LOOKING UP IN RISING PORTLAND

Looking up in some cities comes with a warning: Don’t do it.

Why? Because while you’re looking up someone is making plans you don’t see.

Like what?

Nothing useful, but when does that ever stop anyone?

I took a thirteen block rambler down to the river and felt refreshed by looking up.

See, in Portland, unlike bigger cities, you can look up at buildings without leaning way, way, back because Portland’s height is half the size.

It’s forty stories up, not eighty, so relax.

Another benefit of looking up in Portland? The small blocks bring more buildings in a shorter span.

The place is packed with interesting views close to each other.

The 200-foot size dates to downtown’s original layout in 1852, and explanations as to why our blocks were born so small range from a desire for abundant, lucrative, corner lots to the personal preference of a founder’s wife. 

Old buildings and new dot the landscape in ways that say “Look At Me.”

It was a throwback walk from 13th to the Willamette and back with extras.

I didn’t find the hellhole Portland is often referred to as.

Did I sidestep people and tents? A few. Sidestepping? That’s a city skill I learned when the rajneeshees owned the Martha Washington.

Overall I saw a city working it out for a better future.

When does that start?

Reborn Portland Due Date

Most of us are conditioned to keep a schedule, to stay on schedule.

If Portland is going to regain the momentum it’s had in the past, why not look at what could happen.

What is the model to follow for reborn, or born anew?

Let’s ask those in the birthing business instead of the usual suspect developers, the cut and run doodlers, who return to their own city after screwing around in downtown Portland.

The Portland Building, a design-build commission, was constructed on a shoestring budget and deteriorated over time, in terms of both its infrastructure and its use as an effective government workplace. 

Adding to a new group of buildings is like adding to a family.

If it’s a first baby it’s a celebration; second baby tires to fit in; third baby is on their own?

Good parents find a way for everyone to fit.

But first things first, how to start?

Two strangers find each other, bond together, and make plans for the future, the future they will build together.

Does that sound right? Is that how you started out?

Two people bond; two families bond. Sounds easy? Too easy?

When the commitment is strong enough it all looks easy.

Anyone who has tried knows it’s not easy.

One thing leads to another and things fall of the tracks.

That’s when you know if the bond holds or not.

Looking Up To Strong Bonds

If Portland is going to shine, it needs a ‘reveal party.’

To reveal what?

Portland has a gender?

If Portlandia is any indicator . . .

Consider what happens when a maternity ward of nurses launch one of their own into motherhood.

They all know the drill, the highs and lows, and the feelings of bursting love when it all works out.

That’s the urban model Portland should follow.

What could pull a city together and build a core so strong it inspires other cities near and far?

A new Portlandia? One that’s not an afterthought looking down from behind trees on a busy bus mall?

Like she’s in hiding after the past few years?

We need a baby girl to grow up and find her place among us.

A little girl needs to look up in wonder at the world awaiting her without fear.

A young woman needs to know how much they matter even if they’re not feeling it all the time.

Looking up in Portland is spaced out enough so you can also look out.

But too much of the city reputation is looking down.

If the riches of a city are it’s citizens, let’s strive to be better.

Start with the new and the old, and set a due date like maternity ward nurses.

A new Portlandia needs all the love there is to give.

Are you ready?

I believe you are.

Did someone say twins?