East of 205 (Portland, Gresham, Beaverton: leases, high crime, big house)

[johnwongdong]

What are some decent areas east if the 205 as far as crime, accessibility to the city and transit, and close to decent nightlife?

[johnwongdong]

And not gresham

[pdxMIKEpdx]

Here is a pretty good resource for tracking crime in Portland neighborhoods.
It is hard to just answer your question simply, because "crime" can vary greatly street by street.

https://www.portlandoregon.gov/police/71978

[Leisesturm]

There are no areas east of 205 that have all the intrinsics the o.p. is interested in. Crime, was not explained by the o.p. as to what that meant to them. But, as I understand it, Portlanders that are not themselves involved in criminal activity are extremely unlikely to be victims of crime. Crime in most people's definition means: assault, robbery, rape, murder ... i.e. violent crime.

I live in what is considered a high crime area, no that is not accurate. There are no 'high crime' areas in Portland. There are more desirable areas and less desirable areas, but the least desirable area in Portland has crime statistics lower than ... lots of places. It's a non-issue. Many people would not live where I do yet, several times in the last 4 years I have forgotten my garage door open. I have thousands of dollars worth of bicycles in that garage. None have ever gone missing.

I205 is well East of me and I am on the East side! I simply cannot imagine considering the City as a place to do business or to go to for entertainment, from an address east of 205 unless the transportation is by car. So 'access to transit' becomes a non-issue.

I have a simple rule for living in Portland: find your job on a map. Center that point inside 1mi and 2mi perimeters. Look for housing, ANYWHERE inside, ideally the 1mi. perimeter, but out to the 2mi. perimeter if need be. Most people know without being told once they SEE a neighborhood or an address within a neighborhood, whether or not it is someplace they would like to live. Some things just don't fit neatly into charts, graphs and/or statistics.

Going by 'crime statistics' will rule out a lot of really groovy places, because, its a fact, the 'nicest' areas are usually the ones with the higher nuisance crime reporting. The violent crime statistics are irrelevant because, as I said, if you are not involved in criminal activity you are unlikely to wind up victim to a home invasion, armed robbery, or any other kind of assault that could be predicted based on geography.

[Leisesturm]

Originally Posted by johnwongdong

And not gresham

And why not Gresham? Gresham is vast. There is every level of ... feel ... in Gresham. It isn't an overstatement to say that 'east of 205' IS Gresham by definition, so ... are you having us on? Troutdale for the win, but you will have to hike or bike to Gresham because Gresham is the transit perimeter of the metro area. FWIW.

[pdxMIKEpdx]

I have a simple rule for living in Portland: find your job on a map. Center that point inside 1mi and 2mi perimeters. Look for housing, ANYWHERE inside, ideally the 1mi. perimeter, but out to the 2mi. perimeter if need be.

I do not understand this.

For most people, their job is a means to an end, not an all encompassing life endeavor that will never change, or something so critical that they should base their life around proximity of their place of employment.

Why not find a house you can afford, a place and a neighborhood that you like and that your family will be happy with, and go from there?

You will be much happier in the long run with a happy home, jobs will change.
Who knows?
Maybe you land a job in Beaverton, it ends up not exactly what you want, and you find your dream job somewhere else?

Might as well be living in some place you like/love, and deal with an ever changing employment situation as an aside, instead of cursing the day you moved here and made a lousy housing/neighborhood choice to save a 15 commute time on a job that may not last?

Jobs can change by the minute, but happiness and family are what counts.
The Portland area offers several ways of transportation, cycling, walking, MAX, Tri-met, owning your own vehicle etc............

Honestly, is a half hour each way commute going to degrade your life that much?

Why constrict your happiness around a job that might not be there next year?

There are of course exceptions.

[Leisesturm]

Originally Posted by pdxMIKEpdx

I do not understand this.

For most people, their job is a means to an end, not an all encompassing life endeavor that will never change, or something so critical that they should base their life around proximity of their place of employment.

Why not find a house you can afford, a place and a neighborhood that you like and that your family will be happy with, and go from there?

You will be much happier in the long run with a happy home, jobs will change.
Who knows?
Maybe you land a job in Beaverton, it ends up not exactly what you want, and you find your dream job somewhere else?

Might as well be living in some place you like/love, and deal with an ever changing employment situation as an aside, instead of cursing the day you moved here and made a lousy housing/neighborhood choice to save a 15 commute time on a job that may not last?

You must be a lot younger than I thought. Only recently has opportunity become so scarce and job security so lacking that people expect to change jobs more than once in a career. That said, after arriving in Oregon and settling in Hillsboro I found work in Hillsboro and then in Forest Grove. Forest Grove was well outside the 2mi. perimeter but I had not created that rule yet. In any case the rule does not apply to suburb to suburb commutes. However once my wife got a better job in NE PDX than the one I had in Forest Grove ... we moved! A mass transit commute to Portland from Hillsboro is 90 minutes of pure hell. A car commute to Portland from Hillsboro is up to 60 minutes of pure misery. So the rule was created.



I know mine is the contrarion viewpoint but I know I am happier than those that feel like you do. Yeah weekends are pleasant but ... don't take my word for it: according to Forbes (link coming) a couple where one has a 45min or longer commute is 40% more likely to get divorced. Since we are so big on family values in America that should be a sobering statistic. Luckily I didn't need Forbes to tell me what I could already see on my SO's face when she came in the door after work.



If it ever came to pass that that job ends, we will move again! Houses can be sold, leases broken; who gets leases anymore anyway. The way you feel about the disposability of jobs is the way we feel about housing. Plus we are 40% less likely to be divorced. Win-win

[pdxMIKEpdx]

You must be a lot younger than I thought.

I am a few months away from being 70.
I feel like I have been around long enough to have "learned" a couple of things.

[texasdiver]

Happy Valley is probably the most affluent area east of 205. But I don't think it has much in the way of nightlife. It's mostly nice houses in subdivisions. At best you'll find a couple of brewpubs in suburban strip malls. That's about it.

The most quaint area east of 205 would be Troutdale. Some good pubs and restaurants there including McMenamin's and it has a traditional little downtown.

[pdxMIKEpdx]

We call Happy Valley "Little Sacramento".

As little as ten to fifteen years ago the eastern reaches of Sunnyside Road were fairly rural.
Everything built up out there is "new".
Lots of big houses on tiny lots, strip malls, commuter traffic etc.
I believe that the Kaiser Hospital at Sunnyside and I205 is that areas biggest employer, along with all the DR's offices etc.
Lots of medical people live in that area.

You have to get out past Damascus for it to start being rural again.

Not to say that there aren't a bunch of older one to two acre properties away from the main road of Sunnyside, but even those areas are being transformed into souless crowded housing tracts.

I live a bit outside of Molalla, and it takes me about an hour (on a good day) to get to my old neighborhood of Woodstock, in Portland.

Every time I do the drive, no matter what route I take, I see new housing developments popping up all over.