Is Portland cool?

[urbanguy]

Well of course the suburbs of Portland aren't that dense that's because there's still room to fill in those area's but thanks to Smart growth and the UGB it will be able to densify if developed according to plan, none of this process happens over night it takes time but eventually the fruits of labor will bear. Most of it is purely experimental so of course you can't expect past developments to have been perfect or completely ideal, mainly because there was a lot of room for development when the UGB/ Smarth Growth were first put in place and well there weren't as many people back then but as the population grows it will fill gaps and hopefully newer development styles and techniques will appear that makes better use of the land and resources.

Portland, is a great place if you look being around a lot of young creative intellects. As for night life it's not the most exciting well the club scene is blah to me but there are cool spots to hang out at and chill with friends and drink good microbrews and listen to live music etc. The vibe here is pretty organic, open-minded, intellectual, indie, and people here seem to enjoy the fact that the city is usually under the national/international radar screen i guess because it keeps a lot of large outside influences from affecting the culture/sub cultures that thrive here and the values that residents try to instill in others (like newcomers). Portland is basically its own echo system. So do not disturb

Of course its not perfect just like anywhere else and not for everyone but its way up there on the plus side and people take pride in it as nearly everything that is proposed here whether its a new law or new building people will actually get involved and make sure they are heard.

[Mike D]

Portland, as well as Denver, are both cities that I like very much. They're both places I would like to visit and both are places that I'm considering moving to. The more I read about both places, the more I like them. One of the things I especially like about both cities is that they are making serious commitments to making their cities more pedestrian and transit-friendly. For someone, who grew up in New York City but will probably never be able to afford anything other than a storage space there, that's important to me, because I'm gonna have to find a city that's much more affordable than New York (and Boston, where I currently live). It seems like a lot of the cities out West seem to care very much about making their cities more pedestrian- and transit-friendly. I wish cities here in the East cared as much about pedestrians and transit.

Hanging out with friends and drinking microbrews is something I'd much rather do for nightlife, so I think I'd enjoy the nightlife in Portland or Denver. I'm not a big fan of clubs with their brutally-loud hip-hop and watered-down salsa music, so I can do just fine without that. Being under the radar screen also has its plusses, it gives people the opportunity to be original and unique and to start their own trends. I never was big into following the latest trends (I only recently bought an iPod and it's the Mini, which Apple is replacing with the Nano), so I don't worry too much about that.

[huesos]

Hello everybody,

Well, I am going to add a European point of view to the post. I am from Spain and have been living in the U.S. for almost three years (sorry for my English, it could be sometimes...weird). Anyways, I have lived in Denver, St. Louis, Memphis and just moved in a couple of months ago to San Diego.

I have traveled around quite a bit with my wife (she is American) and we visited some friends in the NW last summer and I was quite dissapointed with Portland. I liked much more Seattle. Overall Seattle looked more urban, more happening, more diverse, more cultural and more fun.

Maybe my point of view was biased, I am from a big city (Madrid) and love big cities. I am not the kind of outdoors guy and I found Portland to be very similar to Denver: great cities if you are crazy about the outdoors, if you are more kin to "backpack-hip-coolness" than to a real urban scene. I liked the public transportation and that it is obviously a progressive city, but it conveyed to me a somewhat too much quiet vibe. People living there told me that the weather is awful, that it doesn't stop raining for eight months and that it can get extremely depressing.

I wouldn't consider Portland an uncool city, but I wouldn't say that it is one of my favorite citis in the U.S. I liked much more Seattle.

[goodbye]

I've never been to Portland, but I would say (from everything people have told me) that it is a pretty neat city. Greenville (SC) city officials went there several years ago to look and learn techniques for capitalizing on our natural resources, just as Portland has successfully done. Since then, Greenville has become a role model for many other cities looking to learn how to create a vibrant urban core as we now have on and around Main Street. This success leads me to think that Portland must indeed be a cool city, considering Greenville officials found many unique ideas to implement through visiting there. B)

[Scraper Enthusiast]

I'm in my third year of living in Portland and eighth year in Oregon and I can honestly say that Portland is both very cool and yet overrated at the same time. Yeah Portland isn't that diverse, but most of Western United States isn't that diverse outside of California and the largest cities(The Southwest is primarily Hispanic, I don't if that counts as diverse). There are several areas in the further reaches of Portland and in the suburbs, that while not very scenic, have growing numbers of Asian and Hispanic immigrants.

Just for the record, the lumber industry in Oregon has been on the downside for years and you'd be hardpressed to find very many actual lumberjacks in Portland. Perhaps in a few of the more rural suburbs in Clackamas County or out towards Mount Hood you might find people living off the land, but not in Portland. In central Portland you're more likely to find Volvo driving upper-middle class liberals, shaggy haired black clad hipsters, dishelved drugged out homeless people, and so on... Portland seems to attracted a large number of recent arrivals from the Midwest and East Coast... So much so that, I've been at parties where I'll be one of the only people in attendence to have grown up on the West Coast, let alone Oregon. Most people in Portland are geninually nice, friendly folks, although the self-righteousness of some of the more extreme liberals here can get annoying along with how trendy much of the city has become.

I've grown tired of East Coasters (and don't get me wrong I love the East Coast cities) complaining that while Portland is nice, it isn't a real city like New York or Boston. If you study the history of Portland you'll see that it's always been a fairly provincial city. Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles are the West Coast's more international cities. Portland has always tried to preserve itself as pleasent place to live. The job market is awful here, because so many people are willing to sacrifice making big money somewhere else to enjoy all the amneties of Portland.

So if you enjoy glacier-clad mountains, salmon filled rivers, and mossy forests in close proximity and want to live somewhere with some of the attractions of a larger city, Portland is pretty cool. Just don't expect New York, LA or Chicago..

I visited Portland last winter, and I must say that it does not seem like a very big city. More like a medium-sized metro. The interstates have no more than three lanes on each side, and the development of Portland only stretches out about fifteen miles, at most, in most directions, granted the Vancouver, WA area has developed a bit.

The area's natural beauty is great. Very close proximity to Mt. Hood, Mt. St. Helens, and the Oregon Coast.

The two primary types of people I noticed were very liberal looking people (funky clothes, weird eye glasses, very thin waif figures) or the gristled guy with a bushy beard. Sure, there are lots of others, too. As far as the non-white population, it is very small, and there is nothing wrong with that.

Not a bad place.

[Scraper Enthusiast]

Is there something different with the street lights in Portland? For example, when I flew into Portland at night, the city lights tended to emit a bluish hue, wheras most other cities emit a yellowish hue light. Has anyone else noticed this?

[DetroitBazaar]

Portland is indeed very cool and I enjoyed the years living there. People, terrain, and history are great. Yeah there is your fair share of homeless, addicts, and unemployment but you can't readily beat the short drive to the mountains and sea (if you aren't struggling)! Just a couple of pennies from DetroitBazaar.

Peace to you.

[pdxstreetcar]

More like a medium-sized metro. The interstates have no more than three lanes on each side, and the development of Portland only stretches out about fifteen miles, at most, in most directions, granted the Vancouver, WA area has developed a bit.

You can thank the 26-year-old Urban Growth Boundary for that... and fortunately it has just been saved (at least for the time being). Vancouver and Washington does not have as strict an urban planning system as Oregon which would explain its sprawl.

[Sundodger]

^ Portland sprawls as much on the Oregon side too. Take a trip to Washington County sometime. All the Urban Growth Boundary has done is raise housing costs, force denser suburban development, & force more growth into satellite UGB islands. If Portland really cared about sprawl, they'd dump the lesser Portland mentallity that dominates the city. The area is going to grow, right now business is choosing the suburbs. The city needs to liberalize when it comes to business & development or business will continue to shun Portland for Vancouver, Lake Oswego, Wilsonville, & Hillsboro.

[Mike D]

Metro should relax the UGB boundary somewhat, perhaps by adding a couple more Oregon counties into the area, but not abolish it entirely.

[DetroitBazaar]

One thing folks should be aware of is that there is a huge push to change to regional zone. I have family and friends living in the foothills of Gresham and they've recently opened it up for major league development. Expect this to continue regardless of what the political folks say. The only thing regionalization does, IMO, is delay the demise of a decent plan. When people stop moving there it'll go a long way toward stemming sprawl.

Peace

[pdxstreetcar]

The urban growth boundary is not a permanent line, every few years it is expanded, it really just stops leap frog development and keeps urban areas urban and rural areas rural. Rural people who dont use urban services dont pay for urban services. Urbanites & suburbanites who do use urban services do pay for them, like fire protection, police protection, libraries, transit, sewers and infrastructure etc. Housing costs in the Portland metro area are less than those of the Seattle metro, San Francisco metro, Los Angeles metro, San Diego metro all of which have no urban growth boundary. The urban growth boundary is expanded based on the anticipated growth on the outskirts, its not as rigid of as most believe it is. If they anticipate 5000 people moving to a suburb they will zone enough land for 5000 people. The UGB is expanded based on the market.

The urban growth boundary is like a belt around a person's waist that they keep opening up a little bit more as they get fatter.

DetroitBazaar: that land by Gresham that you mention is new land added inside the urban growth boundary which is being built into a large pedestrian friendly community with parks and mixed use development.

[DetroitBazaar]

Thank you for the information pdxstreetcar. We were outside of the city itself, but I have to admit the bike path being implemented- all geared toward the city of Portland itself was welcomed. I lived in an area that was extremely rural compared to a few miles downhill. Anyway, the people I mentioned in the post above sold for a nice price because of all of the cookie cutter subs and schools moving in. That's to be expected. It certainly was a learning experience for myself. I managed to get quite a few more dollars for my property- which I owned through trust than I expected. Back to the main point of the thread, is Portland cool? Yes especially since the planners, so far, seem to have to community in mind no matter where the boundary is designated. I hope it stays that way. Bike paths, sidewalks, and an attitude for the people seemed to be the way things were done in retrospect. I'm more of a libertarian, but the city and surrounding areas do indeed give me some sort of hope for what an urban area can become. Watch out though for that Californication, lol.

BTW. the reason I and my partners sold was out of circumstance. Detroit is my home and I want to rekindle the spirit here like I did a few years back before I moved around the country. I'll tout Portland over Seattle in a heartbeat. SanFran? well, if you can afford it, that's a great town too. To get the better of two worlds without the costs, Portland is the place to be- and who can beat the proximity to what you seek- mountains, ocean, peace. I do hope there are true limits on the growth of the area however as it encroaches upon what I call sacred places. I would never want to see it become a Seattle or mega urban area. Take care.

Peace to you

[TheseGoTo11]

Seattle has more cool neighborhoods than Portland, and no urban planner can just create another Fremont, Queen Anne, Ballard, Capitol Hill, or Belltown. Even though Seattle has ridiculously weak mass transit, I think it's a more interesting city.

Having said that, Portland blows away all the sunbelt boomtowns.

[peaceloveunderstanding]

does anyone have any pics of the street level activity in Portland?

[urbanguy]

TheseGoTo11, hmm i dont know if Seattle has "more" cool neighborhoods than Portland cause Portland has quite a few with in city limits as there are 95 officially recognized neighborhoods in the city limits.

Some of the cool and up and coming hoods here are like:

The Pearl, Hawthorne, NW Portland (Nob Hill), Belmont, Alberta, Oldtown, etc A lot of the close in hoods here have little commercial/entertainment/etc districts where people shop, eat, drink, watch movies, etc and i'm not talking about lifestyle centers

[urbanguy]

TheseGoTo11, hmm i dont know if Seattle has "more" cool neighborhoods than Portland cause Portland has quite a few with in city limits as there are 95 officially recognized neighborhoods in the city limits.

Some of the cool and up and coming hoods here are like:

The Pearl, Hawthorne, NW Portland (Nob Hill), Belmont, Alberta, Oldtown, etc A lot of the close in hoods here have little commercial/entertainment/etc districts where people shop, eat, drink, watch movies, etc and i'm not talking about lifestyle centers

Here's a link with pics of some of the hoods in Portland that i posted at skyscraperpage in Sept.

Portland Hoods I

Portland Hoods II

[DetroitBazaar]

Thanks for the links urbanguy. They brought back some nice memories. I like that town. Seattle has its upsides, but I like to roll Portland style

Peace

[Sundodger]

TheseGoTo11, hmm i dont know if Seattle has "more" cool neighborhoods than Portland cause Portland has quite a few with in city limits as there are 95 officially recognized neighborhoods in the city limits.

Seattle has a boatload of neighborhoods too but because of geography, these smaller neighborhoods get included into a larger neighborhood in general public perception. Take Ballard, West Seattle, or Lake City for example. As a whole, I'd say Portland has more hip neighborhood centers, but the best Seattle neighborhoods (Fremont, West Seattle, Ballard, University District, Capitol Hill, etc.) are better than anything in Portland. Also gentrification has been happening in Seattle more city wide, again due to geography, so I expect more cool neighborhoods to grow in Seattle in the short future.

[DetroitBazaar]

Just a side note: You can tell how cool Portland is by how many views the topic has gathered so far.