Portland Is Pretty

by Ex-Portlander

Portland, Oregon is a very pretty city. Haven't lived there for a while but I'd love to visit soon!

The one problem with the place is that the city government's development plan has incented a lot of large employers to choose Seattle or Vancouver instead of Portland.

While the planned growth allows for a manageable city, it doesn't provide enough high paying jobs for people to live in expensive neighborhoods like The Pearl. Changing this attitude would make Portland less provincial.

I've lived in SF, LA, DC, Chicago, Seoul, and NYC since I moved from Portland and all these cities (well, not DC) have some sort of IT factor that makes people want to move even if they don't have jobs yet. Portland does not. Of course these other cities have a bunch of things wrong with them too... Like intense traffic, and grime... But Portland could take it up a notch in my humble opinion.

I would move back there if could make the income there that i do now and if the level of sophistication was bumped up.

Also, Portland is still too white. I didn't realize it until i visited a few years back. When i was living in Portland, i never realized that it was so white! Like 90%!

Despite all this, Portland is a beautiful city with a gorgeous waterfront and a mini-urban atmosphere!