Yes there is a dedicated cadre of local (and national?) Portland haters, but mot folks are just living and enjoying it. Lots of young adults choose to move here and just a few other big cities.
There is a great biking culture
http://bikeportland.org
http://bikeportland.org/2007/01/...-platinum-push/
http://www.documentedlife.com/log/?p=246
Surprise... total annual rainfall is similar to or less than New York City. There might be more wet days though. The rain's good and it creates lots of green all summer long. From Wikipedia "The average rainfall ranges between approximately 40 to 45 inches per year depending on location. Portland averages 155 days with measurable precipitation a year." Annual percipitation in New York City is about 45 inches also according to my sources.
But maybe what the conservatives hate is that the city draws open minded and liberal folks, some to party, others interested in changing the world. It's a real urban life in the middle of a temperate rain forest. Sweet.
As much as I like what they are doing up in the Pacific NW I could never live there. It is a murderous place for anyone with allergies- especially to molds and fungus- which grows all over the place. I love the areas east of the Cascades- as it is salubrious and dry.Too bad these areas are also car oriented to the max.
Richard Carson used to write similar crap as Planetizen editorials. I think after awhile, the outcry might have gotten Planetizen to back off from running his stuff.
Conservatives tend to be more active in writing op-eds. It's something we progressives need to be more focused about.
Me, I was really charmed with Portland, and blown away by the breadth of independent retail districts. Even Tri-Met's guts with the art on the Yellow Line amazed me--no way would agencies in the DC region be similarly gutsy--part of the public art on that line responds to the fact that one of the stops was a relocation center during WWII for Japanese-Americans; another about a dike breach (breech?) that wiped out an African-American community.
The pillars for the art work at the Expo Center included copies of newspaper front pages about the relocation. Bitterly racist headlines that are truly challenging.
You can't really tell from this photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rll...ayman/61864558/
. I probably have others I haven't uploaded yet.
It'd be tough to leave the East Coast, but I'd consider it for Portland... not Vancouver, WA though.
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