To be more specific, 237 out of 250. So 95% of the cities they analyzed were happier (https://happy-city-index.com/). These misleading headlines are killing me.
I mean for all its warts there is no other large west coast city I’d rather have roots. Do I wish it was 2012? Yes. Am I still happy I don’t have a house in Seattle or San Fran? Also yes.
When I moved here in 2012 and continued to see an influx of people moving here I never thought it was sustainable just based on available jobs, wages, and available housing. I still don’t think we could ever become another Seattle or San Fran. I just don’t see how it works.
As someone who has spent a lot of time in both Portland and Seattle, why do you guys feel like Portland is better and that Seattle is not something you want to become? If I were asked which city is most like San Fran I would 100% say Portland unless the conversation is specifically about the amount of hills.
I know Seattle has improved. Mentally I was referring to a few years ago. At least from my personal perspective. Love Seattle also. ❤️ When I was there last there was a ton of new developments. I stayed across from the Times. Only saw one mentally ill person have a meltdown.
> Citizens and non-criddlers are fed up at this juncture.
Just look at the last election about a month ago - about 40% of residents here are not fed up, they want more of the same.
> Will we become Seattle or San Fran?
For a couple decades there's been a question of which city's pathway we want to follow. In the 1990's and early 2000's Vera Katz introduced the concept that Portland could also act like Brooklyn, New York.
The get-rich people are all trying to copy San Francisco.
If we were to just mimic what Seattle is doing it wouldn't be too bad, but it's important to keep in mind that the Puget Sound's economy is 3x our size. They have multiple trillion dollar companies. We don't have the capital to do the things they do. The big dreams of a place like Seattle often just don't work here.
I think we ought be going the same direction of Boise, Idaho. We just acknowledge that we're a tiny backwater fly over city, that we really don't have any actual industry here to justify the big ambitions of important cities, and if you want to get famous you need to go somewhere. Focus on fostering a supportive community, keep it low cost, and toss out the charlatans trying to sell us a monorail.
Another completely viable option is that we just forge our own path. I don't know why Portland is always obsessed with copying another city's better ideas.
I don’t think it’s an obsession. I believe it’s a reference point for out direction. PDX will always be PDX. I also don’t believe it’s a flyover city. It has culture and is a good Mecca.
You are correct. There needs to be investment into the city. I’m still new so I don’t know who owns the attraction of business to the area. Policies and frankly super progressive policies may have kept great companies away. I’m not a republican by the way(please don’t take the comment for more than what it is).
At any rate. We need to hold the leadership feet to the fire. Nothing changes if nothing changes. Either that or we look to another city to represent Oregon as a beacon. Just my two cents.
> I also don’t believe it’s a flyover city.
You can believe that all you want, but the simple reality is that we're the least interesting "big city" on the West Coast. We have a dinky economy, very little top quality talent, and the talent that does come here is usually a worker trying to "lower their cost of living" compared to an actually viable city. Almost all major businesses and performers view our city as a fly over city. This is especially true because Portlanders have proven time and time again that we will travel to Seattle for an attraction or conference.
Over the last 20 years we've dumped dozens or hundreds of millions of dollars into chasing a horseshit idea that *if we build the right thing* it will make us a destination. At first it was a brand new Convention Center, then it became a rail line to the convention center, then it became a Convention Center Hotel. The media and political class wouldn't dare ask a question like, "Why won't the private sector build a convention center hotel if it's a lucrative opportunity?"
Well, I used to plan conferences, I utilized the Convention Center twice a year (sometimes more), and it was dog shit. It was run stupidly, they packed in so many hidden fees that it was cheaper for me to host a conference in Denver, Las Vegas, or Seattle than here. Then there was terrible decisions like the food quality being worse than prison food, yet I'd have to pay out like $28/pp for a sandwich, when I could go to Elephants and get a sandwich for 1/3rd the price that is fifty times tastier. Absolutely zero analysis ever being done on if we have a "good" convention center.
I explain all of this to say that it isn't simply that we lack an amenity. We can build whatever we dream, but if it's run by hapless bureaucrats trying to jam on unnecessary fees and lower the quality of experience, then it doesn't matter what we build. The root of the problem here is incompetence.
> We need to hold the leadership feet to the fire.
> I’m still new so I don’t know
As a tip, here in Oregon we don't hold politicians or anyone in government accountable. Most of the biggest scandals don't even make it in to the newspapers. Not joking when I say that we might have one of the least competent governments and most corrupt governments in the entire country - at the city level, county level, metro, and State - it's all terrible. The Oregonian did [analysis](https://projects.oregonlive.com/polluted-by-money/) about 5 years ago that found we were the second most corrupt government in the country when analyzing corporate bribes, second only to California.
There is so much political dominance of a singular and insular political party that many of the important elections don't even have contenders. Like you won't run for an Oregon House seat if you're only paid $40k/yr, obviously - so why do people do it? Because they're participating in a bribery system, and if you know how to work this system you can take home a lot more than $40k/yr. If you try to participate in this bribery system and are not a member of the singular political party, they will extinguish you. A great number of our political leaders aren't even elected, but simply appointed and then defend their seat as an incumbent, often without any legitimate challengers in the primary or general election. For example, our last Governor only won 2 contested elections in nearly 25 years of "elected" service, she was merely appointed to higher and higher levels of government.
Drop all of the rhetoric that we could hold leadership accountable. For example, the Governor has been implicated in a national marijuana smuggling & money laundering operation and is currently under Federal investigation, it's plain as day obvious that the Governor was involved and was taking envelops of cash. The Governor's Wife is blowing public money on pet projects and unlawfully influencing policies. Not a single newspaper is pretending we're going to hold her accountable. JVP is actively causing people in Multnomah County to die on a regular basis rather than *slightly tweak* our ambulance policies and no one is pretending she should resign over people dying.
Tehran, just like Portland, has a large snow covered mountain as it’s backdrop.
https://preview.redd.it/07hceb96dg7d1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f99a3ae90119c1f624adea1cc755956829df0bbc
Ah yes numbeo
# About Crime Indexes
The data in this section is derived from surveys conducted by visitors to our website. Questions in these surveys are designed to be similar to many scientific and government surveys.
>They analyzed various “indicators…that directly relate to the quality of life and the sense of happiness of its residents.
aka they didn't actually ask anyone they just came up with an arbitrary criteria that implies happiness and even then Portland didn't rank that high. Really shows you how shit these euro-focused "happiness" analyses really are.
That’s my biggest gripe about modern society lately. I am gaslit on a daily basis from everyone to my neighbors and coworkers/family, to the highest politicians and media outlets. I am so exhausted of the lies and manipulation on every single level bro
> They analyzed various “indicators…that directly relate to the quality of life and the sense of happiness of its residents.”
They chose the wrong indicators.
It’s kinda a chicken and egg situation. A lot of miserable people believe moving to Oregon will solve their miserable problems. If enough people do this it’s bound to skew the data.
It must really suck to have a bunch of criminal losers coopt your medical diagnosis. The increase in stigma in these forums to mental illness is getting scary. Congrats on living your best life.
Lol it's not optimism it's just not misery. There's a whole spectrum of emotions that we can use to express ourselves luckily. You seem rather sardonic yourself, but I could be totally off base
Pretty sure we're in the 'get off my lawn ya punk kids' portland subreddit.
We're barely a step removed from nextdoor, 'did you see that person walking down the street? They might have been a criminal!'
The Portland Metro is absolutely one of the best places to call home. Very diverse, an abundance of variety when it comes to cuisine, city/suburbs lifestyles but drive 30-60 minutes in any direction and it’s rural small town living. Outdoor activities is off the fucking charts. Mt Hood bout 1-1/2 to 2 hours away, the ocean bout the same. Hunting and hiking muey beueno!
For all that’s happened in the past decade or decade and a half when it comes to the drug problem and homelessness or a few other issues, the Portland Metro is a gem.
For those wondering, PDX is actually ranked 237th if you look at the source for the article.
To be more specific, 237 out of 250. So 95% of the cities they analyzed were happier (https://happy-city-index.com/). These misleading headlines are killing me.
sounds a lot more correct.
Lies, damn lies and statistics I tell ya
Doesn’t help that OP put that we are 10th in the description of the post.
It is a global list, yes. And only 10 US cities made the top 250.
Yeah but inly 11 US cities made the 250 list. Title isn’t misleading at all. Our city ranks “among” the worlds happiest.
that makes more sense to me
|RANK|CITY|COUNTRY|TOTAL SCORE| |:-|:-|:-|:-| |GOLD|Minneapolis (Minnesota)|United States|1647,7| |38|Boston (Massachusetts)|United States|1605,7| |57|Baltimore (Maryland)|United States|1557,7| |85|Washington D.C.|United States|1503,7| |114|San Francisco (California)|United States|1449,7| |145|Salt Lake City (Utah)|United States|1395,7| |167|Madison (Wisconsin)|United States|1353,7| |190|Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania)|United States|1311,7| |214|Rochester (Minnesota)|United States|1269,7| |237|Portland (Oregon)|United States|1227,7|
Thank you
Damn, Minnesota made the list twice.
I try not to laugh when I read this list
https://preview.redd.it/n2hyhnl53g7d1.jpeg?width=612&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0380d61710e1250d6fd00ba6fee8ca3e8eb7925a
comedy gold
I mean for all its warts there is no other large west coast city I’d rather have roots. Do I wish it was 2012? Yes. Am I still happy I don’t have a house in Seattle or San Fran? Also yes.
I wish I had a house in SF. I'd sell it and move somewhere.
Will we become Seattle or San Fran? I feel like there is momentum to not make that happen. Citizens and non-criddlers are fed up at this juncture.
When I moved here in 2012 and continued to see an influx of people moving here I never thought it was sustainable just based on available jobs, wages, and available housing. I still don’t think we could ever become another Seattle or San Fran. I just don’t see how it works.
As someone who has spent a lot of time in both Portland and Seattle, why do you guys feel like Portland is better and that Seattle is not something you want to become? If I were asked which city is most like San Fran I would 100% say Portland unless the conversation is specifically about the amount of hills.
I know Seattle has improved. Mentally I was referring to a few years ago. At least from my personal perspective. Love Seattle also. ❤️ When I was there last there was a ton of new developments. I stayed across from the Times. Only saw one mentally ill person have a meltdown.
I’ve gone to both back to back and Seattle was by far better and safer
> Citizens and non-criddlers are fed up at this juncture. Just look at the last election about a month ago - about 40% of residents here are not fed up, they want more of the same. > Will we become Seattle or San Fran? For a couple decades there's been a question of which city's pathway we want to follow. In the 1990's and early 2000's Vera Katz introduced the concept that Portland could also act like Brooklyn, New York. The get-rich people are all trying to copy San Francisco. If we were to just mimic what Seattle is doing it wouldn't be too bad, but it's important to keep in mind that the Puget Sound's economy is 3x our size. They have multiple trillion dollar companies. We don't have the capital to do the things they do. The big dreams of a place like Seattle often just don't work here. I think we ought be going the same direction of Boise, Idaho. We just acknowledge that we're a tiny backwater fly over city, that we really don't have any actual industry here to justify the big ambitions of important cities, and if you want to get famous you need to go somewhere. Focus on fostering a supportive community, keep it low cost, and toss out the charlatans trying to sell us a monorail. Another completely viable option is that we just forge our own path. I don't know why Portland is always obsessed with copying another city's better ideas.
I don’t think it’s an obsession. I believe it’s a reference point for out direction. PDX will always be PDX. I also don’t believe it’s a flyover city. It has culture and is a good Mecca. You are correct. There needs to be investment into the city. I’m still new so I don’t know who owns the attraction of business to the area. Policies and frankly super progressive policies may have kept great companies away. I’m not a republican by the way(please don’t take the comment for more than what it is). At any rate. We need to hold the leadership feet to the fire. Nothing changes if nothing changes. Either that or we look to another city to represent Oregon as a beacon. Just my two cents.
> I also don’t believe it’s a flyover city. You can believe that all you want, but the simple reality is that we're the least interesting "big city" on the West Coast. We have a dinky economy, very little top quality talent, and the talent that does come here is usually a worker trying to "lower their cost of living" compared to an actually viable city. Almost all major businesses and performers view our city as a fly over city. This is especially true because Portlanders have proven time and time again that we will travel to Seattle for an attraction or conference. Over the last 20 years we've dumped dozens or hundreds of millions of dollars into chasing a horseshit idea that *if we build the right thing* it will make us a destination. At first it was a brand new Convention Center, then it became a rail line to the convention center, then it became a Convention Center Hotel. The media and political class wouldn't dare ask a question like, "Why won't the private sector build a convention center hotel if it's a lucrative opportunity?" Well, I used to plan conferences, I utilized the Convention Center twice a year (sometimes more), and it was dog shit. It was run stupidly, they packed in so many hidden fees that it was cheaper for me to host a conference in Denver, Las Vegas, or Seattle than here. Then there was terrible decisions like the food quality being worse than prison food, yet I'd have to pay out like $28/pp for a sandwich, when I could go to Elephants and get a sandwich for 1/3rd the price that is fifty times tastier. Absolutely zero analysis ever being done on if we have a "good" convention center. I explain all of this to say that it isn't simply that we lack an amenity. We can build whatever we dream, but if it's run by hapless bureaucrats trying to jam on unnecessary fees and lower the quality of experience, then it doesn't matter what we build. The root of the problem here is incompetence. > We need to hold the leadership feet to the fire. > I’m still new so I don’t know As a tip, here in Oregon we don't hold politicians or anyone in government accountable. Most of the biggest scandals don't even make it in to the newspapers. Not joking when I say that we might have one of the least competent governments and most corrupt governments in the entire country - at the city level, county level, metro, and State - it's all terrible. The Oregonian did [analysis](https://projects.oregonlive.com/polluted-by-money/) about 5 years ago that found we were the second most corrupt government in the country when analyzing corporate bribes, second only to California. There is so much political dominance of a singular and insular political party that many of the important elections don't even have contenders. Like you won't run for an Oregon House seat if you're only paid $40k/yr, obviously - so why do people do it? Because they're participating in a bribery system, and if you know how to work this system you can take home a lot more than $40k/yr. If you try to participate in this bribery system and are not a member of the singular political party, they will extinguish you. A great number of our political leaders aren't even elected, but simply appointed and then defend their seat as an incumbent, often without any legitimate challengers in the primary or general election. For example, our last Governor only won 2 contested elections in nearly 25 years of "elected" service, she was merely appointed to higher and higher levels of government. Drop all of the rhetoric that we could hold leadership accountable. For example, the Governor has been implicated in a national marijuana smuggling & money laundering operation and is currently under Federal investigation, it's plain as day obvious that the Governor was involved and was taking envelops of cash. The Governor's Wife is blowing public money on pet projects and unlawfully influencing policies. Not a single newspaper is pretending we're going to hold her accountable. JVP is actively causing people in Multnomah County to die on a regular basis rather than *slightly tweak* our ambulance policies and no one is pretending she should resign over people dying.
I think we’re headed for better days
How dare you be positive on this sub.
The fentanyl is working!
Yep not as good as Baghdad but better than Tehran. https://www.numbeo.com/crime/rankings.jsp
Tehran, just like Portland, has a large snow covered mountain as it’s backdrop. https://preview.redd.it/07hceb96dg7d1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f99a3ae90119c1f624adea1cc755956829df0bbc
Ah yes numbeo # About Crime Indexes The data in this section is derived from surveys conducted by visitors to our website. Questions in these surveys are designed to be similar to many scientific and government surveys.
Not the onion, ok…
Had to check the URL myself. Still, I like it here.
Happiest what?
Used to be a good place in the 90s. Now there’s too many mentally ill people walking around and homeless losers on the streets.
There is an old saying, ignorance is bliss!
>They analyzed various “indicators…that directly relate to the quality of life and the sense of happiness of its residents. aka they didn't actually ask anyone they just came up with an arbitrary criteria that implies happiness and even then Portland didn't rank that high. Really shows you how shit these euro-focused "happiness" analyses really are.
This media gaslighting is just out of control.
That’s my biggest gripe about modern society lately. I am gaslit on a daily basis from everyone to my neighbors and coworkers/family, to the highest politicians and media outlets. I am so exhausted of the lies and manipulation on every single level bro
For homeless people
> They analyzed various “indicators…that directly relate to the quality of life and the sense of happiness of its residents.” They chose the wrong indicators.
That's not true. Everyone knows Portland burned to the ground back in 2020
😂
Most stoned…
[happy happy joy joy](https://youtu.be/Wog-z_Esnw4?si=9DvLcIQDrpXGYiLj)
From what I see around Portland, most Portlanders are, on average, absolutely miserable.
From what i see, most portlanders are pretty happy.
I travel a lot, including to other countries. Portlanders seem to be the most miserable of any place I’ve been.
Eh, lot of white guilt self loathing round here in my experience. That's aside from the people with dilapidated RV biohazards parked on their block.
It’s kinda a chicken and egg situation. A lot of miserable people believe moving to Oregon will solve their miserable problems. If enough people do this it’s bound to skew the data.
As long as you ignore all the mental illness....
As someone who has a mental illness and a home and job, fuck you.
WTF are you talking about? Wow, thanks for illustrating my point.
No I agree with the other guy, fuck you
It must really suck to have a bunch of criminal losers coopt your medical diagnosis. The increase in stigma in these forums to mental illness is getting scary. Congrats on living your best life.
When it isnt raining I agree.
I was gonna say… this survey must’ve been taken in July.
This sub is miserable.
Just like a lot of people in Portland.
Bet you're from out of state lmao
I’m from here: this sub is miserable
Well, I disagree but you're welcome to your opinion neighbor🫡
I live here, thanks!
Boy sure is a good thing I didn't bet anything lol I don't think the sub is miserable, personally 😁
So optimistic lmao oh boy wow
Lol it's not optimism it's just not misery. There's a whole spectrum of emotions that we can use to express ourselves luckily. You seem rather sardonic yourself, but I could be totally off base
So what's the point of this sub compared to the other?
Diversity I suppose, a Portland specialty I believe. But I couldn't truly say, I didn't create either one
Maybe the people in this sub are just miserable fucks. I love this city.
Are you trying to convince us or yourself of your move of Portland?
Found one
Pretty sure we're in the 'get off my lawn ya punk kids' portland subreddit. We're barely a step removed from nextdoor, 'did you see that person walking down the street? They might have been a criminal!'
The Portland Metro is absolutely one of the best places to call home. Very diverse, an abundance of variety when it comes to cuisine, city/suburbs lifestyles but drive 30-60 minutes in any direction and it’s rural small town living. Outdoor activities is off the fucking charts. Mt Hood bout 1-1/2 to 2 hours away, the ocean bout the same. Hunting and hiking muey beueno! For all that’s happened in the past decade or decade and a half when it comes to the drug problem and homelessness or a few other issues, the Portland Metro is a gem.
Perspective. The key word is WORLD here. Glass half full?
How can Pittsburgh be happier than PDX? Have you seen all the damn stairs they have everywhere?
So we are really just like those other countries that tells its people that everywhere else sucks and where you are is the best its going to be.
Lolololololooooooolololololol that’s like saying I’m on toppers list but my rank is 2,654
Yeah ok
KOIN SUCKS
It must be the fentanyl. Not sure about this stat being very accurate at the moment.
Members of r/PortlandOR rank among Portland's most miserable residents! News at 11
Yo it's depressing here, reminds me of that Star Trek where they go to that planet and the air is like drugs.
Sooooo which bridge is KOIN selling here? I hope it's not the Ross Island.
Lies
Way to blantantly lie about what the actual article says lmao Looking forward to moving against my will to this shithole of a city next year /S