I just moved from “opiate capitol of the US”, Manchester, NH. I’m not going to say things are perfect here, but please, stop complaining. I don’t get bugged for change 3 or more times on the way to my car-I don’t even have to drive anymore! I can take a bus or train to work or play. The homeless are 100x friendlier and not cracked/heroin-ed/spiced out. Aside from rent, everything is pretty cheap. People in general are less hostile in person. Please, have some perspective instead of whining about how this city “used to be”. This is my 2 cents as a recent transplant.

29 replies on “Let’s Be Real Here”

  3. You famn well better give to the homeless. You made them like that. I’m getting run out of I’m poor. But 5 set aside $5 in ones to give to the homeless. Take your ass back home. Homeless is not a crime in PDX

  6. Your the reason why the human race is going extinct. Why are you so entitled? Those homeless where here first. You people are amazing stupid. Image if you built a beautiful city filled with creativity and compassion. Then a bunch of douche bags move in and think because they spent a bunch of money you have the right to destroy other GOOD peoples live. GO TO HELL. Never mind your creating hell right here. GET THE FUCK OUT

  7. Welcome to Portland. Don’t go back to NH. Stop reading the Mercury, or at least stop reading the comments sections. Portland people nice until they’re anonymous.

  8. Michelle Bukholder? You got to be fucking kidding me if that’s your real name and photo. IA, these are the high school drop outs that think PDX will never grow. Most are Transplants like you and I but moved here 7 years ago when it was less expensive and you could work part-time as a Barista and have your own apartment. Clueless, I know, but many never graduated high school.. it’s a culture here. I think it’s the rainy days. Cozy when you’re an adult paying bills but sleepy when you’re a child, so might as well stay in bed / watch TV / play video games. Hopefully they figure it out (get your G.E.D. at least!) or moving to North Dakota so they can continue living the “poor and white privileged lifestyle.”

  11. Dear NH Transplant:

    Keep that 2 cents for a gas mask (assuming you visit Inner SE).

    Now, let me give you a little advice: you are not in New Hampshire anymore. You are in Oregon, and this is the West. Coming here and pretending to be an expert on Portland, and telling the long time residents how to feel, is pretty outrageous.

    I assume you a tech bro. When the rains of the economic downturn wash you away, remember that your superior attitude is why you never put down roots. Adios.

  12. pay no attention to the whiners. i’ve been here for less than a year from chicago. you are absolutely right. portland residents are much nicer than people most other places. and for anyone who thinks that the homeless are a problem here, take a drive down route 5 to venice, california and get a little perspective.

  14. Michelle, your dumb ass didn’t build shit. Did you really think Portland sprouted out of the ground when you arrived? I read a few of your comments. You just bitch and bitch and bitch about transplants and how west coast cities have gone to the douche bags. By douche bags do you mean educated with jobs, without kids (yes, having kids in your 20’s while paying rent on minimum wage was a bad idea)? You do realize you’re talking about the WEST COAST of the United States. Arguably the most beautiful location in the entire country (climate, coast, mountains). I’m sure the food truck owner with a line around the corner doesn’t mind either. Move again please, but this time think about it, don’t just follow the homeless guy with a sign that says “drum circle this way”

  16. This Michelle person sounds like a real winner. It is funny how she throws out the terms “creativity and compassion” while obviously being a complete dimwit with an attitude problem.

  18. Honolulu has the most homeless per capita in the United States, and they rarely ask people for handouts. About the only ones who do that are recent arrivals, and they soon lean it doesn’t pay. Locals even consider busking by talented musicians to be shameful.

  19. You can pretty much live off of random fruit you find in Hawaii, and you aren’t ever going to freeze. You have to be much more resourceful and knowledgeable to be able to live here without asking for some kind of help/handout or stealing. Just give to the non profit of your choice. This works in any city.

  20. Sorry, buddy, but you just painted a target on your back(and make no mistake, all the sniping will come passive aggressively from behind). If you’re not local, nobody wants to hear your shit. If you’re lucky enough to be a native, you don’t understand what it really means to be a denizen of this fine town. Most of all, though, do not mistake this city as being wrongly pegged as an unfriendly place. It ain’t no utopia, and it sure as shit shouldn’t surprise you the next time you find yourself at the sharp end of a junkie’s knife, because this is, after all, a city like any other. I both sympathize with and revile your statement because it belies your true nature as either naive or too optimistic, neither of which suits the real world. Good luck anyway.

  21. OP, do you think we never go to other cities? Yes, we know…it’s better than some places.

    But it’s still a helluva lot less great than it used to be. Not just different. Worse.

  23. Well, the only feral fruit on public land is the Brazilian Strawberry Guava, that the British planted up in the mountains. It has become an invasive species, so there is quite a lot of it when it’s in season for a few months each year, but the mango trees are mostly in yards or on private property. Coconut palms are all nipped in the bud, so that they don’t drop on tourists heads, and pineapple farms have all been outsourced to The Philippines. There is of course Papaya and Passion Fruit that must be around here someplace, but I’ve never seen any. An acquaintance once mentioned that a marine biologist once told him, that he wouldn’t eat any fish caught within three hundred miles of Havvai’i, due to pollution. That leaves the pigs. No, not HPD, but the other swine, the enormous, feral black hogs that are found up in and beyond the Strawberry Guava. There is continual hunting permitted on them, and the still can’t be eradicated. Even the War on Drugs was unable to eradicate the feral Pakalolo, which grows big and is abundant, if you know where to find it. Let me know when you get here and I’ll show y’all around.

  24. That feral Havvai’ian Pakalolo grows about twenty feet tall. Locals tie down the top to the ground so that the colas can grow vertically getting maximum sunlight, growing the size of a hot whahine’s shapely leg. The flowers are so sticky with resin that it’s nearly impossible to trim the leaves, because the goo clogs up the scissors. It’s very potent, strongly euphoric, and fairly psychedelic. It puts you in a sort of a walking dream state. Sure, it’s not legal to grow your own here, but you don’t even have to. Yeah, it’s not that easy to live off the land, but there is just enough rescue food being offered by several organizations that it frees up your hunting and gathering time for more important work, such as cleaning the scissors.

  25. I like to take a bowl full of flower tops, sprinkle them with raw, cane sugar, and pour over them with coconut milk. It beat Hell out Shredded Wheat, brah.

  26. Thanks IA for telling us where the opiate capital of the world is! I’ve always wondered. Okay I’m moving to Manchester, see you guys later!

  27. @Ida I’m loving your take on this! BTW did you use to live on Maui? There’s plenny fruit growing on public land, even more on Kaua’i!

  29. I haven’t spent much time on Maui, but have been advised not to venture too deep, into the jungle of Hana. Maui Wowie, originally, was actually bred on Oahu, however.

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