Comments on: Best Places to Live and Launch 2008: No. 6, Portland, Ore.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 00:22:33 +0000

what do you really know about this city?you wouldnt last long,just another idiot with a stupid opinion.i love the people who come here who have no idea about this city.i grew up here,and can actually have an opinion.you can yawn all you want,but you couldnt handle how it really is here.just another yuppie who knows nothing about the other side of portland.if your board i can find lots of things to do for you.you would get caught up though and wish you never came.

By: Julie Smith,Portland OR

Julie Smith,Portland OR — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 18:49:57 +0000

Portland is a great city. It has a lot of culture and wonderful people. There might be a lot of us that seem out of the ordinary, but that is what makes Portland so unique. People are friendly and the city is clean. As for the strip clubs. Why not? I would rather have a strip club than more prostitution/rape/assault. The more people sensor sexuality the worse things get. It is a part of human nature and nothing to hide. Portland is thriving with small businesses. It is great to go around the corner to the mom and pop cafe rather than McDonalds. Portland is a place to make your dreams happen and have a community to support you while you do it. I love Portland.

By: Aggie Evans, Roseburg, OR

Aggie Evans, Roseburg, OR — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 13:52:03 +0000

Portland is OK, to visit. However, to Rick in Belleveue who said McMinnville (30 miles south of Portland) is better? Are you high? Oh, maybe you are. The Mexican Drug Cartel is busy growing product all around Yamhill County where Mac is located. I'm not just talking MaryJane product, either. Poppies for heroin production. I lived in McMinnville for 10 years and got out. It's a sleepy little town where the ne'er do wells outnumber the police force. Only 30 miles to the State Penitentiary in Salem where the kingpin convicts can run the show. Perfect town for illegal activity all under the guise of "come visit the wine country" of Oregon. Yeah, right.

By: Jane Havens, Welches, Oregon

Jane Havens, Welches, Oregon — Sat, 02 May 2009 03:44:03 +0000

We love Portland and have lived in Clackamas County since 1978. I'm from northern Ohio originally and I would never go back. I think you have to travel like we have to appreciate what Oregon has to offer. It has changed for the better each year we have been here. I see a bright future and the surroundings that we live in are like heaven. Truly, God's country. And, we have made a good living in this state.

By: Ex-Yawker, Portland, OR

Ex-Yawker, Portland, OR — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 05:58:12 +0000

Ever since the 80's recession and collapse of the timber industry in Oregon, city of Portland transformed from a lifeless city of porn shops, neglected theaters and parking lots into a truly dynamic 'east coast' city with european trolleys, gondolas and bike lanes.

That being said, some aspects of Portland hasn't changed. It's still a small-town business community that operates like a network of cartels. It is tough to wedge yourself into the 'family' of Oregon industries and markets unless you do your time and toe the line. This exists because out-of-state companies like to hire out-of-state talent, hence a somewhat protectionist slant in Oregon politics that doesn't match the Portland brand image expressed in this article.

The good part about this is that there is so much talk about high taxes and anti-business sentiment (which there clearly is), that it helps many small businesses survive as it tends to slow the rush of newcomers opening up shop next door. And in Portland, small business lingo also includes non-profit startups in addition to new neighborhood shops and contractors, so not to be misled about presuming that great things are happening with new business owners. It has always been a very tough and fickle consumer market. The only roads in Portland paved in gold is in government and non-profits.
The rest of us have to tough it out on our own, and somehow hybrid cars and bicycling are considered solutions for commuters worried about losing their jobs or keeping their business venture afloat. Go fig.

By: Erin Baker

Erin Baker — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 13:18:43 +0000

Sorry CNN but this was not fully researched on your part. Fees on small business are very high and varied.Such as suddenly a $100 fee appears out of nowhere on your business water bill. Fees collected if it is one day late.Processing fees added to pay your bill. It adds up.
Crime very costly. Sluggish and small economy. Highest minimum wage.A state were employees get hired,lay back, get fired on purpose and get unemployment easily. Employers are left as guilty until proven innocent.
Some of the highest wholesale prices as compared to other cities for food inventory.Unsophisticated business environment and inexperienced state and city government. Good luck.

By: dave, nyc,ny

dave, nyc,ny — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 22:44:14 +0000

yawn-Portland? There isn't much culture and seems to be primarily sheltered suburbanites trying to be edgy in a "wannabe" small city

By: Dorkyguy

Dorkyguy — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 15:41:00 +0000

We moved to a suburb of Portland from SoCal 18 years ago. Clean air, clean water, lots of trees, beautiful summers, gray and dreary drizzly winters.

Overall feeling is antibusiness, antiautomobile, anti-"traditional values." Pedophile gay mayor. Proud motto on many bumper stickers–"Help keep Portland weird." Fortune 500 companies one by one have left over the years we've lived here. Aching to do the same, but anchored by job at the moment.

So I'd have to say Portland is a nice place to visit, but you sure as heck won't want to live here, unless you have lots of piercings and your role models are Fidel and Che.

By: Happy In Portland, OR

Happy In Portland, OR — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 08:22:14 +0000

I've been to many major cities due to my previous sales job. Then my family and I moved to Portland (East side – Clackamas) end of 2005. If you want to talk about traffic, potholes, crime, rudeness, unaffordable housing, lack of attractions, lack of outdoor activities, tons of garbage, stinky air, frigid winter, damn humid summer, sales tax of 8.75% (highest in the US) and tons of other negatives things then NYC is the place. Lived there for 22 years and it got worse every year.

Unless you're are teenagers and teeny-boppers who love tho patronize the NYC clubs then there are nothing much to look for in NYC.

I'm happy here in Portland. Samll city with tons of good things to offer. I don't look for bad things here and if there are nad things, they're so minute in comparison to NYC. I would never go back to NYC.

By: Dee

Dee — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 17:27:23 +0000

The State of Oregon , in this severe economic time, went ahead with raising the minumum wage on January 1, 2009 to $8.40 per hour. HIGHEST in the nation in one of the poorest states. That is an increase of .80 per hour
They never thought it would be a good idea to freeze that increase until this worst economic storm in 40 years subsides. I feel for my old freinds who own small business back there.
Coming out of the cave they did finally decide, are you ready, strip clubs have a negative effect on other nearby businesses. Wow! They might sometime in the next millenium create zoning restrictions for strip clubs. Portland has more strip clubs than ANY city worldwide.
I watched 3 major building renovations occur in a the almost 4 years I owned a business in downtown Portland on my block. Very daring and very costly renovations. Then I watched 3 other people , like us, dump a pile of money into that block and open businesses on that once half empty street.
After all this, with crime high and worsening, the City of Portland allows a strip club to open on this block on a corner! Investigate the state and city PRIOR to investing a dime in Portland, Or.

By: Kranker, Portland, OR

Kranker, Portland, OR — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 19:58:25 +0000

It's a nice place to live if you are into outdoor activities, like I am. Lots of fun but easy class 2 rivers for kayaking! I won't tell you about the rest. Locals secrets, so stay away. As for the business side and the screwed up politicians who hate cars (and hate the people who use them to get to rcreational areas), you have to put up with it if you want to live here. Some of the people are cool, but I can't stand the hipster wannabe "creatives" who think they are innovaters but only work at coffee stores and think their poetry, drumming, or tatoos are important. Portland would be much better if all the losers, including Vera Katz, Sam Adams, etc. would find another place to screw up.

By: Anonymous, Seattle, WA.

Anonymous, Seattle, WA. — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 08:02:38 +0000

Portland is a very nice city; good shopping, excellent restaurants, great parks, excellent public transportation (bus, light rail and street car), nice size (about 2-3 million in the metro area) and is pretty diverse. It's about 75% White, 7% Black, 7% Asian, 7% Hispanic.

By: Rick, Bellevue Wa.

Rick, Bellevue Wa. — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 03:27:30 +0000

Portland today is pretty much accepted by those in the N.W. as being what Seattle was 10 years ago – so it is another high tech place where grunge culture flourishes and the weather sucks. For singles – the girl to guy ratio is way out of whack – thus it is the strip club capital of the North West..Lots of dumpy dressers – no style – similar to Seattle – Bellevue .. McMinnville is far nicer and 1/2 hour to the west.

By: George

George — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 17:35:36 +0000

We were on 4th near Stark and we are very happy to be out of that primitive business environment after 4 years at that location and 2 years at another. Looking back I cannot even believe the level of constant business stopping in store crime we experienced. The danger, the expense of security and closings.
The out in the open drug, dealers,shelter criminals, strong armed robbers know they can walk into any business and do whatever they like and suffer zero consequences. A few police told as much and said "They'll be back out in a few hours and may come return."
Yes, I did appeal to one sane council person at City Hall all 3 years. He would get word to police and suddenly the drug dealers did a disappearing act for about 7-10 days and it was all back.
Both my partner and I were assaulted in the last 6 months.He was seriously assaulted while waiting on the corner for the light one afternoon by a violent warrant laden shelter pampered meth maniac. It was sudden and random and police did arrive finally and chased him down. My partner never fully recovered from that Spring 2008 assault. I was assaulted in the store at close in July by a very addicted woman who was violent.
Our first year it I learned never to call police on the drug dealers at my front table and on on the corners at certain hours when that drug franchise operated in the open. 1.The police NEVER RESPONDED during the heaviest daily drug selling hours 2. Somehow the dealers found out I called police early on and I was threatened over and over. I stopped calling for help unless they were violent in the store. A customer sitting outside had our sidewalk sign tossed at her because she wouldn't give him dope money.
Fought off two strong armed robbers often bymyself with staff screaming , no answer at 911 while customers looked on.No answer at 911 an hour later either.
We paid our vendors in September 2008 and left as long planned. ( final straw-read story below). Sold all and are back in our hometown preparing our structure of our new location in a city that supports and assists small business.Taxes high, services poor.Like another comment read .."Type B city with Type A fees".
Crime difficult to report in Portland and it began to look like that was how they kept crime numbers down. Also The Clean and Safe program I believe is a buffer to keep you from making official crime tracking police reports on instore disturbances and attacks. We were the busiest establishment on the block and maybe why we attracted strong arm robbers.
An expesine web based s3 camera secirity system didn't even deter them. It was nice venue. Why at certain hours is their zero response from police to spill over crime by drug dealing franchise? 1+1=2.I oft We would often be forced to lock down the restaurant once we got the intruder out then wait the 30 + minutes until police arrived because the intruder was often still out front. Lost biz all the time. . The Portland Business Alliance placed this buffer of the Clean and Safe Patrol Program patrols in to deal with the mess the mayor and city council have allowed areas of downtown to become. We were 7 streets from City Hall…half the incidents never make it to official record. Also they do NOTHING to support businesses. It is a very primitive city business environment.
Check state business protection laws too. Very little. Some local vendors very preadtory. Go with national companies with proper contracts esp.
in the laundry/mat/apron area.
Here is a story and it was when we fast tracked an exit date.
A person from Bureau of Environmental Services entered our establishment the Friday before our 2007 3rd Annual Thanksgiving Dinner and announced loudly in front of staff and customers that our building would be shut in 30 days. Never asked to speak to me in my office/in private.I was a tenant and it was addressed to a previous BUILDING owner. It was never delivered to the other commercial tenant next door.It pertained to a pipe under the bus lane in the street.Never even proven to be cracked. Our building owner informed us he called a hearing before a judge the year before to make the city tell the judge why it was his responsibility and to prove it was broken. The City BES never showed for the hearing. They were trying to force that building owner to dig up the BUS LANE at his expense to fix it. The only people working below the street at that loaction was PGE. Power utility and corrUpt in my book. By the time we left the building owner spent $80k in research and attorneys fess on this issue. We never had issues with our sewer in 4 years.I pressed for an explanation after entering into a closing procedure for December.
An apology came from the BES office 2 weeks later. FOLLOWED BY 2 MORE NOTICES we were being tossed out by January 30, 2008. We knew it was erroneous but also in past dealings with the City of Portland we were well aware how flagrantly irresponsible departments are with zero recourse. ZERO. My business owning friends in other cities said 'So now they are erroneously taking your business away from you?" Yes, that is right.We were selling off inventory all month, two staff quit..Only at the end of January did our building owners attorney STOP THIS ERRONEOUS and abusive harassment by The City of Portland BES. It went all the way to an investigative local news report that showed how wrong the city was. We stayed out of the televised report but supported the building owner. The city was wrong and other building owners downtown were told they were now respsonsible for the pipes under the traffic lanes in the street. There was a huge uproar and some replied "We were never told this and therefore never obtained proper business insurance coverage."
The city was wrong, wrong, wrong.
That is just ONE story of serious business damaging trouble our very successful establishment suffered 'doing business' in Portland, Or.
We were urged by people who wanted to assist our expansion into to other countries/cities to 'Leave that troubled Portland location and move forward". We are.
We loved our customers and we had a large and loyal crowd.
Add insult to injury the incoming mayor , Sam Adams, tacked on a $100
fee to the water bill in August. A small business owner down the street came running in pointing it out to me shaking her head. She couldn't afford another increase.
I hear now that the minimum wage is going up to $8.40 January 2009, in the middle
of a serious economic crisis with small businesses closings everywhere and larger ones laying off..The State of Oregon raises the min wage? A death knell.Here is a tip for employers..it is extremely easy for any Oregon worker to talk you into hiring them work a few days then cause themselves to be fired so they can easily obtain unemployment. I have seen this discussed on blogs. I can tell you 30% of Oregon workers we hired followed this plan. I fought most claims and won over half. It took time away from my business and it wad disruptive and discouraging.
Here is a last note about the old biz guard. Outsiders with good plans that will be competing with established old biz guard owners will have difficulty. I know. Yes we were 'bothered' constantly by a portion of the old biz guard there and they wanted us to know who they were. Bold harassment.
Research doing business in Oregon before you invest.There are very few laws to keep predatory local vendors from damaging you.They need more laws.
3 months after we opened
The Portland Business Alliance sent me a 7 page questionare that I was directed to fill all of it out and return it.Questions such as our daily gross sales, how many staff, what rate each one is paid and what was our financing structure and from where. I laughed and tossed it into the recycling. They kept sending them and even went so far as to send one of their lackeys in to ask why I hadn't filled it out. I said 'I will only fill out a form that intrusive if it is from a government agency and I am bound to do so and my attorney suggest I do.". In front of staff the lackey made a tearful speech about how he was "Sick of the Portland Business Alliance higher ups making him do their dirty work for his assigned block." This actually happened and staff watched agog.
We lingered for our customers but
were actually forced out in the end.

By: Dave, Charlotte

Dave, Charlotte — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 13:10:24 +0000

To the business with crime problems in downtown. You should post your business name or the specific neighborhood so the community can support you.

By: Merri Portland OR

Merri Portland OR — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 23:07:50 +0000

Rains all the time. Stay away!!!!

By: Barry, Portland OR

Barry, Portland OR — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 04:51:33 +0000

Yeah, sure, Portland is a great place to live and start a business. As long as you dont mind a local government that itches to tell you what to do, consistantly raises the minimum wage and a State government that assumes a "silent partner" role in all small/med buisnesses but is no-where to be found when it comes to helping out in tough times.
And you get to deal with all the fruit cakes. I mean to say~ these people would make californians take notice. Oregon has much better cities, in much better locations, with much better regulations and work force than Portland. And even better than Oregon is Washington.

-b

By: Lindsay portland, or

Lindsay portland, or — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 00:03:03 +0000

I LOVE PORTLAND! It's a really great place to live. I love NE, NW, and SW! its just the best place to live, and downtown is really great!

By: Danny Bennett, Rancho Cucamonga, California

Danny Bennett, Rancho Cucamonga, California — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 07:14:07 +0000

I am in Rancho Cucamonga, and I really like it here. Unfortunately the key point to your comments is Apple Valley. I do not wish the High Desert on anyone.

By: Charmaine Anderson

Charmaine Anderson — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 19:01:50 +0000

I moved from So. Calif. to Portland about ten years ago. While I miss the beach lifestyle and the interesting job and entertainment opportunities one has living near Hollywood (and oh, yes, my family), Portland really is one of the best places to live. The change of seasons here is stunning, Fall and Spring color is a photographers dream and our Summers are very pleasant and we get very few extremely hot days. Winters are mild mostly rain but we can get a little snow some years we get none at all. Just enough to appreciate the novelty of snow and then it is gone within a week or so. The access to gorgeous mountains, lakes and the coast is great, all within an hour or so from Portland. Our economy isn't swell as some of the big high tech employers have been in a downsizing mode for several years now however if you are an entrepreneur or are a creative type you'll do well here with a little ingenuity and persistence.