Given the chance to move to Portland, would you take it?

No, I'll stay in Beaverton.

Lover of Portland wrote:

If you could have the same job and have your family minimally upset. So essentially caeteris paribus, would you rather live in Portland than your current city/town? What part of Portland would you like to live in?

Personally, I would like to live in Portland instead of my current home in Columbus. I would want to live in NW portland just outside Forest Park.

Trust me, it always looks greener on the other side of the fence. I am leaving Portland after a decade. So many rich white people, hipsters, and foodies that it makes me sick. I'm done with the over inflated rents, menu prices, and new multi million dollar penthouses. Portland is the new Manhattan. It's gross.

I'd much rather move to a small town, with a slower pace, affordable lifestyle and cost of living and get the hell away from Portland.

Portland was great 10 - 20 years ago. Now are the tech, and artists are here. And rich Californians. NW Portland is all about superficial 'see and be seen'. You are not missing anything, unless.... UNLESS, you are the shallow hipster.

Portland now has a one bedroom apartment for $2500 per month.

In the news this week:

I completely agree with the statement above. Portland is a terrible place to live right now. If you're a runner, go to Bend, or Colorado Springs or Boulder. No more people allowed to move to Portland.

I'm a little bored, so I'll chime in.

I just moved from Portland back to the mountains a couple weeks ago. I spent about 4 years there, and I'm very familiar with the neighborhood you mentioned.

I would say the Forest Park neighborhood is one of the best, if not the best. It is close enough to city center to not be isolated, but just quiet enough to not feel overwhelmed. FP is the best urban park in the country to run in, in my opinion. You completely forget that you are in a city, very pretty. Miles and miles of trails that stay fairly quiet.

I am also a lover of the Southeast neighborhood, anything off of Hawthorne, Division, Stark, etc. Southeast has a personality all on it's own - too many great bars and restaurants to name, and good people. It feels like a real community.

My reasons for leaving Portland:

1) The cost of living had become unmanageable for me. Rent has just exploded there, but I found that wages had stagnated big time.

2) The traffic. With the explosion in population, traffic obviously increases accordingly. Be prepared to sit in traffic at all times of day, any day of the week.

3) The homeless situation has gotten out of control in the downtown area. Expect to be harassed frequently by junkies and be the constant victim of car break-ins. I'm not really sure what the answer is to this current problem, but any PDXer can attest to the severity of the situation.

4) I missed living in the mountains, and so I moved to Montana for a while.

5) The winter weather in PDX can be kind of rough after a while. Expect grey skies and drizzle from October - June, give or take. I kind of got used to it, but it feels like it's dragging on forever when it gets to be around March/April.

Negatives aside, Portland still may be my favorite city I've lived in, and I've lived all over the country.

It seems like a great place to raise a family, and you come could from just about anywhere in the US and have an immediate boost in quality of life by experiencing Portland - which is why there are so many people doing it now. The city has a great vibe, and the Oregon coast being so close is amazing.

If a person has their job situation lined up, and is aware of the cost of living, climate, traffic etc, then I don't see how they couldn't benefit from giving it a go.

txRUNNERgirl wrote:

No, I'll stay in Beaverton.

Beaverton is awful for young single people. The night life is next to nonexistent.

Running in Bend wrote:

I completely agree with the statement above. Portland is a terrible place to live right now. If you're a runner, go to Bend, or Colorado Springs or Boulder. No more people allowed to move to Portland.

Bend is a tiny resort town. Completely different from Portland. And the weather is less pleasant for running. In Portland, the conditions are ideal for running at least 70% of the time. No snow, no heat, low humidity . And Boulder is worse than Portland for all the reasons Portland sucks.

Portland now has a one bedroom apartment for $2500 per month.

In the news this week:

http://www.portlandmercury.com/blogtown/2016/07/18/18387348/move-over-burnside-26-the-new-apartment-building-youll-love-to-hate-is-the-yard

Funny article. I miss the overwhelming sarcasm from the Mercury. I used to pass that ugly eyesore of a building all the time. Sticks out like a sore thumb unfortunately.

As much as I love Portland as a whole, there is absolutely nothing in that city that is worth a $2400/month rent. Unreal.

Lover of Portland wrote:

Running in Bend wrote:

I completely agree with the statement above. Portland is a terrible place to live right now. If you're a runner, go to Bend, or Colorado Springs or Boulder. No more people allowed to move to Portland.

Bend is a tiny resort town. Completely different from Portland. And the weather is less pleasant for running. In Portland, the conditions are ideal for running at least 70% of the time. No snow, no heat, low humidity . And Boulder is worse than Portland for all the reasons Portland sucks.

If you think Bend is "tiny" then you must be one of the urban density-loving hipster people. To me, Bend seems big, way too much traffic. I prefer Madras or Lakeview.

Given a chance to LEAVE Portland, I'd take it . . . if I lived there.

Not a chance. The Pacific Northwest is a cesspool of democrat pieces of trash.

Been in metro DC since 2007, so I'd move to Portland in a heartbeat!

Silent-majority wrote:

Not a chance. The south, especially Texas, is a cesspool of republican pieces of trash.

Fixed your post for you.

I have lived in Columbus (OH), and I currently live in Portland. Given the option, all else being equal, I'd much rather live in Columbus.

Portland mostly has a nice running culture, and it's really close to some spectacular wilderness areas. Portland summers also have nicer weather than Columbus summers. That's pretty much it for the advantages over Columbus; most things are worse.

It's ~3 times more expensive, and the traffic is exponentially worse. The culture is worse, excepting the running bit. It's too hilly to properly bike places (which affects running, too), and the job market doesn't reflect the housing prices. There also aren't any great universities (which Ohio State actually is) which bring the amenities and jobs associated with them.

Beaverton is indeed nicer, if suburban, and the NW is the best part of Portland proper.

I live on a lake just south of Portland. It's very nice.

I thought this thread needed wrote:

txRUNNERgirl wrote:

No, I'll stay in Beaverton.

Beaverton is awful for young single people. The night life is next to nonexistent.

I just got married, so don't need a ton of night life. Plus we can take the MAX or Uber downtown when we want to go out. It's the daytime life I don't enjoy in a city (traffic, expensive parking, etc).

I like to go to Forest Park or run the Waterfront on the weekends, but there are plenty of bike paths right outside my door as well. And when I get sick of these options, I drive out to the Banks-Vernonia Trail, Marine Drive, Sauvie Island, etc.

You suck.

I moved to Portland last year.

Rent and cost of living is more expensive, but other coats offset that.

My housing is cheaper in Portland than it was in the Northeast because I have never turned on my heater. By electric was $8-9 and gas $9-10 all winter. I could pay $$150 when I lived in a single apartment or $225 when I shared a house for heat alone.

I no longer need to own a car. I wasn't making payments, but 120ish miles every week ($25 every 2 weeks), ~$700 insurance, and parking, are replaced by a pre-tax $100 deuction for public transport each month, through my work pay.

I make ~$10,000 less than I did before, ($56k to $46k) where cost living was much less.

While I don't travel as much, standard of living is way higher.

Live in NW. Run in Forest Park or at Lincoln High School. Waterfront and Downtown for early morning doubles. 5 minute bus ride to downtown. $3 16 oz. Rainier and $5 cover to listen to DJ spin Reggae, Dancehall, and Dub vinyl on Saturday.

Yeah, I had to walk by the city sponsored homeless camp. Yeah, I had to walk by the 200 people in line at Voodoo Donuts on a Saturday night. Yeah, I had to walk by the crowd who just couldn't wait to see what. Vegan Strip club actually was. Yeah, I saw groups of bro-grammers talking about their tinder hook ups. Yeah, I walked by pretentious tap rooms with steel and concrete decor and $8 IIPA and $9 sours (who wants those on Saturday night?).

I deal with it because it's impossible not to live around people who have different interests. I have a job I like, and spend time doing what I want (running).

I'd rather live with those gutter punks, snobs, yuppies, and brogrammers than the people who think that living in the same city as crusties, yuppies and brogrammers has any impact on their own livelihood or well being.

It's just a place. But it's very easy to maximize your enjoyment-of-life here, if you're sensible. Much easier than almost all other cities. That's why people like it.

agaerg wrote:

Been in metro DC since 2007, so I'd move to Portland in a heartbeat!

Why? DC seems like a real city. Are you sure you'd rather be in a small, dark, rainy town?

Think I would rather live in Portland than Seattle. They have better food. But I think Seattle is more beautiful with more running trails.

If it weren't for all of the people moving to Portland from other places, Portland would only have a population of small minded hicks. As a city, it its hardly cool compared just about anywhere I've been. As far as the food goes, it's spotty at best. Portland is mostly hype.