Neighborhoods to move to in Portland and Homelessness (Lake Oswego, Detroit: how much, house)

[nobody0123]

Hello all, I am evaluating a job opportunity. I would be coming from a larger city, Boston, which I do enjoy because of access to all of the amenities. When I visited, Portland has a beautiful landscape and I think I would be able to have more space in terms of a house / yard than I have currently, which is a sell. A couple sticking points, however, was:

(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?


(2) How prevalent are protests and the uber-liberal attitude? I consider myself fairly socially liberal and more of a moderate/independent, but there's certain sticking points that I standby (e.g., I want the police funded and neighborhoods safe).

(3) Do folks generally enjoy living in Portland / is it a bikable city? The prospective job is in downtown. Could one bike from say Lake Oswego to downtown?

(4) How much of an issue is the rain and 9 months of overcast skies? It's pretty grey where I am currently in the winter, so I wonder how much I would be affected, but folks always seem to hammer on the lack of sun and overcast skies in Portland. How do folks adapt?

(5) Is Portland too small? I find the amount of amenities where I am at to be a nice feature.


I know that's a mouthful, so thanks in advance for your wisdom and perspectives.

[Rob Allen]

I lived in the Boston area for three years before moving to Portland. I'll try to give some quick answers.

1. Homelessness is nearly invisible outside of the central part of the city itself.

2. The protests affect a few blocks downtown, and occasionally other places related to the police or government, but only at night. During the day you can stroll thru the protest area and admire the graffiti art. (seriously, some of it is really good)

3. Biking is very popular here. I have no doubt that people bike to downtown from Lake O. There are hilly areas, especially on the west side, where biking is difficult. But bike infrastructure is almost everywhere.

4. I love the climate in Portland. Winter is nowhere near as cold as you're used to. Some people seem to need BRIGHT SUNSHINE a lot; they have trouble here.

5. I find Portland plenty big enough, but I'm not sure which amenities are important to you.

[SusVelo]

Rob answered nicely, what amenities are you interested in?

[Rob Allen]

PS - for what it's worth, I found Portland to be more similar to Boston than to either of the other metro areas I've lived in - New York and Los Angeles.

[texasdiver]

What Rob said.

If you want to bike to a downtown job then there are probably easier places to live than Lake Oswego. Biking from Lake Oswego will ( think) force you to bike at least part of the way on highway 43 which is a fast-moving and congested arterial without decent bike lanes: https://goo.gl/maps/S27CZ7CQRA241Fnz5 or force you to take some pretty hilly alternatives along Terwilliger Blvd. I'm sure there are hard-core bike commuters to do it daily but it isn't what I would choose.

Better alternative would be pretty much any place in SE Portland west of say about 50th Ave which will encompass a large number of nice neighborhoods and give you many multiple bike routes into downtown Portland. And you will have plenty of good transit options for those days you don't want to bike. I've lived all over SE Portland and biked to jobs in downtown Portland without issue. NE Portland works too, but the bride access to downtown isn't quite as nice.

If you want a hermetically-sealed experience without the possibility of encountering any sort of riff raff in your neighborhood then you pretty much have to move to one of the upscale suburbs and then rely on a car for everything. But generally speaking most of the central parts of Portland aren't going to be any more 'gritty' than Boston, and mostly less so.

[Starbar]

The homeless has gotten insane even for Portland standards. There’s a new tent city over by 82nd and Powell that I have never seen more than one or two tents in that area before. It used to be that most of those tents were in or near downtown but now they’re all over the city. If you’re going to move here I would recommend you move to the suburbs instead, Portland is just way too dangerous, at this rate we’re going to be as bad as Detroit.

[SlideRules99]

There are some leafy neighborhood enclaves within the city where you don’t have homeless in your face (Irvington, Beaumont-Wilshire, etc). The problem is that if you want to enjoy any of the amenities in any of the hip /trendy districts in town, you are going to be dealing with homeless. They are all over the place.

Also, Portland is uber left coast liberal. If you have “moderate” views (like funding the police), be careful about expressing those views out loud.

As has been mentioned, suburbs like LO will insulate you to some degree from both sets of issues.

FWIW, we are moderates/independents and are plotting our escape from Portland. IMO it has lost its way.

Good luck to you.

[E-Twist]

I drive to Portland for entertainment. The homeless have increased greatly over the years. However, I have never seen any panhandlers, tents, tarps, or any sign of the homeless in Lake Oswego. If there are any, it is much more hidden.

[nobody0123]

Appreciate everyone weighing in so far, really nice to have some different takes.

Originally Posted by SlideRules99

There are some leafy neighborhood enclaves within the city where you don’t have homeless in your face (Irvington, Beaumont-Wilshire, etc). The problem is that if you want to enjoy any of the amenities in any of the hip /trendy districts in town, you are going to be dealing with homeless. They are all over the place.

Also, Portland is uber left coast liberal. If you have “moderate” views (like funding the police), be careful about expressing those views out loud.

As has been mentioned, suburbs like LO will insulate you to some degree from both sets of issues.

FWIW, we are moderates/independents and are plotting our escape from Portland. IMO it has lost its way.

Good luck to you.

Thanks for mentioning it, Sliderules. I was curious, how much does the politics even affect your day to day? Are you getting out of town due to that or just other life factors more generally?

To be honest, I don't really care to talk politics / follow politics too closely nor have my life revolve around it so it's not a big agenda point for me. Lived in DC before and my conversations with folks day to day didnt involve talking politics either. But I am wondering how much the attitude spills over to other things...

[SlideRules99]

Originally Posted by nobody0123

Appreciate everyone weighing in so far, really nice to have some different takes.







Thanks for mentioning it, Sliderules. I was curious, how much does the politics even affect your day to day? Are you getting out of town due to that or just other life factors more generally?

To be honest, I don't really care to talk politics / follow politics too closely nor have my life revolve around it so it's not a big agenda point for me. Lived in DC before and my conversations with folks day to day didnt involve talking politics either. But I am wondering how much the attitude spills over to other things...

Well, I don’t care to talk politics either, and I rarely do so. But unfortunately, politics is affecting day-to-day quality of life in Portland.

911 emergency calls going unanswered due to police being bogged down by riots.

City decides to defund police Gun Violence Response Team. Subsequently, Gun violence tripled in July 2020 (vs. July 2019) and total Portland shootings 2020 year-to-date already well over total 2019. Gang shootings becoming commonplace. City Council members calling for additional police defunding.

Pockets of downtown resemble war zone after 99 days of protests, with varying degrees of vandalism to businesses and government buildings most of those days. City leaders more concerned about preventing police from using tear gas, than stopping the lawlessness.

Primary running opponent to current inept Mayor is self proclaimed ANTIFA member.

Homelessness rampant, with no plans to alter current trajectory. City livability on consistent decline.

I could probably go on...

It’s your choice, of course, to steer clear of politics. But it won’t steer clear from you, as it will determine your quality of life to some degree. If you want the police funded, and neighborhoods safe, as you state in your post...you may find yourself in a state of angst in our fine city.

So yeah, we’re outta’ here.

I wish you the best. I know this is a big decision for you. Weigh all the inputs you get and follow your gut.