PORTLAND CROSSROADS CULTURE BETWEEN SCIENCE, AGE, AND ATTITUDE

via ou.edu

All towers growing around Portland have at least one thing in common: At one precise moment they could either be a building going up, or on the way down. Like bomb exploded landscapes resemble a controlled demolition after the dust settles, a first glance can be so misleading.

Click the link to see an image slide between 1951 and 2014.

When in doubt, fall back to the education that put you in a place to decide. Be sure to ask yourself the right questions, like ‘who is affected if I mistake an emerging tower for crumbling wreckage?’ If the answer is ‘no one’ then find someone to share with.

Find a Portland person and start pointing. Explain the idea of crossroads culture and how it changes the view based on science, age, and attitude; on architecture, history, and the need to belong someplace.

Don’t stop with the towers and the tear downs though, be sure to notice the people. Walk among them on the bus mall, the train stop, the airport. Motion is the future and that’s the problem.

Between planes, trains, and Tri-Met routes dragging along SW 5th and 6th are people who abandoned motion, or got abandoned by motion. That Portland litters the Banfield gully, shadows under the Morrison Bridge, pressures abandoned jail cells. Be sure and notice.

Do some of the campers look on the way up? Their tents on the way down? All a jumble one way or the other? They are either at their cultural crossroads, or you’re at yours if you can’t tell the difference.

A city needs new blood to stay current, to stick on the desired destination list. As much as Portland and Seattle can’t handle the torrent of new blood defined by added cars, additional stink, and locals complaining about new people, that’s the general trend.

More art gallery openings, author readings, and tents; more fashion, more music, and more tents. Portland crossroads hold them all, but not all of Portland gets out, not everyone participates and looks around. If they did they would voice more complaint.

Any complaint needs a vote, get changed by a vote. Oregon vote by mail makes the whole participation deal seem like not voting is intentional neglect. If the crossroads culture of Portland can’t get the vote out, what’s next?

Science informs the urban core to create a new age for Portland, the umbrella so many others want to crowd under. A high percentage of voter participation shows the rest of Oregon the sort of attitude Portland will lead with.