General Sep 16, 2015 at 4:20 pm

A Guide to Saying You're Sorry for Fucking Up This Formerly Wonderful City with Your Presence

Comments

1
Here we go again...99.9% of the complaining D bags one will encounter on the street or online who are on an anti-transplant rant (that is really more of an anti "I am getting old and things aren't as cool as they used to be when I was 22" rant) is VERY, VERY unlikely to fall into the category of "Portland elder......who made the city so desirable". 99.5% of the time they will just be a whiny windbag. And, my favorite is the true native who was born here by no choice of their own and has made little to no above-average worthwhile contribution to what Portland is or has been, yet still struts around like they are better than everyone else.
2
One other funny contradiction in the article.....it shits on New Seasons (very trendy to do so btw), which is actually a great example of true Portland "elder's" getting shit done to create a uniquely portland store enjoyed by thousands of Portlanders every day.
3
"professional recyclers, urban farmers, licensed brunchers, and aquarium drinkers"

Bravo.

JTR, you are the grouchiest complainer about grouchy people ever.
4
Well shucks, I'm just a poor heathen boy from Indiana, and my goodness gracious me, thanks so much first of all for having the Herculean generosity to admit me to your fine City, and secondly for pointing out the eggshells I need to step around in order to avoid being stoned to death in the street! Really helped me dodge a bullet here.

Although...the natives here do seem a bit too passive aggressive to do a proper public stoning like we do in no-man's-land. Might I suggest a Yelp-stoning from the living room laptop as a more palatable alternative!

or

You could grow up.

or

You could eat some humble pie. I've got recipes
(Most involve deep reflection on how self-centered you are)

OR

This is America, and we move where we please.
Thank you kindly.

~The rest of the people in this entire country of USA
(Get it? Oh c'mon.)
5
I remember back in 2000 when the Mercury rolled into town from Seattle and all us old-timers like me who got here in the 1970s said, "Bah humbug, bring back The Oregon Journal and The Rocket!"(which was also from Seattle) But now days they're just like us graybeards who curse every damn California who crosses the Siskiyou Mountains--they've truly become real Portlanders.
6
Blabby - just rightfully showing all of the self proclaimed badass "native" portlanders how and why 99.9% of them aren't badass at all. Otherwise, these comment sections turn into a self loving circle jerk of anti-transplant groupthink. It is good to have cold water thrown on the old fire once in a while.
7
Well, I think you should count your lucky stars that the migration you're so worried about from California isn't coming from Florida or Mississippi. In fact, you should be down right euphoric that we California transplant will help pull Portland out of the dark ages (e.g.: your pitiful music and film making scene and non-fashion sense) and into the 21st Century where intelligence and a solid work ethic will steer you out of becoming the next Michigan or Pennsylvania. Oh, and the only reason why we are slumming it up here is because global warming is pushing us northward (or we'd be staying in San Diego where real craft beer is made.)

So, there!
8
^^ Yet another unanticipated, yet horrifying consequence of global warming.
Thanks Obama!
9
Your forgetting one major thing mercury, this is about CLASS, not some card carrying brunch eaters getting upset over nothing (that type of person sounds like a transplant anyway) or whatever rest of the nonsense you wrote, which is also written for the classes who have the privilege to be thinking of brunch at the moment and not where they are going to live with their families or where they are going to work to feed their family. Portland was a working class city, now its not, and in general this discussion is about class and race privilege. People who are bemoaning gentrification don't have the privilege to be focusing on the stupid stuff your listing here.
10
Thanks for saving us Ricardo! I don't remember anyone asking you to, but thank goodness you are here. Please direct me to all of the music, films and fashion you've created since you arrived....

And let me speak for everyone when I say, if this place seems in any way deficient to you, please feel free to fuck off right back to where you came from. And I mean please, really, do it.
11
I'm a 3rd-generation native Portlander. I love all my transplant friends. But I sure as hell hate the fact that I can't afford to live in my own city anymore. I blame the developers and the housing investors! And also Portlandia. Fuck that shit.
12
Here's Portland in a nutshell.

-Portlanders on people moving to Portland

"No one should move here. No one should be allowed it."

-Portlanders on immigration

"Everone should be allowed to come into this country"


Deal with it shitbags
13
If you are blaming an only sometimes decent TV show on a boutique network like IFC for thousands and thousands of people moving to portland, you are delusional. Nobody makes life changing decisions like moving to a new state off of a satirical tv show. Second, we need more housing stock period. Which means more development. We should have smarter affordable housing policies attached to this, yes, but we need more rental supply. Nobody in their right mind can disagree with that.
15
^^^tell us how you feel about the Mexicans and Arabs too. Or South Americans. They are filthier than Californians!!!
16
@effallportlandtransplants

Thank you for making my point. You wanna help build the wall around CA, AZ, TX... or are you just here to prove my point you fucking piece of human trash?

Hop you're voting for Trump, your views align perfectly.
17
I think they should add, "If you moved here in the past 5 years, stop bitching about traffic and how much Portland's changed with the people who lived here before Portlandia. It's annoying"
18
I feel like the real argument should be about skyrocketing rental prices, or how working class people were uprooted from their homes due to gentrification and urban whitewashing. I don't feel as if it's unfair to feel a little sting when everything continually becomes more overpriced due to the fact that the large influx of cash, and residents, has caused many businesses and land developers to overprice the things that many need just to survive day to day...e.g., food and shelter
19
Whoever wrote this is clearly from New York
20
Hey it's not quite Seattle yet. Our marijuana is still fluoride free
21
Wow! 60 dislikes to my tongue-and-cheek rant on not being some sort of inferior being just because I came from California. Look, folks, we are all transplants to Portland (unless you are Native American) and the point of Mercury's topic this week is for use to come to terms with our growth issue and to work on solutions that will utilize and celebrate our diverse gifts and contributions. We're all Americans here. And Portland isn't going to become the next L.A. any time soon. So just have a good laugh at all of this and be thankful we're not having to respond to very real migration crisis like the Syrians are going through.
22
I moved here from Seattle. I'm poor as dirt. I'm renting the last $300 a month room in Portland . I fled this shit.But it seems you can't run away from it.
One thing that may happen here.It happened in Seattle. Suicide do to gentrification. On Pine street there was an apartment building. It was going to be demonstrated for an ugly fucking condo. There was a man that had lived there for decades. He was the last person to move out. He set the place on fire and shot himself. That was right before the '08 crash. That building sat for 5 years as a monument to the violence of gentrification.
23
Awwww- poor Portland. You've been dealing with newcomers for a decade? The entire state of California has been dealing with it for over a century! Grow up Portland!!!
24
I can't think of much that I'm less likely to do than apologize to strangers for moving. Oh, your city has changed over the course of a decade? Congratulations, you live in the real world where things change. I'm not apologizing for your anachronism. Get over it.
25
Who cares who moves here? I just don't like the unreasonable rent hikes and property tax increases as a result of the new gentrified "change" is all. Is it fair to uproot resident who've spent most of their lives in their neighborhood, so developers who could care less about the city or "culture", can make extra bucks? It seems as though the focus of this new change is solely to draw new residents with deeper pockets.
26
To a large extent, the problem of cost of living increases in major cities vs. 10 or even 5 years ago isn't a uniquely Portland thing. It is the result of the popularity of "close in" living. It is a national trend, and blaming the "evil" california transplants is just a scapegoat for a much larger trend.
27
Fuck I hate Portland and all portlandians. You idiots deserve exactly what you're getting: liberal, high-dollar, California douchebags flooding your borders and ruining everything you bragged so openly about. Shoulda kept your fucking mouths shut, huh? The show Portlandia is a god damned documentary expose' and you pukes deserve every shitty, dream-shattering, paradise-wrecking disaster that befalls you. I'm 2000% happier since leaving the People's Republic of Portland 4 months ago after 18 years of unmitigated hell. You got exactly what you begged for with the higher rents, unaffordable property values and rampant, unsolvable, unstoppable violent crime plaguing the affordable neighborhoods. Enjoy your new status as "victim" you disgusting dirt-bathers. In conclusion: fuck you.
28
All of these "Boo hoo, I'm hear now deal with it!" comments pretty much sum up why Oregonians are insular. The real question is, why do so many assholes keep moving here vs. nice, genuine people? I think it may be a class issue as many have previously suggested.
29
This is exactly what we'd all been warning would happen, ten or more years ago. And now it's come to pass.

Thanks for nothing, Travel Portland, New York Times, Portlandia and all the idiots in City Hall who've sold us out. It's never been about the newness of newcomers. It's about their lack of respect for the values that made portland unique. Hint: It had nothing to do with things you could buy. This place was the antidote to America. But this latest group of transplants has dragged America here with it. This is about about greed, and consumerism, and capitalist excess and the douchebags who love them.
30
^^^Nobody moves here because of a damned newspaper article or an only sometimes funny TV show that isn't even on a major network. Why people continue to believe that is beyond me.

I think you are giving the city way too much credit for what it previously was (your "antidote to america" comment). It was just a normal, blue collar large town / small city. Yes, it had some pockets of above average greatness in areas such as music over the years, but overall, it was just a blue collar town. Let's not forget the many issues with race relations, organized crime (in the 30's - 50s), government corruption, environmental issues, infrastructure issues (that we have to this day), horrible food scene until the late 90's, etc. Hardly and "antidote to america".

Sensationalizing things through a nostalgic view of the past doesn't help anything.

Portland has since grown into a small city, as many towns have, and along with this comes growing pains. It is not a uniquely Portland thing, though. Shit grows, changes...people move (come and go). It happens constantly. To think that you think it is possible to hit the pause button on your dream of 15 or 20 or 30 years ago is ridiculous.
31
If we didn't have cool people moving here from Cali and NY, I would not still be living here. The ones that stick around have definitely made Portland better.
32
Pollo- they aren't the assholes. We are.

I grew up here, 4th generation Portlander. As a kid I remember when we were just a rest stop for people traveling I-5. The only reason why the average American knew Portlland existed is because of Clyde Drexler. Since 98-99 a steady influx of young people from EVERYWHERE have been arriving in droves, attracted primarily by rents so affordable that you could work part time and still pay the bills. The result was 15 years of weirdos clique-ing the fuck up and fighting over who was the coolest of the uncool. Oh, and pretending to be dirt poor via Hamms beer and rocking trucker caps featuring the most obscure of failed enterprises on the front.

Portland went from a sleepy, comfortable town to a haven for the socially insufferable. The piper piped and now you find yourselves with your pockets turned out. Seeing as how most of you think your inherent coolness and useless Masters Degrees place you above living on the east side of town, I look forward to your mass exodus to Idaho. Portland deserves better than a bunch of grown adults bitching about needing to make $30,000 to afford to live here.
33
I think that the blame for all the influx of over-priced apartments springing up all over the City is Wall St. Most people coming here from California have been priced out of their neighborhoods. I don't see job growth or wages to support the rents of these new constructions - I believe there will be a lot of empty ugly (made in China) pre-fab Apartments when the dust settles. Portland will be a City of ugly, the seniors will lose their pension funds ( those that have some left from 2008) and the rents will go down due to overage of available apts. My theory anyway. I transplanted here from LA 6 years ago, it is getting too expensive for me to stay....so we will be leaving when the last kid is out of the house in 2 years.
35
Actually, it's been more than a decade that Oregonian's have had this rant but a Californian in their early 20s wouldnt know. Fact. Tom McCall called Oregon the "come but don't stay" state back in 1961. California relocators were a problem way back when.
36
When I first moved here I thought how nice and friendly everyone was. Now, I think that most people are just passive aggressive. The Weirdos are not genuine - just needy attention whores, the music scene is so precious it is laughable. The only time I have been robbed in my home has been here in Portland by white cleaning ladies. The panhandling is worst here than in Los Angeles. So - you can keep your stinking Portland. I may not be able to go back to CA - but I will be moving along first chance I get. TaTa
37
I mean it even goes back further than Tom McCall's speech in the early 70s, dburkholder. Oregon and Portland has traditionally taken a less welcoming stance to many groups of newcomers than neighboring West Coast states whether it was blacks in the 19th Century and early 20th Century or out of state people(including people from California) coming for work in the 30s and 40s.

And it's never really stopped anyone from moving here, though maybe it prevented the state from growing as fast as Colorado or Arizona or Washington. There's been a consistent stream of migrants to Oregon since the Oregon Trail days and it's grown every decade since statehood began. The big difference now is that most of the growth for decades since the 1950s until the 2000s was primarily in the suburbs of Portland while Portland actually lost population until the 1980s. It's only been very recently that Portland itself actually has grown at a faster percentage rate than it's suburbs. It's trendy to live close-in these days, it's the reverse movement of suburbanization and white flight.

But it was all part of the local government's plan for the city since the 1970s when urban renewal started--the Pearl and Alberta and Division are just the final results of the replacement of the old lumber/port economy with a new one based on lifestyle, amenities, and tourism. The 2008 recession just delayed the end result for a few years.
38
I get that the writer is poking fun at the people who do get pissed off by transplants, but I just wanted to say that as a Northwest boomerang-er (grew up in the northwest, moved to CA for the work, moved back when CA ass-rammed me with rent too hard), I've stopped apologizing to Portlanders who hate on transplants. At first I was kind of apologetic. After all, there are a number of people living in CA that really shouldn't bring their expectations to other parts of the country. But then you find out that those same outraged people who claim Portland as their own are in fact transplants. They've just been here a few years. At what point is Portland yours and not theirs? And then you meet true Portland natives, born and raised, who are glad their hometown is growing and changing. They just want to make sure it's growing in a smart way so it doesn't become another SF. Anyone who expects a city not to change should probably not live in a city. Find a nice patch of woods in Alaska that won't change much and squat.

In short, to anyone who hates on transplants or who puts "No Californians" stickers on real estate signs. Fuck you. No, I am not sorry.
39
Where can we go to build a new Portland? Anyone got ideas on a suitable city? I kind of feel like the Coos Bay area is about right.
40
Idaho.
41
Spokane probably isn't too bad of a choice... Downtown area is getting more popular and vibrant, lots of older neighborhoods of similar vintage to portland's inner neighborhoods.
42
Idk, I had to move out of Portland after growing up there because it was getting too expensive and too weird. Its full of professional students. I lived on Alberta before it awas cool. I rember things like the thriftway on 33rd, my grandparents used to take me to the Deli there for lunch, where new seasons is now. My uncle worked in the laundrymat there that was torn down for the New seasons, he was out of a job for a long time. I remember the Alberta street fair once a year in may, we all knew each other. Most transplants are rude and unapologetic for it. I don't want my kids around it so I moved to a seven block town called gervais oregon. So happy now. I liked the old Portland, I cringe when I go there now.
43
@ Ice & dentheadd,
Was In Idaho recently, have in-laws that have lived there for 40+ years. Saw a couple things which might dissuade you from proclaiming it the next haven for disaffected Portlanders.
Big pick-up trucks flying HUGE confederate flags & bumper stickers (also on pick-up trucks) which simply read "don't move here". Having said that, it's a beautiful state and there are plenty of nice people there.

The sentiment behind all this anti-transplant vitriol is not limited to our special little burg. It's just more obvious because the migration here has been intense and the consequences have been jarring. I think that's an important thing to remember for all those who smugly remind us that change is inevitable and if you don't like it, grow up or gtfo. Of course change is inevitable, but the speed with which things are changing around here can understandably be stressful for people who've been here awhile.
44
^ it doesn't matter where people go, because I'm not leaving town. If a Confederate flag in Boise scares you then you won't feel safe no matter where you move to. Guess who else is stressed out? The poor people you will end up pricing out in your new "hip" urban frontier and/or shitty neighborhood.
45
@rico

The fact that Portland has changed quickly doesn't mean people moving here should apologize or feel bad about anything. And just because some people are stressed out about those changes does not mean anybody did anything wrong. Just because something offends or stresses you out does not mean there's anything wrong with it.

The central sentiment in the "no more transplants" mentality is that somehow people are doing something wrong by moving here in search of a more affordable life and subsequently "ruining" more veteran residents' lower costs of living. If someone does feel that way about things, then yeah, they should grow up or gtfo.

And why, in all of this, are transplants the target of the hate? Why aren't people angry at the landlords who take advantage of the increase in demand by raising rents? Remember, if your argument is "the landlords have a right to maximize their earnings because capitalism," then you also have to agree that it is someone's right to seek a lower cost of living by moving from, say, the Bay Area to Portland and making their own dollars go further.

Also, I know what you mean by the extreme expressions of conservatism and racism to be seen in northern Idaho. But those can basically be seen in every part of the Northwest that isn't a major metropolitan area. Avoiding those areas because those displays are offensive is just sticking your head in the sand.

@Niani

It sounds like you're happier in a small town, which is great. Your claim that most transplants are rude and unapologetic for it is ass-backwards, though. I think the reverse is true--people who have lived in Portland for 2+ years think they can be rude and unapologetic for it and even go so far as to expect an apology from a transplant for showing up. I grew up in the Northwest. I've spent most of my life here and have traveled extensively in Washington, Oregon and Idaho. Do I have any greater claim of ownership to the benefits of living here than someone who's been here for two weeks? Of course not.

The long story short is this: No one is doing anything wrong by fleeing an extremely high cost of living. If they move to Portland and are an asshat, then they are an asshat. But they're not an asshat because they moved here.

They're just an asshat.
46
^ ICE, I agree with your initial comments, just pointing out that people everywhere are touchy about "their" town changing due to influx. When that influx happens quickly, they become even touchier. There is nothing surprising about any of this.
47
My Best Advice:

Don't apologize.
48
It's clearly a fluff piece meant for entertainment and social media ratings bumps so everyone get your panties out of a bunch. I am a Portland native born and raised and I thought this was a funny little tid bit to read!
49
Let me say this as a Portland-born native who moved away and then came back after years in the Midwest...the people who grew up here who are going to hate you for not being born from here are going to do it regardless of who you are or how polite you are. And they're not going to be your friend anyhow because they usually stay close to the same clique of friends they've had since high school. So don't worry about trying to think you can act nice to smooth things out, you'll just never really crack the ice with them. You'll meet cool people who were born here too, but just don't take it personally when you don't.

The people who really have attitude though are often earlier transplants who just arrived in the earlier waves of gentrification and now are pissed off that their rent went up. You'll see them at your neighborhood bar or coffee shop or park or so on, and you'll mostly just get passive-aggressive behavior at worst in person, but they often hold even more of a grudge than the people who grew up here...
50
Money ruined Portland.

Not people.

They made it 'cool' then they made it 'expensive'.

Crony capitalism at it's best.
51
I am proud to have relocated to such a community oriented, beautiful place that has invested in me and leveraged my talents. I want to give back every day! Thank you Oregon! Thank you Portland!
52
I was SO ready to rant when I saw the headline and art accompanying this article but...it's exactly what I would write. Kudos Mercury! And, as Portland is rated one of the top five to ten (depending on the article) most expensive cities in the US, I can assure any newcomer...RENT IS NOT CHEAPER HERE!

Also,as a native Portlander I will add
DON'T call the city Portlandia
Portlandia is a statue. Second largest copper statue in the world, the first is the Statue of Liberty.
DON'T identify yourself as being "from" here, you're NOT FROM PORTLAND if you moved here last year. You're not from Portland unless you at least went to school here before you were an adult.
And, the article states it but I can't stress it enough...DON'T act like an entitled ass when people like myself are mad you're invading our home. This is HOME to us, not some cool city you saw on TV or read about in a magazine.
53
I'll start by saying that my family has been in his area since the 1850's.
New blood into the city has, by and large, been a good thing. It's brought fresh ideas, new perspectives and new looks/activities etc. The problem is that we've reached a critical point in the infrastructure capacity of this city, and that is creating problems: unaffordable rents, traffic problems and the like. It's part of the growth cycle of any urban environment.
Many of the things that made Portland such a beautiful place to live are disappearing and being replaced with a new paradigm, and time will tell how that all plays out. I hope that it remains a wonderful and vibrant place to be, although I'm frankly heartbroken that my hometown is irreversibly changed, and I feel it is to its detriment. It's really impossible to try and explain the loss to newcomers, and I struggle every day to not be bitter about it. I have a lot of friends who came here in the past 10 years, and that helps me ground some of my more negative feelings. It'll never be the same around here, and that's too bad, but I'm hopeful that it will still be a great city by any measure. Meanwhile I've moved to the coast, cuz I'm just too Portland for Portland anymore.
54
As long as the world population continues to grow so will all cities. No one is immune. The problem I see is, not that people have to be somewhere, but that the asshole developers are being allowed to rape us in such a grotesque obvious way. Build housing, welcome people, create more jobs, and for the love of humanity get some rent control up in here! And maybe more busses.
55
Truth hurts doesn't it, newbies! All us locals are getting outbid and pushed out of our own city by all you well-to-do transplants that want a chunk of some convuluded Portlandia fantasy. Take your ass back to California. We don't need your overpriced condos and gentrified businesses on every street corner of our city.
56
Way to use sensational terms like "invading" Augustina. You sound like Donald Trump. Ever think that people might be mad at you for acting like a close minded xenophobe?

And who gave you the authority to set the standard (went to school here) by which people can say they are "from portland". Your standoffish attitude is exactly what is wrong with the self-proclaimed natives in this town who bitch incessantly about people they label as "transplants".
57
Seriously, the Coos Bay area supports the arts, is surrounded by incredible natural beauty, inexpensive housing (if you don't live on the beach) and one of the best breweries on the Southern Oregon Coast in 7 Devils Brewing Company. Sure you've got your meth and your rednecks, but so does Portland. I'm considering it... Oh and REAL native Oregonians, and by real I mean Native Americans.
58
Blaming newcomers for "your" city's ineptitude at forming a coherent growth strategy is a favorite pastime of the small minded in every town along the west coast.

Guess what? The longer you've lived here, the more blame you own for these problems. You've presumably been responsible for maintaining Portland's longstanding tradition of incompetent mayors and city council members running on political initiatives so laughable they prove Portlandia plots aren't an exaggeration in the slightest. Portland is one of the most mismanaged cities I've ever seen-- seriously, it makes SF look like it has its shit together. The city government has failed to maintain all sorts of basic infrastructure and they certainly aren't capable of (nor interested in) preparing the city for intelligent growth.

But sure, keep telling yourselves Californians "caused" all the traffic and expensive rent, as if people who accrued wealth from stronger economies are some sort of natural disaster. It's so much easier if you free yourself of any obligation to adapt and carry on as if you deserve exemption from the same financial pressures that everyone in the US is experiencing right now, simply because you were born here (or more likely moved here in the 90's).

By the way, Portland isn't even that nice of a place, it's just the least expensive city on the west coast at the moment. The people moving here from expensive cities are refugees, just like the "victims" here in Portland.
59
Like a plague of locusts...consuming everything in their path...

Once upon a time, a man named Henry Ford offered high wages in the up and coming auto industry....just as a number of computer tech company's are today...in Portland.

Thousands flocked into the town of Detroit, from around the globe...just like the thousands that are flocking to Portland.

The lower income family's were pushed out of their homes to make way for the new homes being built to accommodate the newcomers to Detroit...just as they are in Portland.

Then the auto industry crashed...soon enough the tech industries and other fad industry's will...

Is Portland destined to be Detroit in 50 years?


I work a demanding job, for a local company (New Seasons to be specific).

They are a wonderfully ran company that looks out for their employees best interests. Their pay is good for what my position entails. However, for me to move into even a studio apartment these days, my hourly wage would have to be double. I'm 44 Years old. To work a second full time job would be physically too demanding.

What's going to happen to the service industry's here if the employees can't afford to live here? Its going to crash.


I honestly feel this structure is build on a sand foundation.
60
Calling actual people, your neighbors, locusts. Yes, that's helpful. Couldn't be that they're fleeing towns they could no longer afford just the same. No, they're zombies, they're inhuman. They're doing this "to" you, because everything revolves around you.

Your sentiment is really no different than that of the bitter, xenophobic morons who think Donald Trump should be president.
61
As a Portland native,
first I'd like to say that transplants aren't bad by default. I'd say about half of my friends moved here from somewhere else. Most of them however moved here before Portlandia and before this massive techie and condo boom. This really changed the average person's reason for moving to Portland from "living in Portland and doing what Portlanders do" to "Buying and selling Portland as a business opportunity, changing Portland, and living like people do on a satiric television show" Portlanders generally accept the first type of transplant as their own but have serious aversion to the second type. You know, like they say "when in Rome....". I see a lot of you saying "Deal with it". And we are dealing with it. Dealing with tripling or quadrupling housing prices, massive displacement of communities, the toughest job market ever, an overloaded traffic grid, the rapid closure of familiar establishments, their rapid replacement with things that look like they're from somewhere else but are marketed as "Portland" and everywhere , populating all our favorite places and neighborhoods are insensitive yuppie douchebags who walk around like they own the place and look at us funny and like we don't belong. If you wanna alienate me in my own home neighborhood, and be completely oblivious to the destruction you're causing, that's cool I guess, but don't be offended if natives and long timers treat you like a scum or a pariah and don't be offended when the local newspaper writes articles like this one. Deal with it
62
>>first I'd like to say that transplants aren't bad by default.

Thanks for pointing that out. Novel.

>>Most of them however moved here before Portlandia and before this massive techie and condo boom. This really changed the average person's reason for moving to Portland from "living in Portland and doing what Portlanders do" to "Buying and selling Portland as a business opportunity, changing Portland, and living like people do on a satiric television show"

Nobody who is part of the "tech and condo boom" moved here because of Portlandia. It's amazing that so many of you "natives" (aka bitter people who have lived here at least 5 years) continue to mutter, in the same breath, that the newcomers are "changing everything" and the newcomers are also moving here to appropriate whatever "lifestyle" you think you invented. What other problems in your life are the newcomers guilty of causing?

>>And we are dealing with it. Dealing with tripling or quadrupling housing prices

Oh how terrible for your poor city. Real estate is worth lots of money now. I wonder who could be cashing in?

>>massive displacement of communities, the toughest job market ever

"Massive," really? You mean, like, service sector workers can't live in the inner city any longer? Crazy. Never heard of a city like that.

>>an overloaded traffic grid

Whose fault is it that your city government has completely failed to maintain infrastructure here? The people who moved here and dared to find a job, so now they're in "your" way on the freeway? Or could it be that the "real Portlanders" own this problem, the ones who kept electing tax-monger assholes to city council so Portland could fund more pointless, bloated crap instead of acting like adults and improving, or even maintaining, the roadways? You have the most idiotic freeway system of any city I've ever seen and you blame "Californians" for your traffic problems.

>>the rapid closure of familiar establishments, their rapid replacement with things that look like they're from somewhere else but are marketed as "Portland" and everywhere

"My city doesn't look like it did 10 years ago! This is an outrage!"

>>populating all our favorite places and neighborhoods are insensitive yuppie douchebags who walk around like they own the place and look at us funny and like we don't belong.

You're probably projecting here. And disliking yuppie douchebags who just moved into your hood and gentrified the place doesn't make you, or Portland, special. Been happening in every city for decades. And also, the "yuppie douchebags" kind of DO own the place. As in, they own property here, they spend their money here. You're bitching about a perceived class system while exposing that you'd simply prefer a different class system, one based on seniority instead of wealth.

>>If you wanna alienate me in my own home neighborhood, and be completely oblivious to the destruction you're causing, that's cool I guess

Oh please do elaborate and tell us all how alienated and oppressed you are.

>>but don't be offended if natives and long timers treat you like a scum or a pariah and don't be offended when the local newspaper writes articles like this one. Deal with it

The way "natives" act here isn't so much offensive to me as just simply bizarre. Whiny, unfriendly, passive aggressive, stupid priorities and imaginary boogie men. Y'all will stage a sit in and protest about a tree getting cut down or the cops trying to clean up the city, but can't bring yourselves to so much as complain when you get another pointless tax shoved up your arse, or the city can't find the funds to pave your road, or your outer hoods are overrun with meth-fueled crime and can't even get a cop on patrol, or your school system is exposed as a complete failure. It's actually just sort of sad and perplexing to witness.

Anyway, Portland isn't a country. You aren't owed cultural assimilation by anyone who moves here.
63
Forgive them Portland for they know not what they do. The problem isn't all on the new comers, it falls in the hands and in the sins of the locals who chose to turn their backs on you their community and their friends. Those mythical Oregon creatures who have lived here most their lives and then helped destroy the city. It's your cheaply made high priced condos that have destroyed the housing industry and the charming Portland infrastructure and are getting all your "friends" kicked out of their homes, it's your over priced designers and fast fashion that have destroyed local merchants and kicked them out of their stores, as for me the demand of popular but ultimately unsafe share ride programs have destroyed another local and loyal industry and my favorite job. Many of us cannot continue to afford to serve you and do what we love, these popular app programs have taken our income down to half and I already suffered losing my home of 5 years because of Portland demands for renovation to "boutique style" apartments at a 50% rent increase. I'm now working two jobs. I work every single day and I'm struggling everyday to keep my head above water and I still cannot find an affordable place to live or another job that will help me get one. I've lived here for 25 years and now and can't believe what it's become. It's not the new comers that are doing this to us dear old friends of Facebook it's you. Portland is no longer weird, it's lame. If it truly affected you, you would understand, but trendy is just to much to resist no matter who you destroy to have it.
64
Pretty much everyone came to Portland from somewhere else, so the only bragging rights I see might come from descendants of William Overton or Asa Lovejoy, or the Native Americans who were here for millennia before them. Just sayin'
66
JFL1200 Nailed it all the way around on ALL counts! Thank you. I am a native and I'm not special, I was just born here. This city has been changing ALL my life and I'm 51. My only problems with transplants is when they tell me they are natives when they've lived here 7 years or they bitch about the change. I have also been contradicted on the city's past by transplant idiots. If things aren't changing stagnation and rot easily occur. I'll pass on that. To all the natives and transplants remember, things change so deal!
67
Kind of a white bread problem?
69
I just moved here this month and I'm not sorry. Been planning since 2011. I bought a house, not an apt. building so I'm not your landlord. I work at home so I'm not commuting when you are. And I'm working for the same employer at the same job I had in California. I didn't even take anyone's job. I'm certainly taking note of all the hate here so I'll be good and try not to let anyone outside this site know what an invading scum yuppie piece of shit I am for exercising freedom of movement across state lines. I like it here. Sue me.
71
The eastside industrial district was promised I-5 access for years. The city has collected millions of money earmarked for road maintenance and improvement and has spent it on other things. If Portland really wants progress elect a mayor or council member that thinks and works like Mildred Schwab. I will always miss her. She was Portland's best!
72
Thanks JFL. It is rare to see a levelheaded post on here that speaks the truth.
73
I'm not even sure why I needed to make all those points, they would be obvious to the angry/bitter locals if they weren't blinded by rage and too busy scapegoating everyone who moved here after they did. It's mind blowing how strong their urge is to blame someone else for their problems. They're like a left wing Trump.

Blaming transplants for traffic is my favorite of all their gripes, though. The argument is dumb on its face, but also ironic because of the long history of "their" city completely failing to maintain infrastructure so it could buy stupid toys that served almost nobody. Whenever an out-of-town visitor asks about the traffic here, I just pull up a Google map of Portland on my phone and ask "how well do you think traffic will flow through this city?" and then we share a good laugh. On any given day a fender bender on I5 north will back up traffic all the way around Portland and bleed out into Hillsboro. A draw bridge gets pulled up and the entire city stops. Texas A&M did a comprehensive traffic study and ranked Portland #6 in volatility, and how did our officials respond? They owned up to nothing and accused the study of bias. Straight outta Portlandia.
74
JLF1200. It sounds to me like you don't like our fair city of Portland all that much. The locals are "ignorant" and or "redneck". City planning is terrible, in your opinion laughable even, it's "not even that nice a place" and anti business. I really think you could take some valuable advice from JARHEAD about moving to Clackamas County. You'd be a lot happier there. Elitist douchebags like yourself always are. In fact, there's a city there called Lake Oswego where you would feel quite at home. It's full of people who think just like you and everything there is just the way you like it already. I hope you enjoy your new home. I'd send you a going away card but I just don't like you enough. Happy trails...
75
Dear Tommy,

I never called anyone "ignorant," nor a "redneck." I described the behavior of people (such as yourself) who choose to blame transplants for this laundry list of municipal issues as: "whiny, unfriendly, passive aggressive, [having] stupid priorities and imaginary boogie men." And I offer your last two posts as evidence to support my case.

Now, onto your argument, which amounts to this:

If you don't like it, leave (to Lake Oswego/Clackamas), because that's where "elitists" live.

As I'm new here, I'd appreciate a list of neighboring areas that should be properly sneered at if I am to try and fit in as a non-elitist Portlander like you. At any rate, I feel vindicated in likening you to a Donald Trump supporter; your politics may be superficially opposed, but your logic is quite similar and equally retarded.

Perhaps I did come off a bit harsh, though-- I didn't mean to shit on Portland so much, just to remind folks (like you) that it was never a utopia, and the major problems* you're currently bitching about were set in motion long before the "tech and condo" people arrived. With its many faults, I still love our city and I want what is best for her, which is why I prefer to call out the roots of our current ailments, rather than mindlessly blaming someone who just arrived. [Notice I said "our city"? That must sting worse than all of the other points I've made.]

Growth isn't the only issue. Decades of mismanagement lead to the problems that are being amplified right now. Blaming the new arrivals is petty, lazy and pointless. It feeds into an un-winable culture war that will solve 0% of our real issues.* Not to mention is dodges the responsibility that long-time residents share in creating this mess.

*under the category of "real issues" I do not include: Tommy Wong's dislike of yuppies, the loss of Tommy Wong's favorite establishments, the length of the lines at Salt & Straw, the perceived social barrier between Tommy Wong and people who don't dress or act like him, and people who are generally different than Tommy Wong daring to move to Portland.
76
Have you found a place in lake o yet? Most of Washington county caters towards people like you as well. Living along hwy 26 would certainly save you a commute. Not like I would know cause like you said im "probably not actually from here" but I thought id check anyways
77
Thanks, Tommy Wong, for further proving the fact that all of this anti-transplant rhetoric is being espoused by a bunch of windbags. In resorting to the trite "lake oswego" BS (you should have called it "Fake Oswego, or "Lake NoNegro"..that would have REALLY shown 'em!!), you have truly shown that there is little to no substance to your "argument".

Not surprising at all that you are being left behind by Portland's growth. You seem like a real toolbag.
78
^ it's flake Oswego. Where the hell are you from?
79
When I moved to Argentina, I remember natives telling me how things were done there, what I was supposed to do there, how I was supposed to talk there, getting upset if I didn't like the way they overcooked their greasy meat, or acting as if they were the most important, educated, attractive and interesting people on earth and that their way of doing things was the right and only way.

When I arrived in Portland it was the same. Friends told me I "had to" get interested in Basketball because "everyone in Portland is". I was surprised at first, and thought it was just the opinion of this one friend. It turns out that Portland, touted the world over as a place for weirdos and misfits, is one of the most socially rigid places I have ever lived. Coming from LA I was used to a "live and let live" vibe. Arriving in Portland I have been screamed at for safe and legal driving practices (including ALL the rude ugly hand gestures) though tapping your horn is apparently illegal inside the city limits as everyone's head blows up if you do it, even if that means you have to sit behind someone for 3 lights because he can't get his Portland Native Face out of his Portland Native Magic Unicorn Cellphone. My friend has had his garbage strewn intentionally across his entire front yard for not sorting his recycling correctly, multiple times. I have been told what I "should" and "shouldn't" say to people. I have been told how I "should" and "shouldn't" dress, eat, shop, speak, drive, clean, sleep, live, ride and every other thing under the sun. Even to the ridiculous point of what I'm allowed to call the public transportation system and whether or not I can put an umbrella over my head when it's raining.

My comment is simply this. Portland, your image of yourself is obscured. You have a belief about Portland being open minded, free living, progressive, and individualistic, but the fact is you are closed minded and rigid, and you need to get real. This is America. We have always been a nation of movers. We go where we want. We do what we want, within the bounds of the law and common decency, and the people in the cities we move to not only don't get to tell us how to live, they should know that a system unchanging is stagnant and will die. Newcomers are the lifeblood of any city. WE aren't the douchebags. YOU are. Grow up. Stop stomping your feet like toddlers yelling about how everyone is "ruining" YOUR city. Portland is an American city, and that means any citizen, or free person, who lives in America can come here. We're allowed here, even if we're a'holes. Because America.

Thanks. Good luck with your growth trajectory.
80
^ of course you're allowed here cuz America, etc. but if people are trying to correct your behavior in Argentina as well (this sounds like a GLOBAL problem for you), maybe the issue is just you.
81
LAla Landy, Nothing is really better or worse that you described, just different. Trying to make a place into what you want it to be is like dating someone you want to change, it doesn't work. Which leads me to agree with awkwardly_squared, you ARE the problem.
82
In case anyone is wondering. ..Bernie is a transient parasite from Brooklyn. Want him? He's yous'. He was elected by 12 votes i. BURLINGTON of all places, only after Paquette was challenged by Bove and the idiot college kids got the vote...12 votes...right after getting evicted for not paying his rent to a lite old lady who relied on her rental property to augmemt her fixed income.
A real prince.
Or check the absurd sweetheart deal his wife got in first getting a job with Burlington College she was completely unqualified for...and the quarter million the school paid her to "please stop representing us
... no really...here is free money to just stop...please dont tell Bernie. "
83
Actually "Portlandia" is one of the leading causes people list when asked why they moved here. Not the ONLY cause, but one of the main ones. And not only that, but the people citing the show as a main reason why they moved are also the douchebags you folks are ranting about. Since a lot of viewers have said the show could easily be about Seattle due to all the similarities, I wonder if Seattle is experiencing the same kind of problem?

Please wait...

and remember to be decent to everyone
all of the time.

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