Although published on Earth Day, this was shot on the Friday before. The people you see walking around cleaning up are participating in an event called "We Believe in Portland". You can learn more here: webelieveinportland.com/

I was born and raised in Portland, owned a home in N Portland, and a rental in the Woodstock neighborhood..witnessed the slow erosion of the city due to the elected public officials HORRIFIC governing and legislation. Forced to live with the junky RV's parked down my block, theft from my and my neighbors property, the tents, the open drug use, the dirty needles, the burned up foil, and the menacing behavior from the drug addicted tent dwellers....After a 'homeless" clean up in my neighborhood, I quickly put my house on the market, sold it and my rental than escaped the madness in late 2023...Love where I live now, there is law and order, and clean beautiful streets...Portland will be troubled for many many years to come due to self inflicted wounds, its sad to say..

You should do a whole video where you drive through the whole of Portland City and downtown. These videos tend to do quite well (thousands of views). You could show a mix of ideal and less ideal areas so that we get the full picture. Perhaps you could even explore this for wider areas like Beaverton, Lake Oswego, Vancouver WA etc.

I lived in Portland for 5 months, its more dangerous than seattle, but compared to other cities, its safer than many places. Housing cheaper than seattle. Its not too bad of a place, if you want to be safe and not deal with homelessness, the suburbs is a better option. There are issues in every city with over 600k population. At least you dont have to deal with cold, snow, and very extreme heat.

Thanks for the update on the city and taking the time to make the driving footage. I live in a PDX suburb and still feel like we have a long way to go to get Portland back to where it was in the 2010-2018 times. That said I feel like you're correct, it is certainly getting better slowly. Lets hope we get back to downtown being, fun, safe and clean!!

I dunno if Portlanders see the city through the same eyes as mine,but Portland is such a beautiful city. at least 80% of the city is covered with dense forest. I don't focus on the problems Portland is facing right now like homelessness and crime. I just focus on its natural beauty which I truly appreciate. "Beauty's in the eye of the beholder". I am the beholder. I love Portland.

Another great one. Thanks. Really appreciate the info. I moved from the central US to Aloha a few years ago. Still lots to learn about Portland.

An obvious indication that this video is a Portland, OR sales pitch is the fact that it was filmed on a clear blue sky day. Something that according to several weather sites only happens there 68 days a year. And those 68 days can include 30% clouds, none of which appear in this vlog. Which further indicates how carefully selected the shooting day was. Consequently, while I’m sure other vlogs adopt an overly negative portrayal of the city, one has strong doubts that this one is a blunt honest assessment of the situation.

I first spent the summer of 1983 in Portland, returned again for the summers of 1984 and 1986 and moved here permanently in 1990. People love to complain, that's for sure. Well, in 1983, there was no Pearl District. It was a seedy, sketchy, somewhat dangerous area, including Old Town, north of Burnside that most people avoided. Alberta and Killingsworth Streets in NE Portland were all but abandoned and boarded up. Mississippi Ave in the Boise-Eliot neighborhood was sketchy as well. There were gang problems in those areas and most people thought they were pretty dangerous. Hawthorne and Belmont Streets were thriving, but Division St. wasn't much. I lived between Hawthorne and Division for a while in 1990-92, and there was very little of interest on Division. N. Williams and N. Vancouver were simply thoroughfares that got you from the Rose Quarter area to Lombard. There was nothing there and I never went there. The changes in this city since 1990 are amazing and wonderful. The city had a few hiccups with gentrification, but they seem to have gotten a handle on those problems. Yes, the Covid years were horrendous and the spike in homelessness and the graffiti epidemic that came with Covid are disheartening. I especially hate the graffiti and really wish the city could get control of that. But I've talked to young people who don't see it that way--they actually like it and appreciate it. But for me, it's too reminiscent of big European cities where everything is overed in graffiti, and I find it ugly and unpleasant. I want some serious civic action to clean it up and police responsibility to stop it. I'm willing to increase my taxes to see it happen. Homelessness is everywhere in this country. It's shocking. I was recently in Seattle and, although it's hard to make comparisons, it just visually looked worse than here. A year and half ago we took a road trip and saw homelessness in Boise, Denver, Omaha, and Minneapolis. Some just as bad or worse than we have here. It isn't just a Portland problem, but I think most people think there must be something the city could do that is more effective than whatever recent efforts have been made. Maybe this year's complete change in the city government, involving the mayor, the police and the city council, will help turn things around. I've begun to question whether the current system of city government can cope with the size of Portland with over 600K. It's no longer a smaller city and I think it takes a different governmental approach to handling and solving the urban problems. But there's still something very special about Portland and I have no desire to leave. I'm 74 now, have lived in the city for 34 years, and I still love it.

Gorgeous city, can’t wait to relocate here 😊🎉

If you grew up in Portland Oregon and you're now in your 60s or 50s yes Portland used to be beautiful compared to now

I wanted to believe the local cheerleaders that things are improving and then just a week ago I see that the downtown Buffalo Wild Wings shut down, citing not just a drop in business but even more telling, the closing of the adjacent city owned parking garage do to rising crime.

Fun insight. Cool drive. I drive around this city every day. I sketch the people of this city and have convos with many people. It feels like Portland is on a rebound. I'm excited for this positive energy. I think we all are. And it will take all of us to make a change. The bonus about the Portland area for people moving here is that it's a border town. Vancouver, WA offers a completely different tax bracket, neighborhoods, and schools while still close to what Portland has to offer. It's a completely different vibe than Portland. It was the first town I lived in when I moved up here in the 90s. Anyone remember Smokey's Pizza? Woot woot!

Portland, sponsored by Reynolds Wrap

Glad I Lived in Oregon City in The 70s When Hippies ✌️ ☮️ 🕊 🕊 Walked The Streets ✌️ ☮️ 🕊 🕊

Today is Earth Day. That's probably the reason for the clean up.

As a homeless person looking to relocate to Portland, how laxed are your drug laws?

Just watching the World according to Briggs (he lives near Portland) He compares city budgets of Portland $7 billion with Milwaukee, WI $2 billion (approx.) and wonders where the money is being spent. I would guess that it is spread over many different things, but that is a big difference. Portland is looking at school deficits right now and it would be a shame to cut there, but zero based budgeting would allow greater transparency. People are hurting financially everywhere.

Hello! Do y'all provide any assistance to people who are looking to rent instead of buy in the Portland area?

Is far better🎉 than other liberal areas specifically Bay area

Portland has a $12 billion plus operational expense, where is the money going to oh too stupid crap and pet projects and not focusing on the important things, results taxes keep going up quality of life goes down

🤣

You should bike through the city

i been to portland i didnt like it there at all its ugly and nothing there to do kinda old and boring city

THIS PLACE SUCKS OVER PRICED OVER TAXED TRASH EVERY WHERE I LIVE HERE IT SUCKS

Portland deserves the issues....they voted for it!

The first 5 mins was nothing but repitition... Buh bye