# 90% Chance We are Moving to Portland...



## Ride-Fly (Mar 27, 2002)

this summer. We currently live in Boulder and my wife is finishing her PHD so after a job search, it looks like we will be heading tot he PNW. My wife grew up in Oregon City and her new job will be in downtown near the Lloyd Center. Looking at neighborhoods that offer close proximity to her work, PDX airport, good cycling, and better than good schools (we have a 22 month old boy and I gotta be looking out for #1, my boy). Any suggestions? Thinking about Lake Osweego but maybe too suburban? How is the east side of downtown? Gentrified? Schools good? Where is the best riding? Thanks.


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## SimeofPag (Jan 31, 2009)

First off you are going to be spoiled in Portland...nothing like mountain biking in a legitimate forest 5 minutes from downtown and races basically every day in the summer! I grew up in southwest Portland, great schools, there are also some private one speckled all over the city too. The airport/Lloyd Center was never too much of a hassle from SW, maybe 20-30 minutes unless you get unlucky and get into some traffic. There is some awesome road riding in SW/LO area, you can be out into some good country roads in about 30 minutes of riding or so, and Lakeside Bike shop in LO has some great group rides on saturday/sunday. SW/LO of course has its pockets of suburbia but there are also some really nice old neighborhoods. Hope that helps a little.


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## PdxMark (Feb 3, 2004)

I live in close-in NE Portland, right in the area you're talking about. As far as I'm concerned, it's urban heaven. You can live a bike-centered life with minimal car use day-to-day. The neighborhoods are great -- Irvington, Alameda, Laurelhurst are higher-end. Others are less so, but also very, very nice. LO is fine, if you want a suburban feel. Personally, I don't like it, but that's my bias. The commute from LO to the Lloyd area would be the suxxor...


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## PomPilot (May 17, 2006)

Nothing wrong with the neighborhoods that PdxMark lists. My favorite (from my university days) is the St. Johns area. IOW, there are a lot of neighborhoods north of the Lloyd Center area where you could live _and_ bike to work. 

If I was considering a move to Portland, and a job in that area, I'd start reading Jonathon Maus' Bike Portland blogs, and check out some of the links. Including the Lloyd District bike parking map, or the POoT bicycle page  with its own links, including neighborhood bike maps.


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## SimeofPag (Jan 31, 2009)

true...Portland is basically the best city ever


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## Ride-Fly (Mar 27, 2002)

SimeofPag said:


> true...Portland is basically the best city ever


Love Portland but the weather in winter is downright dreary. I will the 300 days of sunshine that Colorado has to offer. Boulder is my favorite "town" and San Diego followed closely by San Francisco are my favorite cities. I think Portland can definitely grow on me! Thanks for all the recommendations guys!!!


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## WWU (Oct 7, 2008)

Vancouver.

I may be a little biased though having lived there the first eighteen years of my life.


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## maximum7 (Apr 24, 2008)

PHD? Then definitely go for Alameda.
You'll have to get out of that area however, to get in any decent riding, but it's a very nice, overpriced area to live in.
If you can get past our rain and horribly designed roads/hwy system, it's not too bad.


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## brujenn (Nov 26, 2007)

If schools are truly #1, look at Camas or Hockinson in Washington. Portland public schools are being dismantled, and private is a mysterious mix of non-standardized teacher requirements, and teacher salaries that really need to be called compensation packages as the big number is the free tuition they get for thier own kids.

PDXMark's list of the cool neighborhoods is one to print and save, in the same file as your home school info.


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## jgadamski (Mar 27, 2009)

*make your choices*



brujenn said:


> If schools are truly #1, look at Camas or Hockinson in Washington. Portland public schools are being dismantled, and private is a mysterious mix of non-standardized teacher requirements, and teacher salaries that really need to be called compensation packages as the big number is the free tuition they get for thier own kids.
> 
> PDXMark's list of the cool neighborhoods is one to print and save, in the same file as your home school info.


suburban schools are perceived to be more successful. suburban bike facilities/culture sucks. 

urban, the opposite is true. 

whats the MOST important?

if you drive to meet buddies to start your ride, you probably would be more comfortable in the burbs.

if you can't fathom driving when you know you could get there by bike and perhaps have a good ride to boot... you need to rethink the school thing. There are posibilities if you are willing to explore them. You might just move into the CIty and spend hte next 3 yrs looking for that perfect school for Jr.


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## Ride-Fly (Mar 27, 2002)

*Mt Tabor leads!!!*

My wife just took a drive around the area and loves Mt Tabor park. I'm all for that, as I love the idea of a mini mountain near our house. I understand the best riding in Portland is outside of West Linn/Lake Osweego. Any good rides around the Mt Tabor area? 

Hey PDXMark, how would you rate MT compared to the neighborhoods you previously mentioned? What side of MT is the best as far as neighborhoods are concerned? Any streets to avoid? Burnside too busy a street? Thanks all!!!


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## ukiahb (Jan 26, 2003)

was considering a move there myself and made several visits, especially liked Multnomah Village and it is even near the velodrome if that matters


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## PdxMark (Feb 3, 2004)

Ride-Fly said:


> My wife just took a drive around the area and loves Mt Tabor park. I'm all for that, as I love the idea of a mini mountain near our house. I understand the best riding in Portland is outside of West Linn/Lake Osweego. Any good rides around the Mt Tabor area?
> 
> Hey PDXMark, how would you rate MT compared to the neighborhoods you previously mentioned? What side of MT is the best as far as neighborhoods are concerned? Any streets to avoid? Burnside too busy a street? Thanks all!!!


Mt. Tabor neighborhood is a wonderful part of Portland, and Mt Tabor Park is one of our recreational Crown Jewels - and an extinct volcano, to boot, at about 600' elevation. There are weekly amateur bike races there in the summer - Wed. nights I think. The east side of Mt Tabor faces Mt Hood, and the west side faces downtown. Here's a link to the Portland Public Schools map showing the schools for the west side of Mt. Tabor:

http://www.pps.k12.or.us/schools-c/map/MountTaborMap.pdf

Portland Public Schools has some very strong schools and some not-so-strong ones and some weak ones. The Grant High School cluster, mostly encompassing the neighborhoods I think I mentioned before, is a quite diverse school with strong college-track academics (the Constitution Team has won state the past 5 years or so, and has been in the top 5 (or 10) at nationals each time) and solid athletics. From the map I linked the west side of Mt. Tabor feeds Franklin HS -- not one of the best, but not bad either, I think... As I recall, Glencoe Elementary and Mt. Tabor Middle Schools are quite good. 

I'm not so sure if the best riding in Portland is outside of West Linn/Lake Oswego. It's good there in some directions - not so good in others. There's good riding from Mt. Tabor, too. One of our main 1-1.5 hour in-town rides is a loop that goes up Mt. Tabor and/or Rocky Butte. About 20 minutes north of Mt. Tabor along the I-205 MUT puts you on Marine Drive to go toward the Gorge. Mt Tabor connects to the Portland city bike network:

http://www.portlandonline.com/transportation/index.cfm?c=34809&a=181708

Mt Tabor is pretty close to Hawthorne Blvd & Belmont St - two nice, interesting commercial streets, Portland Nursery is close-by on Stark St.- if you have a gardener in the house - and 82nd Ave to the east is, well, our traditional American strip development if you ever need to recall what one of those looks like...

Mt Tabor would be a very cool place to live...


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## PdxMark (Feb 3, 2004)

Ride-Fly said:


> Hey PDXMark, how would you rate MT compared to the neighborhoods you previously mentioned? What side of MT is the best as far as neighborhoods are concerned? Any streets to avoid? Burnside too busy a street? Thanks all!!!


Ooops. I just noticed some of your specific questions... 

Mt Tabor Park is mostly the cinder cone of the old volcano. Most houses "on" Mt Tabor are on a ridge running to the north, with houses facing north, east or west. There aren't really any houses on the south side of Mt Tabor - that's mostly public space or a Christian college/seminary.

Most streets up and around Mt Tabor change their character from how they are further down hill. Mostly I'd avoid Stark to the north, Division to the south & 60th to the west. Even Belmont, which is quite commercial down below, is OK once you get far enough up Mt. Tabor. Burnside is probably too busy for alot of folks. I think it's 4 lanes - maybe 30-35 mph speed limit. I bet there aren't alot of houses ON Burnside since much of it has a commercial focus.

Even though a view of Mt Hood would be great, my ENTIRELY off-the-cuff thought is that the schools on the west side of Mt Tabor are probably better than on the east side -- though Bridger (on the east side) at least WAS a science magnet school - so I'd take my school summaries with a grain of salt. With a great enough easterly view I guess the kids would cope...


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## maximum7 (Apr 24, 2008)

I agree with everything PdxMark said. 

My wife worked for Portland Public Schools and it was/is always in a state of flux and financial issues however.
Might be a little better in the Alemda area, which would be westand north.

Consider the NW side of town, across the Wilamette. Close to the beautiful West Hills. The Rose Gardens, the Zoo, and upscale shopping. Plus the riding is great the further west you go. Sauvie Island, is a great place to ride. So are the areas around Hillsboro.


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## Ride-Fly (Mar 27, 2002)

*Mt. Tabor is out!!! LO and*

the West side of downtown leads!! We didn't like Mt. Tabor, Laurelhurst, Alameda, etc areas as much as we thought we would. Just a little too urban and too busy with vehicle traffic (for riding and more importantly my 23 month old son's safety). Lake Oswego leads but we found a couple of homes in the NW area- one in Nob Hill and another in Raleigh Hills that are awesome. I know this is urban too but it has the feel that it is just on the edge of urban-dom due to being on the West side next to the large wooded parks. Too bad they are just a little bit out of our range! Still, we are looking at ways that we might be able to swing it. Lake Oswego feels a lot like Boulder, CO and Westlake Village, CA. I like that!!! There seems to be a lot of drastic price reductions everywhere and more and more short sales, even in LO and the West hills area. Surprising in such nice neighborhoods.


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## jgadamski (Mar 27, 2009)

Not so surprising. Oregon has the second highest unemployment rate in the nation, right behind Michigan. 

Lot of us ride bikes because we dont want to pay for gas. Or insurance. Or have to work sucky jobs to do the above.


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## SterlingPN (Apr 19, 2009)

I live in Portland and will be moving into Daybreak Cohousing in October when it is finished being built. Read about it at www.daybreakcohousing.org. Easy bike access downtown, locked parking for 80-100 bikes in the common house basement with space for bike workshop, fully self contained condo units plus large dining space in the common house, children's, family, reading rooms and two guest bedrooms. Plenty of sustainable features built into the units, etc. Come visit us and learn more. Best wishes,
Sterling


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## brujenn (Nov 26, 2007)

well?


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## Ride-Fly (Mar 27, 2002)

brujenn said:


> well?


Update: We bought a house in the Palisades area of Lake Oswego. We got the house at a good price but in all honesty, I don't really like the house all that much. The house is a 3000 sq ft traditional colonial with 2.5 bath. The area is really nice IMO. Our street, Dellwood Drive is one of the few streets in LO that has large lot- ours is over 1/3 of an acre which is rare in LO. But if I had to do it all over again, I would have preferred a contemporary style home with vaulted ceilings and skylights. Also, I think I like the West Hills, Arlington Heights better and to a lesser extent the John's Landing area. A tad bit more urban but not as much as Hollywood, Mt Tabor, and the rest of the east side. There are a lot less homes for sale in Arlington Heights due to how small the area is. 

As for the riding, I have a love-hate thing going on. When I get to some of the areas in Sherwood hills (Old Kreuger Rd, Rabbit Mt) or Stafford (SW Mountain Rd), I love it! Some of the scenes pull me back to visits I've had in the English and French countryside. Riding along Stafford Rd from LO to get to Stafford sucks- no lane and lots of traffic. Same for getting out to Sherwood. 

Where are you at Brujenn? BTW, does Brujenn stand for Bruce Jenner???  Ride ON!!


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## brujenn (Nov 26, 2007)

Yes, I am Mr. Kardashian. For a couple of decades now, people have asked: "Bruce Jennings...were you in the Olympics?" A few years ago I started saying yes.

I'm in Vancouver. I mostly ride the east side. I've been your way a few times, but I have to ride through town to get there. I'm usually looking to get out of town. Are you riding much with the weather changing?


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## PdxMark (Feb 3, 2004)

I've recently started working in Vancouver. I'm building up a Pake C'muter as a commute bike and am looking forward to the 14 mile cross-river commute just as the weather gets its most...interesting.


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## brujenn (Nov 26, 2007)

PdxMark said:


> I've recently started working in Vancouver. I'm building up a Pake C'muter as a commute bike and am looking forward to the 14 mile cross-river commute just as the weather gets its most...interesting.


Vancouver?!? So many things...Vancouver Ave, of course, aptly named for your commute (assuming you are crossing I-5) but 14 would only be right if you're working downtown and are talking about your round trip....remember there's a MUP on the north bound span too...If it's 205, I'd have to go with Prescott. Maybe 33rd to Marine Dr for your morning. Also, the first right off Ellsworth after you cross I-14 going north is Nancy Road. It's a calm little way to get up to 10th/McGilivary. I'll have Ellsworth re-paved for you this weekend, just-in-case you prefer to go old school.

Oh! I'm so excited! We'll have to go shopping for some outfits!


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## RJohn (Mar 24, 2009)

I can't wait to get out of Portland. The taxes are high. The water bill is outrageous. The winters are gloomy. The city's high density housing plan is going to cause the highways and streets to become even more crowded. In my old established neighborhood with big old homes and nice size lots they crammed in one house and a duplex on to an average sized lot. I don't see this as helping quality of living. The parks smell like urine and the cops won't chase off the street people. We have a gay pedophile mayor. I guess that falls into the "keep Portland weird" bumper sticker mentality. The low high school graduation rate has been in the news lately.
Enough ranting. I will miss the cycling. Motorists are mostly courteous. Nice country roads to ride on. Even in the city it's not too bad. Great brew pubs.


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## hac (May 27, 2009)

RJohn said:


> I can't wait to get out of Portland.


I'm sure the feeling is mutual.


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