Well said. similar things could be said for blue cities nationwide. On one of my last visits home to PDX, the CBS affiliate was running a series called "Is Portland Dead?' I can assure you, it is not.
That said, I wonder show much of the SFO & LA bashing is a veiled attempt to keep Gavin Newsome from becoming a viable DNC nominee for president?
PDX is slowly turning around. Mike Schmidt was replaced this year by Nathan Vasquez as Multnomah County District Attorney. Schmidt in my opinion was too soft on crime. Vasquez is more moderate and should help make Portland a safer city.
Crime was probably the worst 2-3 years ago after Measure 110 to decriminalize drugs passed. The Oregon legislature has passed a law this year to roll back some of 110’s provisions. This should help drug users to go into treatment and reduce the open drug use here.
Good to hear. I love Portland, man. I seriously thought about moving there a couple of times. As far back as 2006. Such a great city. And still relatively affordable. I stress relatively!
It’s still the most affordable medium-large city on the West Coast. But way more expensive than places like Milwaukee or Pittsburgh.
What keeps us here are the restaurants. So much diversity here and such amazing quality too. If we ever move to Spain or Italy that will be a hard adjustment. Excellent restaurants are there of course, but 90% are Spanish or Italian.
Here we have the choice of every cuisine we can think of from sushi to Ethiopian. Makes choosing a restaurant difficult some times but that’s a food problem to have.
I know in Spain the restaurant scene is quite diverse, but I guess you have fewer options than we do here for certain cuisines. Luckily I can eat the range of Spanish or Italian food daily with a few other things sprinkled in!
I can vouch for the beauty of public spaces in Spain. Today while walking along the beach in El Palo, east of Malaga, I was asked by a big family to take their picture, which I happily did. This is the third time I’ve been asked recently to do this. Afterwards my American/expat friend remarked on how he tries to find such situations of kindness when he’s in the U.S. But without the casual interactions of people strolling in public spaces, we agreed they are very hard to experience.
This over generalisation trait is not useful to anybody. It certainly isn’t useful for the cities that get labelled or painted where the big broad brush is just having problems. A similar big broad brushstroke issue hangs over our intended future home in South Africa. Everybody thinks that it is totally crime riddled and it is., so good journalists some nuance to the rest of us in helping us to understand whether there are particular problems rather than just painting large waves areas as generally problematic.
I asked my husband to go to Chicago (a trip he surprised me with for his birthday) and ignore the supposed bloodshed and chaos currently going on in the city. Yes. There is crime. And a lot of it. But there are also pockets that are vibrant, clean, and filled with busyness—the kind that makes a large city energizing. There are neighborhoods we wouldn't drive through, but it was this same way in Miami 25 years ago. It's all in how the large cities are presented and sadly "who" is presenting.
Well said. similar things could be said for blue cities nationwide. On one of my last visits home to PDX, the CBS affiliate was running a series called "Is Portland Dead?' I can assure you, it is not.
That said, I wonder show much of the SFO & LA bashing is a veiled attempt to keep Gavin Newsome from becoming a viable DNC nominee for president?
Absolutely. Good point. I think that's definitely one element.
PDX is slowly turning around. Mike Schmidt was replaced this year by Nathan Vasquez as Multnomah County District Attorney. Schmidt in my opinion was too soft on crime. Vasquez is more moderate and should help make Portland a safer city.
Crime was probably the worst 2-3 years ago after Measure 110 to decriminalize drugs passed. The Oregon legislature has passed a law this year to roll back some of 110’s provisions. This should help drug users to go into treatment and reduce the open drug use here.
Good to hear. I love Portland, man. I seriously thought about moving there a couple of times. As far back as 2006. Such a great city. And still relatively affordable. I stress relatively!
It’s still the most affordable medium-large city on the West Coast. But way more expensive than places like Milwaukee or Pittsburgh.
What keeps us here are the restaurants. So much diversity here and such amazing quality too. If we ever move to Spain or Italy that will be a hard adjustment. Excellent restaurants are there of course, but 90% are Spanish or Italian.
Here we have the choice of every cuisine we can think of from sushi to Ethiopian. Makes choosing a restaurant difficult some times but that’s a food problem to have.
Same with LA and San Francisco.
I know in Spain the restaurant scene is quite diverse, but I guess you have fewer options than we do here for certain cuisines. Luckily I can eat the range of Spanish or Italian food daily with a few other things sprinkled in!
Good problem I meant!
I can vouch for the beauty of public spaces in Spain. Today while walking along the beach in El Palo, east of Malaga, I was asked by a big family to take their picture, which I happily did. This is the third time I’ve been asked recently to do this. Afterwards my American/expat friend remarked on how he tries to find such situations of kindness when he’s in the U.S. But without the casual interactions of people strolling in public spaces, we agreed they are very hard to experience.
Well done Rocco.
This over generalisation trait is not useful to anybody. It certainly isn’t useful for the cities that get labelled or painted where the big broad brush is just having problems. A similar big broad brushstroke issue hangs over our intended future home in South Africa. Everybody thinks that it is totally crime riddled and it is., so good journalists some nuance to the rest of us in helping us to understand whether there are particular problems rather than just painting large waves areas as generally problematic.
I asked my husband to go to Chicago (a trip he surprised me with for his birthday) and ignore the supposed bloodshed and chaos currently going on in the city. Yes. There is crime. And a lot of it. But there are also pockets that are vibrant, clean, and filled with busyness—the kind that makes a large city energizing. There are neighborhoods we wouldn't drive through, but it was this same way in Miami 25 years ago. It's all in how the large cities are presented and sadly "who" is presenting.