I recently had the opportunity to visit Portland, Oregon. Now I have relatives in Portland so it isn't like i am a stranger to the city. I actually know the city fairly well. But after spending a year away from Oregon, i have a new prospective on things.
First thing that struck me was how many new building are areas Portland has developed in the downtown area. It was amazing there are whole new districts to hang out it. I don't think i have ever seen anything like it. Areas that only a few years ago where empty warehouses and basic urban decay have been rebuilt into new developments that have high density housing mixed in with shops and bars. I don't think i can describe how impressed iw as with the whole area.
The next thing i learned was how poorly designed Portland is for driving. I lived in Fresno, CA for the last year, and for all the bad things people can say about that city, it does one things right, Cars. If i am in Fresno, i can be anywhere else in the city in under 15min. It is kinda impressive given the amount of sprawl. Now Portland is different, i felt it takes longer to try and drive many places then it would take on the bus. I think this all might have been planned. I would imagine some time back in the 1950's, some city planner decided they didn't like cars and where going to do something about it. Luckly Portland has a very nice mass transit system. I don't think i ever had to wait longed then 5 minuets for a bus/streetcar/lightrail. The stops where all conveniently located and it was much cheaper then driving and paying for parking.
I think the thing that most impressed me about Portland was how much Public Space it has. This is something few cities appear to understand. In Fresno, if it was a nice day and i just wanted to go hang out and read a book, i didn't have many public areas i could go to. Sure i could go to a coffee shop and hang, but i would have to pay for a coffee and then would feel obligated to not stay to long without buying another. Portland has many places downtown where you can just sit and read, or chat with random people, or play chess, whatever you want to do. What is cool is how many other people are also hanging out and relaxing. This public space helps make a sense of community, you feel strangly at home with hundreds of people you don't know.
I found Portland to be a very nice city, with a high quality of life. Portland has created a city that works, a place that attracts many different people and offers a sense of community that is difficult to build. I know that this doesn't happen over night and has taken the work on many people over who knows how many years. I am just glad that places like Portland exist and hopefully become more common.
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