Farewell to Portland Oregon

It was a fun place to live

I moved to Portland almost 18 years ago. When I arrived, I did not plan on staying because I don't stay places more than 5 to 8 years. I may stay in the same city or surrounding area, but I don't stay in the same house. BUT — I did stay put here and in one house — because I loved where I lived — a floating home on a river. I liked my neighbors, and I loved my lifestyle.

It was a fun neighborhood. Many potlucks, lots of water activities, great skiing, frequent spontaneous gatherings — especially in the summer, and so much more. Friends who lived in what we term “on the road” [i.e. no water access] left their kayaks and floating toys in our moorage and came and went with no issues.

Friends with dogs visited frequently for a swim with the dogs and people in the moorage. We sat outside, chatted for long hours — greeting each other [and the dogs] and saying good night [or goodbye] with heartfelt hugs.

I loved all this until…

I'm not sure when the until was, but for me it seemed to have happened around the same time as Portlandia was gaining popularity — but then maybe Portlandia was just showing what Portland was becoming — it was turning it into a city that I no longer liked.

[By the way I tried watching Portlandia one time and I thought it was insipid.]

Portland quickly became a city of what I have now dubbed Portland Greed and I labeled a piece of equipment seen all over around town the Portland crane.

And this was well before the pandemic.

Older buildings further from downtown are left sitting empty while newer ones are being built closer to downtown and nearer the water. I think it has to do with taxes and loans because it's usually easier to get tax abatements and loans for brand new buildings than to upgrade old ones — so the downtown became a hub of buildings under construction. It's still going on in spite of the fact that Portland needs housing — we are building hotels — well — because it's Portland — come here and spend your money!

Many artists left because they were in those older buildings that were kind of funky and those are the ones that are now left empty. The art district that I used to love rambling around in day or night became a place I wouldn’t go anymore — there are none of interesting artist galleries or studios I went to — and that was several years ago.

Admittedly, it may have changed, but I am not willing in the middle of a pandemic to get on public transportation for many reasons — nor do I wish to drive downtown — as that has always been a pain in the ass in Portland.

Now recent local news has been showing random attacks on people walking around downtown — even in the middle of the day. I never used to worry about that in any place I lived. Now I do — I've gotten older — and though I can still run pretty fast — I don't think I can out maneuver somebody jumping out at me with a knife — or gun.

Then - that greed hit my neighborhood.

It seemed that every empty plot of land became a hotel or apartment complex. House prices sky rocketed, as did the rents at the new “luxury” apartments, as did moorage slip fees. Everyone is taking advantage of the greed. People sold their houses because they could get outrageous prices for them. Rents went up — and up friends moved away from all different parts of Portland because they got priced out of their apartments and/or their rented floating homes.

Oregon finally put in a rent control law for the entire state to stem the gouging. But it was a bit too late for those who got gouged and left. Then a few more moorages started going on the market.

My take is that moorages are not good investments unless owned by the people who live there — and ours was originally on the market for a high and non-negotiable price — so we who lived here laughed — and then many moved. It did sell recently for a far lesser price — to an investor — because by now few living here had any interest in ownership. This has created issues best left as I am prone to say “ for a ‘nother article.”

Starting about 5 years go I wanted to move but did not as wasn't sure where I wanted to go “next” — I was, though, always thinking about it as were many of my neighbors — even those who owned their own homes and were not as caught up in the Portland greed.

Those friends and I spent a lot of time chatting about other cities that would give us what we liked about Portland but did not have what we had begun to hate about Portland. Again this was well before the pandemic — and well before the proud boys and antifa — and well before the homeless camps [which have also become garbage dumps] that we have in my neighborhood.

The photo above is just one of the many views I see along any road when I go out and this is one of the "cleaner" stretches of houseless campers. No matter what road I drive on to go anywhere — it looks like this — or worse.

It’s not so much fun or friendly anymore

Over the last few years most of my good friends have left and my leaving plans are solidly in effect because here is no fun anymore. Neighbors who left have moved to different parts of Oregon or Washington and to different parts of the country.

Only a few of us have guests any more who jump in and go swimming. We laugh about it but it does seem odd. Neighbors who I have told can come down to go paddle boarding off my deck can't believe that no one is in the river. When they had asked others about the ability to go paddle boarding off their decks they were told to take the paddle boards to the local beach and go in over there. In other words, stay out of my backyard. Not me. I said come on over and push your board in the river and have fun.

I understand that this may be the general trend of “how things go” in neighborhoods, but then I've usually left the neighborhood earlier. But I do tend to live in areas on 20 year cycles so it's not like I am unfamiliar with the changes that happen in a particular area of the country. This Portland Greed change seems far different than any changes I had seen while living in those other cities.

It’s hotter and dirtier

And on top of all of the above— one of the reasons I moved here was I liked the climate. I don't do well in temperatures that vary dramatically, nor do I like temperatures much over 85. Nor do I like filthy air.

In the past several years we have gotten all of this. Last year we had the dirtiest air in the world due to ongoing wildfires. This year we had temperatures of 116F for a few days. This is not going to change. It is far hotter than when I first moved here, the air is filthier because we have more and larger forest fires — because on top of the exceedingly hot summers, we don't get enough rain and snow in the winter.

Yet in spite of how I feel about where I live, there is so much to love about the state. It is beautiful! I went camping with my daughter-in-law last summer and here is what I wrote:

Deserts, Volcanoes, Obsidian Seeking, And Crowds!

I had thought of moving to another part of the state because of that beauty — and that I have not yet seen all of it. My daughter-in-law is actually an Oregon native and it was she who finally said: "I can't stay here anymore. It's not where I grew up — and besides you and your son have really convinced me I am an East Coast person."

So when she and my son decided to move back east, I decided: You know what? I'm going with you.

Maybe I can take vacations out here and see the things I didn't yet see but there are other states as well where I have yet to see everything. One of the joys of getting older is you learn to let things go. And one of them is that I probably won’t see all of the spots in Oregon or Washington that I wanted to see.

And I may never get to dig that obsidian. But that too is OK. There are a lot of places I have not yet explored on the East Coast. I can get back to exploring those.

Here’s to moving on, making changes, and enjoying life..

Change is good…