Is Oregon becoming “Oldegon”? (Portland, Eugene: real estate, living, professionals)

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by ccjarider

Wouldn't it be nice to live in a state that actually acted in the interests of families/taxpayers to materially impact and improve their lives?

Instead we live in a state that:
1. spends tax $ to kill children,
2. Legalizes drugs that jeopardize children and young adults,
3. Implements non value Over regulation/taxation that increases costs for families.
4. Allows more crime/vandalism and lower QOL by encouraging hobos/drug addled losers and criminals to live on the streets of the states largest city.

All if these things are easy to change if the voting population were to wake up.

Well, of the 4.2 million people living in Oregon, 2.5 million live in 5 counties. Multnomah, Clackamas, Washington, Lane, and Marion. Basically, Oregon's political outcomes are determined by Portland, Salem, and Eugene.

[texasdiver]

Originally Posted by green_mariner

Well, of the 4.2 million people living in Oregon, 2.5 million live in 5 counties. Multnomah, Clackamas, Washington, Lane, and Marion. Basically, Oregon's political outcomes are determined by Portland, Salem, and Eugene.

Well no. Cities don't vote. People vote.

Oregon's political outcomes are determined by Oregonians. As they should be.

And newsflash. Cities have always had more people than rural areas. That is what makes them cities. It wasn't any different 50 years ago.

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by Wile E. Coyote

I was going to bring up the fertility rate.

The Hanford Nuclear site (upriver on the Columbia) is the largest nuclear clean-up site in the US. It is the most contaminated nuclear site in the Western Hemisphere. Look it up as there is lots of published information.

Irrelevant to those of us who've grown up digging in the high uranium content dirt of NM and CO. Our sustained exposure was higher than Three mile Island release. Plus I grew up under power lines. I'm glowing toast. Probably be dead before age 100, from something.

Hopefully my future fertility rate is zero
I've done enough damage in that realm.

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by texasdiver

Well no. Cities don't vote. People vote.

Oregon's political outcomes are determined by Oregonians. As they should be.

And newsflash. Cities have always had more people than rural areas. That is what makes them cities. It wasn't any different 50 years ago.

People do vote. My point was that with a majority of Oregon's population concentrated in the Salem, Eugene, and Portland metros, this decides the policies that Oregon has. And with Bend leaning more and more Democratic these days, Deschutes County will be another factor to look at.

Here is the thing. Cities have always had more people than rural areas. However, Oregon is one of the most stark examples of this. Contrast this with Georgia. Atlanta might be the largest city in Georgia, as well as its capital. However, Atlanta didn't control what went on. With large numbers of people living in small towns and rural areas, that kept Georgia conservative for quite some time. One major exception are the majority-Black rural areas in Georgia, which always vote Democrat.

What matters is the ratio of city dwellers to rural dwellers. And in Oregon, it's more skewed than in other places.

[Metlakatla]

Originally Posted by green_mariner

People do vote. My point was that with a majority of Oregon's population concentrated in the Salem, Eugene, and Portland metros, this decides the policies that Oregon has. And with Bend leaning more and more Democratic these days, Deschutes County will be another factor to look at.

Here is the thing. Cities have always had more people than rural areas. However, Oregon is one of the most stark examples of this. Contrast this with Georgia. Atlanta might be the largest city in Georgia, as well as its capital. However, Atlanta didn't control what went on. With large numbers of people living in small towns and rural areas, that kept Georgia conservative for quite some time. One major exception are the majority-Black rural areas in Georgia, which always vote Democrat.

What matters is the ratio of city dwellers to rural dwellers. And in Oregon, it's more skewed than in other places.

Just so you know, Salem is pretty much split between conservatives and liberals.

[texasdiver]

Originally Posted by green_mariner

People do vote. My point was that with a majority of Oregon's population concentrated in the Salem, Eugene, and Portland metros, this decides the policies that Oregon has. And with Bend leaning more and more Democratic these days, Deschutes County will be another factor to look at.

Here is the thing. Cities have always had more people than rural areas. However, Oregon is one of the most stark examples of this. Contrast this with Georgia. Atlanta might be the largest city in Georgia, as well as its capital. However, Atlanta didn't control what went on. With large numbers of people living in small towns and rural areas, that kept Georgia conservative for quite some time. One major exception are the majority-Black rural areas in Georgia, which always vote Democrat.

What matters is the ratio of city dwellers to rural dwellers. And in Oregon, it's more skewed than in other places.

Portland has always been the dominant population center in the state.

The difference today is that the the partisan divide is more urban/rural when that used to not be the case. Republicans have basically given up on seeking votes in the cities. In fact they run AGAINST the cities. Same for Democrats with rural areas to some extent.

Take a look at the election results from the 1960 presidential race in Oregon. The state as a whole voted for Nixon 52.6% to 47.4% for Kennedy, In the Portland metro area the vote was

Multnomah County: Nixon 50.5% Kennedy 49.3%
Washington County: Nixon 58.9% Kennedy 41.0%
Clackamas County: Nixon 54.5% Kennedy 45.3%

In other words, the Portland metro area pretty closely tracked the rest of the state and was even a shade more conservative or Republican. Kennedy won all the coastal counties except Lane County (which includes Eugene). He even won Douglas County which is now scarlet red. Kennedy even won some eastern Oregon counties that are now rock red Republican. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1960_U...tion_in_Oregon

This was the 1960 county by county election results with red being Nixon counties and blue being Kennedy counties



So really what has changed from 1960 to today is not that the cities have become more dominant. They have always had the majority of population. What has changed is that partisanship has become geographic and the population is sorting itself on urban/rural lines in ways that didn't used to be the case.

[Wile E. Coyote]

Originally Posted by StealthRabbit

Irrelevant to those of us who've grown up digging in the high uranium content dirt of NM and CO. Our sustained exposure was higher than Three mile Island release. Plus I grew up under power lines. I'm glowing toast. Probably be dead before age 100, from something.

Hopefully my future fertility rate is zero
I've done enough damage in that realm.

OP was talking Oregon. I grew up where they tested Nukes above ground until 1961 in Nevada. None of us make it anywhere near 100.

[StealthRabbit]

Looks like those downwind of the Boardman, OR Coal burning generator is assigned far greater public health issues the WA Handford reservation.

The acid rain from Boardman emissions significantly ate my concrete and automotive / house paint (Since I'm in the vortex of the Columbia Gorge). But so far i'm not dead (yet). Any day now.

A Hazmat tanker driver friend has made over 100 trips across OR to take Hanford waste to ID.
It pays well (while he is still alive).

[CCS414]

Originally Posted by StealthRabbit

You can check out the current civic issues in China and Japan to see how this (falling birthrate) will play out.

Happening in US as well.

It's easier for people to have pets, they die are get abandoned, and you're set free (again).

Kids are expensive and a bother. (and a legal responsibility).

pets are easier, Very prominient fad in Oregon. My Portland flights have far more ESA's than any other destinations.

And Europe. Germany and Italy in particular are really having workforce issues because of the low birth rate.

[blisterpeanuts]

Originally Posted by texasdiver

Well no. Cities don't vote. People vote.

Oregon's political outcomes are determined by Oregonians. As they should be.

And newsflash. Cities have always had more people than rural areas. That is what makes them cities. It wasn't any different 50 years ago.

True, but cities have depopulated since the 1960s, relative to suburbs. Really, since the 1950s which is when suburban communities really took off.

Some of these communities are separately incorporated and don't share a tax base, while others do. They're more affluent, more families, less single professionals, and more centrist.

What we call "cities" today are really metro areas. The central cities are pretty hard core Democrat, but the surrounding suburbs & towns are more 50-50 or skewing Republican. This was probably more true 20 years ago, when more WW2 generation were still alive, but I believe it is still true to some extent today.