Portland’s new charter has the city newly divided into 4 precincts electing 3 councilors each (no longer holding administrative portfolios). There’s three plans thatre pretty similar, they have

• everything east of 82nd
• North and inner northeast
• Inner southeast
• West-of-the-river plus some portion of the east side

This last one is where the plans really vary, the included area is either

1. Sellwood, which kinda relates better to downtown as a streetcar suburb than the rest of the eastside where you have to get past a railroad moat, through an industrial area, and then you’re still kinda nowhere
2. Lloyd Center, where they first thought the freeway crossing would make for a new downtown in the ‘60s, but still serves as a beachhead of inner city life with new towers and a baseball stadium potentially replacing the mall
3. A few blocks in all along the bank of the Willamette, the areas once relating to a working waterfront which in either industrial use or redevelopment will consist of a distinct zone

I’ve been in Portland for two years almost to the day now, so in honor of the occasion I’ll share with you the two most Portland experiences I’ve ever had. That’s actually quite a high bar, as Portland is very dedicated to being Portland.

2. The first time I came to Alberta street I parked my motorcycle and had barely made it half a block, admiring the attractively graffitied televisions left in the middle of the sidewalk. A man interrupted me to hand me a single left motorcycle glove. When I looked at him quizzically he said “‘cause I don’t have a motorcycle”, by way of explanation.

1. One night I went to the strip club I’d bought a VIP card for on my first week in town. In there I was surprised to meet the bartender with pinball tattoos I recognized from a regular haunt. I think she was with a mixed-gender group that, from how they seemed to relate to each other, I’d speculate was part of some kink or polyamory club. We talked and she, who I had previously pegged at maybe 24, brought up her 13 year old son. She said she was proud and happy that he was into Slayer and D&D, “because I can tell he’s going to get mad laid”.

animalstalkinginallcaps:

YOU SHOULD PROBABLY JUST STAY IN THE CAR. THEY FOUND OUT THE STITCHES THEY USE WEREN’T FAIR-TRADE OR CONTAIN MODIFIED SOY OR SOMETHING SO THE ENTIRE STAFF WENT OUT LOOKING FOR NEW ONES.

WELL, EXCEPT FOR THE THREE THAT WENT TO MAKE PATCHES AND STICKERS ABOUT IT.

A COUPLE OF THEM WANTED COFFEE TOO, SO IT COULD BE A WHILE.

Went riding down to Reed today; they were having some thing. Explored the neighborhood, passed this place. Played some pinball. Always play some pinball.

Laurelhurst Park, Portland, Oregon

“But if I move to Portland, who will I have to hate/look down on?” was kind of a question there.

Looking for a place in Portland. When I was scouting here I subletted up by Alberta. This time I’d been looking more SE. Lined up some places around Hawthorne to look into and I’ve been checking out the neighborhood. It’s a little… undergraduate? That’s not exactly it. There are also happy grey-haired burghers and the girl whose apartment I just checked out, a 27-year-old spiritual healer, which is maybe like being a professional CFWG?

I guess it’s that people don’t feel like they’ve been scuffed up enough? Also the bars/restaurants are more, ah, themed, and bigger and less personal.

Which, given that my beef with Alberta was that it was kind of isolated and going out to bars at night there were too many damage cases…

This bowl’s too edgy! This bowl’s not edgy enough!

Staying in a fleabag motel. It’s exactly what I expected. I’m not delicate, I can take this for a while.

Looking for apartments/rooms on the internet. It’s exactly what I expected. It’s tougher in Portland, at least in LA I could use “can this person actually read and/or write” as a pretty effective screening mechanism, up here people are competent enough that that doesn’t narrow it down sufficiently.

Or I dunno maybe I’m spoiled. Should make a Socially Awkward Penguin: “CL ad doesn’t describe roommates? Might be terrible, don’t reply./Includes description close to but not exactly like me? Might be terrible, don’t reply.”

There was an ad, they wanted no cats so I wasn’t eligible anyway, but their criteria included, like

* be LBGT-friendly
* be non-misogynistic and non-sexist
* have a sense of humor that’s not PC
* don’t be easily offended

And I guess it was in the spirit of “Just don’t be a tool, in any direction,” but it was hard not to take it as “we need you to fit a very particular sweet spot.”

Wevs. I actually have a lead on a guy that sounds really decent, I’m meeting him tomorrow, hopefully that’ll work.

Soooo, people were like “ZOMG snowmageddon today!” and then there was some snow, and then it stopped. And the Portland subreddit was like “LOL snowmageddon” and I was like “LOL snowmageddon, let’s go for a walk.”

Three blocks? Hail.

You know when someone says “I must’ve died and gone to heaven”? I always thought that was just a stock phrase.

Portland is so perfect that I am finding it hard to believe that it exists in the same world I’ve lived in up to now.

Holy fucking shit.

This city is perfect in ways I did not think that actual cities could be.

Yeah, this and that line from What Was The Hipster, about how if you can’t make it anywhere, you can make it in Portland.

Other hand who knows what they said about Risley and that was the best time of my life.