- THOMAS TEAL
“Gentrification” is a word that’s been on the lips of many Portlanders these days—people are talking about it with increasing frequency in bars, on TriMet, in the press, and on social media. With this discussion has come an outpouring of strong emotions: sadness! resentment! rage! bitterness! (To paraphrase Yoda: “Fear, anger, hatred… Portland, this is.”) That’s some pretty negative stuff—and yet it kind of feels good, doesn’t it? Just let it out, Portland. Let it all out.
By broaching this subject, we’ve lanced a cultural boil—these pent-up frustrations had to be drained from our psyches. As a native Portlander and now-reluctant suburbanite, this process of complaining and blaming has been as cathartic for me as it’s been for everyone else. But much like primal scream therapy or listening to Sia, something needs to come after that catharsis. All this discussion has been good, but now that we’ve opened up the wound, we can’t just let it fester. It’s time to stop commiserating and start talking about solutions.