Portland, Oregon

[ComandanteCero]

the other side of the coin is by going to live in a place like Portland you get to experience first hand, day in and day out how these policies work in a real city, and can bring that added knowledge back to the wherever you decide to make your home in the long term.  I guess it can work either way 

[bahua]

One thing Portland definitely has more of than KC is homeless people. There are droves of them. Many many more than I've ever seen in KC.

[kard]

One thing Portland definitely has more of than KC is homeless people. There are droves of them. Many many more than I've ever seen in KC.

I'd agree.

However, I was approached only once by someone and they asked for food, not money.

[bbqboy]

Hey Kard, my SIL lives right at 185th and Cornell, so I understand. Good Mex Food in Hillsburrito though. To me Washington County and Johnson County are Twins.
What did you think about Light Rail through Beaverton and Hillsboro? We ride  it whenever we're up there, especially to concerts. It's why I could see LRT being a good fit in KC.
I also love  the E/W alignment and think that's what KC really needs, rather than the always proposed N/S, but I seem to be alone in that idea.
  Here is Portlander Andrew's Portland Bridges page, for viewing enjooooyment.
        http://www.portlandbridges.com/

[macnw]

FYI, the architects who built the ASB(Kansas City) are the same architects who built the Steel bridge(Portland). If you look at them both, you can see the similarities

[kard]

Ha, my brother and SIL are right next to that new Streets of Tanasbourne, about where 200th street would be.  My brother went to OGI...with in walking distance...while she put food on the table working at the other end of town.  They want out!

MAX out west is awesome.  Heaps of Park and Rides.  Interesting that there's development along 26 and the MAX line and literally NOTHING in between in some parts.  But, some of the teenagers goofing off out there were kinda annoying.  Not bad, but annoying.  They got off the train before we got to the city.

[trailerkid]

Diversity abounds in people and in development.  Coffee shops with WiFi, convenience and drug stores, independent restaurants and speciality shops...all over the city center from 23rd street to the East side of town.

Please explain this diversity more. I couldn't imagine Portland being more diverse than KC or StL. I found Seattle to be very vanilla in terms of diversity (I don't consider a "Support your local coffee shop" shirt to be a sign of diversity).

[bahua]

However, I was approached only once by someone and they asked for food, not money.

Yes, this is true. I have *never* been approached for money in Portland. Again, I'd say that the homeless people in KC are the most aggressive American beggars I've seen.

[macnw]

Let's put it this way. Me and my girlfriend were sitting in a restaurant in NW Portland(trendy) and someone stood outside the window and stared at us as we ate our meal. Making all kinds of gestures and noises we just tried to ignore him. I guess that's not begging for money.  Its just the sheer numbers. Juit about all intersections, downtown at the MAX stops, even in our neighboorhood(people sleeping in the park). You just learn to live with it. The area is a magnet for the homeless, drug addicts and destitute. I find it very hard to believe that the problem in KC is a greater magnitude

[Tosspot]

Let's put it this way. Me and my girlfriend were sitting in a restaurant in NW Portland(trendy) and someone stood outside the window and stared at us as we ate our meal. Making all kinds of gestures and noises we just tried to ignore him. I guess that's not begging for money.  Its just the sheer numbers. Juit about all intersections, downtown at the MAX stops, even in our neighboorhood(people sleeping in the park). You just learn to live with it. The area is a magnet for the homeless, drug addicts and destitute. I find it very hard to believe that the problem in KC is a greater magnitude

Last year I was eating lunch at Red Dragon on a weekend and some idiot outside asked me for a cigarette through the window. People can be such morons.

[bahua]

I find it very hard to believe that the problem in KC is a greater magnitude

I wasn't suggesting that the problem in KC is greater. I was saying that KC derelicts, even though they are relatively few, are much more persistent and aggressive, per unit, than any other American vagrants I've encountered.

[warwickland]

i occasionally work with a guy who grew up in seattle, and he said portland was in somewhat bad shape in the 70s with "trash blowing in the streets like tumbleweeds." i havent decided yet if im going to visit the northwest or the canadian southeast at the end of summer, but i'm glad i rediscovered this thread.

[DaveKCMO]

i occasionally work with a guy who grew up in seattle, and he said portland was in somewhat bad shape in the 70s with "trash blowing in the streets like tumbleweeds." i havent decided yet if im going to visit the northwest or the canadian southeast at the end of summer, but i'm glad i rediscovered this thread.

victoria! victoria! victoria!

[warwickland]

i've decided to stay in a shady comfort inn near downtown brooklyn, portland is to the back burner until i can accumulate more measly vacation.

[Chazarelli]

Yes, this is true. I have *never* been approached for money in Portland. Again, I'd say that the homeless people in KC are the most aggressive American beggars I've seen.

I lived in Detroit for 7 months last year, and I would consider their homeless to be much worse than KC.  Even on a night when there was a nice event going on downtown and full of people (probably from the suburbs) you could not go a block without running into at least 1 hobo.  My expieriences with Memphis have been pretty bad too...

[warwickland]

I lived in Detroit for 7 months last year, and I would consider their homeless to be much worse than KC.  Even on a night when there was a nice event going on downtown and full of people (probably from the suburbs) you could not go a block without running into at least 1 hobo.  My expieriences with Memphis have been pretty bad too...

this reminds me of when i was on the transit mall in denver and a guy repeating "dee-troit" breathed particulate matter on my ear and wanted money.

[chingon]

portland is to the back burner until i can accumulate more measly vacation.

Wasting a trip to Oregon by passing your time in a city is criminally negligent. Its like going to Colorado and staying in Denver.

[mean]

There are craft breweries in the forest!?

[bbqboy]

Sure. beer in the country/small towns.
Rogue started here in Ashland, and had the brewery in Newport too. The 1997 New Year's Day Flood  wiped out the Ashland brewing facility
and he never rebuilt.
http://www.pelicanbrewery.com/
    http://portlandfood.org/index.php?showtopic=3657
      http://pdxbeer.blogspot.com/2006/11/fro ... -kegs.html
  http://www.wildriverbrewing.com/microbrews.html
http://www.calderabrewing.com/the-brews.htm

[warwickland]

Wasting a trip to Oregon by passing your time in a city is criminally negligent. Its like going to Colorado and staying in Denver.

actually, i usually do 50/50 camping/urban on my trips (including denver/medicine bow-sangres in the past) but for obvious reasons i'll be flying into nyc. however, something tells me that ignoring the cascades to devote time to portland wouldn't be a huge deal (hell, or vice versa). i was going to do a trans-western roadtrip but i figured its about damn time for urban 101 since i hope to be a MUP student in the near to medium term future.