juxtapilot
Snowflake
Looks like we need to have a Portland area M&G to discuss the hipster agenda...
Portland Relocation
- Thread starter atracnitrix
- Start date
Qutch
Question everything
Just providing some insight into Portland's past reputation for bad drivers (which I agree with btw), and insight into why they still might be playing catch up to some other cities. If the City decided to remove the sidewalk horse rings, there would be protests. Different, laid back attitude than some cities. Kind of nice.
But Nick you are incorrect about being able to walk faster than the Max train. Europeans can walk faster. Butt, many Americans need a ride between McDonalds and BurgerKing stops. Without the Max, we have to stop and take too many breaks to catch our breath. (If you're European, maybe you noticed that.)
Motorized scooters are now legally required for every shopper in American Supermarkets, or rest benches every 12 feet.
Qutch
Question everything
Portland is the city where young people go to retire. Since the SNL cast members started traveling to Portland to do a show on this subject, you can explain this whole thing on video. Isn't that terrific?
Explaining Portland
Roger Roger
Bottom of the list
I was talking to a hipster and learned that apparently bicycles with no brakes are a thing. I was like...WTF? I mean I can sort of understand the fixie fixation, especially if you don't have hills...but I think no brakes?
Cessnaflyer
Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Yeah I saw a few riding around like that. They kept sticking their foot between the tire and the front fork. I was hoping for one of them to get their foot wedged in their and endo over
///AMG
Well-Known Member
That's a new one for me. Fixed gear cruisers have been a fetish among many of my old OR friends, but that is just stupid, especially given the weather most of the year.
WacoFan
Bigly
I think we should create a reality show. We will call it "WacoFan in Portland" and I will just walk around encountering these weird people and berate them, spit on them, or just kick them in the nuts. I bet it would get huge ratings and I could follow up with a stint on Celebrity Rehab.
NickH
Uber Driver
I would watch this show.
ILS37R
Well-Known Member
Not actually true. Portland has some of the most progressive and forward-looking traffic and city planning in the country. It's often used as an example of successful urban design and redevelopment within the discipline. The Urban Growth Boundary, contentious though it is, is a major part of the success. One of the major focuses of Portland's urban planning of the last 30 years has been to move away from the bedroom community and business-only downtown issues which plagued many cities in latter half of the 20th century. So in Portland, now, you have not only a vibrant downtown, but also many well-developed neighborhood cultural and commercial hubs scattered throughout the city.
Contrary to LA, the point is to not need to drive all the way across the metro area to accomplish your needs (not to mention the differing topographical constraints of Portland--especially the west side).
///AMG
Well-Known Member
I do enjoy Portland. It is a great city, with a lot of cool things to do.....probably moreso than most other places I have been/lived in the US. The amusing part is the mini-trends that emerge between the competing businesses, particularly within NE, as well as the Pearl District. As an example, I remember during the holidays last year, you weren't a cool PDX bar unless you had some variation of the hot toddy. I had, in my entire 29 years of life, never drank or heard of such a drink, but all of a sudden you couldn't go more than 5 ft down whatever strip you were on without seeing artsy chalk written signs in front of another bar with their super awesome hot toddy. I remember having a debate with my buddy (see art houseparty) about said drink.....he claimed that it was an old standard that wasn't trendy, I claimed that we had both lived there for damned near 25 years and I had never had one in his presence or heard him mention one. My closest friend aside from my wife, but he is such a hipster apologist (oddly enough without being one himself). It's stuff like that, just super goofy and niche that everyone up there gets so worked up about. But I will say that if I had it my way, I would end up there once I'm off active duty.....wife thinks it's dirty and too much like high school.......so we will probably compromise and do Seattle. Probably more flying options up there anyway, though I would give a left nut to fly ANG F-15's out of PDX.....I give the Eagle/AF a hard time, but the F-15C is pretty much the ultimate to me.
Qutch
Question everything
I said "Portland [Oregon] traffic planning engineers were way behind many other cities in urban growth boundary and road designs."
But now they are up to speed and re-engineering everything they can. Portland freeways may never be the marvel that LA freeways are, but I think that's a good thing. And the more laid back driving attitude, compared to LA, is also refreshing. My supersonic driving days are over. I like covered & one lane bridges.
GoodpastureBridge
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ILS37R
Well-Known Member
Ah, well, I apologize for misinterpreting the context. Having grown up on the stuff (both my folks were Portland planners--one for the city, the other at PSU), I can get a little thorny about it. Since about 1985, planning in Portland has been great--though it took until the early 90s for the work to start paying off. Before then, yeah, Portland was a suburban disaster with a topography that didn't support it, and relying on an undiversified economy that was coming apart at the seams.
As to the drivers... it's the only place I know where people drive the speed limit. Even when it's 50 on an empty highway. Grr... and I've seen way too many accidents caused by people being "nice," and bending over backwards to try and let someone merge. Silly Portland drivers.
///AMG
Well-Known Member
Man, don't get me started on LA. SD was pretty laid back as well, aside from the heavy traffic in the AM and early PM, but it was like a switch got thrown as soon as you passed by Orange County. That said, I feel like most socal drivers were at least competent enough to back up their aggressive driving style most of the time, which contrasts with my current town (VA Beach/Norfolk) where the drivers are both aggressive as well as mind-bogglingly incompetent almost to a head. I have also never seen a city/metro area with a more poorly designed road system, which I think is a contributing factor, but overall, it is much more painful here than LA ever was.
Qutch
Question everything
I see. Then, technically we both know that your parents cannot be blamed for designing the old death defying freeway onramps (which have now mostly been replaced). In most states I can think of, that's a state function. In fact, my observations on this thread were never really aimed at the City of Portland alone, but at the entire Oregon Willamette Valley/SW Washington infrastructure. When I first visited it, the areas just outside the city limits were logging economies, and every other vehicle was a pickup truck with a gun rack (and rifle) in the back window, with a deer strapped to the hood. I found it fascinating. So much different than LA, Miami, San Fransisco and other cities I had lived in or near. But I did notice the comparatively retarded freeway designs and drivers.
Stark Street Bridge & dirt roads, 1914 - Narrow, but still in use today
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deadpixel
Well-Known Member
Portland, where young people go to retire...
