For the past 10 years, my family and
I have been living just outside
Portland,
Oregon.
In 2000, Portland was selected as the best place to
live in America by
Money
Magazine. Indeed, life is good here, especially compared to the lifestyle of your typical Wall Street
commuter (which I was for some 15 years.) However, if you are thinking about coming
to live in Oregon, don't. We have enough people now. Think
there's room for one more family? Check out my
traffic cams,
and carefully consider the following...
Lousy most of the time.
Compare the "live" picture on the right to one above. On a good day they
will look the same. (Maybe 65-75 days a year.) The
rest of the time, it's raining. One local beer commercial suggested that
prospective visitors prepare themselves by taking a cold shower, in
their clothes, for about a month! During the winter months, it's
common not to see the sun for 30 or 40 days in row. Weather
reporters use the term 'sun-break' to describe momentary glimpses of the
sun. What about snow? We hardly get any. If you have a
snow blower, sell it and buy one of
these.
You are going to need to use it twice a year to keep your sidewalks and
concrete driveways from turning a slimly, dark green! (Now I know why they
call Seattle the 'Emerald City.') However, the Summers
are nothing short of spectacular. Short, but spectacular.
Very disappointing, especially when
compared to schools back East. Typically, overcrowded classrooms
and underpaid
teachers. To save money, they've been shortening the school
year! But a lot depends on the neighborhood. Some
excellent private schools if you can afford them. But overall,
they spend far less per pupil then they should.
Surprisingly expensive. Big
companies like Intel, Nike, and California immigrants (known
as "Cali-fornicators") have driven up real estate prices by double digits
for the last 15 years. Looking for a house?
Check this out.
And you will definitely want to bookmark
PortlandMaps.com. This
will give you incredible details about the property including property
owner's name, sales
history, property tax information, and stuff like flood maps,
earthquake zones, and even aerial photographs over the course of several
years so you can see how things are growing! My tax dollars at work!
And here is another great site that
will give a good idea of market price. Oh, and if you need a great realtor, contact my friend
Janie and
tell her "John sent me."
Wonderful. Oregonians are
some of the friendliest people on earth. Very unpretentious. You can go to the
finest restaurants (and we've got lots to choose from, see below) in an open shirt and
a pair cowboy
boots with no problem.
Bad news.
For almost five years now, Portland has been sporting the highest
unemployment rate in the nation for a city of its size. Its economy is highly dependent
on big technology. Nonetheless, people keep coming here. One
headhunter told me that many highly skilled people are willing to take
significant pay cuts to live here. Consequently you have a
high cost of living and low wages. The employment situation,
Portland's high cost of living, and crummy weather make it one of the
most
stressful cities in America.
What crime? Pretty much non-existent as far as
I can tell. However, that's rapidly changing. Portland Oregon now
has the dubious distinction of being the epicenter of the
methamphetamine abuse problem. According to
FrontLine,
85% of Portland's property crime is related to meth addiction.
Still, Portland was
just named the
9th
safest city (population > 500,000) in America.
People actually go downtown at night. During the day however, be
prepared for lots of 'street people' asking for 'spare change' (as
if they were doing you a favor by relieving you of the burden of
carrying all those quarters you need to park.) The problem is too many
well intentioned Oregonians give money to these alcoholics, psychotics,
and fried meth-addicts -- and that attracts even more
of them. (From California no doubt.)
Beautiful. Oregon is second only to
Hawaii in the number of major waterfalls in the US. It's great fun driving around in the hundreds of federal and state parks just
taking in the view. Oregon has magnificent unspoiled coastlines, beautiful mountains,
forests, white water rivers, and high desserts... all about an hour's
drive from the house! Indecently, this is one place where an SUV actually
makes sense.
Sage advice
for newcomers. When I first moved here, a fellow East-coast
transplant gave me some excellent advice. He said, 'Never, ever,
let the rain stop you from doing anything. If you do, you will be
miserable here.' It's very true. Surprisingly, Portland
doesn't get all that much in the way of total rainfall. It might
rain all day long and we'll get .1" of rain. New Jersey gets more
rain than Portland. What's disturbing to some is the constant,
unrelenting drizzle and the dreary grey sky. The fine misty rain
is actually tiny flakes of snow that melt
just before they they reach ground. The droplets are so small that
umbrellas are useless -- the droplets just swirl
underneath them. (BTW, that's how you spot a tourist. They
are the ones carrying an umbrellas! Wimps.)
Excellent. (And that's
coming from a guy who spent a lot of time in some of Manhattan's finest
restaurants on an expense account.) Like salmon? I didn't think
that much of it until I moved out here. Now, give me a thick salmon steak, marinated
in mixture of fresh rosemary, thyme, balsamic vinegar and throw it on a hot mesquite
grill and serve it up on an apple-wood plank. Add the item
below, family and friends. Heaven!
Magnificent! Oregon is now producing some of the
best Pinot Noirs on earth. (Don't believe me? Click here
if you want to know more, or
here
if you don't want to register.) If you are thinking of sending me
a gift, let me suggest a 2003 Domaine Drouhin from the Northern
Willamette Valley. Remember, "Life
is too short to drink bad wine."
Do you like the
TV cartoon show 'Simpsons'? Did you know that there is a
connection between the Simpsons and Portland? 'Simpsons' creator
Matt Groening, who grew up in Portland, says it's all a coincidence, but
I beg to differ. Here's
why.
For more info (and to help keep this page alive)
please buy something here! All affiliate proceeds go to the McBride
Children's College Fund. A mind is a terrible thing to waste...and so is my retirement fund.
