OT: Moving to Portland (need your help ...)

From about SE 12th up through 50th is a great area. There are schools all through there, as well as parks, though that pretty much describes a lot of areas.

Not having kids myself, I can’t say anything with certainty, but SE is a great area.

Go Blazers!

I loved it there. It’s close to everything, but is still very neighborhood-y

in Oregon right now – especially elective teachers like music. Budget axe is falling pretty hard.

and it was awesome. On the way home from the Bermudian triangle, there was always a random house party to attend and a bush to pee on. If you can afford the area, I suggest living several streets away. As a parent of young children, I suggest the Foster/Powell area from 52nd all the way into Lents. Say what you will, but things are getting better here.

We’ll save you a seat for the championship parade!

But in my time there, it was NOT a good place to be if you did social work or taught kids. Advertising, graphic design, so-called "creative" big-money jobs were all the rage. If you were at a party and getting along with strangers just fine, but your profession came up and you weren’t one of the Blessed Elect, it was like you’d sprayed yourself with poop mist.

Maybe that’s changed, or maybe I went to the wrong parties back then! But I found things a lot more laid-back and human in Minnesota. In Saint Paul if you learn that someone’s a teacher, your first reaction isn’t "shh, let’s pretend we don’t look down on them" but "hey, cool, what school?" (I married a piano teacher; she does classes privately as it gives her a flexible schedule.) You talk with your mail-delivery guy and he has treats for your dogs. This is changing as it is everywhere – soon all of America will be like Los Angeles – but In parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin there’s still some of that working-schlub community feeling left. Is it in Portland? I didn’t find it when I grew up there. Maybe others have. Good luck to both of you wherever you land!

what I CAN speak to is my experience as a native Pdxer, social worker, and part time faculty at the PSU School of Social Work. I think most of Pdx is pretty laid back and definitely leaning toward the 99% side of the ledger. If you go to a Timbers game you’ll see some of what I’m talking about. I wouldn’t say social work jobs are “plentiful” here, but there are a fair number of openings most of the time. Yes, Morrison Center is one of the old guard, well established agencies in town. So, I’d consider them. There are others, as well. You also don’t need to work in Pdx proper. There are agencies throughout the tri county area as well as a bit further out that you should consider.

I can’t comment on the school situation currently. I was fortunate (though not among the wealthy) to be able to attend Chapman grade school and Lincoln Hi and got a terrific education back in the day. My kids attended school in the Beaverton SD and also did well with their educations and careers

My son and this wife live on S.E. Belmont in what’s called the Sunnyside Dist. and they love it. My daughter and her husband live in western Washington county and want to move to the city at some point.

as has already been mentioned, full-time music teaching positions are rare in Portland schools. There’s a place called Ethos, which is sort of an instructor/student hookup joint with practice rooms. I don’t think anyone is making much money there, but it’s always busy.

I always thought I’d get back to Portland at some point (pre-retirement anyway). Somehow, I just keep moving around the midwest though.

At least housing is cheaper here? ;)

I moved to PDX in the summer of ‘96 knowing absolutely nothing about the city. I didn’t even realize that there would be trees in the urban areas until my plane made it’s decent in the evening skies over the city…

I also did not realize the sun would still be up at 9pm in June until my plane made it’s decent in the evening skies over the city. But that’s another story.

When I woke up the next morning, my first order of business was to find an FM radio station for my walkman. (The cassette era had not quite ended yet!) After wandering up and down the dial I stumbled on the now-defunct KUFO, a pretty prototypical hard rock radio station, complete with an obnoxious, overgrown adolescent morning DJ. They just happened to be launching into a series of rude jokes about different communities in the Portland area and the greater Willamette valley. It was in essence a crash course on local stereotypes. Even though the jokes are terrible and in poor taste, they have stuck with me all these years.

[None of the following jokes are NSFBE. However, they are all fairly childish and offensive. You’ve been warned.]

Q: What do you wear to a wedding in Milwaukie?
A: Formal bowling shirts.

Q: Why don’t you ever see nativity scenes in Gresham at Chirstmas time?
A: Because it’s so hard to find three wise men and a virgin.

Q: How do you keep from being robbed in North Portland?
A: Leave.

And in my first introduction to Duck/Beaver rivalries…

Q: Why don’t they let the cheerleaders out on the field at halftime in Corvalis?
A: To keep them from grazing.