Insufferable Portland

February 27, 2012

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Precious Portland is the target of this article in the Weekly Standard.

“It sometimes seems as if the whole country is looking to Portland as a role model for 21st-century urban development,” Governing wrote of the city. Clearly the magazine knew nothing about the political history that has turned Portland into a caricature of itself. God help us if this is America’s civic ideal. 

The major justification for our increasing urbanization​—​and 243 million Americans now live in urban environs​—​is that “urban density provides the clearest path from poverty to prosperity,” writes Harvard economist Edward Glaeser in Triumph of the City: How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier, and Happier. Great cities are remarkably good at generating wealth, and here Glaeser provides a useful comparison: Workers in the five zip codes that occupy Manhattan between 41st Street and 59th have a larger payroll than the entire state of Oregon. 

Of course, if Oregon doesn’t have a bigger payroll, that might be because over half the state’s residents live in or near a metro area that has spent nearly 40 years justifying political corruption and heavy-handed economic regulations as forward-looking environmental policy.

Just wish the author had come up with some ideas to fix this place.

In January, the Washington Post officially declared Portland “out” and Pittsburgh the new hotspot. “Portland has overextended its welcome as the destination for hipsters who want to find themselves, while frolicking in beautiful scenery and reasonable rents,” pronounced Post writer Monica Hesse. “Pittsburgh is reasonable-rents, nice scenery, nice downtown, and the people are, in general, just far less insufferable.” If Portland stops receiving so much favorable media coverage, maybe the progressive politicians and urban planners will fall out of love with it as well. 

In the meantime, there’s still a lot to like about Portland. But as a former resident I feel compelled to deliver this message to the city’s current inhabitants: Stop reading the New York Times, roll up your sleeves, and fix your city. 
It’s getting embarrassing.

True. 

Tell ’em where you saw it. Http://www.victoriataft.com