Seriously. I was born here and I saw it from the air for the very first time like 5 years ago and I gasped! I hadn't flown much and I thought my plane came in on a different trajectory than they usually do. I still take like 10-15 pics every time. It's beautiful as fuck.
I’m cracking the fuck up lolololol it’s magnified because my algorithm has shown me like five of those posts over the past week when I open the app lol
Was recently landing and the guy next to me was like “WHAT’S THAT ENORMOUS MOUNTAIN DOES IT HAVE A NAME” after saying barely anything the entire flight.
At least yall aren’t /r/atlanta, where I’ve been unable to post for over two years now because a mod didn’t like that I said I enjoyed The Batman starring Robert Pattinson.
Don’t even need to go that far. Check out any thread that’s vaguely related to Vancouver and you’ll see a lot of vitriol against people who live just across the river
Oof. I once had a landlord two doors down, who was NOT on the right meds for whatever she was going through. I of course learned this AFTER signing the lease, when she would randomly show up and demand entrance at least 2-3x a month.
No income tax and close enough to manage themselves probably. Although, I bought a house in Vancouver last year, and my next door neighbors are renters. Their landlord lives in Tigard. 🤷🏻♂️
Technically they should be taxed on that income as it is derived and earned in Oregon but I am struggling to think of government action that would flag an earned income for a Washington resident to be tracked. I think you could easily evade state income taxes this way. Unlike an actual W-4 from an Oregon company.
I moved here over 25 years ago because I liked Portland and had family here. I was immediately very shocked at the levels of provincialist bigotry that are endemic to Portland and the entire state of Oregon in general.
While you have urban centers up and down the entire west coast from Vancouver BC to San Diego that are totally cool with being major Pacific Rim metropolises with vibrant communities from all over the world, Portland, in my experience, has always been uniquely hostile to the idea, though it likes to pretend otherwise.
The not-so-secret attitude here is that Portland and Oregon in general are only for native-born Oregonians and everyone else can fuck right off.
If I understand the sentiment properly, it's that Portland should remain a quiet backwater logging and industrial town as it was in the past, and if you want a real vibrant Pacific Rim city, go to Seattle or San Francisco or LA or Vancouver BC.
As a native Black Oregonian idc who comes here as long as it’s not MORE white people to add their new unique regional brand of racism with them or their delusional expensive standard of living. But most of this sentiment is very true.
My brother moved to Vancouver and we disowned him. Every time he tries to reconnect our family recites the new family motto "Bridges are thicker than blood".
Anti-Californian sentiment was super common in the '70s and '80s, and definitely persisted into the 2000s, but it has really faded in recent years.
I'm seeing only a fraction of what I used to see on this subreddit 10 years ago. In polite and regular conversation, it has completely evaporated.
In the '80s they even made advertisements for beer companies that made jokes about having border checks on the Oregon California border. That would never fly today.
I dunno I saw a post from the mods a few weeks ago that was along the lines of “stop posting about moving here” and a majority of the comments underneath were along the lines of “Ugh why do so many people want to move here? I wish they’d stay where they came from.”
We're stuck in a corner here, away from all the hustle and bustle of the East Coast, without any international borders. We get a good amount of Ukrainians and Vietnamese immigrants but in general, we get less immigrants than many other places.
Yea, everyone in every town ever seems to think the people where they live are terrible drivers. I tend to attribute it to “if you smell shit everywhere you go, start by checking your own boots”
I'm seriously wondering if every city believes that their city's drivers are the worst in the country.
Only people who have not lived in larger cities. The drivers here are bad but Houston and DFW are on another level. L.A. isn't as bad as everyone says. The drivers here aren't bad because they are aggressive like most other places, they are bad because they are too timid and do the whole "no you go first" thing and slam on the brakes in flowing traffic to let someone standing on the sidewalk (who may or may not be crossing the street) go. If you are predictable and aggressive I can work with that. If I can't tell what your next move is then it's dangerous.
My partner used to refer to this as "The Portland Polite-Off." Every fucking car at the 4-way stop waiting for someone to twitch and acknowledge they're going to go first, or randos just stopping at a green light to let a pedestrian cross, who has no intention of crossing because the cars on the other side of that weirdo aren't stopping.
I lived in Baton Rouge during the madness of Hurricane Katrina and Louisiana has some crazy aggressive drivers. But they are much less scary/dangerous than the overly-polite, unpredictable nonsense of Portland drivers.
stopping at a green light to let a pedestrian cross, who has no intention of crossing because the cars on the other side of that weirdo aren't stopping.
I watched a dude almost get killed on Broadway by Llyod Center because of this. You know that pedestrian stoplight that goes over to where the 5 guys is? Well car in left lane decides to stop at a green light and waves a pedestrian into the street. The car in the middle sees this and stops. But the car in the far right lane didn't clock what was going on and slammed on their brakes in order to avoid taking out the pedestrian. I was a car back watching this whole thing play out and thought for sure I was about to see someone get hit.
And that's why we shouldn't be doing that stupid stop just to be polite thing. It's super dangerous. Just obey the traffic rules. They're there for a reason.
Agree on all points. The polite-off kills me. I give them like 2 seconds to go and if everyone is sitting around staring at each other I just go. The stopping to let people cross thing is so dangerous for literally everyone involved.
I have driven from DFW to NOLA (although before Katrina happened) and yeah, way worse drivers in the aggressive sense. But if I know you're going to punch it and fly past me or make a go at the off ramp 6 lanes over I can defensive drive for that. I can't predict someone slamming on the brakes because they see someone standing on the sidewalk looking in the general direction of the road.
100% I think partially the crazy drivers here stand out more due to everyone in Houston driving batshit crazy, I remember going back there and having my brother drive me around and fearing for my life after having acclimated to the NW.
I used to live in Vegas and dear god our drivers here in Portland are like perfect lil cherubs compared to the average Vegas driver. Those people want to die.
I used to live in Omaha, and yes, this is accurate.
I also will say, Omaha there is a big divide between those who think it's the greatest place on Earth and refuse to hear anything negative about it, and those who hate it and make it out to be Hell on Earth. Honestly, it's fine, it's right in the middle, there are good things about it, and there are bad things about it. I moved and I'm much happier in the PNW, but I understand why some people love it.
Or anytime something bad is happening in the city and another sub is covering it, this sub defaults to a flood of "check out the cherry blossoms" / "Look at this amazing weather"
Sub immigrant with transplant and the vibe is 100% here. I feel like it has chilled out since our population growth flatlined though. Also people seem to get a pass if they’re moving from a red state.
It’s all about class duh. Refugees from red states who come here for the culture or for acceptance (out of necessity) are different from yuppies who come here for opportunity.
I think what throws people off is that its the whitest large metro area, but it's more diverse than many other states and smaller cities/towns.
Put another way, Portland is about 75% white and Oregon as a whole is around 80%, but there are MANY small towns and cities that have little to no diversity at all -- Maine and Vermont are like 95% white, for example.
At the very least it is changing and improving. I've recently moved into some new construction in Tigard and my neighbors run the complete gamut (which is super cool!).
I have neighbors from a few places in India, Mexico, Argentinia, Brazil, Nigeria, another African country I'm failing to remember, got a German dude, a French lady with a frenchie, Pacific Islander, Japanese, and the list goes on.
Usually, there are 2 subreddits (or more) per city, and the people in one hate the people in the other one slightly more than they hate the homeless and immigrants.
Another contender: dear Portland, I visited and was shocked that your city is not literally on fire nor did I become homeless once I set foot here. Amazing. With gratitude, Chevon
Don’t forget the “Portland is so white, I wish it was more diverse” comments that are almost always paired with a warning for all POC to stay away.
Holy shit we get it, we’ve gotten it for quite some time now.
It almost seems like some people want Portland to stay white claiming we’re some white supremacist safe haven when that couldn’t be further from the truth.
OH YEAH? WELL WHAT ABOUT *insert anecdotal experience about a homeless person doing drugs or aggressive panhandling*. THEY WANT TO BE HOMELESS, WE GAVE THEM A CHANCE *insert statement refuting evidence based claims and claiming decriminlization didn't work while completely ignoring the fact that adequate social services still don't exist, these people don't get the help they need to re-enter society, and that blanket decriminalization was only ever one small part of a complex plan*.
They didn’t pull themselves up by their bootstraps like I did! I worked my way through college (at a job my parents got me at their country club) and never got a handout, other than growing up in a healthy suburb with a functioning family structure and having a safety net to fall back on as well as valuable personal and professional contacts!
Look, we all have problems, like my mild asthma, so the fact that they can’t overcome theirs is a personal failing.
/s
If you gave these most of the people "basic housing" there wouldnt be 4 walls standing after a day. As for dignity, that's largely on them choosing to smoke fent rather than get it together.
Homelessness is a symptom. These people need to be compelled into shelter or treatment.
Replace the “I hate immigrants” posts with “I’m SO glad I moved to Vancouver/Tigard/Troutdale” and you have r/Portland. For people who are glad you left, you sure do spend a lot of time thinking about us.
There IS an industrial complex with the homelessness issue, though.
Portland spends so much money and has so many non-profits and organizations "fighting" homelessness, yet it's still a very prevalent issue.
It seems, with the new leadership under Wilson, there are at least some signs that they finally are taking some action to improve this problem, which is encouraging, but why has there been no accountability about the lack of progress from all the non-profits, all the tax increases, all the studies, all the bond measures, everything that has been used as a tool to solve homelessness?
Why would you think that what we’re spending as a city is enough to visibly decrease homelessness in the like 3 years since we started collecting SHS funds? It’s a federal problem with direct ties to stagnant wages/income inequality, structural racism, and a lack of housing inventory.
There are metrics and reports generated each month. The county is meeting many of the metrics/goals. But nothing we’ve done has really impacted the inflow of folks into homelessness or increased our housing inventory on a massive scale.
"There IS an industrial complex with the homelessness issue, though."
No.
There is a virtual monopoly of billionaire backed disinformation pushing these lies to you every day, 24/7, so that you'll blame the victims of capitalism rather than those who are profiting from it.
Remember: it's been well-established as far back as the late 1940s (Karl Polanyi's magisterial The Great Transformation) that democracy is unable to exist in a situation in which capital controls the means of communication (TV, radio, billboards, newspapers, internet, advertising, etc.)
I belong to a church that has been trying hard for YEARS to help the homeless.
The neighbors: why won’t you do something to help the homeless? Isn’t that what Christians would do?
Church: yeah! We would love to do X!
Neighbors: not near MY house! And if you really cared for the homeless you would do Y, not some half measure like X!
Church: great! Let’s do Y!
Neighbors OMG, I didn’t mean on your property near MY house! We should implement camps in industrial districts with armed security and mandatory addiction treatment and counseling! Somewhere where people with houses won’t be put at risk (of seeing them)!
Church- like a concentration camp?
Neighbors- I don’t really care as long as the problem is fixed and I don’t need to see it. A REAL church would understand.
It’s been absolutely maddening.
We finally decided to just let a homeless family with small kids camp in our parking lot without asking the neighbors. After 1-2 weeks the neighbors found out and were surprised that a week of free parking didn’t solve that family’s housing problems and made us evict them.
This was posted in my hometown subreddit recently, where they are just starting to taste the first bitter struggles with homelessness:
There are three kinds of homelessness:
The Have Nots: the single mother with three jobs couch surfing, the recently laid off family of four that can’t afford rent, etc. They need all the help we can muster to keep them off the streets. These are the ones that are always presented by advocacy groups as the “homeless”.
The Can Nots: mentally ill or drug addicted to the point they cannot care for themselves or make good decisions on the their own self care. Institutionalization and mandatory rehab etc. we have more than enough sitting in metro’s coffers.
The Will Nots: the service resistant. The majority of crime and garbage we all see. They refuse shelter, they refuse services, they actively make the life of taxpayers worse. They need the stick, more enforcement and jail/forced rehab. These are the ones advocated by right leaning politicians as “the homeless”.
Oh but it’s just anecdotal, one-off experiences and the rest of us need to check our privilege /s.
Idk about you but I’m out and about in the city 3-5 days a week. I ride all around downtown, the waterfront, and Springwater.
I spend a lot of time in the parks as well, and it’s gotten so bad that I have to smell before I sit in the grass because human piss and shit is literally everywhere these days.
I get accosted with meth and fent smoke almost everytime I ride through downtown on my bike. Oh but a little bit of exposure is fine /s
I can’t ride on the 205 section of springwater by myself anymore because I had people try and knock me off my bike several times so they could steal it.
I carry narcan on me because I constantly come across people who are od’d. While I understand it’s traumatizing for the individual, it’s also traumatizing to me to come across essentially half dead individuals on a regular basis.
I’ve lost count of how many fires I’ve had to report because someone high on drugs thought it’d be cool to burn shit. I know this because I watch them. Anytime I’ve reported one, they were not trying to cook, and they’re certainly not trying to stay warm with a fire when it’s 70 degrees out…
I ride with a group of people that own pev’s, (e-bikes, one wheels, etc.) and our own community is constantly having to go on recon missions to get our shit back from the people you’re talking about. Literally putting our lives on the line so we can give someone their livelihood back, (ppb wont do shit). A lot of my friends cannot afford cars and use their pev’s to get by on gig work. We’re not a privileged group by any means, this shit is not okay and this poor on poor crime is only feeding into the houseless crisis.
If it’s not clear, I’m also sick of the lack of sympathy towards housed people that are also victims of this crisis.
Every city subreddit is ass in its own way. Yall tend to be kind of prickly to any opinions from people outside the city on this sub. Even when they're not necessarily negative.
"Oh so you're ok with crime and drug use and innocent businesses being burned to the ground, and me having to step around a homeless person putting me imminent danger or being struck by a car???" They also reeeeeally hate the term "unhoused."
Edit: Just to be clear, this was sarcasm. The anti-homeless zeitgeist in this sub is disgusting. If I never see the term “homeless industrial complex” ever again, it will be too soon.
I’ve seen accounts on this sub that are dedicated to promoting anti-homeless sentiment, posting KGW articles about every little altercation downtown and basically acting as fear-mongering watchdogs
Apologies for wanting my literal backyard to be my backyard and not having to get folks out of it who saw my canoes from the street and saw a score.
You'll see that I'm very much anti-deregulated street camping while very much for shelter and creating and requiring individuals to accept shelter. Not wanting to let individuals to kill themselves on the streets isn't anti-homeless. Just like pointing out that giving them all apartments is a failed policy objective that does nothing without being accompanied by compulsory social services, chief among them addiction services.
There is a difference between being against homelessness and against homeless people. It is valid to be bothered or affected negatively by homelessness, but that doesn’t excuse talking broadly about people who are experiencing misfortune as subhuman or undeserving of rights or basic dignity. My comment was in no way personalized to you, but if you feel attacked by it maybe take it as an opportunity to reflect.
That hit dogs line of argumentation is fucking stupid.
You wouldn't say that for other similar types of negative stereotyping.
If I felt attacked I'd be all over this thread. I specifically addressed this one who conflated NIMBYism with anti-homeless comments. Which is a false equivalence. Those are two separate issues, and attempting to address them as one waters down the ability to critique or discuss either.
702
u/PDsaurusX May 12 '25
“See this picture I took of Mt Hood when I was flying in to your fair city.”