Portland Peeves (house, neighborhood, live)

[Priscilla Martin]

I know we all love The Rose City but are there things that peeve you?

I'll start out with the City garbage. Not that many years ago, right here in Portland, I had one garbage can. A garbage man came through the gate, into my back yard, picked up the can, dumped it into his can. He'd wave, I'd give him a Coke in the summer and coffee in the winter. Sometimes I'd slip him $5-$10 and he'd wink and take my sacks of leaves. His name was Charles. My hubby would call him Charles Atlas and he'd flex his muscles.

Then we became more progressive. Charles Atlas no longer came around. Instead, I had a garbage can and some recycling bins. I also had a backache from taking the garbage out to the curb. Eventually I bought some four wheeled flatbed cart and rolled my can and recycling bins. It wasn't as nice as Charles Atlas, but it worked and I figured it saved me Coke and coffee.

Today, I look out my kitchen window and where I used to see flowers, I now see a garbage can, a recycling can, a compost can and a bin. All but the bin has wheels. They are too big to fit my cart, so it's leaning against the side of the house.

It would be simple if my 74 year old hubby who has had 4 back surgeries and I, like those smiling people on the City's website and brochures could simply roll the cans to the curb. Have you ever tried rolling a full garbage can over Portland's sidewalks to the curb? It's.not easy in my neighborhood. There's something about 100 year old tree roots and concrete sidewalks. So sometimes it takes both of us; one pulling, one pushing, both cussing, to get the cans to the designated curbside area. End of story. Not quite. We also have to make sure we are rolling the correct garbage can(s) on the correct pickup day. One week they pick up recycling and compost, the next week compost, recycling and garbage. Heaven forbid if the garbage police detect something in the wrong can or you roll the wrong can out.........and when you're 70 years old it happens, trust me. So, for what one truck and Charles Atlas used to do, now there are three trucks driven by people, I assume they are people, I have never seen them.

Somehow I have a problem understanding how three trucks reduces our carbon footprint. In all fairness I think some of the trucks run on natural gas or methane farts, they have big signs announcing how friendly they are.

That's just outdoor half of it. I've tried indoor composting and spent good money on worthless contraptions to turn my ugly, disgusting food scraps into lovely, beneficial garden compost. I've tried to be a good citizen Mayor Hales, please don't handcuff me. All I got from my composting efforts were fruit flies and a family of mice. My neighbor had some darn compost thing with worms in it that she asked it I wanted. I asked if it worked. She said it did but the kids kept messing with it and she got tired of cleaning up the worms and putting it back together. I said thanks but no thanks. Somehow worms in my house is going too far. Last I saw of it she was loading it in her SUV, worms and all.

My breakfast nook that was once a sunny cheery place is now my own personal landfill full of folded cardboard, washed glass bottles, flattened tin cans and whatever else didn't fit between pickups.

Charles Atlas where are you?

[EnricoV]

My pet peeve ... people who think that things ought to be done the way that they were done wherever they moved from.

[gonpostal]

That OP actually made me laugh..........good job Priscilla. My pet peeve is colleagues at conferences razzing me because I don't work in Portland.

[VTHokieFan]

Originally Posted by EnricoV

My pet peeve ... people who think that things ought to be done the way that they were done wherever they moved from.

My pet peeve, people who think everything they do is the right way and are totally close minded to borrowing even good ideas from the rest of the country. Also, people who think Oregon is "there's" simply because they lived here for 10 years. Those are my pet peeves.

[jjpop]

A high percentage of people do not know how to use their turn signals.

[SETabor]

One of my biggest pet peeves isn't unique to Portland but seems to be extraordinarily common here is people who are turning left and only get part way into the left hand turning lane. The lane is wide enough to accommodate your car and that's its purpose - use the whole thing.

[jjpop]

A high percentage of people do not know how to merge onto freeways.

[Ms_Christina]

People that use "there's" instead of "theirs" Sorry, couldn't help my self *snickers*

[Steve Pickering]

Originally Posted by VTHokieFan

My pet peeve, people who think everything they do is the right way and are totally close minded to borrowing even good ideas from the rest of the country. Also, people who think Oregon is "there's" simply because they lived here for 10 years. Those are my pet peeves.

I was conceived here (Glenwood Oregon), but other Oregon Cities are "Mine".

As for peeves, I have none about Portland. I liked every place I lived there. It is the people who think they have the right to sleep on a public sidewalk that really **** me off.

[christiner81]

my main peeve is the smell of pee in the parking garages