No Sloth in Portland

A fellow associate here, Jocelyn Brady wrote an acerbic little article about Portland, Oregon being a city of sloths. While Portland does have a high population of street people, mainly young people, it is certainly not in and of itself a slothful place to live!

Portland is a beautiful city, the City of Roses. Every year tourism from the Rose Parade and Rose Festival, as well as a plethora of other activities, draws tourists who spend their dollars here, plumping up the economy.

Certainly the folks involved in these endeavors are anything but slothful. Portland is an interesting and lively city, with a mélange of architecture from modern new hi-rises to lovely old classic architecture. Every Saturday you can find the world-famous Saturday Market by the Skidmore Fountain. You can access the market by the handy MAX train that conveys passengers all over the city.

There are world class restaurants, little neighborhoods with fantastic shops. Some are bohemian-flavored and some are trendy, with all the latest in modern cookware and clothing. If you go to NW. Twentieth street, you will find the bustle of young urbanites and business folks who add to the bustle of shoppers.

Take a bus out to Sellwood on the Southeast side of town and you will find a great neighborhood with an endless offering of antique shops and little corners stuffed with delights of all kinds. This is a very homey neighborhood where you can find a pizza parlor for lunch or a grocery store for a pack of tissues.

Then there is China Town, or the Pearl District as it is now being called. Here you will find Dim Sum restaurants and Chinese food of every type and kind. You will also find some street people on the fringes, but they don't bother anyone, and all seem to share the area peacefully.

Portland is a thinking city. You will find dissidents and anarchists here. You will find people who have mental illness and are trying their best to survive. Portland has its own "homeless" newspaper, street roots. This unique system allows homeless to purchase papers from street roots and sell them to the public. The idea is less begging and more labor.

Not everyone is capable of "regular" labor, due to many different conditions. Some people work their way up from the streets to permanent housing and sometimes to regular jobs.

Portland is a melting pot of people and ideas. That is part of its charm. No city is perfect. Each has its skid row and bad side of town. Each has its characters and weirdoes. Hey, live is a festival and the more the mix the merrier. Don't cross Portland off your list of cities to see, there is a great deal that is lovely in this city.