I'm looking to move, and i've heard strong points for both; i'm going out in December to take a look around...anyone have some opinions about where to focus? other places in oregon? looking for a green, progressive, liberal, affordable, friendly place with a good music scene...arguments for or against these places? also don't want intense weather...
I lived on the outskirst of Portland for the first 20 years of my life, used to visit friends, family, concerts, restraurants, etc etc in Portland all the time. I absolutely loved most of it. About a year ago I moved about an hour west of Eugene. I don't make it to Eugene nearly as much as I made to Portland, but find Eugene a much more pleasant happier place to be. Portland tend to be stuck in Portland, like it is its own little world. Snobbery is rampant even among the hippy scene. The east side is a run down crack haven, ghetto's and trailor parks within a few blocks of each other, except for "the pearl" and if you're gonna live there, ya might as well move to Cali as it's mostly California immirgrants who live there. There's also the Hawthorne district which used to be hip but which is being over run by yuppies. The west side is completely yuppified except for the saturday market, where the yuppies go to mingle with the common folk. But within a few blocks of there ya have China town and Burnside, which well, if ya know anything about Portland ya know what pleasant areas those are (yeah right). The bums have anger issues, the police have anger issues, the yuppies have anger issues, I have anger issues. There are a few decent shops in restaurants left, but like with anyone who's been in the area in the past will say, it's just not what it used to be. As for Eugene, well I've wrote enough tonight. Maybe tommorow I'll fill you in or let someone else do that. Later.
well, thanks for that insight. i saw some of the cracked out areas on COPS, which i watched once i realized it featured portland! i know that any major city has problems; you wanna get into yuppies and cops? i'm from new york! i appreciate your comments, keep em comin!
ouch! well i guess the grass is always greener on the other side. except here in jersey it's a bit brown...a friend of mine convinced me to check out boulder also, and i'd like to see what's goin on in arizona. i have a feeling, though, that i'll end up in oregon.
Boulder is as yuppie as the upper west side of Manhattan, just with a "hippy" facade, you'd be better off in portland than that. I was half joking about the boring people, but only half. There is still no city as cool as ny...soho, east village, lower east side...nothing is like that.
Eugene, Eugene, Eugene! I love Eugene, you have the mountains and the coast, the rivers here are great, the Saturday Market is alway fun and very open minded too (mostly). Portland is just to big city for me, to many people, cars and to many f***ing strip malls. Come out and visit Eugene, find a B&B to stay here for a few days and I think you'll love it.
I have lived in Eugene for 20+ years now, and I have personally never been anywhere better than here. The weather kicks ass, and the music scene is decent. The nature here is simply breathtaking. It is green here all the time. I think it is definitely more liberal here than Portland, but I haven't been to Portland much. I am pretty sure Eugene is going to be more affordable than Portland for housing. What kind of work do you do? Just keep in mind the unemployment rate is pretty high here, so hopefully you work in a field that is in high demand. www.visitlanecounty.org is a good website for information on our area (the coast, the valley, and the mountains). You can find out about events, accommodations, restaurants, and recreation stuff on that site. If you have any specific questions, feel free to PM me. I know all of Eugene very well and could probably give more detailed info if needed. Oh, and our (liberal) newspaper here is www.registerguard.com.
well, i'm a certified elementary teacher, art teacher, vegan baker, portrait artist, and nanny. any of those seem promising?
Yeah, I think you'll be fine. You should check the newspaper classifieds here just to get an idea of what jobs are available. The Oregon Employment Dept website has a jobs page as well. You can search by location or occupation. http://www.emp.state.or.us/jobs/ Good luck, wherever you decide to go!
Hippie snobbery is rampant in Eugene too. I've been all over the country and in most towns where I run into family they're happy to see me. Cause we're a minority in most towns and running into family is a real treat. But Eugene has so many hippies that you're just another joe to most people. Specially the normals, who gave us such a tongue lashing for parking our rig in front of their house. SO many of them are just fed up with the hippie scene. I've been to Arcata, Ashland, Asheville and towns like that. generally too many hippies. But Asheville, N.C. was still open and tolerant of us. Damn cold in the winter though. But I'm just in the mood to bitch today. Eugene is a nice town, but I sell jewelry on the street and being one of a few hippies in a town is a helps me with that. I make nothing in Eugene. For a professional though, if you can find work, the music scene and what not are great.
Ah, yer all mixed up buddy. In Portland, the cops only shoot the blacks. In Eugene they sexually assault the women. Don't ya pay attention to the news. In any town or city of any size yer gonna have a-hole pigs. Don't let the make the decision for ya....unless yer a gay black jew moving to Hazard County
i just got back from a little journey all around NorCal and Oregon. Eugene is definetly a pretty cool spot, i would choose over Portland definetly. If you really want great, check Northern Cal...my opinion of course
portland is huge, has lots of public transportations, interesting restaurants, powel's books, and it's occasionaly possible to find work. and lots of places to eat and crash if you go broke too. and portland state. eugene/springfieltd is small, has not bad public transportation for as small as it is. ok it's not THAT small, it is a city, but compared to portland it's a town. it's got one mission. it's got egg creams and zeb's. it's got quads, which are like a cross between a room and an appartment. clusters of four big rooms sharing a kitchen and bath. for the price of a room rather then a whole appartment. it's got university of oregon which has great science and art departments. it's also got lane community college where i took some classess. it's a LOT harder to find work in eugene then portland. well those were my impressions, which are probably mostly bull by now cause it's been almost 20 years since i've been back down to california from there. i lived up there for ten years, from 77 to 87. lived wilderville (near grants pass, 2 years), ashland(1 year, worked in medford when i did), eugene (for a year) and portland (from 81 - 87). =^^= .../\...
