The people are bigger drips than the rain. - 10/22/2019

Here's your weather: It's either raining, fixing to rain, or just stopped raining (for a short while). There's two or three months of beautiful summer, then nine more months of grey, soggy gloom. Very depressing. The people are more depressing than the weather. Everyone is borderline depressed and grumpy. Why do you think there are so many coffee shops in Portland? A lot of delusional boosters too. Sorry, it's far from being a great city. Downtown and the whole Burnside area is a dangerous, dirty dump. And so racist! I'm from Mississippi, but these folks bring racism to a world class level. Very politically correct too. Those people are just white yuppie snobs, NOT liberals. Portland wouldn't know a real liberal if they bit them on the......The housing prices are insane. MAX is a joke. It screeches and jerks along so slow, I felt like slowly waving to the pedestrians (who were walking faster than we were going) as if I were in a parade. Drug addicts and homeless are everywhere. Not just homeless, but entitled homeless! The police are very dangerous, corrupt, and also, guess what, racist! It's impossible to make friends if you didn't grow up there. Sorry, they have all the friends they are ever going to need, and they ain't you. There were a fair number or ex pats from other states. We befriended ourselves because no one else would. I would ask them if they were going to stay, and always got the same answer,

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its good - 9/5/2019

enough said

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Homeless Drug Addict Utopia; Hell for Families - 9/3/2019

We've lived here for 4 years, transplants from Seattle, and can't wait to move away, A homeless woman lives on the playground of my daughter's school in downtown Portland. Sometimes she assaults 1st graders (the youngest group on that playground,) causing injuries and forcing the school to go into lock-down. The police refuse to remove her "because that would violate her rights." Children in Portland have no right not to be assaulted and are often targets of Rose City Antifa scare tactics. Antifa likes to chase small children with weapons if they see them downtown. If you are on hard drugs, sleep exclusively outdoors, and use public walk-ways as a toilet Portland welcomes you with open arms. Otherwise, you should feel shame because you are probably inconveniencing a drug addicted homeless person, a.k.a. someone who matters more than you, at least in Portland.

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Don't move here - 8/19/2019

Lifelong Portland/area resident, 40 years. Understand the city of Portland holds sway over the PDX Metro area and the state of Oregon. Pros: Still the cheapest major metro area on the west coast. So if you need to live on a coast, this might be for you. Weather - very mild climate. Yes, it rains a lot. It rains from October until June. June to August is summer, sometimes into September. Summer can get hot for 10-15 days total, temps approaching or over 100. But it's not humid. Some years it does snow for a week here and there in winter. Below freezing temps are usually fairly limited. It's overcast/gray a lot of the time. Cons: Housing costs. Entry level is about 400K. You can go lower than that if you are willing to live east of I-205 north of Foster Rd. A house that's 250K in much of the midwest or southern U.S. is 500K in the Portland area. The urban growth boundary has artificially restricted housing growth for 3 decades. A residential lot is 100K. Permits and fees for new housing are 40K minimum. This is why big builders are buying existing housing in inner SE Portland on big lots for 650K, knocking down the original house, splitting the lot and building two McMansions for 750K each on a 4,000 square foot lot. Portland was a nice place and a relatively sleepy town until about the mid 1990s. In the past couple decades 250,000 Californians have moved here. And they didn't bring any new roads with them. They've sold their houses for cash in CA and taken oveer the metro area. If you're wealthy on the west coast or upper northeast, Portland might be for you. If you're not, you're in for a shock. This area is full of pot farms, pot shops, stoned drivers, and heroin addicts. Traffic - it's bad. The highways are largely 2 lanes, if they are 3 lanes there's usually a choke point. Aggressive traffic enforcement by the Oregon Highway Patrol keeps traffic from reaching freeway speeds if it gets close. All road construction is done during rush hour and never serves to add capacity. This has been a stated goal by the legislature for decades - to punish people who drive cars. Only the oligarchy must be allowed to drive. A couple weeks ago it took me one hour to go 11 miles using freeways. Most stoplights on surface streets are timed to allow a maximum of 2 cars through on a green. Bums. There are bums everywhere. Plan on routinely being accosted by someone mentally ill and/or on drugs if you try to go into a convenience store. There are extensive homeless encampments in much of the city outside the chosen rich areas in inner SE or the Pearl District. Anti-democracy protestors - professional thugs. These people run downtown. Routine rioting and looting once a month, traffic shut down, motorists pulled out of cars and beaten. The mayor and city council pretty much egg these people on, and don't allow police to take any enforcement action. Taxes. Plan on paying a minimum of 10% to the state right off the top. There is no sales tax, but they find other ways to get you. Rain taxes, road taxes, gas taxes, bonds, school bonds, park bonds, library bonds... Crime. In other states breaking into someone's car gets you jail or prison time. In Portland and Oregon it doesn't. You'd have to get caught about 10 times to do any time. There's a movement towards decriminalizing everything, including drugs (which has led to the big drug problems). The property crimes rate in the metro area is pretty high. Violent crime is a little bit higher as well, mostly due to prolific gang violence. Crowded. The infrastructure for this area is stuck in 1978. It can sustain a population of about 1 million. The current population estimate in the metro is over 2 million. A lot of the new arrivals came from other failed states and cities, and are attempting to enact the same policies which led to where they came from achieving third-world status. As soon as my job is through, I'm out.

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Racist as it gets. - 8/11/2019

I am disgusted that Portland is so racist, and so protective of racism. Oregon is the home to 11 separate hate groups, and ALL of them are based in Portland. I was shocked to learn this. Skin Heads, Neo Nazi's, you name it. And the wages are low compared to housing. With a MEDIAN home price of $430,000+, there is no way to buy a home on a normal income. The place just seems to attract the nut jobs as well. Not my idea of home.

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Portland gets MY 5-Star Review! GREAT city! - 5/30/2019

After living in Texas hell for 20 years I moved to Portland, Oregon. It felt like I moved to heaven. In comparison with where I lived in North Dallas, Portland is so beautiful! It’s friendlier, has better schools, much lower violent crime rates. Housing costs more, but the thousands of free amenities make up for it. Portland has a thriving music scene, tons of jobs, outstanding public transportation, great weather most of the time. It’s a friendlier place over all, with a much better quality of life.

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Portland...the cesspool of the Northwesthwest! - 4/30/2019

I've lived here now almost 30 years. This place has slowly declined to be one of the WORST cities to live or visit. Downtown Portland is nothing but a cesspool of druggies and homeless from all over the country. Other cities ship there homeless here because Portland officials don't "man up" and take care of the real problems downtown. Take a walk, if you dare, and see drugs beings used openly, prostitution, pan handling everywhere, homeless urinating and the local police officers just walking by and not seeing any of it. I feel safe in NYC, Paris, Rome, Barcelona, Miami, Atlanta then I do here in Portland. Hotels charging over $350 a night while having the homeless sleep in its doorways and panhandlers attacking you as you leave the place. Restaurants charging $75+ for a meal while you have to try to dodge all the homeless just to get to the doorway. I'm a VERY proud liberal person with good values, we just have the WORST politicians in place at this time. Those who say it's because Democrats are that way your wrong. Independents to liberal...your wrong. It is because Portland has LAZY politicians who don't give a dang about the city...period. Let's raise taxes to help fight homelessness....you mean for politicians to use that money for there greed. Portland is a HORRIBLE city and I am embarrassed to say that I live here anymore. I was proud of it 25 years ago...that's gone!!! All those pot smoking freaks that roam our city and drug users that invade our streets......don't plan on visiting this place or much less move here....it is as bad as any 3rd world country!!!

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Take time to love Portland - 4/25/2019

Portland still has the small town feel and makes you feel like you're in a community. The worst problem is so many people are moving here. Great food scene for those that like to try different cuisines. There are food truck style vendors like Austin Texas all through the city.

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stay as Far Away as you can youve bee warned - 4/6/2019

i have lived here all my Life and it is time to leave the good and the bad and the happy and the sad with that said its its all the bad and the sad i have nothing positive to say about Depressed mentally ill Anti social Unapproachable Drug Addicted Gun crazy Riot Marching Portland Oregonian Culture most either suffer from a Mental illness or Heroine addictions while meth runs rampant through out alot of the portland households depression can be seen within the majority of the population 70% of Oregonian women tend to have Nasty disconnected close off Anti social dispositions in general and usually come with an obesity problem friendships are a Facade 90% come and go and move on. Oregonians in general only speak to each other when its Business related or to bring another person down and bash them behind there back vs face to face then you have the 300 days of rain per yr. so if you want to live isolated secluded life style without making friends like living within a prison system minus the outdoor Activity stuff plus downtown concerts etc. and always remember the next Oregonian standing next to you is just there to compete against you for the same things with the individualism mindset will not make eye contact nor mutter a single word like zombies with plastic smiles then come on up here

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Over 30 years the place really went downhill. - 2/23/2019

I moved in 30 years ago to a lovely 1907 home in a quiet, close-in neighborhood. It reminded me so much of NE Minneapolis I thought I was back there again. But over time the city changed in a way I haven't liked at all. If you check air quality you will see it absolutely !@#$%, and it really does. The city keeps trying to restrict the flow of traffic, and crime is pretty bad. Add in a homeless encampment on virtually every corner and it is yet another failed experiment in socialistic government (what is the saying about repeating things and expecting a different result?). After deciding the Portland government had not even the slightest sense of fiscal responsibility, and the Portland public schools were some of the worst I've ever seen, we moved out to Happy Valley with the second lowest city tax rate in the state and really good schools. Sitting atop Mt Scott looking out at the Portland valley one thing is very apparent, the air quality really does !@#$. It is solid brown virtually every clear day we have, which with only 144 sunny days a year isn't all that often. Kids are now gone, the legislature is passing every fee and tax it can think of, housing prices are absurd (cost-of-living at 147.6 vs 100.0 nationally pretty much says it all). So even though my wife is a native Portlander and has a business here that is more than 50 years old, we have decided it is a good time to move on. I hope the weird crowd enjoys a whole lot more taxes, because they are coming your way.

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Keep Portland Weird but Beautiful! - 2/22/2019

I've lived here for many years and loved it! Could I afford to purchase a home here today-nope! Getting harder and harder to meet the high rent which continues to go up. Worst traffic, housing is outrageous (compared to CA, Hawaii, Washington D.C. or Seattle), gasoline prices are higher, and school ratings are low and over crowded. Too many people who are trashing the state-Portland used to have clean rivers, parks, streets and highways-litter is out of control. Cost of living continues to rise; yet some rate it a good place to retire. ??? People move to Portland for so many reasons and then get upset with the infrastruture, (year-round road contruction) housing, crowds, lack of parking, traffic, etc. Our bridges are old, the roads need work, roads/highways need to be widen, etc. Road rage is out of control and patience is out the window. Traffic speeds are never adhered to which causes more tailgating and aggressive drivers. Compute times are off the charts. Big corporations have purchased the majority of property and now we have a huge congestion of condos and apartments. Rent is off the charts unless you have two to three people paying. A couple of weeks ago we had snow and people panicked and cleared out the grocery stores (??) Wasn't the end of the world-not sure where they lived before-the City didn't shut down. It was just snow and only a few inches. Hello! Oregon is a beautiful place but homelessness is dreadful and only getting worst (tents, trash, needles, human feces-stairways smell of urine}. Mental health issues are high. Portland City is constantly moving the homesless people to different locations and it's only getting worst. Walking is dangerous and more hit and runs, crime is more noticeable. A seven year old little girl was just struck on a neighbor road-speeding. Great bicycle City-which creates aggressive vehicle drivers. They want you to share the road, but they don't nor do they pay for all the bike lanes, etc. No licensing or any fees collected for bicyclist. Oregon has several laws that need to be revamped; old and outdated. Some areas car theft is high and Portland doesn't do anything about it. Portland has changed-stated we'll become the next San Francisco. An additional 200,000+ will be moving into the Portland Metro Area over the next 5-10 yrs. Looking to relocate within the next year; sad to see the old, clean Portland disappear! If you are moving to Portland, bring lots of patience.

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Mostly Very Good. - 1/22/2019

I’ve lived here 2 years. I’ve lived in several other (larger) cities in the U.S. and other countries. I’ve found Portland interesting, safe and fun. Local Govt is very politicslly liberal but the general population seems more “moderate Democrat”. As mentioned in another review, there is a strain of passive-agressiveness here, which runs counter to the upfront, openly combatative approach towards conflict resolution that I grew up with. Cost of living seems about average for an urban center in the first world. Still a lot cheaper than Seattle which is nearby, but going up steadily. There’s a decent art, entertainment and food scene. It has a really good airport. Weather is dreary, for sure. If you need a lot of sun, don’t settle down here. (Consider Austin, TX?) Then again, with climate change, Portland could have LA’s weather in 15 years’ time. Clean, fresh water is plentiful and we don’t have droughts or water restrictions. Access to nature is fantastic - 3 hours drive puts you in the real wilderness. In the city, I am yet to meet someone - who I have to deal with for more than a fleeting moment - who is truly an asshole or a douchebag. This is awesome, and rare in large towns or cities. Public transport is OK. Not as extensive as Tokyo, London, NYC or even the SF Bay Area, but not as crowded either. Traffic is nothing compared to LA and SF but it can be bad during rush hours on key routes, and is getting worse. Safety: less crazy ppl than downtown SF, less violence than West Oakland pre-2008, but more low level property crime, due to ineffective policing of property crimes. In general I suggest you become self sufficient vs potential criminals and rely zero percent on the police.

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The Moldy Basement Of Oregon - 12/16/2018

Born and raised here. Have always hated it here. A city with 80%+ cloud cover for 280 days of the year needs redeeming qualities to make it desirable. The people here all spew the same I heart PDX rhetoric in delusional solidarity.

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This place sucks. - 12/1/2018

If you want to see first hand what failed liberal policy’s look like, move to Portland Oregon.

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Unlivable unless your rich. - 11/22/2018

I was born and raised here and it was a beautiful place. Now, its almost unlivable. Too many people moving here and in the last 4 years rent has risen hundreds of dollars...it was $1000 for my studio apartment when i left...whrn i fist moved in it was $535. Homeless population is growing to outrageous numbers. And not to mention crime is rampant. Its become so over crowded.

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Over rated - 11/18/2018

I’ve lived here 5 years and like it less each day. The people are inconsiderate of others. The homeless issue is out of control and if you work downtown you get yelled at and harassed by homeless on a regular basis which is scary. Despite the high taxes, the schools have low graduation rate, roads are horrible, and the police force is understaffed resulting in high petty crime rate. Only good thing is the proximity to the mountains and ocean. Lots of outdoor activities and summer weather is great. Rest of the year the weather is depressing.

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think twice. - 9/18/2018

the only thing good in Portland is the people.i been living in this beautiful place for over 25 years the last 4 years all of the beauty is gone. city is under develop, homelessness is a growing problem and the city is ignoring it and not only that. they simply push them to the lowest income area creating more and more stress in the community, highways are not developing for fast enough to compensate for the super large grow that we have seeing housing is creating an amazing bubble for housing.good job governor brown for let us experience worst time for Portland

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Perfect City for Urbanists - 8/6/2018

City is full of energy. Walkable downtown, so many passionate small business owners, and the city cares about getting rid of cars and embracing cycling / transit / more economically friendly alternatives. Plenty of jobs available and housing is still on the low side for a progressive city.

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Keep Portland Weird - 7/26/2018

I just love this city. There is so much to do, so much art, great food, great people... I'm so glad I moved here.

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A forest with a city woven into it. - 6/5/2018

I am a 4th generation Oregonian and these are the facts: WEATHER: Pacific ocean breezes bring cool damp air for 4 or 5 months, then we have a moderate spring/summer/fall. Because of this, on googlemaps Portland looks like a forest with a city artfully woven into it. We are surrounded by one of the most fertile valleys on the planet producing bountiful crops; our Farmers Market is world famous. We do not experience extreme or severe weather. Being a hilly city, Portland does not cope well with ice and snow. PEOPLE: Founded in 1845 by farmers, loggers, fishermen and merchants, Portland was ultra conservative and exclusionary. Nearly 100 neighborhoods evolved, each with its own character. This remained the case until the mid 1960's, when the counterculture movement took root here with surprising rapidity. Those young people have been slowly changing the city as they mature and take the reins of power, giving Portland the reputation by the 1990's of being a liberal bastion. Now, due to being advertised as a "livable" city, Portland is experiencing a growth spurt for which it is not even vaguely prepared. It's changing so fast that change is the only generality that's valid. SUMMARY: Mother nature here is very friendly; mild weather, skiing 50 miles to the east, ocean beaches 70 miles to the west, high desert 100 miles to the east, rainforests, the Columbia River Gorge, parks and hiking galore. Do lots of research before considering moving to Portland; make sure it will work for you. If so, then come along and join us on the edge of North America in our little sanctuary.

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