PORTLAND 2019: A GOOD TIME TO SAY GOODBYE TO A DECADE

Even surrounded by the built environment, nature finds a way to remind Portland of its place.

That’s Mt. St. Helens in peeking through back, the cute volcano that shot rock and smoke six miles high.

Twin Towers

I have a similar picture from Paris.

Remind me and I’ll find it.

Portland Core

Once upon a time, Portland had one building towering over the rest, and city fathers said, “Never again.”

But, they were older dads who didn’t see the future as clearly as the new city fathers. So Portland grew up.

Old Portland

From the horizon down, from the skyline down, is a section of Portland that would have set it apart from other west coast cities.

You’re heard of the Southwest Blocks.

This is where Memorial Coliseum was going to go. It could have been a big league ball park.

But instead, it’s a high-rise apartments and a traffic tangle. Imagine the sort of civic leadership that could have resisted urban renewal back then.

Is it the same sort of leaders working for the city today? Or has this become a stepping stone city where the up and coming do time then move on?

The Mountain Is Out

New people love explaining to those back home how their new city is an hour from the coast one way, and an hour from Mt. Hood the opposite direction.

Like so many elites who validate their lives by living near New York City to feel the pulse of the universe, yet never go into the city, Portland is full of people who don’t like snow and sand; they never leave the city.

The Portland energy is more than enough for them.

How ’bout you?