My Review of a full weekend in Portland (sales, to rent)

[VTHokieFan]

I just spent my first weekend in Portland prior to moving. Here are my thoughts.

PROS

1. Friendliness: This is quite literally the friendliest place I have ever visited. In the South where I grew up, people are polite, in Portland, people are your friends until you prove them otherwise. You are given the benefit of the doubt and are accepted until you prove otherwise. Portland, thanks for teaching me the difference between common politeness and actual friendliness. Whoever is complaining that Portlanders are rude to outsiders, I have to say you are clearly doing something wrong and don't belong in this city.

2. Layout: This city is easy to get around. The grid layout rocks. In some respects, that takes away from character IMO. I'm from Richmond and live in DC. I like some of the variety the city streets have, not all generically laid out, at the same time Portland's layout offers ease of getting around. Being that I'm new, I consider this a pro.

3. Beautiful, but not manicured: The city is beautiful and natural, but not artificially manicured and I really like that. I like how some areas are a bit overgrown but in a controlled way.

4. Beer and coffee: Not even sure I can put the beer and coffee into words. These are my two favorite beverages, so are Portland's apparently

5. Cada Loca Con Su Tema: This is Spanish for "to each their own." Portland's motto isn't "keep Portland weird" it's "to each their own." This is how people live their lives around here but at the same time there's a...

...6. Sense of community: I noticed a very strong sense of community within Portland despite the individualism that exists here. I really felt it and enjoyed it.

7. Inexpensive: It's a relevatively inexpensive place to live for being one of the Top 25 largest cities in the US. Portland isn't that far behind DC in population (590 in PDX to 610 in DC) but is SO much cheaper

8. Bikability: Love how everything is bike accesible. What a wonderful method of transportation. I hadn't ridden my bike in years but decided to rent one and could go ANYWHERE in the city. If something is within a 5 mile radius, why not ride your bike.

9. No sales tax: The price is what you pay. Businesses save time and expense from not having to collect and remit sales tax to the government. This is also poverty frinedly as the poor pay less tax.

10. Weather: Was absolutely beautiful. I think the grey winters are beautiful, and the cloudless summer days at 80 degrees are are as well. What a perfect climate.

Cons:

1. Total Anti-business environment: Oregon is a really really really really really bad state to do business. I will leave it at that.

2. Income tax: I'm a CPA so here comes my expertise Your income tax structure is enough to make both sides of the aisle cringe. Why should someone making just 4,000 (I know that's not the exact number) have to pay a 9% marginal tax rate? I can see it for 250,000 perspective maybe at 50,000 income, but 4,000? I mean that's bad. Sorry.

[Minervah]

Interesting observations. Thank you for sharing. I wonder, though, if any of your opinions pro or con will change after you have actually moved here and have been living here for awhile. This was a lot to observe in just a weekend.

[Nell Plotts]

Interesting. It looks like you had a great visit.

As a CPA you know that tax structures are complicated. Can you explain why businesses locate on the Oregon side of the Columbia River vs Washington?

[eabcan]

Layout - the OP obviously didn't travel around a lot of the city if they think the layout is so easy to navigate. We live in SW Portland and the streets here are hilly and curvy and half the street signs are blocked by low hanging branches. I know there are many other areas that are similar or that are full of dead end streets or one way streets that make it difficult to travel around easily.

I actually like it the way it is (makes things more visually interesting) but the OP shouldn't expect the whole city to be easy to traverse.

That being said, Good luck with your move and I hope you love it here!

[hamellr]

Originally Posted by VTHokieFan

Cons:

1. Total Anti-business environment: Oregon is a really really really really really bad state to do business. I will leave it at that.

I would like to note that I've pointed out in previous threads here that by pretty much every statistic that I could find, Oregon was firmly entrenched in the middle of business friendliness when compared on a National Level.

But, I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed our city.

[NWGirl74]

I'm glad you enjoyed your visit. Good luck with your move!

[EnricoV]

Thanks for the report. It's always great to hear back with the experiences of people who've come to this board with questions, and who visit. Glad to hear that your impressions were almost all favorable. It's not perfect, but most of us love it.

[VTHokieFan]

Originally Posted by Nell Plotts

Interesting. It looks like you had a great visit.

As a CPA you know that tax structures are complicated. Can you explain why businesses locate on the Oregon side of the Columbia River vs Washington?

First, it should be noted that taxes are only a portion of overall business decision making so I can't answer that. That said, who says they don't locate on the other side of the Columbia River? Oregon has 2 Fortune 500 companies, Washington has 8. But to answer you question from the perspective of a small or medium sized business, if I had to guess, I'd say they locate on the Oregon side because that's where the 600,000 person city of Portland is located.

Anyway, it's no shirt off my back because I'm not trying to start a business.

[Steve Pickering]

We don't have a sales tax and government must survive, so other taxes are higher.

[pdxMIKEpdx]

You described Portland perfectly with numbers 1, 5, and 6.

It's pretty much the "western" (think the cowboy "Code of the West") US way of looking at things.

And, I think a lot of people move to Portland to "re-invent" themselves, so it works well.