Thinking of moving to Portland

[MarkDaMan]

^you really wasted your first post on the board with that response? I hope you are kidding or I don't see you lasting long here...

Portland is a hella lot cheaper than Seattle and even moreso than San Francisco. You can easily find a studio for $500, or less. Close-in, more about $650, but that should have utilities included. Compared to many cities I've been in, there are thousands of units in terrific inner city neighborhoods with their own towne centers 'main streets' that are absolutely wonderful, and within 10 or 15 minutes by bus to downtown.

Check Hollywood, Belmont, Hawthorne, Multnomah Village, Lloyd (I can't think of the name of the neighborhood) North, North West, Goose Hollow/Kings Hill, I could go on....

Oregon's minimum wage (even for waiters) is $7.95 an hour, so that helps with 'higher' costs too.

[Okstate]

If you are being sincere pdxdash, which i'm really not sure, i'd love to hear your opinion & your thoughts on a less "boring" city that is the same size as PDX.

[joeplayer1989]

Originally Posted by pdxdash

don't do it - don't move to portland. I can't begin to tell you what a horrible place it is! Very provincal, boring, and expensive. Plus the weather sucks. highly over rated.

[zilfondel]

sounds like Bond

[Okstate]

^ that's what i was thinking

[joeplayer1989]

who? that guy from seattle?

[Dr Nevergold]

I don't find Portland expensive, its less expensive here than the vast majority of cities either this large or larger.

[Front_Range_Guy]

In retrospect, I feel like I hijacked this thread. At the time it just seemed more appropriate than starting another, identical thread.

Anyway... thanks to those who have sent responses in my direction. Portland sounds great, though further study and a trip or two are in order before I make any decisions.

Thanks again...

- Chris

[digme]

My wife and I have been looking for a change of scenery, and Portland has come up on our list of possibilities. We currently live in Madison, WI, and have been since we both graduated from school. Shes a hospice nurse, and I do computer support at UW-Madison.

Pluses:
1) Liberal/Progressive city
2) transportation (can't wait to ditch the car for most things)
3) Urban Density
4) real skiing nearby (Mt Hood)
5) Brother in Law lives in Leavenworth, WA. While a long drive or train ride away, a lot less expensive to visit
6) Milder climate
7) Beer (mmmm)
8) Coffee (mmmm)

Minuses:
1) Long/Expensive flight to get back to Wisconsin to visit family.
2) Rainy (although maybe not so bad as previous poster said)
3) Don't know anyone that lives in the area

A couple of questions:

1) Anyone have jobs doing IT support or as a nurse? Hows the job market in these areas?

2) Hows the music scene? My "second job" for the past few years has been playing in a local Madison band. Anyone have a page where I can check out some local Portland music? Are there good places to see/play music?

3) How much is a 2 bedroom apartment going to run? Something with easy access to the MAX. I tried to look at some of the portland rental websites, and they are bad. Where do you go to look for apartments?

4) I'm advocating a vacation to Portland with my wife before we actually take any more steps toward moving there. What should we do/see? Where should we eat? Is there anything you would recommend we do given that we are "shopping" the city, and not just vacationing?

[pdxf]

Originally Posted by pdxdash

don't do it - don't move to portland. I can't begin to tell you what a horrible place it is! Very provincal, boring, and expensive. Plus the weather sucks. highly over rated.

If you don't like hiking, backpacking, snowshoeing, skiing, windsurfing, kayaking, rock climbing, drinking beer and experiencing the highest frequency of microbreweries in the US (world?), exploring a wide variety of restaurants and places to eat from high class restaurants to fantastic food carts, music, interesting shows such as Live Wire, coffee, numerous places to catch plays, concerts and lectures, driving a knife through the heart of a doughnut, wine tasting in one of the best wine regions in the US, going for a quick drive to the Cascades, the Gorge, to the coast, the high desert, or through the Willamette Valley, interesting clubs, playing on a dodgeball team, experiencing roller derby, eating pizza and drinking while catching a movie at McMenamins, riding MAX without pants, going to a Blazers game, standing proud with the Timbers Army at a soccer game, etc....etc... then yeah, Portland would be a pretty boring place.

[Okstate]

^ you forgot pillow fighting in Pioneer square

[Dr Nevergold]

Originally Posted by digme

2) Rainy (although maybe not so bad as previous poster said)

LOL

Not sure I "said" it as much as I "lectured" it. Ya know, I only tend to do that when I've been drinking before posting on the forum... Yikes.

[seaskyfan]

Has anyone mentioned the doughnuts with bacon on them?

[joeplayer1989]

Originally Posted by digme

My wife and I have been looking for a change of scenery, and Portland has come up on our list of possibilities. We currently live in Madison, WI, and have been since we both graduated from school. Shes a hospice nurse, and I do computer support at UW-Madison.

Pluses:
1) Liberal/Progressive city
2) transportation (can't wait to ditch the car for most things)
3) Urban Density
4) real skiing nearby (Mt Hood)
5) Brother in Law lives in Leavenworth, WA. While a long drive or train ride away, a lot less expensive to visit
6) Milder climate
7) Beer (mmmm)
8) Coffee (mmmm)

Minuses:
1) Long/Expensive flight to get back to Wisconsin to visit family.
2) Rainy (although maybe not so bad as previous poster said)
3) Don't know anyone that lives in the area

A couple of questions:

1) Anyone have jobs doing IT support or as a nurse? Hows the job market in these areas?

2) Hows the music scene? My "second job" for the past few years has been playing in a local Madison band. Anyone have a page where I can check out some local Portland music? Are there good places to see/play music?

3) How much is a 2 bedroom apartment going to run? Something with easy access to the MAX. I tried to look at some of the portland rental websites, and they are bad. Where do you go to look for apartments?

4) I'm advocating a vacation to Portland with my wife before we actually take any more steps toward moving there. What should we do/see? Where should we eat? Is there anything you would recommend we do given that we are "shopping" the city, and not just vacationing?

3) Don't know anyone that lives in the area YOU CAN CROSS THAT OFF NOW U ARE AMONG FRIENDS

[pdxdash]

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend anyone...to be honest I didn't think people read the post so closely or took them so seriously. But I am sorry. And I was being facetious...I love Portland, born and raised here, but I don't want too many people moving here. Tom McCall had it right.

[Front_Range_Guy]

Originally Posted by pdxdash

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend anyone...to be honest I didn't think people read the post so closely or took them so seriously. But I am sorry. And I was being facetious...I love Portland, born and raised here, but I don't want too many people moving here. Tom McCall had it right.

[Okstate]

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend anyone...to be honest I didn't think people read the post so closely or took them so seriously. But I am sorry. And I was being facetious...I love Portland, born and raised here, but I don't want too many people moving here. Tom McCall had it right.

I believe Gov. McCall was worried about the *type* of people moving to PDX rather than the overall #, despite his famous quote. I would place a pretty high bet that anyone wanting to explore PDX on a pro urban development forum would be very supportive if not influential in progressing the future of Portland. As for taking offense to your statement, we had no prior information about who you were or what your issues with the city were. People do exist in the world with the mentality that you initiated. As for me personally, i really was curious what your beef with the city was as a soon to be resident of PDX.

[Dr Nevergold]

I live on a MAX station in Beaverton and its not bad, just come here and shop around. Apartment web sites are overrated.

[digme]

Today is one of those days I wish I lived in Portland.

Although its 35 and cloudy there, its -10 here. I think I can deal with the clouds if I never have to deal with sub-zero temperatures again.

[pdxf]

I can't imagine -10, 35 is bad enough. The one thing I don't like about Portland is that when it's this cold, it's generally clear out which means no snow!