growing pains February 19, 2006
Posted by Charles Noble in : Uncategorized , trackbackA couple of good articles about growth and life in Portland:
- Article 1 (Willamette Week) - High unemployment. More businesses. Lower income. More newcomers. It ain’t business as usual.
- Article 2 (The Australian) -
Comments»
I thought I would check back and say, “Hello.” Friends of mine from California are some of the well-intentioned individuals causing difficulties for Portland residents, I’m afraid. Most are them are Stanford grads working in the SF Bay area, and the cost of housing there is (as you know) almost prohibitively high, especially if one has a family and needs a reasonable amount of living space. More than one has mentioned Oregon as a state in which they would like to “settle down” at some point. I understand their dilemma, but I can also empathize with yours; it’s really an unfortunate situation.
The next time I’m in the area during the concert season, I’ll try and catch a performance by the Oregon Symphony. Thank you again for choosing to be an orchestral musician despite the frustrations often involved. I just returned home from a violin lesson with my teacher, Ana Maria, during which she quietly voiced sentiments similar to the ones you expressed in your previous post.
I wouldn’t go so far as to blame people for wanting to move here - just the opposite - it’s a great place to live. However, Portland is changing, and becoming something other than what it was for those of us who were either born here or have lived here for 10 years or more. I guess the “fight” is to preserve the soul of this town/city before it gets overwhelmed by all of the good/bad imported changes.
I didn’t mean to imply that anyone is to blame for wanting to move to Portland; it was just an acknowledgement that the accompanying demographic changes and their effects on the city may not be particularly easy for longtime residents.
Sorry - I didn’t take your comment in a blaming context - I actually agree with your assessment, but I just wanted to point out my own thoughts on the growth issues here in PDX. Thanks for reading and commenting!