Anybody from Oregon (Portland)

[McLite]

Anybody here from the great Northwest?

My g/f is from Portland and will probably be going back next summer for her residency...so I was thinking about moving up there as well. Vegas really just isn't the place to raise a family anymore. We have become the official place to "retire" after you get 2 strikes in Cali plus our education system is atrocious.

I went up there and visited and really liked it. The scenery was amazing after coming from the desert. The people were a lot more Midwestern to me as well, as in kinda laid back and friendly.

Anyways...just wanted to know how you would rate it. Education, schools, sports, cleanliness, quality of life, friendliness, etc...

[Trick_]

Re: Anybody from Oregon (Portland)

i've never been but my brothers ex was born and raised there and always talked about how much she loved it (were about an hour south of denver)

she went back to school there at OU and stayed there until she (became/went)abroad to London

i've never heard about bad scenery from ppl who have visited

[Scottdau]

Re: Anybody from Oregon (Portland)

It is nice. I do think it rains a lot. I could be wrong. The school thing is important. MY advice is to find the schools that are there and look at their ratings. I think it would be on their web site. Or check with a Realtor around there. They have all those ratings.

[ex carrabba fan]

Re: Anybody from Oregon (Portland)

OMG, if I could live there I really would.

It's the perfect place to raise a family, depending on what neighborhood you choose.

I grew up in Lake Oswego, a superb of Portland. Pretty much I'm just going to be rambling, so I'll keep it short.. but everything about that area is perfect.

Nice, friendly people. Great schools. You get the big city feel with the small city community. Air is great, you have the rivers, the mountains and the beautiful, albeit cold coast- I love driftwood. Plus Portland= beer capital of the world. The Trail Blazers are always well supported. They pump your gas for you???? WTF?! It's very green. I don't know many negatives unless you end up in a bad neighborhood. I don't know how expensive living there is now.. but I'm sure it's somewhat comparable to L.V.

I wanna so move there. I love my family too much to leave them all here in so cal, which isn't too shabby either.

[Bigdmo9999]

Re: Anybody from Oregon (Portland)

I'm from outside Eugene

I'd rate it 10/10, I love this place, wouldn't want to live anywhere else in the US.

[bad_philanthropy]

Re: Anybody from Oregon (Portland)

Carrabba stated the case pretty well. I lived in Portland for a year (came from out east but now live in Eugene, I went to UO and my wife is almost done).

-Friendly people with a strong sense of community

-People very respectful and pride themselves of respect for everyone regardless of beliefs and background. Of course there are some crazies as well just like everywhere else.

-Definitely a bit of a quirky vibe, but it lends itself to the area. Haven't found friendlier people anywhere.

-Portland and the metro area are quite modern and well-maintained. Excellent schools. Public education system in the state is very strong, plenty of top notch schools in the Portland area public or private. Of course there are some seedy areas like every city.

-Won't be missing lifestyle-wise that you'll get anywhere else in the U.S. Great food, great grocery shopping. Excellent arts and culture scene. Can't beat the recreational options available. If you love the outdoors, nothing beats what's available just around Portland.

-Tons of microbrews. Oregon consumes more of its own homegrown beer than any other state. So you come to Oregon you learn to sample and support the local fare.

-No sales tax (I enjoy this)

-Relatively low cost of living compared to other major West Coast cities, would be a prime place to buy property as they say Portland right now is Seattle fifteen years ago. Plenty of nice communities/neighborhoods to live in.

-I can't think of a more beautiful state, the landscape is incredibly diverse. My wife and I have made a ton of trips throughout the state and I can't even believe some of the things we've seen. You could spend years just exploring the state and it will continue to blow you away.

-Sports scene is very good, basketball definitely rules all here, the Blazers are feverishly supported and the media really goes overboard with the coverage. The game of basketball in general here is beloved to the point where you'll see indie rock hipsters on out on the court. There is also a lot of interest in all the major sports, Portland is definitely an underrated sports town. You'll find a lot of support for the Seattle and Bay Area pro teams.

-My number one favorite part is the summers. While the winters are rainy and foggy, and cloudy (but everything is green in winter), the summers are perfect. It barely rains from late May to mid-October, and the weather is usually perfect. It gets warm enough to feel like summer but the heat hardly ever rages and there isn't any humidity. It's a kind of summer weather I hadn't experienced anywhere else. At night the temperatures cool way down, to the point where it is perfect for sleeping with a warm blanket. Rarely if ever is a/c needed (haven't had to use it two years). It's nice because the days warm up gradually so you don't walk out your front door in the morning and get nailed by heat.
-As a police officer you might be interested in knowing that there is a huge meth problem here in Oregon, with Portland sort of being the epicenter of that.

I know I have to leave Oregon in about a year when my wife heads to grad school, but when it's time to settle down, Portland will be a big consideration. Coming from someone who has lived in quite a few places in Canada and the U.S., I highly recommend giving Portland a go. You're not going to find a more livable place.

[McLite]

Re: Anybody from Oregon (Portland)

Great answers from everyone...thanks. Everywhere I go people seem to have nothing but nice to say about Oregon.

Meth is huge on the whole West Coast...I didn't realize it was so far north already, what a shame.

I'm going to apply for the PPB and start the process in November. I guess only time will tell.

[TheLetterZ]

Re: Anybody from Oregon (Portland)

Great thread, guys. For a few years now, Portland's been on my short list of places I want to live after graduation.

[slickdtc]

Re: Anybody from Oregon (Portland)

I've got a question too.

Any natural disasters in that area? I know California has their earthquakes, midwest has their tornadoes, hurricanes down south. But here on the east coast we're pretty safe as far as those things.

Also, any animals I should be aware of? On the east we don't have scorpions or tarantulas and stuff like that. Hah, I'm totally freaked out about spiders now after I was just surprised by what I think was a brown recluse recently so that's been haunting me lately.

So far, it sounds like a pretty neat place to live. But thanks for any answers in advance.

[ex carrabba fan]

Re: Anybody from Oregon (Portland)

In the late 90's we had a bad windstorm. That's about as bad as it's gonna get as far as natural disasters go. It rains a lot, that's about it.

[bad_philanthropy]

Re: Anybody from Oregon (Portland)

I've got a question too.

Any natural disasters in that area? I know California has their earthquakes, midwest has their tornadoes, hurricanes down south. But here on the east coast we're pretty safe as far as those things.

Also, any animals I should be aware of? On the east we don't have scorpions or tarantulas and stuff like that. Hah, I'm totally freaked out about spiders now after I was just surprised by what I think was a brown recluse recently so that's been haunting me lately.

So far, it sounds like a pretty neat place to live. But thanks for any answers in advance.

As far as natural disasters go, Portland is pretty good, you're more likely to see damaging windstorms and flooding and all the typical stuff south of Portland in the Willamette Valley and on the coast. I guess the only major thing that could happen would be Mount Hood erupting, though that would be incredibly unlikely and Portland is far enough west that it wouldn't really do anything. You can see Mt. St Helens smoking away just north of the city, when it erupted in 1980 Portland didn't really get affected at all, most of the ash blew east. But I hear it was a heck o a show.

[The Chef]

Re: Anybody from Oregon (Portland)

Ive lived in either Portland or Oregon City which is 10 minutes from Downtown Portland for 26 years and just like with any city there are positives and negatives. I really want to address everything that was mentioned above by bad_philanhtropy.

- Friendly people are a dime a dozen imo. There are friendly people in every state, in every country. I dont think Oregon has anymore friendly people then say Indiana does and Ive lived in both states.

- Portland is a MAJOR meth area, on my mothers block alone we had 1-3 houses get raided for meth, another one raided for prostitution and we have had a few killings nearby as well. Hell I was over for a fantasy football draft a few weeks ago while the neighbor was outside yelling and screaming at her boyfriend with the cops there. This is in Northeast Portland, not the best neighborhood but not nearly the worst so make sure you check locations out.

- Im not sure where he gets info about the school systems from since everything Ive ever heard points to Portland being one of the worst in the nation. Schools are getting shut down and students relocated which then resulted in crowded classrooms and thats where the problem is.

- Cost of living here is nowhere near low, housing prices are insane, job market stinks, prices keep rising and Oregon is quickly becoming over-populated, we are basically the little brother of California now. Compare housing prices here to basically anywhere else outside of the west coast and you will see that they arent reasonable, my folks are moving to Tennessee just to get away from here.

- This is a biggie, Oregon is terrible for small business'. The state does not help the small business owner, dont ask me why. No sales tax is nice but you will make up for it with the insane property taxes so its a wash in the end anyways. Having someone pump your gas is nice but your paying for it and thats why our prices are so damn high here, someone has to foot the bill for those extra bodies at the station.

- Personally I think this town sucks for Sports, they support the Blazers when its convenient. They didnt get behind the so called "Jail Blazers" even though they were somewhat sucessful but then when they shipped Bonzi Wells and Wallace out of town the fans bitched because they werent any good. Well no **** idiots, you busted the team up because of their character issues, deal with it. When we were trying to get the MLB here the town wouldnt support a new stadium and in turn wanted a MLB team to play in a AAA ballpark, again, complete idiots here with no clue.

Personally Im not a huge fan of Oregon but its not al negative...

- Recreation is insane. Im in Portland and I can drive a couple hours either direction and either be at the coast, the mountains or the desert so thats nice.

- Max is nice if you live near it and provides a cheap alternative to driving if you are so inclined.

- Some really nice things to see here, check out Multnomah Falls, run up to Mt. Hood and stay at Timberline Lodge, run out to Seaside and enjoy the coastal living. Check out Tillamook and see how they make their cheese (sounds dumb Im sure but its pretty interesting in all actuality.) Go to OMSI and check out the exhibits, go down to the river and fish, if you are in anyway an outdoors type person then you will love that aspect of Oregon.

- The air is nice, not a ton of pollution like in other states but to me this isnt a huge selling point but I can see why it might be to others.

I know Im forgetting a ton of stuff so if anyone wants to ask anymore questions I can do my best to answer them or someone else that lives here can chime in as well.

[The Chef]

Re: Anybody from Oregon (Portland)

As far as natural disasters go, Portland is pretty good, you're more likely to see damaging windstorms and flooding and all the typical stuff south of Portland in the Willamette Valley and on the coast. I guess the only major thing that could happen would be Mount Hood erupting, though that would be incredibly unlikely and Portland is far enough west that it wouldn't really do anything. You can see Mt. St Helens smoking away just north of the city, when it erupted in 1980 Portland didn't really get affected at all, most of the ash blew east. But I hear it was a heck o a show.

Yeah, its been atleast 8 years I believe since our last earthquake and I slept through it so it couldnt have been that big of an earthquake obviously. Mt Saint Helens is going to erupt at some point in the future but whether or not it is big enough to get to Portland isnt known, when it blew up previously there was some ash actually landing in Portland and I believe as far East as Idaho but it wasnt anything major I dont believe. The biggest thing Ive seen personally was the flood we had here 10 years ago or so when the entire downtown Oregon City was under water but thats a once in a lifetime thing and it happened thanks to a severe winter that produced tons of ice that then melted and was met with a ton of rain causing the rivers to swell, hasnt happened since.

Oregon doesnt get much in the way of snow and people like to say we get a ton of rain but if memory serves I think Oregon actually ranks behind other states that are never mentioned for too much rain. Oregons problem is the overcast, gloomy feel it can get during the winter but in all honesty I dont think we get a significant amount of rain in comparison to most other major cities.

[ex carrabba fan]

Re: Anybody from Oregon (Portland)

Good stuff Pimpin. I'll respond to some of your post.

As far as the schools.. I'm not familiar with the actual schools in Portland, just the suburbs. If you can find a place in the burbs.. do that.. Portland is like 15 min away from any of the burbs. Most burb school systems are amazing from what I remember.

As far as the housing, that's interesting. I can't imagine that it'd be that much higher than Washington? As far as mentioning Cali.. I would really bet Portland and the surrounding areas are several notches cheaper than anywhere here in So Cal.

But I'm glad someone who actually LIVES IN Portland chimed in.. I mean honestly I'm giving all of my input based off like 8 years ago when I was a teen living there.

All I can say is, it doesn't seem like living in the actual city of Portland is the best idea.. like I said try to get into the burbs.. i.e. Lake Oswego, Tualatin [sp], Beaverton, Oregon City

[bad_philanthropy]

Re: Anybody from Oregon (Portland)

Yeah, good stuff Pimpin. Regarding schools, I was referring more to the suburban areas. I was very impressed with what I saw and also know a few teachers (through my wife who is studying to become one) who came from out of state and were impressed with how things were run after tough times funding wise in the late 90's early 2000's. The urban schools are definitely a different story, as they are in a lot of cities. Although I will say that Lincoln High is a very good school in Porltland. I just assumed MattG wasn't really referring to the schools in and living in the city itself.

I think we can all become somewhat jaded about the places we live, both from living in them for a long time and coming to them from elsewhere relatively recently. I grew up in Toronto, but came to Portland via Atlanta and then Savannah, Georgia, so coming from those places it was a breath of fresh air in many ways. Like any place, it's going to be different things to different people. That said, as nice as Oregon is, I wouldn't want to live in any other part but Portland. Eugene is nice and all but it has nothing to offer. I really enjoyed living in Portland though, and could easily be back there.

Oregon definitely has its issues, but coming from the urban centers of Georgia the quality of life is exponentially better here. Pimpin, is the state really that bad for small businesses? I always found that there were plenty of independent businesses, lots of quirky niche stuff in Portland and Eugene.