DO PORTLAND CHRISTMAS LIKE A THREE YEAR OLD

A Portland Christmas goes one of two ways:

“I will never set foot in that hell-hole.”

Or?

Peacock Lane? Let’s go.”

Last year was a trial, a test, to see if we had a group who could stick together under the Christmas stress.

This year proves it wasn’t a fluke.

We even added to the group, which is a testament of stick togetherness. Hey Charlie. Hey Cait.

And it’s a fine group with plans for next year.

 

What’s The Big Deal For Portland Christmas?

Like so much in life, it’s about timing.

Good timing, which is what was had from start to finish.

Good timing might be a fluke, but not this time.

The third time will tell. That’s the charm, right?

To be sure, we brought a three year old with us.

She was charmed, a charm, and charming at every stop of the night.

The French Quarter food carts in Multnomah served up right this year.

Last year rained on us and most of them closed early.

Did that stop us then? No.

This year had a bite in the air but no rain so we loaded up with tacos and Thai food and settled inside at a warm table for seven.

Then we moved across the street.

From the French Quarter to John’s Market, our three year old, the canary in the coal mine for a good night or not, was fired up.

She saw a blow up statue of the Grinch all alone and spend some time punching and head-butting it.

I wanted to show her how to backhand the Grinch, but decided to wait.

Sharing a drink with friends and family seems like a given. It’s not.

You probably know this, but getting anyone together to do anything is a chore.

A recent New Yorker cartoon showed it with a lady leaving a Christmas party saying, “The conversations were good but I can’t believe I paid a baby sitter to listen to it.”

We rolled along because we brought baby, and baby had a ball.

 

A Safe Portland Christmas

Do all three year olds say, “Go fast,” when you pass someone on the freeway?

The kid might be a racer.

She didn’t want to drive 55 or 60 mph, but loved the city lights from the top of the Marquam.

From Multnohmah to the Marquam to Peacock Lane we were on schedule and one time.

It’s easier with everyone in one car.

Then from Peacock Lane to Pioneer Square for a slow lap around the city Christmas tree.

 

A Portland Perspective From A Car Seat

The sign is a street sign like any other around town.

But it gives no clue to the special time coming up.

How special?

Every year for the past 100 years the lights have sparkled and the neighborhood takes pride in keeping the show going on.

But what’s it mean to a modern Portland shackled by homeless people in tents on a cold night, drugs to cut the chill, and movers and shakers pledging a New Portland.

 

Fixing Portland? They’re on It.

Here’s the comeback story you’ve been awaiting. The city’s busiest minds are on it.

 

First step, countering the negative Portland talk:

Meanwhile, back at home, slanted push polls were purchased by the Portland Business Alliance and repeatedly platformed by local media, while conservative consultants were hired to form cynical lobbying groups and sham “grassroots organizations” (particularly People for Portland) to plaster billboards and bombard email in-boxes with one clear message: “Portland is a shit-hole, and our local government is doing nothing about it.”

 

Second Step?

If I listened to Portland news I’d never venture within a 205 distance from downtown.

Except I listen to Portland news, weigh the give and take, and proceed.

Who would dare let a three year old run down Belmont and 42nd with unbridled joy with boogeymen behind every parked car, every lump of shrubbery?

A body slamming dad and his kick-ass wife say let’s go.

Then what? You go.

Seen through a speedy toddler’s eyes, Portland is one big playground.

That’s how I saw it when I got off the bus in Old Town. (Hey, Becky.)

Since I came to town from a year in NYC, Portland wasn’t NYC, not Brooklyn, not some megalopolis teeming with bros willing to step on every face in front of them on their upward ascent.

 

It was creatives who built Portland into the bustling, world-renowned city that made these developers and opportunists so much money in the mid-2010s: the bands, the comedians, the artists, the restaurateurs, the writers, the filmmakers.

And how did Portland’s increasingly rich folk repay these creatives?

By replacing affordable housing with expensive mixed-use apartments (because you must have kombucha on tap and dog-washing stations!), thereby pricing the culture’s originators out of the city’s core, and into the waiting arms of communities that appreciate them. (Hello, Beaverton!)

 

To me, Portland has long been a rung on the ladder for middle-managers on the way to bigger markets.

Bigger markets for bigger jobs means bigger problems to solve.

Is there anyone in Portland, anyone in Oregon, who would willingly move to any of the cities listed above #22?

I’ve been to fourteen of the cities listed and pick Portland.

How many have you been too? Still pick Portland?

If not why not, and don’t use the “If it bleeds, it leads” news reports.

Last night couldn’t have gone better, from the company, to parking, to driving the city back and forth across the river.

If you think Portland needs work from the ground up, get down for the view from a three year old.

Start there.

Say Something Nice About Portland?

It’s easy if you try, if you make an effort greater than clicking your remote in a room in Tualatin, in Lake Oswego, in Klamath Falls, in Baker City.

You don’t need to be a strong man for Portland, just strong enough to know things change. Sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worst.

So bring your better self, like your inner three year old, and watch it grow.