Although published on Earth Day, this was shot on the Friday before. The people you see walking around cleaning up are participating in an event called "We Believe in Portland". You can learn more here: webelieveinportland.com/
That's because the city can't keep it clean. ODOT has run out of money for vandalism cleanup months ago and the downtown safe and clean efforts have failed. So, the city decided to start ticketing any business or homeowner with graffiti on their building then fine them if they don't clean it up in 2 days. Another example of how the government is taking our money and then passing the cost on to home and local business owners.
Great videos! Thank you for the information. People should not “downplay” any problems and pretend they don’t exist . Don’t do that lol. Highlight the problems to address them and hopefully resolve the issue.
I dunno if Portlanders see the city through the same eyes as mine,but Portland is such a beautiful city. at least 80% of the city is covered with dense forest. I don't focus on the problems Portland is facing right now like homelessness and crime. I just focus on its natural beauty which I truly appreciate. "Beauty's in the eye of the beholder". I am the beholder. I love Portland.
Ignore the problems. That'll work. SMH. And how many meth addicts live in the forest? It's one meth lab fire from not existing. Then people are shocked and wonder how this happened. SMH.
I agree that the city is beautiful, but ignoring the crime/homelessness is not what's going to get the city back on track. Frankly if we ignore it, the beauty will be irrelevant as the city will deteriorate and be unlivable. I am starting to see some improvements which is great. The issues are fixable, we should all focus on getting our city back to what it use to be ASAP. The future of Portland depends on it.
Thank you so much for this video. I lived in the area my entire life until I was 62 in 2019. Then hubby and I retired to Texas. I walked that waterfront nearly every weekday . I really miss that beautiful waterfront. Thank you for the positives and the negatives of his Portland is now.
You should do a whole video where you drive through the whole of Portland City and downtown. These videos tend to do quite well (thousands of views). You could show a mix of ideal and less ideal areas so that we get the full picture. Perhaps you could even explore this for wider areas like Beaverton, Lake Oswego, Vancouver WA etc.
Thanks for the suggestions. We could certainly do more driving footage. Perhaps we will. We do have driving/drone tours of most of the suburbs in Washington and Clackamas Counties on our channel if you want to see more.
Yes! Visit the neighborhoods on the east side and in the most populatedareas. Even real estate has hurt on West side due to homeless visits. As a resident it's worse than for a visitor. You got nice video here but this is a huge place and it's light years from it's former glory. I've been a resident my entire life, I know this area.
Thanks for the update on the city and taking the time to make the driving footage. I live in a PDX suburb and still feel like we have a long way to go to get Portland back to where it was in the 2010-2018 times. That said I feel like you're correct, it is certainly getting better slowly. Lets hope we get back to downtown being, fun, safe and clean!!
I lived in Portland for 5 months, its more dangerous than seattle, but compared to other cities, its safer than many places. Housing cheaper than seattle. Its not too bad of a place, if you want to be safe and not deal with homelessness, the suburbs is a better option. There are issues in every city with over 600k population. At least you dont have to deal with cold, snow, and very extreme heat.
Did you forget the last few summers of ash filled red skies from the forest fires and also the 116 degree heat wave that hit a few years ago and the last few winters of random snow storms?
@@Wakondaforever369 how about many days of 120+ degrees in Phoenix, or crime on Philadelphia, memphis? There is no perfect city anywhere where its affordable. There are negatives everywhere
I was born and raised in Portland, owned a home in N Portland, and a rental in the Woodstock neighborhood..witnessed the slow erosion of the city due to the elected public officials HORRIFIC governing and legislation. Forced to live with the junky RV's parked down my block, theft from my and my neighbors property, the tents, the open drug use, the dirty needles, the burned up foil, and the menacing behavior from the drug addicted tent dwellers....After a 'homeless" clean up in my neighborhood, I quickly put my house on the market, sold it and my rental than escaped the madness in late 2023...Love where I live now, there is law and order, and clean beautiful streets...Portland will be troubled for many many years to come due to self inflicted wounds, its sad to say..
@@akahina Solution???? So, besides working my tail off to pay for Portland's insanely high water bill, constantly rising taxes, and the new landlord fines, you believe I should have spent my spare time "FIXING" the shithole trajectory of Portland?? No, let the condescending Liberals sit in THEIR horrific voting choices and their "progressive" policies that have ruined this once beautiful, thriving city...I choose to live in peace, beauty and tranquility, and it aint in Portland
@@akahina Working my tail off in order to pay for the high taxes, landlord fines, the insanely high water bills and the always rising insurances, but according to you during my spare time I should have been "Fixing" the shithole trajectory of Portland...The liberals got what they wanted, their "progressive" policies enacted which have ruined this once thriving, beautiful city, there is no fixing reckless stupidity..
I first spent the summer of 1983 in Portland, returned again for the summers of 1984 and 1986 and moved here permanently in 1990. People love to complain, that's for sure. Well, in 1983, there was no Pearl District. It was a seedy, sketchy, somewhat dangerous area, including Old Town, north of Burnside that most people avoided. Alberta and Killingsworth Streets in NE Portland were all but abandoned and boarded up. Mississippi Ave in the Boise-Eliot neighborhood was sketchy as well. There were gang problems in those areas and most people thought they were pretty dangerous. Hawthorne and Belmont Streets were thriving, but Division St. wasn't much. I lived between Hawthorne and Division for a while in 1990-92, and there was very little of interest on Division. N. Williams and N. Vancouver were simply thoroughfares that got you from the Rose Quarter area to Lombard. There was nothing there and I never went there. The changes in this city since 1990 are amazing and wonderful. The city had a few hiccups with gentrification, but they seem to have gotten a handle on those problems. Yes, the Covid years were horrendous and the spike in homelessness and the graffiti epidemic that came with Covid are disheartening. I especially hate the graffiti and really wish the city could get control of that. But I've talked to young people who don't see it that way--they actually like it and appreciate it. But for me, it's too reminiscent of big European cities where everything is overed in graffiti, and I find it ugly and unpleasant. I want some serious civic action to clean it up and police responsibility to stop it. I'm willing to increase my taxes to see it happen. Homelessness is everywhere in this country. It's shocking. I was recently in Seattle and, although it's hard to make comparisons, it just visually looked worse than here. A year and half ago we took a road trip and saw homelessness in Boise, Denver, Omaha, and Minneapolis. Some just as bad or worse than we have here. It isn't just a Portland problem, but I think most people think there must be something the city could do that is more effective than whatever recent efforts have been made. Maybe this year's complete change in the city government, involving the mayor, the police and the city council, will help turn things around. I've begun to question whether the current system of city government can cope with the size of Portland with over 600K. It's no longer a smaller city and I think it takes a different governmental approach to handling and solving the urban problems. But there's still something very special about Portland and I have no desire to leave. I'm 74 now, have lived in the city for 34 years, and I still love it.
Thanks for the history. Being born in the 80’s I remember hearing about Portland gangs as a child. I agree about the graffiti. Interesting perspective on the population outgrowing the current government. Something to think about…
It is a gorgeous city - I can't wait to leave it after 20 years. I write this as anarchists are being arrested for destroying the PSU library and destroying downtown businesses as they marched through.
An obvious indication that this video is a Portland, OR sales pitch is the fact that it was filmed on a clear blue sky day. Something that according to several weather sites only happens there 68 days a year. And those 68 days can include 30% clouds, none of which appear in this vlog. Which further indicates how carefully selected the shooting day was. Consequently, while I’m sure other vlogs adopt an overly negative portrayal of the city, one has strong doubts that this one is a blunt honest assessment of the situation.
Hey Bob, thanks for watching. I'll be honest, I do occasionally check the whether before going outside and if it's raining, I'll usually find another day to shoot. But, we do have quite a few cloudy videos on our channel and even some in the rain!
Fun insight. Cool drive. I drive around this city every day. I sketch the people of this city and have convos with many people. It feels like Portland is on a rebound. I'm excited for this positive energy. I think we all are. And it will take all of us to make a change. The bonus about the Portland area for people moving here is that it's a border town. Vancouver, WA offers a completely different tax bracket, neighborhoods, and schools while still close to what Portland has to offer. It's a completely different vibe than Portland. It was the first town I lived in when I moved up here in the 90s. Anyone remember Smokey's Pizza? Woot woot!
I just moved here from L.a. last year Portland is such a beautiful city I love Oregon I don’t know why people talk so much trash on Portland there’s a lot of jobs here and people don’t gatekeep all the good jobs like they do in some parts of Southern California
Just watching the World according to Briggs (he lives near Portland) He compares city budgets of Portland $7 billion with Milwaukee, WI $2 billion (approx.) and wonders where the money is being spent. I would guess that it is spread over many different things, but that is a big difference. Portland is looking at school deficits right now and it would be a shame to cut there, but zero based budgeting would allow greater transparency. People are hurting financially everywhere.
I wanted to believe the local cheerleaders that things are improving and then just a week ago I see that the downtown Buffalo Wild Wings shut down, citing not just a drop in business but even more telling, the closing of the adjacent city owned parking garage do to rising crime.
I know that location -- my office used to be based a few hundred feet away. The crime is not "rising" there. Crime, camping, drug use, and open mental illness got bad enough in Old Town and there that, along with a decline in demand for parking, the city shut down that parking garage. Then less than a year later that finally killed off the BWW that is within the same building. The important thing is that the crime and craziness are not currently rising there -- it's getting better. It's terrible and endemic of the vacancy for a strip of about five blocks around there, but a restraurant dying at that location is not really an alarming development.
I lived in Portland most of my life. Portland changed so much in the wrong direction I decided to leave after 52 years of living there. Will never go back. Too expensive and the pro crime government by refusing to arrest, shoplifters people stealing stuff on your property. Didn’t wanna pay extra taxes to get screwed over.
Portland has a $12 billion plus operational expense, where is the money going to oh too stupid crap and pet projects and not focusing on the important things, results taxes keep going up quality of life goes down
Portland requires situational awareness. Look at that poor woman mauled by a pack of dogs owned by homeless, now fighting to survive. She was just out for a walk just like you. I'm on the east side and it isn't great. Has it's moments where it feels like it's improving then you get sucked back in (think perfect storm). You deal with drug addicts every single day. Walk around horrid crap (literally) see the occasional rat on springwater. This is not even close to the city I love. Crumbling infrastructure, deferred maintenance galore. I know we need to celebrate the wins, but we can't stop pressing for change.
Hello, in Oregon, there is no broker renter relationship. Renters reach out and apply/tour directly with a landlord or owner. Send us your questions and we'll do our best to help if we can.
All drugs were made legal in 2020. That’s a large reason why Portland is a shithole now. Feel free to move there and smoke meth on the Max. No one will stop you.
Yes, my family and I voted for Portland to fail. We deserve the issues and much more. I am glad you give us the credit for our carefully planned demise.
Portland is definitely overrated. Much of downtown is vacant. There's a few nice neighborhoods but to worth the hype. Much nicer cities in the country with less crime, homelessness, and better housing options.
Although published on Earth Day, this was shot on the Friday before. The people you see walking around cleaning up are participating in an event called "We Believe in Portland". You can learn more here: webelieveinportland.com/
That's because the city can't keep it clean. ODOT has run out of money for vandalism cleanup months ago and the downtown safe and clean efforts have failed. So, the city decided to start ticketing any business or homeowner with graffiti on their building then fine them if they don't clean it up in 2 days. Another example of how the government is taking our money and then passing the cost on to home and local business owners.
Great videos! Thank you for the information.
People should not “downplay” any problems and pretend they don’t exist . Don’t do that lol. Highlight the problems to address them and hopefully resolve the issue.
I dunno if Portlanders see the city through the same eyes as mine,but Portland is such a beautiful city. at least 80% of the city is covered with dense forest. I don't focus on the problems Portland is facing right now like homelessness and crime. I just focus on its natural beauty which I truly appreciate. "Beauty's in the eye of the beholder". I am the beholder. I love Portland.
Absolutely one of the most beautiful cities in the United States.
Ignore the problems. That'll work. SMH. And how many meth addicts live in the forest? It's one meth lab fire from not existing. Then people are shocked and wonder how this happened. SMH.
That's because you were probably one of people burning and looting the city back in 2020.
You're also a 77 iq person.
I agree that the city is beautiful, but ignoring the crime/homelessness is not what's going to get the city back on track. Frankly if we ignore it, the beauty will be irrelevant as the city will deteriorate and be unlivable. I am starting to see some improvements which is great. The issues are fixable, we should all focus on getting our city back to what it use to be ASAP. The future of Portland depends on it.
If you grew up in Portland Oregon and you're now in your 60s or 50s yes Portland used to be beautiful compared to now
Thank you so much for this video. I lived in the area my entire life until I was 62 in 2019. Then hubby and I retired to Texas.
I walked that waterfront nearly every weekday . I really miss that beautiful waterfront.
Thank you for the positives and the negatives of his Portland is now.
You should do a whole video where you drive through the whole of Portland City and downtown. These videos tend to do quite well (thousands of views). You could show a mix of ideal and less ideal areas so that we get the full picture.
Perhaps you could even explore this for wider areas like Beaverton, Lake Oswego, Vancouver WA etc.
Thanks for the suggestions. We could certainly do more driving footage. Perhaps we will. We do have driving/drone tours of most of the suburbs in Washington and Clackamas Counties on our channel if you want to see more.
Yes! Visit the neighborhoods on the east side and in the most populatedareas. Even real estate has hurt on West side due to homeless visits. As a resident it's worse than for a visitor. You got nice video here but this is a huge place and it's light years from it's former glory. I've been a resident my entire life, I know this area.
Thanks for the update on the city and taking the time to make the driving footage. I live in a PDX suburb and still feel like we have a long way to go to get Portland back to where it was in the 2010-2018 times. That said I feel like you're correct, it is certainly getting better slowly. Lets hope we get back to downtown being, fun, safe and clean!!
Agreed. Thanks for watching. We'll likely release another video in the coming months with an update.
I lived in Portland for 5 months, its more dangerous than seattle, but compared to other cities, its safer than many places. Housing cheaper than seattle. Its not too bad of a place, if you want to be safe and not deal with homelessness, the suburbs is a better option. There are issues in every city with over 600k population. At least you dont have to deal with cold, snow, and very extreme heat.
Did you forget the last few summers of ash filled red skies from the forest fires and also the 116 degree heat wave that hit a few years ago and the last few winters of random snow storms?
@@Wakondaforever369 how about many days of
120+ degrees in Phoenix, or crime on Philadelphia, memphis? There is no perfect city anywhere where its affordable. There are negatives everywhere
I was born and raised in Portland, owned a home in N Portland, and a rental in the Woodstock neighborhood..witnessed the slow erosion of the city due to the elected public officials HORRIFIC governing and legislation. Forced to live with the junky RV's parked down my block, theft from my and my neighbors property, the tents, the open drug use, the dirty needles, the burned up foil, and the menacing behavior from the drug addicted tent dwellers....After a 'homeless" clean up in my neighborhood, I quickly put my house on the market, sold it and my rental than escaped the madness in late 2023...Love where I live now, there is law and order, and clean beautiful streets...Portland will be troubled for many many years to come due to self inflicted wounds, its sad to say..
Love it or leave it.
You left it.
I'm glad you are part of the solution!
@@akahina Solution???? So, besides working my tail off to pay for Portland's insanely high water bill, constantly rising taxes, and the new landlord fines, you believe I should have spent my spare time "FIXING" the shithole trajectory of Portland?? No, let the condescending Liberals sit in THEIR horrific voting choices and their "progressive" policies that have ruined this once beautiful, thriving city...I choose to live in peace, beauty and tranquility, and it aint in Portland
@@akahina Working my tail off in order to pay for the high taxes, landlord fines, the insanely high water bills and the always rising insurances, but according to you during my spare time I should have been "Fixing" the shithole trajectory of Portland...The liberals got what they wanted, their "progressive" policies enacted which have ruined this once thriving, beautiful city, there is no fixing reckless stupidity..
Where did you move to? I’m seeing a noticeable upswing taking place. Things are getting much much better.
@@Bambooken Thats because its an election year..I would never trust that the democrats will ever give up their perpetual "crisis" way of governing.
I first spent the summer of 1983 in Portland, returned again for the summers of 1984 and 1986 and moved here permanently in 1990. People love to complain, that's for sure. Well, in 1983, there was no Pearl District. It was a seedy, sketchy, somewhat dangerous area, including Old Town, north of Burnside that most people avoided. Alberta and Killingsworth Streets in NE Portland were all but abandoned and boarded up. Mississippi Ave in the Boise-Eliot neighborhood was sketchy as well. There were gang problems in those areas and most people thought they were pretty dangerous. Hawthorne and Belmont Streets were thriving, but Division St. wasn't much. I lived between Hawthorne and Division for a while in 1990-92, and there was very little of interest on Division. N. Williams and N. Vancouver were simply thoroughfares that got you from the Rose Quarter area to Lombard. There was nothing there and I never went there.
The changes in this city since 1990 are amazing and wonderful. The city had a few hiccups with gentrification, but they seem to have gotten a handle on those problems. Yes, the Covid years were horrendous and the spike in homelessness and the graffiti epidemic that came with Covid are disheartening. I especially hate the graffiti and really wish the city could get control of that. But I've talked to young people who don't see it that way--they actually like it and appreciate it. But for me, it's too reminiscent of big European cities where everything is overed in graffiti, and I find it ugly and unpleasant. I want some serious civic action to clean it up and police responsibility to stop it. I'm willing to increase my taxes to see it happen.
Homelessness is everywhere in this country. It's shocking. I was recently in Seattle and, although it's hard to make comparisons, it just visually looked worse than here. A year and half ago we took a road trip and saw homelessness in Boise, Denver, Omaha, and Minneapolis. Some just as bad or worse than we have here. It isn't just a Portland problem, but I think most people think there must be something the city could do that is more effective than whatever recent efforts have been made. Maybe this year's complete change in the city government, involving the mayor, the police and the city council, will help turn things around. I've begun to question whether the current system of city government can cope with the size of Portland with over 600K. It's no longer a smaller city and I think it takes a different governmental approach to handling and solving the urban problems. But there's still something very special about Portland and I have no desire to leave. I'm 74 now, have lived in the city for 34 years, and I still love it.
Thanks for the history. Being born in the 80’s I remember hearing about Portland gangs as a child. I agree about the graffiti. Interesting perspective on the population outgrowing the current government. Something to think about…
Gorgeous city, can’t wait to relocate here 😊🎉
A lot of great options here! Come on over!
It really is!
It is a gorgeous city - I can't wait to leave it after 20 years. I write this as anarchists are being arrested for destroying the PSU library and destroying downtown businesses as they marched through.
An obvious indication that this video is a Portland, OR sales pitch is the fact that it was filmed on a clear blue sky day. Something that according to several weather sites only happens there 68 days a year. And those 68 days can include 30% clouds, none of which appear in this vlog. Which further indicates how carefully selected the shooting day was.
Consequently, while I’m sure other vlogs adopt an overly negative portrayal of the city, one has strong doubts that this one is a blunt honest assessment of the situation.
Hey Bob, thanks for watching. I'll be honest, I do occasionally check the whether before going outside and if it's raining, I'll usually find another day to shoot. But, we do have quite a few cloudy videos on our channel and even some in the rain!
Another great one. Thanks. Really appreciate the info. I moved from the central US to Aloha a few years ago. Still lots to learn about Portland.
Glad it was helpful!
Fun insight. Cool drive. I drive around this city every day. I sketch the people of this city and have convos with many people. It feels like Portland is on a rebound. I'm excited for this positive energy. I think we all are. And it will take all of us to make a change.
The bonus about the Portland area for people moving here is that it's a border town. Vancouver, WA offers a completely different tax bracket, neighborhoods, and schools while still close to what Portland has to offer. It's a completely different vibe than Portland. It was the first town I lived in when I moved up here in the 90s. Anyone remember Smokey's Pizza? Woot woot!
Great insights. Very true about Vancouver.
I just moved here from L.a. last year Portland is such a beautiful city I love Oregon I don’t know why people talk so much trash on Portland there’s a lot of jobs here and people don’t gatekeep all the good jobs like they do in some parts of Southern California
Glad you're enjoying
182 & Powell is ALSO Portland
That's a few blocks outside city limits, if you want to be technical.
Just watching the World according to Briggs (he lives near Portland) He compares city budgets of Portland $7 billion with Milwaukee, WI $2 billion (approx.) and wonders where the money is being spent. I would guess that it is spread over many different things, but that is a big difference. Portland is looking at school deficits right now and it would be a shame to cut there, but zero based budgeting would allow greater transparency. People are hurting financially everywhere.
Ill be staying at the Heathman Hotel on the weekend of the 23rd of this month, what restaurants and attractions do you recommend?
I wanted to believe the local cheerleaders that things are improving and then just a week ago I see that the downtown Buffalo Wild Wings shut down, citing not just a drop in business but even more telling, the closing of the adjacent city owned parking garage do to rising crime.
I know that location -- my office used to be based a few hundred feet away. The crime is not "rising" there. Crime, camping, drug use, and open mental illness got bad enough in Old Town and there that, along with a decline in demand for parking, the city shut down that parking garage. Then less than a year later that finally killed off the BWW that is within the same building. The important thing is that the crime and craziness are not currently rising there -- it's getting better. It's terrible and endemic of the vacancy for a strip of about five blocks around there, but a restraurant dying at that location is not really an alarming development.
The crime is " rising " and your typical leftist whiner in denial
One Word : SEWER.. second word : REALTOR ….😂🎉
Glad I Lived in Oregon City in The 70s When Hippies ✌️ ☮️ 🕊 🕊 Walked The Streets ✌️ ☮️ 🕊 🕊
I saw quite a few hippies at the Oregon City car show yesterday
Portland, sponsored by Reynolds Wrap
I lived in Portland most of my life. Portland changed so much in the wrong direction I decided to leave after 52 years of living there. Will never go back. Too expensive and the pro crime government by refusing to arrest, shoplifters people stealing stuff on your property. Didn’t wanna pay extra taxes to get screwed over.
There's always Clackamas/Washington/Clark counties.
Portland has a $12 billion plus operational expense, where is the money going to oh too stupid crap and pet projects and not focusing on the important things, results taxes keep going up quality of life goes down
Today is Earth Day. That's probably the reason for the clean up.
Portland requires situational awareness. Look at that poor woman mauled by a pack of dogs owned by homeless, now fighting to survive. She was just out for a walk just like you. I'm on the east side and it isn't great. Has it's moments where it feels like it's improving then you get sucked back in (think perfect storm). You deal with drug addicts every single day. Walk around horrid crap (literally) see the occasional rat on springwater. This is not even close to the city I love. Crumbling infrastructure, deferred maintenance galore. I know we need to celebrate the wins, but we can't stop pressing for change.
How is Caesar Estrada Chavez like
Is far better🎉 than other liberal areas specifically Bay area
Hello! Do y'all provide any assistance to people who are looking to rent instead of buy in the Portland area?
Hello, in Oregon, there is no broker renter relationship. Renters reach out and apply/tour directly with a landlord or owner. Send us your questions and we'll do our best to help if we can.
No they lie to sell people houses
i been to portland i didnt like it there at all its ugly and nothing there to do kinda old and boring city
As a homeless person looking to relocate to Portland, how laxed are your drug laws?
Not laxed any more! :O
All drugs were made legal in 2020. That’s a large reason why Portland is a shithole now. Feel free to move there and smoke meth on the Max. No one will stop you.
Portland deserves the issues....they voted for it!
Yes, my family and I voted for Portland to fail. We deserve the issues and much more. I am glad you give us the credit for our carefully planned demise.
@@GergonX To be fair it's all of Oregon. Oregon just this year is now the 10th most violent state.👍👍
It’s not the worst it’s just the tin foil and pee smell are really unbearable. Also some of the people are really annoying and fos
You should bike through the city
You should stop being a troll and threatening people honey
And no , you don't dude. Ever
@@Azazel2024 what?
It's worse then it's ever been, and no sign of getting better. Quite the opposite actually
Portland is definitely overrated. Much of downtown is vacant. There's a few nice neighborhoods but to worth the hype. Much nicer cities in the country with less crime, homelessness, and better housing options.
🤣
THIS PLACE SUCKS OVER PRICED OVER TAXED TRASH EVERY WHERE I LIVE HERE IT SUCKS
The first 5 mins was nothing but repitition...
Buh bye