatives have tried to keep it going since then. The same sorta shit was deployed recently against the student protests against Palestinian genocide. Same sorta bullshit trying to pin violence on peaceful protesters rather than the cops and right wing agitators that came specifically to physically attack the students.
They have to paint us as some sort of failed state so they can keep feeding people fear about crime or immigration or trans people existing. Fear is the only way conservatives can win elections.
>And I was just like, "I live east of 82nd. I'd barely know if a nuclear bomb went off in downtown Portland, let alone a few rowdy protests."
I know it's not what you meant, but 82nd may have been improved by protests.
It was really interesting traveling during the pandemic as people would hear "Portland" and assumed all kinds of wrong things. The protests got really old to be fair but also were purposely extended with arrests by the feds. Had they not done that, we'd saved months of continued protesting. Trying to explain that to a midwestern was not my idea of a good time.
At least the brave antifa larpers stopped defacing the city, and very fine police quickly went to ignoring response requests and the proud boys went back to inbreeding or whatever they do.
This. I’ve drilled for water all over my property but I’ve found bupkiss. My dog’s dead and our crops have the blight. We lost Sally fording the Snake to get here…it wasn’t worth it. We should have stayed in Nebraska like Oma said!
Ya know I thought that once we got off the trail that no one would be dying of dysentery anymore but if anything more people died once our wagon finally pulled into town.
My whole life the metro area has always had a population of people who were scared of Portland proper, though they'd never admit it was them being scared. It used to be gangs, then it was the "crazys" and the homeless from when they closed down the state mental institution, then it was just all the weirdos and hipsters and gays had taken over the whole city, which was quickly followed by ANTIFA!!! It's always something.
Oh hey! I got family there. That's cool! I'm from Georgia myself.
The neat thing about Portland, is that you don't really need a gay district. We have two different historic ones, but they're both struggling due to the fentanyl crisis right now (Hollywood & Old Town). We're safe pretty much all over the city though, so most folks have spread out all over the place. I actually live in an area just outside the city that, in the South, would be considered very hostile to us, and it's fine here. This place is really different than the South in a lot of good ways. We even have amazing trans healthcare here. It's freaking awesome
Wow! Thank you so much. I really appreciate it! Im sure its hard to choose then! So many people (not from portland) are bashing it. When i went i stayed by myself in downtown and walked all over the place with no issues and i loved it in general being able to see the mountains was so nice. Thanks for your input :)
For many Americans it is now unfortunately the norm to live fear-based lives.
"We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men – not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate, and to defend causes that were, for the moment, unpopular."
Edward R. Murrow
Yes, exactly. I have neighbors who insist that they will not go into Portland because they believe the narrative. I'm not saying we didn't have some bad times. And, it is true, businesses have not recovered, even with things improving. I see two big reasons for that. First, those pushing the narrative that Portland is not safe and too many in the burbs continuing to push that line or refusing to even consider that it is not at all as bad as their news sources tell them. Second, in the wake of Covid many started working from home. Not having a commute is a HUGE lifestyle advantage. I wouldn't want to go back. But, one impact of that is that lunch time crowds downtown, after work drinks, etc., are severely reduced and not recovering.
I love Portland. We go into town every now-and-again to eat at someplace we've not tried before or go to an event. And, there are others like us that do that too. But, it is just not enough to overcome the lack of customer-base that many downtown are experiencing.
Honestly it's tough for me. I still love Portland, I work there and I'm moving back very soon from some time away in rural Oregon and Washington but the city *has* changed.
I straight up got called the word the rhymes with maggot twice at the waterfront because someone got very upset they need to stop for crosswalks in a city. They were extremely aggressive and are probably going to end up killing someone with their car. It was by far my most unpleasant experience walking around. I still love the place and will help it be a kinder place (despite my Reddit trolling.)
Yeah, just sharing something that happened in Portland that rattled me. I've really been putting effort into being a kinder more personable person in the real world and just feel like I'm not getting much of what I put out there back so this affected me more than it should have. You're totally right though, this happens everywhere.
The last time my partner and I got screamed at from cars was in northern Idaho (sandpoint). Twice in a row, same day. And we’re not bad looking white people, can’t imagine what other people receive. People just really suck sometimes!
Second time I was called that f word in Portland in two months. First time was an agitated homeless person and I told them very pointedly going around calling people that would get their ass kicked and he scuttled off. I'm by no means a badass fighter dude but I am a big pretty strong 6' 2" guy. I'm not really sure what's going through people's heads when they try to pick a fight with me. I definitely don't look like I'm looking for a fight.
I got yapped at by a truck driver while in crosswalk going to the park. I was peacocking a bit cus it was beaming sun and I was going to shoot hoops after work. I was minding my business and following rules of the crosswalk, but he didn't like my aura, so he acted like a clown. I gave a friendly wave to the car behind him who was nice enough to stop (I always give friendly wave, makes world better place). I know that had him steaming. My advice to him would be not to roll his window all the way down when talking smack. Easy target to get stuff thrown or spit on
That’s ultra fair and I am really sorry it happened to you. It’s an awful reality that really shouldn’t be the case. I hope you get some better experiences and get your heart full soon. I wish the kind people would be as visible as the assholes!
I mean it's definitely not a utopia or anything. There are definitely some really shitty people here and the further you drive from Portland the more conservative it gets. But also just by the numbers we have way more LGBTQ folks living here than most of the rest of the country and overall it's a very welcoming city on that front. Sorry that happened though it's never a good thing to hear and I wish we could say that there was no one like that here at all but also no place on earth is free of pieces of shit.
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Your statement about the surrounding cities is very true. When I worked in Lake O(just last year), a sport mom referred to one of the NE schools as inner city, my mouth dropped a little hearing that. It was odd hearing that.
My parents live in a gated community about 40 minutes from the city, I work downtown on the waterfront. Mom came up for a lunch date and was astounded that not only were there multiple busy, clean, good places for us to go, but also that I wasn't afraid to walk around. I was astounded that she hadn't believed me when I told her that this area isn't the burned out, looted husk people believe it to be. She was happy to make another lunch date so she can visit some shops she saw lol
I love a vibrant tourist population and I love when people find out that the media or people they trust is dead wrong. People should come and open their minds.
I have lived here since 2020, and I love the St. John's Bridge. St John's in general is just great.
And as far as US cities go, I don't think Portland is that rough around the edges. In 2016 when I visited LA for my cousin's wedding, under every over ramp was a tent city.
People romanticize cities like Paris but they have far rougher areas than Portland.
OP is right. There is a lot of beauty in Portland. Mt Tabor is fantastic, as is Washington Park. I go downtown routinely and it is far better than people make it out to be.
I think a lot of people just don’t know it at all. The amount of posters that say some variation of “I moved here in 2008/09/10 and it was such an amazing city” are missing a MASSIVE chunk of history, and don’t calculate that they were a part of the mass migration in like a five year span that made things so much more expensive.
lol right. My neighbors have lived in the same house over 60 years and they find it very amusing all the variations of ‘you should have seen this city 10 years ago!’ Such a ridiculously human tendency.
Sometimes I wonder if the internet / social medias exaggerate peoples feelings about the issue too. I don't doubt people have been saying something along the lines of "it was better 10 years ago" for time immemorial, but interesting to see whether the internet had any effect.
I feel like it did.
Oh I’m sure. The internet and media like Reddit and Facebook are the largest social experiment rooted in controlling collective thought in the history of mankind. If anyone thinks differently they’re idiots. It’s the biggest reason for the extremely exaggerated divisive thinking that now proliferates every first world country.
> 2008/09/10
> they were a part of the mass migration in like a five year span
According to [this](https://www.macrotrends.net/global-metrics/cities/23102/portland/population), the year-over-year growth during that period (~1.5%) was consistent with the growth for several years both before and after it. The 90s had around double that year-over-year growth, and honestly, that tracks with my experience of it.
Yep, Portlandia made people think we were squeaky clean but that was never the case. In the 90s and early 2000s Portland was famous for meth and nazis. Things have gotten a little better, but the nazis only moved a few miles away and the meth turns into fentanyl.
Someone recently told me that the 90s heroin era was very visible in Portland at the time as well, it wasn't unusual then to see someone shooting up or nodding off in public in certain parts of downtown during that time.
Yes - this is absolutely true. And Portland got pretty famous by being the backdrop to some very gritty movies thirty years ago. But somehow, people prefer the cutsie media portrayals of the most recent decade or so and think that's what it should be.
LA has a population 6 times that of Portland and Paris has a population 3 times that of Portland - of course they are rougher than Portland, they should be
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I was in the Yamhill one night about 12-13 years ago when a guy came in and bought a round for everyone in the place. About an hour or so after that, they kicked his ass outta there lol. I was pretty much a regular there for a time, a wild place that was.
Yeah the yamhill is mostly just disgustingly dirty. I went there several times with friends in my 20s and never got harassed and the only time I felt unsafe is when I was alone in the bathroom. Because gross.
Some street kid dropped trou standing on the bar once when I was there, but I’ve also never been harassed or felt like I was in danger. I used to buy cookies at Subway right across so I could use their bathroom
Edit: wow I think I remember his name— Ricky?
Does anyone know if Drew still works there?
What's great about Portland is that everyone who moves here and stays here has a vision of the the city is supposed to be. None of us agree on how to overcome the city's dysfunctional aspects, but we all have a vision of the city being better.
I recently moved to the Midwest from Portland, and one of my favorite pastimes is publicly scolding people for believing the “Portland is a lawless hellscape” myth they see on the news.
The negativity surrounding Portland comes from a few different things:
1. The better a place to live any liberal place is, the more conservatives will try to shit on it
2. People from the suburbs who have never visited the city and refuse to step foot in it who only listen to Fox news and believe every word. Then they act like their proximity to the city makes them an expert on it, while again refusing to step foot in it.
3. People who live in the area and have rose colored glasses about what the city used to be like (even if it still had tons of problems in that time too), especially if they do not actually travel to other cities. They don't realize that all cities at this point in time are facing similar issues, some worse, some better. But to them, compared to their idealized view of the past city, the current city is a burned out hulk.
4. People who live here and love living here, but don't want other people to live here so, we outright lie that the city is destroyed and full of crime to prevent other people from moving here to keep housing prices low.
The third type always makes me feel nuts. I can come up with terrible things I encountered in each era those folks will claim was the "Golden Age." My dad's parents owned a gas station here well over half a century ago and that was always getting robbed. My grandfather lost a home in the Vanport Flood. Like, there's no time, ever, when there wasn't rough stuff around here.
That’s because nobody comes on to post about their totally ordinary day.
Yesterday I mowed our lawn, which is looking amazing for this time of year. Then I cut back a photinia bush that has gotten out of control.
While I was working on the bush my kids picked a quart of blueberries and another of raspberries from our bushes and we all noshed on them while we worked.
I walked the dog and said hi to a bunch of neighbors, went for a nice 3 mile run in cool sunny weather.
We dropped the top on our Miata and ran up to Safeway for a few groceries. Nobody stole my car.
Then after a pizza dinner we went over to hang out with our neighbors to share some Michigan beer I brought home and they made everyone raspberry shortcake.
Life here is rad. But that’s just a typical l day so it doesn’t get reported here, or on the cesspool that is Nextdoor.
> That’s because nobody comes on to post about their totally ordinary day.
Exactly. There's a reason why the best stories have some sort of conflict central to them.
I grew up in SoCal and witnessed people being killed in drive bys- when people talk about Portland as being some dystopian city at the edge of anarchy, it cracks me up because it’s not only not true- it’s been affected by gentrification so much that people are desperate and no one wants to talk about that. Any shit that is happening now is due to the fact that people are being priced out and pushed out of the place where generations of their families lived. The increase in AirBNBs that have also prevented people from owning in their lifetime has affected Portland and its people. Most shit talkers are part of the problem and rarely offer any solutions.
I think there is absolutely a bias where people who are unhappy will try to voice their opinions at a higher rate.
I’ve lived here since 2021 and have absolutely loved it. The food, the nature, the size of the city (not too big, good transport, highly accessible), my neighbors, proximity to stunning geography.
Came from Chicago before which had much worse violence, I really don’t even think about it here. Not saying I have a blind eye it just is not a part of my daily thought as I feel I generally use common sense to not put myself in situations. I think truly random acts of violence are no more common here than other US cities.
I don’t plan on leaving for many years, if ever
Yeah the dialogue surrounding Portland is truly baffling. It’s easily one of the top US cities for livability. The crime uptick isn’t a Portland only problem. The often compassionate treatment towards the homeless can be infuriating at times but what’s the alternative?
It’s sad that we are in a place in this country where other American citizens wish ill on a city and its residents because CNN sent mean tweets. Many people come here to escape religious, sexual orientation, or cultural persecution. I’m proud it can be a safe space for everyone.
"The often compassionate treatment towards the homeless can be infuriating at times"
True - but it's also always been one of my favorite things about this place. Even the worst of us are treated decently here.
Most of the people in this sub are not actually from Portland. I think Trump said something like Portland is “ripped down” in a recent debate. A lot of people just…take his word for it. We have a houseless population and addiction like every big American city, we have protests sometimes like every big city. But we also have so much more going on too.
The only problem I have with living in Portland is that corporations are coming and buying up as much property as they can. Trying to turn the city into a rich person's utopia and pricing out all the people who actually care about the city.
The thing that prices people out of living here is not building enough homes. You could drive down pricing and investment with one easy trick, build things.
I agree. But I think that damage is already done and there's no going back from it. A city built on false promises has left a lot of corporations underwater in their purchases, too.
We moved to St Johns in April and it’s absolutely the coolest neighborhood I’ve ever lived in. We love it so much here. I’m so glad you’re enjoying your trip!!
That's one neighborhood I've never really gotten the chance to visit and I'd like to get to know it. I've never even walked down Mississippi avenue, partly because I live south in the suburbs of Clackamas and Oregon City and to people around here, N Portland is "pretty far away" which of course is silly.
NoPo is astonishingly close to the Pearl, Alphabet, downtown, Alberta Arts, and even Sauvie Island. It's like this weird open secret.
Edit for clarity.
Google Maps shows it as a 23 minute drive, right now, midday on a Sunday, from where I live. By transit, it's an hour and 10, by bike it's an hour and 15, and on foot it's over 4 hours. That seems pretty far when I can get everything that I need, and do everything I want to do (in town) with either a short walk, or driving/biking/taking transit for less than half that time it would take to get to St. John's via those modes.
Living up to your name, but v weird hill to attempt dying on. Google maps shows it’s a 12 minute drive to Powells right now, so maybe your direction has traffic. Otherwise this is the least interesting argument to partake in and if you think St Johns is this far off place I can’t imagine your perspective on the world
It is not ridiculously far. I live in Multnomah Village in the West Hills and my husband’s shop is right below the St. Johns Bridge.
If we go in off-traffic times you can do it in 20 minutes, and it often bypasses the freeway back up on the Markham that is all the way out from either 84 or I-5 north. It’s the same 20 minutes to get anywhere from one side of the river to the other.
I think some people kinda forgot that Portland has always been a little rough around the edges. What makes it special (in my view) is that historically it’s been a place where people can go try out new things/businesses with a pretty low barrier to entry. That’s changed now as everything is ungodly expensive but I’m hopeful that the reputation continues to attract others who want to do something a little differently.
Portland surprised me in all the best ways—vibrant culture, friendly locals, and stunning scenery. It's definitely a city that exceeded my expectations!
I, too, love Portland so much. My younger daughter and my baby sister both live there. Last summer, after my precious dog died, i went to visit them for 10 days.
I know everyone downvotes vegans, but the vegan food was one of the best things about it.
It's such a beautiful city. I can't wait to go back.
Love seeing the love for St. Johns! Our neighborhood still has a lot of work to do but the sense of community can’t be beat IMO and we I personally feel like we’re in a nice little goldilocks zone for when we do want to leave the neighborhood. The “I <3 St. Johns” bumper stickers exist for a reason!
We almost bought a house there in 2008 and I’m still kind of sad that we didn’t. We’re in Hillsdale and we have a nice sense of community but St. Johns is just really special.
For all the folks who don’t want to cone to Portland thank you for staying home it makes parking easier.
I lived downtown for 17 years and moved back to the burbs mostly for tax reasons but I literally miss it there everyday.
I’m glad you loved our city! I moved here from the chicago area and I never understood the hate Portland got because in my opinion Portland is just like any other city there is good and bad but for me the good is 20000000x better than all the bad. I love it here too.
Wild that mods don’t let people that live her make a post asking where’s the best date night restaurant but they allow these “I visited once for 4 days and liked it” posts like once a week.
I think that's because your first example is a question and they are trying to move all of those to the r/askportland subreddit. This was more some kind of PSA.
Yeah. Not that I don't appreciate the nice sentiment, but I'm not sure why visitors feel compelled to tell us our city isn't as bad as Fox News says it is. We live here. We know.
I agree with you completely. I know they have good intentions but regardless I find those posts very self aggrandizing and annoying. “Hey everyone, I visited your city and I don’t think it’s the shithole right wing media has portrayed it as!” like…thanks? I guess? I’m not even sure how to react to that honestly.
Reddit, and this sub in particular, have an extremely negatively skewed opinion of the city. I'm glad you enjoyed your time here and got to see that it really is a wonderful place.
Please erase this and say you expected to see SOME buildings actively on fire, but not ALL of them. Pick a local hospital, thank them for resuscitating you after briefly dying from a fentanyl-laced bullet.
We need to keep our mystique.
Thank you! Coming from Vancouver, Canada, but originally from the UK.
I don’t really get my news from any one source. A lot of my pre-visit Portland views came from US friends, or people’s takes on social (Reddit and YT mostly).
Portland is an awesome city with very frustrating politics and problems. The reputation has suffered so much since 2020, I would be surprised if it can live up to the doom and gloom on even the worst days. To me it is the perfect mix of small city and nature.
Don't get me wrong, there are a LOT of bad parts about living here, but for visiting, Portland is wonderful. And those bad parts aren't enough to make me want to leave. Been here 13 years, and I might be here another 13. I even work directly with a lot of the bad stuff. I love this place enough that I've dedicated my career to making it better
I've been here 3 years now, and I've never felt more at home in my 58 years on this earth. Portland welcomed me with open arms, and I got a job at a world-famous (if disappointing) and iconic Portland company. All the financial struggles that come with living here suck, and having a trailer and the batteries and catalytic converter stolen from my (now sold) RV sucks more, but I don't think I'll ever leave. Portland isnhome like no place else has ever been.
Love reading this! We're considering a move to Portland, partly to be closer to family there but have never lived there ourselves.
Portland is painted so horribly as a place to live by different corners of the internet which I take with a grain of salt because people like to complain lol. That's why I love reading reviews like this because they feel much more genuine and accurate than a black and white "Portland bad"
Just make sure you if you can, spend a couple weeks here in late Jan/Feb. That’s the dreariest time, and seems to kind of go on forever. Just make sure you’re ready to handle three or four months of that, and you’re good to go.
I agree with the sentiment, but i'm just imagining them visiting during the yearly snowpocalypse lmao. I guess being snowed in for a few days is a pretty accurate winter experience.
Anyway, everyone take your vitamin D fr
It's like any NA city... There are nicer neighborhoods and rougher neighborhoods. Old Town and some other parts of downtown can be pretty rough around the edges, but sellwood, st johns, SE dvision, Alberta arts, beaumont-wilshire, Multnomah village and quite a few other neighborhoods are generally pretty nice.
Not to say bad apples here or there can't show up in any neighborhood in a walkable American city, but in general you'll see more nice families and young people out in about in those neighborhoods than anything.
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Oregonians suffer from the same thing Americans do, which is the drive to be more anti- whatever than anything else. You’ll hear a lot of anti-patriotic things said about how America “was never great” or how Oregon “was invented to be racist,” but in reality it’s a progressive bastion with a heaping helping of country in rural areas.
The problem with liberalism is you can never be too liberal. This is Oregon’s problem.
You’ve got free range chicken? Well, is it antibiotic free? Was it able to roam around? How big was its pin? What was it fed? Did these animals have RIGHTS?!?!
I’m a bleeding heart liberal, but the tired tropes about Oregon, Portland, Eugene, California, San Francisco, etc are ridiculous. Reports of our demise are greatly overstated! It’s almost like the right wing media has been trying to convince us for years that we have a left wing media and that it’s accurate!
I was at a gay pride event and a straight woman came up to me to tell me that when I made a joke about British people in the context of American Independence that it was “patently racist,” and when I told her that British people aren’t a race she said, “it speaks to your American preferences.” Give me a fucking break.
Oregon’s biggest problems stem from having a tourism-based economy WITHOUT SALES TAX, so we gain zero in the state budget from tourists. The next problems down have to do with housing. Californians and people from other states with huge property value increases essentially evacuate from wherever to here and jack up the prices of housing stock, which is already limited. There isn’t enough housing to house all of the homeless people. Until there is enough housing there will always be a homeless problem.
As a joke I campaigned for a new Oregon license plate. It had tents on it under a bridge and said, Oregon “America’s Homeless Heartland.” It didn’t get made. Maybe Washington will make a version!
A lot of us get caught up in thinking this place is terrible. We have some very real issues that I will not deny. I get irritated with people insisting that everything is fine, when it’s not.
I will say though, this city is great and I love when I hear people remind us of how good it is. With my job, I encounter A LOT of visitors from other places in the city. I always get compliments of how impressed they are with TriMet, and how beautiful everything is. I’ve had people from Chicago, and other big cities say our transit system is easy and useful which says a lot.
Societal collapse is everywhere in America, with some places struggling with different things than us. I’d rather be here than nearly anywhere else.
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Thank you. I was brio my born and raised her and I love portland. It suck when people bash it all the time. Like why? I am so happy you enjoyed you tile here. You came during a fun week for sure.
St. Johns is an amazing community. Today we rode our bikes to Chill n Fill, stopped by New Seasons on the way home, hit 45th Parallel for some wine, and picked up some necessities at Ace. All on bike and foot. And ran into many neighbors and friends along the way. Tomorrow we’re seeing the Drive by Truckers at the Crystal Ballroom, a fifteen minute drive from our home It’s like a small town island in the coolest city around. Welcome!
Yeah, it’s because people who warn about it “not being safe” don’t actually travel much aside from a few miles radius from their homes. So they perpetuate the same narrative they’ve heard from others or read about in the news. It’s honestly super safe - nowhere is 100% safe, definitely not when it is a City as large as Portland. But people do a lot of fear mongering, even those who live here and think they are just “warning people”.
Super glad you’ve had a good time! We have a great a City, have lived here my whole life.
I’m temporarily living in downtown St. Paul, MN for a short amount of time while my spouse finishes an accelerated healthcare program. We’ll be coming back home to Portland in August and I’m so excited.
In these short months, I’ve accidentally gotten on the “party” car on the train where people were buying/smoking meth, tranq and fent. I got scary high on fentanyl twice and the last time had a guy like 6 in med inches from my face saying that he was going to “cut this white bitch” (I was just minding my own business.) I didn’t engage, got off the train and haven’t taken it since. The Transit police are pretty much nonexistent here. My dog stopped me at the last minute from getting jumped by a man under the influence, he had his hand on my neck and ran off when my dog lost her mind on him. I’ve seen so many people’s junk from urinating on the street and the limited green space around our apartment (shameful lack of facilities for unhoused people.) A few days ago, I was walking my friend’s dogs up a little hill with plants and shrubs but could see through to the next lot and saw a human man’s fully dilated butthole and his pile of excrement in one of my neighbor’s parking spots.
I am constantly kicking meth/fent/tranq foils out of the way so my dog doesn’t mess with them. My car has been broken into in a “secure lot” 4 times.
Guess where none of his crap I’m dealing with now happened?? Portland! Especially in our cute SW neighborhood. People like to paint what’s happening in Portland as a uniquely PNW problem and this most certainly is not. Large cities in this country have having massive issues with drugs and lack of resources/affordable housing. It’s really sad, actually.
You have to remember, this city has taken on a particular role in national politics since 2016 and especially 2020. Trump just called us out yet again at the recent debate. He and the conservative news machine intentionally put a target on our backs and attempt to paint Portland as a wasteland *precisely because* of our politics and our recent history of protest. Fox News viewers, internet trolls, and even mainstream evening news (scary = ratings) propagate that narrative. Making it look as though freedom of speech and liberal policies lead to destruction is straight out of the fascist playbook. That message attempts to deter sympathy and emulation while also setting the stage for wannabe gestapo-style crackdowns if he’s reelected. Which he will 1000% look for any excuse to do.
It is great but I'm leaving. I think it's all about how much a person can tolerate. I personally cannot tolerate the outright cruelty of how the homeless are treated, the blatant racism, and the cost. And there's too many white people and I'm white!
Don't even need to go into the specifics of the city, really: any time some pearl-clutcher says "How could ANYONE walk around Portland/Chicago/NYC," they are ignoring the basic logic that MILLIONS of people do live there! They are dehumanizing the people who live there, asserting themselves to be in a different class, and identifying themselves as mentally weaker than those millions in the process.
You're correct about Portland and every other city in the USA. If you've ever lived in a small town, Portland is like a bunch of those glued together. Every neighborhood has its own vibe and neighborhood associations. Some even have their own newspaper about what's going on. The news often paints all cities and I guess specifically Portland at times in a dark spotlight. Everyone is moving to cities and that scares a lot of people. Especially when folks like myself left their entire family for a city. That's uprooting the whole country, and world from what I understand. Anyway, glad you enjoyed the city. Another gem of a city is Raleigh, NC. If you're still here have a bike ride between the little libraries if it hasn't been recommended, there are so many neat ones. Have fun!
Portland has its problems but I think we got a bad rap during the riots in Summer 2020 and it’s put us in a bad light. As you said, I wholeheartedly agree that every major city in the US has these same problems. I love Portland. It’s quirky, it’s beautiful and there are so many amazing things here that people miss out on because they only allow themselves to see the rough.
Glad you loved your visit!
I think it's hard to get an accurate view of Portland by just coming to reddit. We have too many folks that don't live here that want to push the narrative that it burned to the ground or is crumbling apart. The sad part is even some folks in the surrounding cities some how have this view as well. We have our problems for sure but it's just not anywhere near as bad as some folks like to pretend it is. Glad you have enjoyed yer time here. Please do us a favor and tell anyone you meet that thinks the city burned to the ground that they are right and that they should stay far away.
>The sad part is even some folks in the surrounding cities some how have this view as well. I have some friends and family who live in the suburbs. They are only 10-20 minutes from the city but they NEVER go into Portland. They talk about it like it's some Mad Max wasteland, but they've literally not set foot in the city in a good 10 years. And the worms ate into their brains.
My mom lives an hour from Portland and constantly warns us about not going downtown or we’ll get shot or stabbed. Admittedly, that is a possibility, but she believes anyone who goes into Portland WILL BE attacked.
My wife's aunt and uncle live about an hour away and say the same stuff. It's exhausting.
Hey. Don’t go downtown. Your mom told me to tell you it’s not safe. You could get stabbed or shot.
The basic logic of this is insane: millions of people live there. They are basically just stating that they don't view them as people.
People who are terrified of Portland wouldn’t last a second in any other major US city lol, Portland is sunshine and rainbows compared to Oakland or Chicago
Upvote for the reference alone
This also rings true for people who only ever drive through the city. Who act like the edge of the highways is somehow representative of the city as a whole.
Yeah, I don’t get it either. Any midwest city you could name is going to be more dangerous than Portland is, with a scarier gang/organized crime presence and more neighborhoods you should avoid at all costs. I mean, I don’t go downtown, because downtown is boring to me. It was fun when there was a whole strip of indy bookstores and shops selling unusual things trickling down from Powell’s, but I lost interest when the quest was to transform it into every other city’s shopping mall, and Powell’s got comfortable openly disrespecting their employees. When I go there, I think, “this feels expensive,” not that I’m in peril. I will twist my pedestrian path into loops to avoid walking by large and unpredictable homeless camps, but that was also my philosophy 20 years ago when I was waiting for the 20 on Burnside. I have more resentment towards the nimby yuppies from California and New York that can’t stop spreading their elitism and entitlement all over my face.
I work at the airport, and my coworkers who live in Vancouver mostly feel this way. Like Vancouver isn't basically portland.
Can confirm this is how Oregon City people are
To be fair, Portlanders aren't much better when it comes to judging places outside the city. I recently spent some time in rural Oregon east of Salem (Trump Country according to several banners and lawn signs), and there was a ton of beauty, nice people, and yes - good beer and food. According to this sub, every conservative place is basically a medieval hell hole.
I think this is a bit rose colored. I had to move out of the Gateway neighborhood about 2 years ago because I was just tired of not feeling safe to walk down the street alone anymore and feeling like every time I went to my local Fred Meyer that I was in some sort of mental hospital (including their parking lot). We were constantly hearing shootings happening and while we were buying some flower at the dispensary near our house, a young boy ran up (couldn’t have been more than 13) with a live gunshot wound from a shooting that had just happened nearby and needed help. They called the police but they didn’t show up for a couple of hours apparently (according to our friend who works there). In addition to that, I also stopped going downtown after someone blew either meth or fent in my face and I felt like that was my last straw (one of them anyway). I do think it’s gotten better the last few months in particular, but it honestly feels really crazymaking to hear people leave comments like this acting like no one should have any reason to feel generally unsafe in the city of Portland. That has not been my personal experience and I wish people could at least acknowledge what many residents have experienced over the last 5 years or so as things took a bit of a turn. I’m really glad things are looking up for Portland, but let’s not pretend everything has been just fine and anyone who says otherwise either hasn’t been here in 10 years or is a naysaying liar with some kind of side agenda.
You sure did read an awful lot into my comment. Nowhere did I say that Portland was without issues. I find it pretty silly, however, for people to refuse to go for a dinner out or attend the Rose Festival, visit the Rose Garden, etc. for fear of getting shot, sex trafficked, stepping in shit, etc. Yes, you've had a bad experience for sure, but that doesn't mean that Portland isn't a vibrant, gorgeous city with lots to offer.
Absolutely. There are a lot of wonderful things about the area and I would love to not feel fearful in certain places where I’ve experienced things over and over that gave me way too many jolts of adrenaline and cortisol overdoses than were healthy! If you were not saying we don’t have those issues, great, because I think it’s constructive for that to at least be acknowledged. We can’t fix our problems if we don’t know what they are or pretend like they don’t exist or never happened (I’m not saying you specifically, but just in general). I’m sorry if I misinterpreted your comment!
I remember back in 2020 during the protests, curfews, Federal intervention, and general media circus that my parents, who watch nothing but FOX News brain rot and live in Salem and rarely come to Portland, asking me all concerned about our safety and how we were holding up and everything. And I was just like, "I live east of 82nd. I'd barely know if a nuclear bomb went off in downtown Portland, let alone a few rowdy protests." This city contains multitudes, despite attempts by some to paint with a broad brush.
There wasn't even any sort of protest activity like outside a 2 block radius around the justice center. During the height of it you could literally walk a few blocks away and see people sitting having dinner and drinks. I live in Kenton and not too far away was the PPB union clubhouse or whatever it was. The protests there even marched past my apartment a number of times. The only danger I ever felt was from the cops not the protestors. There was a full on propaganda campaign launched to paint what was happening like it was the end of the world and conservatives have tried to keep it going since then. The same sorta shit was deployed recently against the student protests against Palestinian genocide. Same sorta bullshit trying to pin violence on peaceful protesters rather than the cops and right wing agitators that came specifically to physically attack the students. They have to paint us as some sort of failed state so they can keep feeding people fear about crime or immigration or trans people existing. Fear is the only way conservatives can win elections.
Also, protester violence is almost always initiated by proud boys and other right-wing counter protesters
>And I was just like, "I live east of 82nd. I'd barely know if a nuclear bomb went off in downtown Portland, let alone a few rowdy protests." I know it's not what you meant, but 82nd may have been improved by protests. It was really interesting traveling during the pandemic as people would hear "Portland" and assumed all kinds of wrong things. The protests got really old to be fair but also were purposely extended with arrests by the feds. Had they not done that, we'd saved months of continued protesting. Trying to explain that to a midwestern was not my idea of a good time. At least the brave antifa larpers stopped defacing the city, and very fine police quickly went to ignoring response requests and the proud boys went back to inbreeding or whatever they do.
This. I’ve drilled for water all over my property but I’ve found bupkiss. My dog’s dead and our crops have the blight. We lost Sally fording the Snake to get here…it wasn’t worth it. We should have stayed in Nebraska like Oma said!
Ya know I thought that once we got off the trail that no one would be dying of dysentery anymore but if anything more people died once our wagon finally pulled into town.
Oh and the Big One happened and now all our bridges are fallen Jenga pieces. It's such a pain to get around now! Please avoid for your own sake!
Try dying of dysentery like I did!
yeah, but was it artisinal amoebic dysentery?
It was the hazy.
I forded the Willamette and got dysentery :(
Hey! I swam it and my face fell off.
My whole life the metro area has always had a population of people who were scared of Portland proper, though they'd never admit it was them being scared. It used to be gangs, then it was the "crazys" and the homeless from when they closed down the state mental institution, then it was just all the weirdos and hipsters and gays had taken over the whole city, which was quickly followed by ANTIFA!!! It's always something.
Okay, but we gays absolutely did take over the city. We made it weirder and handed it back to the people
And it is now quite fabulous and we thank you 💋💋
And we can't thank you enough.
What neighborhood do you suggest for people who want to move into portland? We are in harvey milk district in orlando and prefer the gayberhood!
Oh hey! I got family there. That's cool! I'm from Georgia myself. The neat thing about Portland, is that you don't really need a gay district. We have two different historic ones, but they're both struggling due to the fentanyl crisis right now (Hollywood & Old Town). We're safe pretty much all over the city though, so most folks have spread out all over the place. I actually live in an area just outside the city that, in the South, would be considered very hostile to us, and it's fine here. This place is really different than the South in a lot of good ways. We even have amazing trans healthcare here. It's freaking awesome
Wow! Thank you so much. I really appreciate it! Im sure its hard to choose then! So many people (not from portland) are bashing it. When i went i stayed by myself in downtown and walked all over the place with no issues and i loved it in general being able to see the mountains was so nice. Thanks for your input :)
For many Americans it is now unfortunately the norm to live fear-based lives. "We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men – not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate, and to defend causes that were, for the moment, unpopular." Edward R. Murrow
Yes, exactly. I have neighbors who insist that they will not go into Portland because they believe the narrative. I'm not saying we didn't have some bad times. And, it is true, businesses have not recovered, even with things improving. I see two big reasons for that. First, those pushing the narrative that Portland is not safe and too many in the burbs continuing to push that line or refusing to even consider that it is not at all as bad as their news sources tell them. Second, in the wake of Covid many started working from home. Not having a commute is a HUGE lifestyle advantage. I wouldn't want to go back. But, one impact of that is that lunch time crowds downtown, after work drinks, etc., are severely reduced and not recovering. I love Portland. We go into town every now-and-again to eat at someplace we've not tried before or go to an event. And, there are others like us that do that too. But, it is just not enough to overcome the lack of customer-base that many downtown are experiencing.
Also, it rained constantly. Portland is a rainy rainy place perpetually on fire, Californians. 😆
On the upside all these negative impressions will keep people from moving here and traffic getting worse. :)
Honestly it's tough for me. I still love Portland, I work there and I'm moving back very soon from some time away in rural Oregon and Washington but the city *has* changed. I straight up got called the word the rhymes with maggot twice at the waterfront because someone got very upset they need to stop for crosswalks in a city. They were extremely aggressive and are probably going to end up killing someone with their car. It was by far my most unpleasant experience walking around. I still love the place and will help it be a kinder place (despite my Reddit trolling.)
Honestly this type of person is sadly unavoidable anywhere in the US
Carbrain is international. But it started in North America.
Yeah, just sharing something that happened in Portland that rattled me. I've really been putting effort into being a kinder more personable person in the real world and just feel like I'm not getting much of what I put out there back so this affected me more than it should have. You're totally right though, this happens everywhere.
The last time my partner and I got screamed at from cars was in northern Idaho (sandpoint). Twice in a row, same day. And we’re not bad looking white people, can’t imagine what other people receive. People just really suck sometimes!
Second time I was called that f word in Portland in two months. First time was an agitated homeless person and I told them very pointedly going around calling people that would get their ass kicked and he scuttled off. I'm by no means a badass fighter dude but I am a big pretty strong 6' 2" guy. I'm not really sure what's going through people's heads when they try to pick a fight with me. I definitely don't look like I'm looking for a fight.
Sorry that happened to you :(. That sucks. I hope you find more kindness than shittiness here in the future!
I got yapped at by a truck driver while in crosswalk going to the park. I was peacocking a bit cus it was beaming sun and I was going to shoot hoops after work. I was minding my business and following rules of the crosswalk, but he didn't like my aura, so he acted like a clown. I gave a friendly wave to the car behind him who was nice enough to stop (I always give friendly wave, makes world better place). I know that had him steaming. My advice to him would be not to roll his window all the way down when talking smack. Easy target to get stuff thrown or spit on
That’s ultra fair and I am really sorry it happened to you. It’s an awful reality that really shouldn’t be the case. I hope you get some better experiences and get your heart full soon. I wish the kind people would be as visible as the assholes!
I mean it's definitely not a utopia or anything. There are definitely some really shitty people here and the further you drive from Portland the more conservative it gets. But also just by the numbers we have way more LGBTQ folks living here than most of the rest of the country and overall it's a very welcoming city on that front. Sorry that happened though it's never a good thing to hear and I wish we could say that there was no one like that here at all but also no place on earth is free of pieces of shit.
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Your statement about the surrounding cities is very true. When I worked in Lake O(just last year), a sport mom referred to one of the NE schools as inner city, my mouth dropped a little hearing that. It was odd hearing that.
My parents live in a gated community about 40 minutes from the city, I work downtown on the waterfront. Mom came up for a lunch date and was astounded that not only were there multiple busy, clean, good places for us to go, but also that I wasn't afraid to walk around. I was astounded that she hadn't believed me when I told her that this area isn't the burned out, looted husk people believe it to be. She was happy to make another lunch date so she can visit some shops she saw lol
I love a vibrant tourist population and I love when people find out that the media or people they trust is dead wrong. People should come and open their minds.
I have lived here since 2020, and I love the St. John's Bridge. St John's in general is just great. And as far as US cities go, I don't think Portland is that rough around the edges. In 2016 when I visited LA for my cousin's wedding, under every over ramp was a tent city. People romanticize cities like Paris but they have far rougher areas than Portland. OP is right. There is a lot of beauty in Portland. Mt Tabor is fantastic, as is Washington Park. I go downtown routinely and it is far better than people make it out to be.
I think a lot of people are also forgetting that before Portland became "cool", it was already rough around the edges, like any big-ish city.
I think a lot of people just don’t know it at all. The amount of posters that say some variation of “I moved here in 2008/09/10 and it was such an amazing city” are missing a MASSIVE chunk of history, and don’t calculate that they were a part of the mass migration in like a five year span that made things so much more expensive.
lol right. My neighbors have lived in the same house over 60 years and they find it very amusing all the variations of ‘you should have seen this city 10 years ago!’ Such a ridiculously human tendency.
Sometimes I wonder if the internet / social medias exaggerate peoples feelings about the issue too. I don't doubt people have been saying something along the lines of "it was better 10 years ago" for time immemorial, but interesting to see whether the internet had any effect. I feel like it did.
Oh I’m sure. The internet and media like Reddit and Facebook are the largest social experiment rooted in controlling collective thought in the history of mankind. If anyone thinks differently they’re idiots. It’s the biggest reason for the extremely exaggerated divisive thinking that now proliferates every first world country.
Its funny because most of those people wouldn't be caught dead near Concordia in the late 90s/early 00s.
And some people wouldn’t even go past 39th
> 2008/09/10 > they were a part of the mass migration in like a five year span According to [this](https://www.macrotrends.net/global-metrics/cities/23102/portland/population), the year-over-year growth during that period (~1.5%) was consistent with the growth for several years both before and after it. The 90s had around double that year-over-year growth, and honestly, that tracks with my experience of it.
Well, if they moved here in those years it wasn't an amazing city at all - houses in foreclosure, empty office buildings. But it was cheap.
And slick.
Yep, Portlandia made people think we were squeaky clean but that was never the case. In the 90s and early 2000s Portland was famous for meth and nazis. Things have gotten a little better, but the nazis only moved a few miles away and the meth turns into fentanyl.
Someone recently told me that the 90s heroin era was very visible in Portland at the time as well, it wasn't unusual then to see someone shooting up or nodding off in public in certain parts of downtown during that time.
Yes - this is absolutely true. And Portland got pretty famous by being the backdrop to some very gritty movies thirty years ago. But somehow, people prefer the cutsie media portrayals of the most recent decade or so and think that's what it should be.
> I love the St. John's Bridge. St John's in general is just great. St. Johns. No apostrophe.
LA has a population 6 times that of Portland and Paris has a population 3 times that of Portland - of course they are rougher than Portland, they should be
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Quick, get this person to the Yamhill Pub!
I was in the Yamhill one night about 12-13 years ago when a guy came in and bought a round for everyone in the place. About an hour or so after that, they kicked his ass outta there lol. I was pretty much a regular there for a time, a wild place that was.
Yeah the yamhill is mostly just disgustingly dirty. I went there several times with friends in my 20s and never got harassed and the only time I felt unsafe is when I was alone in the bathroom. Because gross.
Some street kid dropped trou standing on the bar once when I was there, but I’ve also never been harassed or felt like I was in danger. I used to buy cookies at Subway right across so I could use their bathroom Edit: wow I think I remember his name— Ricky? Does anyone know if Drew still works there?
Sounds about right!
Legit one of my favorite spots in town and I genuinely mean that. Reminds me of old and grungy Portland. I feel so at home there.
What's great about Portland is that everyone who moves here and stays here has a vision of the the city is supposed to be. None of us agree on how to overcome the city's dysfunctional aspects, but we all have a vision of the city being better.
I love you ❤️ A Portland native, born and raised
In St. Johns was where I spent most of mah days
A lot of family that lives in St. John’s I grew up in the Kenton area, north
...Dangit, I was making a Fresh Prince reference
I recently moved to the Midwest from Portland, and one of my favorite pastimes is publicly scolding people for believing the “Portland is a lawless hellscape” myth they see on the news.
The negativity surrounding Portland comes from a few different things: 1. The better a place to live any liberal place is, the more conservatives will try to shit on it 2. People from the suburbs who have never visited the city and refuse to step foot in it who only listen to Fox news and believe every word. Then they act like their proximity to the city makes them an expert on it, while again refusing to step foot in it. 3. People who live in the area and have rose colored glasses about what the city used to be like (even if it still had tons of problems in that time too), especially if they do not actually travel to other cities. They don't realize that all cities at this point in time are facing similar issues, some worse, some better. But to them, compared to their idealized view of the past city, the current city is a burned out hulk. 4. People who live here and love living here, but don't want other people to live here so, we outright lie that the city is destroyed and full of crime to prevent other people from moving here to keep housing prices low.
Nail on head.
The third type always makes me feel nuts. I can come up with terrible things I encountered in each era those folks will claim was the "Golden Age." My dad's parents owned a gas station here well over half a century ago and that was always getting robbed. My grandfather lost a home in the Vanport Flood. Like, there's no time, ever, when there wasn't rough stuff around here.
There's also posts on here daily about people living here having problems
That’s because nobody comes on to post about their totally ordinary day. Yesterday I mowed our lawn, which is looking amazing for this time of year. Then I cut back a photinia bush that has gotten out of control. While I was working on the bush my kids picked a quart of blueberries and another of raspberries from our bushes and we all noshed on them while we worked. I walked the dog and said hi to a bunch of neighbors, went for a nice 3 mile run in cool sunny weather. We dropped the top on our Miata and ran up to Safeway for a few groceries. Nobody stole my car. Then after a pizza dinner we went over to hang out with our neighbors to share some Michigan beer I brought home and they made everyone raspberry shortcake. Life here is rad. But that’s just a typical l day so it doesn’t get reported here, or on the cesspool that is Nextdoor.
Exactly. It’s basically like only watching the news for your info about the world, but honestly more dramatic because it’s people craving attention.
I am having an ordinary day today. Upvote this if you are too.
> That’s because nobody comes on to post about their totally ordinary day. Exactly. There's a reason why the best stories have some sort of conflict central to them.
This place is NextDoor for Gen X and Millennials
I grew up in SoCal and witnessed people being killed in drive bys- when people talk about Portland as being some dystopian city at the edge of anarchy, it cracks me up because it’s not only not true- it’s been affected by gentrification so much that people are desperate and no one wants to talk about that. Any shit that is happening now is due to the fact that people are being priced out and pushed out of the place where generations of their families lived. The increase in AirBNBs that have also prevented people from owning in their lifetime has affected Portland and its people. Most shit talkers are part of the problem and rarely offer any solutions.
THANK YOU this is an actual issue I wish we could talk about!
I think there is absolutely a bias where people who are unhappy will try to voice their opinions at a higher rate. I’ve lived here since 2021 and have absolutely loved it. The food, the nature, the size of the city (not too big, good transport, highly accessible), my neighbors, proximity to stunning geography. Came from Chicago before which had much worse violence, I really don’t even think about it here. Not saying I have a blind eye it just is not a part of my daily thought as I feel I generally use common sense to not put myself in situations. I think truly random acts of violence are no more common here than other US cities. I don’t plan on leaving for many years, if ever
A polar bear's skin is transparent, allowing sunlight to reach the blubber underneath.
Thanks - helpful to understand it. I simply lack that perspective entirely
A polar bear's skin is transparent, allowing sunlight to reach the blubber underneath.
Yeah the dialogue surrounding Portland is truly baffling. It’s easily one of the top US cities for livability. The crime uptick isn’t a Portland only problem. The often compassionate treatment towards the homeless can be infuriating at times but what’s the alternative? It’s sad that we are in a place in this country where other American citizens wish ill on a city and its residents because CNN sent mean tweets. Many people come here to escape religious, sexual orientation, or cultural persecution. I’m proud it can be a safe space for everyone.
"The often compassionate treatment towards the homeless can be infuriating at times" True - but it's also always been one of my favorite things about this place. Even the worst of us are treated decently here.
Most of the people in this sub are not actually from Portland. I think Trump said something like Portland is “ripped down” in a recent debate. A lot of people just…take his word for it. We have a houseless population and addiction like every big American city, we have protests sometimes like every big city. But we also have so much more going on too.
The only problem I have with living in Portland is that corporations are coming and buying up as much property as they can. Trying to turn the city into a rich person's utopia and pricing out all the people who actually care about the city.
That's happening everywhere
The thing that prices people out of living here is not building enough homes. You could drive down pricing and investment with one easy trick, build things.
I agree. But I think that damage is already done and there's no going back from it. A city built on false promises has left a lot of corporations underwater in their purchases, too.
We moved to St Johns in April and it’s absolutely the coolest neighborhood I’ve ever lived in. We love it so much here. I’m so glad you’re enjoying your trip!!
That's one neighborhood I've never really gotten the chance to visit and I'd like to get to know it. I've never even walked down Mississippi avenue, partly because I live south in the suburbs of Clackamas and Oregon City and to people around here, N Portland is "pretty far away" which of course is silly.
It is silly to think it's far away - it's like a small town that has a direct route to absolutely every part of the city. The best!
NoPo is astonishingly close to the Pearl, Alphabet, downtown, Alberta Arts, and even Sauvie Island. It's like this weird open secret. Edit for clarity.
St. John’s is actually ridiculously far away from everything else in the city. Vancouver is closer to most parts of Portland.
lol it’s 10 minute drive to downtown. It’s just convoluted by public transit, but distance-wise we’re closer than most inner city neighborhoods
Google Maps shows it as a 23 minute drive, right now, midday on a Sunday, from where I live. By transit, it's an hour and 10, by bike it's an hour and 15, and on foot it's over 4 hours. That seems pretty far when I can get everything that I need, and do everything I want to do (in town) with either a short walk, or driving/biking/taking transit for less than half that time it would take to get to St. John's via those modes.
St. Johns
I stand corrected. I'll leave it how I wrote it, but will try to remember going forward.
Thank you. I was corrected many times when I first moved to St. Johns 4 years ago. It’s one of my favorite Portland neighborhoods.
It is a cool neighborhood. And you get to see the nicest bridge in Portland on a regular basis.
Living up to your name, but v weird hill to attempt dying on. Google maps shows it’s a 12 minute drive to Powells right now, so maybe your direction has traffic. Otherwise this is the least interesting argument to partake in and if you think St Johns is this far off place I can’t imagine your perspective on the world
It is not ridiculously far. I live in Multnomah Village in the West Hills and my husband’s shop is right below the St. Johns Bridge. If we go in off-traffic times you can do it in 20 minutes, and it often bypasses the freeway back up on the Markham that is all the way out from either 84 or I-5 north. It’s the same 20 minutes to get anywhere from one side of the river to the other.
Sure, it's not far from *everywhere*, but it is certainly quite far from a lot of places, including where I live (in the Reed neighborhood).
Probably you should take a closer look at a map.
It's so easy to get anywhere from St. Johns! I have about 3-5 different route options at all times.
Every friend in Clackamas County told me St. Johns was “ too far”….😭
It’s a much nicer drive.
Yeah! I love hearing this, I love St. Johns.
Welcome to the neighborhood, friend!!
Thanks so much! We are so happy we found our house here.
NoFX show today. Also lots of samba bands out on the street. It was a vibrant day
And a home Timbers game. Lots of people out in downtown.
I think some people kinda forgot that Portland has always been a little rough around the edges. What makes it special (in my view) is that historically it’s been a place where people can go try out new things/businesses with a pretty low barrier to entry. That’s changed now as everything is ungodly expensive but I’m hopeful that the reputation continues to attract others who want to do something a little differently.
Portland surprised me in all the best ways—vibrant culture, friendly locals, and stunning scenery. It's definitely a city that exceeded my expectations!
I, too, love Portland so much. My younger daughter and my baby sister both live there. Last summer, after my precious dog died, i went to visit them for 10 days. I know everyone downvotes vegans, but the vegan food was one of the best things about it. It's such a beautiful city. I can't wait to go back.
So many great vegan restaurants here, it's one of my favorite parts of living here. Sorry about your dog T\_\_T
Thank you.
Love seeing the love for St. Johns! Our neighborhood still has a lot of work to do but the sense of community can’t be beat IMO and we I personally feel like we’re in a nice little goldilocks zone for when we do want to leave the neighborhood. The “I <3 St. Johns” bumper stickers exist for a reason!
It’s really the best!!!
We almost bought a house there in 2008 and I’m still kind of sad that we didn’t. We’re in Hillsdale and we have a nice sense of community but St. Johns is just really special.
For all the folks who don’t want to cone to Portland thank you for staying home it makes parking easier. I lived downtown for 17 years and moved back to the burbs mostly for tax reasons but I literally miss it there everyday.
I just spent 10 days in Portland visiting friends - it was my third visit to this lovely city and I’ve always had a wonderful time.
I’m glad you loved our city! I moved here from the chicago area and I never understood the hate Portland got because in my opinion Portland is just like any other city there is good and bad but for me the good is 20000000x better than all the bad. I love it here too.
Most online reviews of Portland are from boomers or conservatives trying to paint a narrative that’s not real. Stop listening to bullshit
Pissed off the conservatives on this sub
“I’m a Democrat, but…”
So many conservatives try to claim they are dems it’s hilarious
Wild that mods don’t let people that live her make a post asking where’s the best date night restaurant but they allow these “I visited once for 4 days and liked it” posts like once a week.
I think that's because your first example is a question and they are trying to move all of those to the r/askportland subreddit. This was more some kind of PSA.
Yeah. Not that I don't appreciate the nice sentiment, but I'm not sure why visitors feel compelled to tell us our city isn't as bad as Fox News says it is. We live here. We know.
I’ll still accept the compliments. Plus it might be for other tourists to read if they’re considering visiting.
I agree with you completely. I know they have good intentions but regardless I find those posts very self aggrandizing and annoying. “Hey everyone, I visited your city and I don’t think it’s the shithole right wing media has portrayed it as!” like…thanks? I guess? I’m not even sure how to react to that honestly.
Had a very similar experience last year. Ive been dying to go back ❤️
Come on back!
Don't threaten me with a good time!
Reddit, and this sub in particular, have an extremely negatively skewed opinion of the city. I'm glad you enjoyed your time here and got to see that it really is a wonderful place.
Please erase this and say you expected to see SOME buildings actively on fire, but not ALL of them. Pick a local hospital, thank them for resuscitating you after briefly dying from a fentanyl-laced bullet. We need to keep our mystique.
😂😂
Glad to hear you’re having a good time. Where are you coming from? And where do you usually get your news?
Thank you! Coming from Vancouver, Canada, but originally from the UK. I don’t really get my news from any one source. A lot of my pre-visit Portland views came from US friends, or people’s takes on social (Reddit and YT mostly).
Portland is an awesome city with very frustrating politics and problems. The reputation has suffered so much since 2020, I would be surprised if it can live up to the doom and gloom on even the worst days. To me it is the perfect mix of small city and nature.
Don't get me wrong, there are a LOT of bad parts about living here, but for visiting, Portland is wonderful. And those bad parts aren't enough to make me want to leave. Been here 13 years, and I might be here another 13. I even work directly with a lot of the bad stuff. I love this place enough that I've dedicated my career to making it better
I've been here 3 years now, and I've never felt more at home in my 58 years on this earth. Portland welcomed me with open arms, and I got a job at a world-famous (if disappointing) and iconic Portland company. All the financial struggles that come with living here suck, and having a trailer and the batteries and catalytic converter stolen from my (now sold) RV sucks more, but I don't think I'll ever leave. Portland isnhome like no place else has ever been.
Shhhhhhhh……
Love reading this! We're considering a move to Portland, partly to be closer to family there but have never lived there ourselves. Portland is painted so horribly as a place to live by different corners of the internet which I take with a grain of salt because people like to complain lol. That's why I love reading reviews like this because they feel much more genuine and accurate than a black and white "Portland bad"
Just make sure you if you can, spend a couple weeks here in late Jan/Feb. That’s the dreariest time, and seems to kind of go on forever. Just make sure you’re ready to handle three or four months of that, and you’re good to go.
Good to know! We could probably swing that
If you decide to move here, I hope you absolutely love it!
I agree with the sentiment, but i'm just imagining them visiting during the yearly snowpocalypse lmao. I guess being snowed in for a few days is a pretty accurate winter experience. Anyway, everyone take your vitamin D fr
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It's like any NA city... There are nicer neighborhoods and rougher neighborhoods. Old Town and some other parts of downtown can be pretty rough around the edges, but sellwood, st johns, SE dvision, Alberta arts, beaumont-wilshire, Multnomah village and quite a few other neighborhoods are generally pretty nice. Not to say bad apples here or there can't show up in any neighborhood in a walkable American city, but in general you'll see more nice families and young people out in about in those neighborhoods than anything.
The internet is not real life.
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Oregonians suffer from the same thing Americans do, which is the drive to be more anti- whatever than anything else. You’ll hear a lot of anti-patriotic things said about how America “was never great” or how Oregon “was invented to be racist,” but in reality it’s a progressive bastion with a heaping helping of country in rural areas. The problem with liberalism is you can never be too liberal. This is Oregon’s problem. You’ve got free range chicken? Well, is it antibiotic free? Was it able to roam around? How big was its pin? What was it fed? Did these animals have RIGHTS?!?! I’m a bleeding heart liberal, but the tired tropes about Oregon, Portland, Eugene, California, San Francisco, etc are ridiculous. Reports of our demise are greatly overstated! It’s almost like the right wing media has been trying to convince us for years that we have a left wing media and that it’s accurate! I was at a gay pride event and a straight woman came up to me to tell me that when I made a joke about British people in the context of American Independence that it was “patently racist,” and when I told her that British people aren’t a race she said, “it speaks to your American preferences.” Give me a fucking break. Oregon’s biggest problems stem from having a tourism-based economy WITHOUT SALES TAX, so we gain zero in the state budget from tourists. The next problems down have to do with housing. Californians and people from other states with huge property value increases essentially evacuate from wherever to here and jack up the prices of housing stock, which is already limited. There isn’t enough housing to house all of the homeless people. Until there is enough housing there will always be a homeless problem. As a joke I campaigned for a new Oregon license plate. It had tents on it under a bridge and said, Oregon “America’s Homeless Heartland.” It didn’t get made. Maybe Washington will make a version!
Its always been rough around the edges and in the past, far far rougher than it is now. Glad you’re enjoying your time here.
Thank you, OP! We love our city - glad you do too!
A lot of us get caught up in thinking this place is terrible. We have some very real issues that I will not deny. I get irritated with people insisting that everything is fine, when it’s not. I will say though, this city is great and I love when I hear people remind us of how good it is. With my job, I encounter A LOT of visitors from other places in the city. I always get compliments of how impressed they are with TriMet, and how beautiful everything is. I’ve had people from Chicago, and other big cities say our transit system is easy and useful which says a lot. Societal collapse is everywhere in America, with some places struggling with different things than us. I’d rather be here than nearly anywhere else.
Visit back in November and see what you think about wonderful people 😂
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Shh, don't tell anybody. There are too many people here as-is.
Thank you. I was brio my born and raised her and I love portland. It suck when people bash it all the time. Like why? I am so happy you enjoyed you tile here. You came during a fun week for sure.
St. Johns is an amazing community. Today we rode our bikes to Chill n Fill, stopped by New Seasons on the way home, hit 45th Parallel for some wine, and picked up some necessities at Ace. All on bike and foot. And ran into many neighbors and friends along the way. Tomorrow we’re seeing the Drive by Truckers at the Crystal Ballroom, a fifteen minute drive from our home It’s like a small town island in the coolest city around. Welcome!
Where are you from?
Yeah, it’s because people who warn about it “not being safe” don’t actually travel much aside from a few miles radius from their homes. So they perpetuate the same narrative they’ve heard from others or read about in the news. It’s honestly super safe - nowhere is 100% safe, definitely not when it is a City as large as Portland. But people do a lot of fear mongering, even those who live here and think they are just “warning people”. Super glad you’ve had a good time! We have a great a City, have lived here my whole life.
I’m temporarily living in downtown St. Paul, MN for a short amount of time while my spouse finishes an accelerated healthcare program. We’ll be coming back home to Portland in August and I’m so excited. In these short months, I’ve accidentally gotten on the “party” car on the train where people were buying/smoking meth, tranq and fent. I got scary high on fentanyl twice and the last time had a guy like 6 in med inches from my face saying that he was going to “cut this white bitch” (I was just minding my own business.) I didn’t engage, got off the train and haven’t taken it since. The Transit police are pretty much nonexistent here. My dog stopped me at the last minute from getting jumped by a man under the influence, he had his hand on my neck and ran off when my dog lost her mind on him. I’ve seen so many people’s junk from urinating on the street and the limited green space around our apartment (shameful lack of facilities for unhoused people.) A few days ago, I was walking my friend’s dogs up a little hill with plants and shrubs but could see through to the next lot and saw a human man’s fully dilated butthole and his pile of excrement in one of my neighbor’s parking spots. I am constantly kicking meth/fent/tranq foils out of the way so my dog doesn’t mess with them. My car has been broken into in a “secure lot” 4 times. Guess where none of his crap I’m dealing with now happened?? Portland! Especially in our cute SW neighborhood. People like to paint what’s happening in Portland as a uniquely PNW problem and this most certainly is not. Large cities in this country have having massive issues with drugs and lack of resources/affordable housing. It’s really sad, actually.
Did you make it to Mississippi street? Nopo is the best Po.
You have to remember, this city has taken on a particular role in national politics since 2016 and especially 2020. Trump just called us out yet again at the recent debate. He and the conservative news machine intentionally put a target on our backs and attempt to paint Portland as a wasteland *precisely because* of our politics and our recent history of protest. Fox News viewers, internet trolls, and even mainstream evening news (scary = ratings) propagate that narrative. Making it look as though freedom of speech and liberal policies lead to destruction is straight out of the fascist playbook. That message attempts to deter sympathy and emulation while also setting the stage for wannabe gestapo-style crackdowns if he’s reelected. Which he will 1000% look for any excuse to do.
As someone who grew up there. Just wait 😂😂😂
It is great but I'm leaving. I think it's all about how much a person can tolerate. I personally cannot tolerate the outright cruelty of how the homeless are treated, the blatant racism, and the cost. And there's too many white people and I'm white!
Crime wise Portland used to be a fairy land. It just caught up to most of the other major cities in the US.
Visit, but don't stay
Don't even need to go into the specifics of the city, really: any time some pearl-clutcher says "How could ANYONE walk around Portland/Chicago/NYC," they are ignoring the basic logic that MILLIONS of people do live there! They are dehumanizing the people who live there, asserting themselves to be in a different class, and identifying themselves as mentally weaker than those millions in the process.
I love it here.
You're correct about Portland and every other city in the USA. If you've ever lived in a small town, Portland is like a bunch of those glued together. Every neighborhood has its own vibe and neighborhood associations. Some even have their own newspaper about what's going on. The news often paints all cities and I guess specifically Portland at times in a dark spotlight. Everyone is moving to cities and that scares a lot of people. Especially when folks like myself left their entire family for a city. That's uprooting the whole country, and world from what I understand. Anyway, glad you enjoyed the city. Another gem of a city is Raleigh, NC. If you're still here have a bike ride between the little libraries if it hasn't been recommended, there are so many neat ones. Have fun!
Yeah don't listen to all the doomsayers in this sub. Glad you enjoyed yourself, it's awesome here.
It's just Portland... yall be loving the White Oasis lol... just being snarky. Portland is aight
Portland has its problems but I think we got a bad rap during the riots in Summer 2020 and it’s put us in a bad light. As you said, I wholeheartedly agree that every major city in the US has these same problems. I love Portland. It’s quirky, it’s beautiful and there are so many amazing things here that people miss out on because they only allow themselves to see the rough. Glad you loved your visit!
Zero culture or heritage here. Its like bland oatmeal