Neighborhoods to move to in Portland and Homelessness (crime, home)

[LANDSALMON2]

It is refreshing to see someone interested in Oregon for all the positive reasons you list! Because truly Oregon is a wonderful place to live.
I was born in Portland Oregon in 1956 and have always lived here. I gravitated towards the rural areas, East of town, not far out of the Metro area really, but far enough .
You don't have to drive far from Portland's city limits, maybe 30-40 minutes , to see a different Oregon.
We have 5 acres in Eagle Creek Oregon, near the town of Estacada in Clackamas county.
I am 35 minutes to downtown via Hwy 224 and the Milwaukee expressway . I am 35 minutes to my job in Troutdale, 40 minutes to Skiing on Mount hood, 2.50 hours to the Oregon coast, 3 hours to Long beach Washington and the best Razor clam digging in America, IMHO and 3 hours to Bend and the high desert.
I cannot speak to rural living on the west side of Portland and what the travel times are, but I thought you'd find it interesting to hear from someone like me.
Please, I am not promoting rural living, just providing some insight. My wife and I make about 220K combined. We have onsite septic, so no Sewer fees, We have a well, no Water fees, We have a timber deferral, so lower taxes. Our dollars stretch further.
I'm a conservative, but who cares, really. It's just our personal values and we support whoever is in the white house.
We don't go down town to Portland anymore either, but we havent for years.
Portland has a pretty fair homeless population, it thins out as you head to the rural areas, but they are there.
A lot of work at home Portlanders are buying places in areas like ours now , because they can, what with working from home. It is driving up prices in our areas.

Thanks for your interest in our beautiful state!

[MackMove]

I think the West Hills area (Portland Heights, Council Crest) would be a great fit for you. The area is full of beautiful homes (small homes can be found near upper end of your price range) you are within a 20 minute walk to PGE Park, NW Portland, and Downtown (depending on how fast you walk). Marquam trail, is a miles long trail that winds throughout the SW/NW hills in the city. Forest park is also minutes away by bike or car. I’ve lived here most of my adult like, when I was young and single in a condo, and now in a small house. It’s been perfect location. You can be up skiing or down to the coast in the same amount of time.

There is minimal homelessness issues in that there are no visible camps or tents. We do get occasional car break ins, but it’s very minimal.

You will use your car more, probably, but I worked downtown and would walk to/from work during the summer.

Rain might get to you because it does feel as if the grey skies never clear. The payoff is the beautiful summer weather with perfect temperatures and low humidity.

[mathlete]

Some lucky residents of Wonderland are getting porta-potties for the homeless planted on the street in front of their house:

https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/...neighbors.html

[Racer46]

Originally Posted by mathlete

Some lucky residents of Wonderland are getting porta-potties for the homeless planted on the street in front of their house:

https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/...neighbors.html

Humm call it Porta-land.

[NORTY FLATZ]

"This is more than a bathroom, it's a place for hookers to turn tricks."

[TheManFromGlad]

Originally Posted by nobody0123

Hello all, I am evaluating a job opportunity.

(1) I was really shocked by the amount of the homelessness. I had never seen anything like it before and it was quite an eye-sore on the beautiful landscape. My question is --- how much of an issue is homelessness within the actual neighborhoods? I want to be clear that seeing it in a neighborhood that I live in would not be acceptable to me. I noticed upon perusing Reddit that some progressive folks suggest that one should just be more compassionate, however, that is not a suitable arrangement for me as a prospective homeowner. In any event, is this homelessness a problem everywhere in the city? And if so, to what degree?

Lets just SAY... that if (our) Portland were Boston... all of the endless traffic circles would be homeless camps.


Portland has so many bridges and so many choke points without too many hills, that either the homeless or the traffic will get you at some point.


As always, the best move is to find a spot somewhat up a hill, and near to nothing in the way of a destination that anybody wants to reach, so that the lowlifes have zero cause to be passing through your neighborhood.

It is fine if the big box store is 3 or 6 blocks DOWN the hill from you, and that there are numerous other amenities DOWN there as well.

But, well, the hill is your friend.


(* and I know this thread is 3 months old) (and that the homeless are mostly 3 months older by now)

[TheManFromGlad]

Originally Posted by nobody0123

Thanks everyone for your feedback and take on things. It is a tough choice because the opportunity is great.

Let me, if I may, lay out some things I like about Portland and you can tell me if I am fantasizing or in the ballpark.

1 - Like the beautiful houses and architecture. There's some really pretty spots and I like what the prices get me there in Portland vs. something similarly priced here. The houses have a lot of character unlike other places I've seen other than maybe Austin, Tx. Related to this, there is a lot of upside to owning real estate in Portland. If Seattle and the west in general is any indicator, it could go up another 30-40% over the next decade or so.

2 - The smallness to it seems to be a bit of an asset as well as it could be a more manageable city in some ways. Where I live now is more spread out in terms of driving and living life.

3 - While Im generally not a fan of the clouds/dreariness. Having cool spots like Bend or maybe other parts of east Oregon or Idaho to take off to for a weekend if I need some relief could be great.

4 - The idea of pretty grand nature and mountains nearby is pretty cool.

5 - Maybe I could build a pretty nice group of profession friends for myself. In this regard, maybe I could be a 'bigger fish' in a medium size to smaller pond so to speak. My income is around the same here where I live as it would be there in Portland.

6 - Love music and the arts scene and while I have that here, there seems to be more of a level of accessibility to it in Portland

7 - Giving west coast living a shot sounds charming

#1 I agree with your assessment of real estate expectations, but I think it is too easy to see a factor in what for you is merely something different.

(admittedly Boston prices should give you a bit of breathing room before much of Oregon catches-up)


#2 You should do a through assessment of traffic before you commit to a certain spot. I know Boston is a bear traffic-wise (or at least you got plenty of it during "the big dig")... but bridges and hills and rivers can really make an unpleasant difference vs. say a spot like Indianapolis, where the grid can just keep spreading outward, with few natural barriers to contain it.

#3 I'm guessing the clouds and dreariness will indeed have a delayed effect upon you, and some just can't handle it. (It's easier when you've never known anything else)


#4 I sense that it's hard to top the northwest for natural options

#5 Hard to know about this one, though I assume the world is your oyster, and if you're outgoing you'll do just fine


#6 There are certainly interests in the northwest in those categories

#7 The newness of it all will keep you interested for a while



( I know... 3 months old)

[DKM]

Today marks 10 years since I accepted a job outside of Portland and haven't looked back. It was already getting bad back then with the decriminalization of camping. Working in downtown was actually pretty fun around 15 years ago. It started getting bad about 2008ish when you could hardly walk to lunch without being harassed, yelled at or otherwise made to feel uncomfortable. There didn't seem to be much enforcement of laws so it wasn't unusual to walk a few blocks in any direction and encounter: open drug use, defecation, crazy/high people exposing themselves, etc etc.

There were those of us who didn't enjoy this and left, and others who seemed perfectly oblivious to it all and stayed. Like stare at your phone and step around the passed out puke covered transient on the way to coffee oblivious. I guess we aren't all wired the same way...

[mathlete]

Wonderland is about to get even more wonderful.

Portland’s mayor and commissioners will decide early next year whether to allow large indoor and outdoor homeless shelters in all parts of the city and make it easier for halfway homes to crop up in residential neighborhoods. . . . Under the new rules, temporary indoor or outdoor shelters would be allowed in all zones of Portland for up to six months without a permit or emergency declaration. The City Council would be allowed to nix the 180-day limit under a “shelter storage” declaration.

If the council approves the proposed changes, shelters in some commercial zones could grow to 200 beds while capacity at village-style outdoor shelters could expand to 40 people, according to a draft proposal released by the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability.

Additionally, conditional permits for post-incarceration halfway houses and other types of group home settings would no longer be required under city code, the proposed rules indicate.

[T. Damon]

Originally Posted by mathlete

Some lucky residents of Wonderland are getting porta-potties for the homeless planted on the street in front of their house:

https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/...neighbors.html

The city’s homeless advocate spokesperson’s cheery logic and assessment of the otherwise wretched conditions wrought upon any city who extend resources to serve the homeless above every other constituency’s needs and the downfall and destruction to each city that such a policy sows reveals an utter lack of awareness to reality.