Portland, A Safe Boomer City

The Difference Is The Steel

Trouble in front? Head out the back. Where is this?

A big measure of safety in a city comes in a crime report.

Or a weather channel.

Or a geological survey.

NW Boomer looks at the built environment. One part keeps you safe inside, another gets you safely outside.

It’s not the same as cast iron architecture.

Take a look and leave a comment if you know where in Portland these images came from.

You’ve got trouble to left.

Trouble to the right?

What do you do?

Head to middle and hit the stairs.

Somethings happening on the roof?

The access door locked behind you?

There’s only one way down.

Okay, two, but still take the fire escape.

One day you’re all settled in.

But there’s a noise outside by the window.

Are you worried? Not in Portland.

The vault sits wide open.

You’re visiting your diamonds and gold.

But the shades aren’t drawn.

Steel bars mean more than drapery.

A street level means trouble.

Anyone walking by has a chance to break in.

Wait a minute, breaking through brick and steel?

Not today.

Safety means different things to different people, but in Portland there’s been enough people interested in going to the wrong place and doing the wrong thing.

This is a city where doing the right thing is the best choice. If you know a baby boomer, ask them. They’ll say they’ve always done the right thing. You won’t know the difference because there was no world wide web when they were doing stupid things.

And they’ve worked to flatten the learning curve for everyone younger than them.

Steel is a good teacher.