Portland Oregon - How's The City Doing? | Honest Opinion |

Take a walk on the waterfront of Portland Oregon and hear how the city is doing. Thoughts on crime, homelessness and more.

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[jrhpdx]

I grew up in Portland, OR and moved away for various reasons. I recently came to visit family and my kids got to witness people on the side of the road doing Heroine. While we were there hotel staff kept sweeping the homeless away from their property doing drugs. I was shocked to see how many homeless people and open drug use. It has definitely has gone done hill and I really didn't feel safe. I personally don't plan on bringing my kids here again.

[WoodlandT]

I lived in and went to high school in Portland in the late 90s and early 2000s. This was before any significant gentrification or Californication of the city had taken place. Quality Pie was still on 23rd and Burnside. The Pearl District was all warehouses. And the White Stag sign hadn’t been altered yet. It was my favorite place on earth. It was the “weird” that “keep Portland weird” refers to. From that vantage point, Portland is almost completely unrecognizable. I really miss that old Portland. It was free. It was creative. It was seedy. It was an entirely distinct place. Ultimately it wasn’t the drugs or the crime that drove me from the city. There were always drugs and there was always crime. It was the 20 somethings with Botox buying their $5 organic avocados from the brand new Whole Foods. While I didn’t prefer that new gentrified city, it was still an amazing place to live. Seeing the precipitous decline in the city from that peak gentrification era has been really startling and sad. I have no idea what the solution is but I hope someone figures it out

[bryangardner]

I’ve lived in Oregon my whole life. What’s happened to Portland is a shame. My family and I used to love spending time in the city. Those days are long gone. As long as the people of Portland keep electing the same people they will be stuck with the same result

[matthewoconnor]

Visited Portland over the summer as someone from Philly figuring out where I wanted to live after graduating college in a few months. My take is that I definitely understand the complaints people have about the city and what's been going on, but I really loved Oregon and the Portland area as an outside observer. Maybe it's because of where I went to college and having somewhere far, far worse to compare it to (Temple and north Philly will do that to you), but like you said I think the truth is somewhere in the middle. There was a lot more I loved about the city than didn't in all honesty. Cheers from Pennsylvania and thanks for the video :)

[dushanepowell]

I visited Portland in November for my birthday. I was shocked to see the state of the city. I asked the concierge at the hotel, where is the bad part of Portland? She said, “Portland”. I had the feeling that I was in a dystopian novel set in the future. Every vertical flat surface below 25’ in height is tagged with graffiti. The freeway right of ways are lined with homeless encampments. I was deeply saddened to see such a once beautiful city being desecrated.

[jamesrobinson]

News makes Portland sound like no country for old men but it’s not that bad I love it! It’s a big city with big city issues.

[clausbohm]

I left Portland in 1997 (came there in 1976) for only one reason ... weather! Your entire walk showed a beautiful, clean and classy city ... not what is being touted. Deciding to come back or not now that I sold my condo in Branson Missouri.

[jeremynkelley]

You are UNBELIEVABLY REFRESHING. Thank you for this video ❤️ *subscribed

[cjcarver]

I've lived in Portland (Hillsboro) since 2015. Coming from Ohio it was a bit of a culture shock as far as the volume of homeless which got way worse during the pandemic. The entire west coast needs to work together to resolve homelessness. Allowing public camping is not a solution and truly inhumane. Overall, I love the vibe of Portland.

[worldlife]

Walking around a public park in a safe area doesn't change public opinion about Portland. Every city and country has problems in the world.

[davidrice]

I am a resident of Manhattan and last summer was my first visit to Portland.... What struck me most was how deserted downtown was....and how early everything was closing. I was told by those I asked, that the city hadn't recovered from the pandemic and the riots that had been occurring. I, however, was impressed with the mass transit system, which seems to take you anywhere you'd need to go in or outside of the city. I saw some attractive looking neighborhoods. I felt that the city could use a little more racial diversity (I am Black), but the city has its own unique history regarding race. I definitely would like to visit again and dive deeper into what the city has to offer. The main purpose of the visit was to go to the Japanese gardens there and to also drive to Multnomah Falls.

[spikesmth]

I'm from SF, I visited Portland briefly for the first time a couple months ago, it was BEAUTIFUL! In terms of homelessness... here's the thing: The real solution is to increase the capacity for medium and long term assisted care, for drugs or mental health. Then force people to go through it, maybe with threat of jail. But, since this is ALOMST never part of the discourse, the half-ass bandaid that I have witnessed working is sanctioned encampments. In my area, the homeless mobs increased dramatically in the months of Covid lockdown, then our local leaders gave a green light for a sanctioned encampment and the difference was night and day. There was a lot less loitering on the streets, almost zero homeless junk piles or tents... they all moved down to the camp where they could get water and bathroom access, and the volunteers and services had a centralized area to reach these people. Then after maybe a year, they shut it down, and most of the homeless came right back.

[matthewfunk]

This guy is spot on with his observations; I love my city, and I have been in mourning ever since Portland became a place not taken care of by its own officials... I remember the days when you could say hi to a total stranger and receive a friendly greeting in return; now you could get shot at... it's very sad.

[aaronunsfe]

It's not a lack of housing. It's the means to afford housing is the big reason.

[eightch]

Thanks for this video. Unfortunately the city has been going downhill and fast for exactly the reasons you mentioned. I wanted to bring my son downtown to show him around but quickly realized it was unsafe. We decided to head back to the hotel but encountered more of the same with smashed glass and pills scattered across the pavement with people living in the entry way claiming that we were invading on “their” private property. We requested a refund from the hotel. I could go on and on but realize this is just a youtube post, not a book. Let’s just say that Portland has seen better times and I would not feel comfortable bringing my kids back downtown until I know that city authorities have changed their attitudes and public safety becomes priority number 1.

[Netizen_]

I appreciate your sensible take on it. I’ve seen exaggerated opinions from both ends, appreciate the rational take. I love Portland. I think Portland’s issues are very common amongst major cities right now, but we can do better, we need to do better, for the size of Portland it definitely should be possible. I’m not leaving, I have faith, I love Portland, I love Oregon.

[melaniemanning]

"Didn't follow the rules" yes, a lot of shelters have rules that are ridiculous to live by, especially if you need to work outside normal hours. My ex is homeless. He's disabled and every single shelter has hundreds on waiting lists.

[melissaaiello]

My son lives in NW Portland, I love that city. I've been there many times over the past two years and have started to see some improvement. I was just there in September and it seemed as if downtown has cleaned up a bit. Every large city is struggling. I'm happy to see things perking up and I can't wait to visit again.

[skipj]

That’s super interesting thank you. I’m currently a nursing student soon to be done and heard about the new nurse to patient ratio law being implemented, so Oregon is starting to sound like a great career option in Oregon. Just want to make sure that it is safe.

[chaibasil]

came across your channel, love what you do! great content.