urban expectations
I keep waiting to find the shitty part of Portland.
Linda's house is in a formerly sketchy, now gentrified/gentrifying neighborhood, that is, to my eyes, utterly lovely. Idyllic. I bike through some neighborhoods near here that are a little lower-income, houses a little less maintained, but still fundamentally nice middle class neighborhoods. There's one spot I have been warned about, which I would never have taken note of, but as I look closer it is indeed a little poorer than the surrounding areas. But still... nice. As near as I can tell, that's NorthEast Portland. I haven't ventured outside it so much, so I figure the bad parts are in other quarters.
Downtown used to be sketchy, and there are still some streets with empty storefronts, evidence that the recovery hasn't been complete. I remember a sketchier downtown when I was young. It's not the booming-est place, but it's basically clean and bright.
Today I ventured to SouthEast, of which I have heard mixed reviews. I started driving through another lower-income neighborhood and thought Ah-ha! Here it comes. I'm about to find the crappy part of Portland. And then I was in Sellwood, and there were cute antique stores and food carts and coffeshops.
It's not going to happen. I'm not going to find the boarded-up crack den areas of Portland. There are poorer neighborhoods and less-nice areas. It's a real city, there's crime and poverty and inequality here for sure. But coming from Baltimore, there's no part of Portland that's going to look seriously scary or depressing to me.
Linda's house is in a formerly sketchy, now gentrified/gentrifying neighborhood, that is, to my eyes, utterly lovely. Idyllic. I bike through some neighborhoods near here that are a little lower-income, houses a little less maintained, but still fundamentally nice middle class neighborhoods. There's one spot I have been warned about, which I would never have taken note of, but as I look closer it is indeed a little poorer than the surrounding areas. But still... nice. As near as I can tell, that's NorthEast Portland. I haven't ventured outside it so much, so I figure the bad parts are in other quarters.
Downtown used to be sketchy, and there are still some streets with empty storefronts, evidence that the recovery hasn't been complete. I remember a sketchier downtown when I was young. It's not the booming-est place, but it's basically clean and bright.
Today I ventured to SouthEast, of which I have heard mixed reviews. I started driving through another lower-income neighborhood and thought Ah-ha! Here it comes. I'm about to find the crappy part of Portland. And then I was in Sellwood, and there were cute antique stores and food carts and coffeshops.
It's not going to happen. I'm not going to find the boarded-up crack den areas of Portland. There are poorer neighborhoods and less-nice areas. It's a real city, there's crime and poverty and inequality here for sure. But coming from Baltimore, there's no part of Portland that's going to look seriously scary or depressing to me.