Is anyone here from Portland OR? I'm thinking of moving out there in March. The only real reason I've been staying in Boston is for the healthcare at Fenway, so hopefully I can find something like it in Portland. I figure I have nothing tying me down here anymore, split with the ex, getting bought out of the house and I've always wanted to live in Portland, so I figure now is a great time.

I'm trying to find some info on things;
Has Oregon passed laws where it's prohibited for insurance to discriminate against trans people?
Any lgbt health centers with a trans program?
Any parts of the city to avoid for living?
Jobs in IT? Plentiful or sparse?
Is having a car a hassle?

Thanks in advance for any help on this!

I'm also curious asked on here a couple times but haven't heard from anybody from there I'm looking at moving out there the end of May if everything works out right!

I can answer a few questions:

Portland is one of the most LGBT-friendly cities in the US and has the 7th highest % of LGBT people living there. It does prohibit discrimination in employment and housing. I'm not sure about insurance. I have no doubt that the city has one ifnot more, LGBT centers and people that work specifically with trans people.

Portland is one of my favorite cities.  You'll love it there.

Insurance - discrimination against trans folks is prohibited.
http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2013/01/07/1405281/oregon-insurance-companies-can-no-longer-discriminate-against-transgender-people/

Health Centers - If you're looking for LGBT specific clinics, I live in Seattle, so don't really know but check out
http://www.pdxqcenter.org/ for resources.

Living - There are a few rough neighborhoods, and more junkies per mile than most anywhere else in the west but once you get out of downtown, it is pretty safe if that is what you mean, and even downtown, the homeless and strung out are amazingly polite.  It's almost weird.

IT Jobs - Lots, Just south of Portland around Beaverton is massive hi-tech.  I did Oracle consulting down there for a while, and Between Intell and Nike and other employers, there is a lot of opportunity

Driving - The freeways and driving sux, but light rail and transit go everywhere and is affordable.

See you out west in the Spring. 

Good Luck,

Julie

Quote from: JulieBlair on November 25, 2014, 02:11:47 PM
Portland is one of my favorite cities.  You'll love it there.

Insurance - discrimination against trans folks is prohibited.
http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2013/01/07/1405281/oregon-insurance-companies-can-no-longer-discriminate-against-transgender-people/

Health Centers - If you're looking for LGBT specific clinics, I live in Seattle, so don't really know but check out
http://www.pdxqcenter.org/ for resources.

Living - There are a few rough neighborhoods, and more junkies per mile than most anywhere else in the west but once you get out of downtown, it is pretty safe if that is what you mean, and even downtown, the homeless and strung out are amazingly polite.  It's almost weird.

IT Jobs - Lots, Just south of Portland around Beaverton is massive hi-tech.  I did Oracle consulting down there for a while, and Between Intell and Nike and other employers, there is a lot of opportunity

Driving - The freeways and driving sux, but light rail and transit go everywhere and is affordable.

See you out west in the Spring. 

Good Luck,

Julie

Is downtown just called downtown portland? I know some cities call it something else. I'm looking at padmapper and saw a few places I like and can afford in sections called the pearl district, northwest, lloyd district, richmond and sunnyside. Are those ok areas?

The driving cant be any worse than Boston. It's taken me 3 hours to go less than ten miles on the highway here.

Thanks for the links, got them bookmarked in my Portland folder!

Portland is lovely.  I haven't really involved myself over the years in programs, resources or events specific to LGBT folks, so I don't know that I have much to offer there.  I can tell you that there is a very active LGBT center here in Portland called the Q Center.  (I've never actually been there myself.)  They have a website: pdxqcenter.org.  There's no telling what awesome resources you might find there; check it out.

IT is very big business here in Portland.

Lots of people I know do live without a car here, but I wouldn't recommend it.  Portland can be very cold and wet much of the year with long dark nights in fall and winter.  I like to have my car as refuge from the elements.  (Yeah, if you have a problem with rain and short cloudy days, you might have a difficult time here.)

There are some neighborhoods that I personally would not live in.  There are also many extremely clean, safe areas in Portland.  It is getting to be a bit crowded here, so traffic and parking can be a bear during certain times of day, and rents and property values are skyrocketing beyond what's reasonable, as far as I'm concerned.

That said, I still love it here.  And if you're a pool player, then you already have a friend in Portland.   

Hugs,
Miharu

Hey Michelle.  I do have my opinions about various neighborhoods in and around Portland, but I'd have to say what neighborhood you choose must really depend on what kind of experience you want to have. Some people dig an urban experience, others want something more suburban or even rural.  Some don't mind driving a distance to grocery stores and restaurants, and others want to step out their front door and walk right up to shops and services.  Some don't mind narrow streets and minimal parking access, and others want land around them. 

Here's an article that might interest you.  I'd be pleased to share with you what I know and feel about the variety of experiences that Portland has to offer, if you'd like.

http://www.golocalpdx.com/news/portlands-most-dangerous-neighborhoods

Quote from: Miharu Barbie on November 25, 2014, 02:42:11 PM
Portland is lovely.  I haven't really involved myself over the years in programs, resources or events specific to LGBT folks, so I don't know that I have much to offer there.  I can tell you that there is a very active LGBT center here in Portland called the Q Center.  (I've never actually been there myself.)  They have a website: pdxqcenter.org.  There's no telling what awesome resources you might find there; check it out.

IT is very big business here in Portland.

Lots of people I know do live without a car here, but I wouldn't recommend it.  Portland can be very cold and wet much of the year with long dark nights in fall and winter.  I like to have my car as refuge from the elements.  (Yeah, if you have a problem with rain and short cloudy days, you might have a difficult time here.)

There are some neighborhoods that I personally would not live in.  There are also many extremely clean, safe areas in Portland.  It is getting to be a bit crowded here, so traffic and parking can be a bear during certain times of day, and rents and property values are skyrocketing beyond what's reasonable, as far as I'm concerned.

That said, I still love it here.  And if you're a pool player, then you already have a friend in Portland.   

Hugs,
Miharu

I play pool but dont consider myself a pool player. Not very good at it, but like doing it.

All the apartments that I've seen have been really reasonably prices, but I am coming from the Boston area. I was looking at crappy 1 bedroom apartments and the average is 1600-1800 a month. To move in most of them want first/last/full month security/full month realtor fee. They can be upwards of 5000-8000 just to set foot in the place. Most ask for a check for a full months rent just to apply.

I dont mind short cloudy days, I kinda prefer them because I burn easily.

Quote from: michelle666 on November 25, 2014, 02:36:27 PM
Is downtown just called downtown portland? I know some cities call it something else. I'm looking at padmapper and saw a few places I like and can afford in sections called the pearl district, northwest, lloyd district, richmond and sunnyside. Are those ok areas?

The driving cant be any worse than Boston. It's taken me 3 hours to go less than ten miles on the highway here.

Thanks for the links, got them bookmarked in my Portland folder!

Oh, christ, if you're from Boston then the driving in Portland is going to me a friggin cakewalk. Downtown PDX takes a few weeks to get used to in the car because there's a lot of one-way streets and signage is sometimes unclear. Also, we get a good bit of conjestion over the bridges during rush hour, and with parking downtown. The trouble is that Portland is a small city rapidly becoming a big one, and sometimes infrastructure struggles to keep up. It's nothing like driving in Boston though, trust me. Drivers in Portland are typically hesitant/slow, but considerate.

Transit is good here if you do end up ditching the car. You might be spoiled coming from a bigger city, but I've never had any issues.

IT, idk, I'm in bioscience and from the Silicon Valley. I'd have sworn up and down that tech jobs are sparse up here, but I was recently slapped upside the head and informed that there's plenty of IT work, and that I'm just used to the tech glurge of the Bay.

Absolutely hook up with the Q Center. After five years of ignoring their existence, I finally started stopping by and can vouch for them personally. Lots of trans friendly healthcare out here compared to some other cities. Informed consent is popular wrt endocrinology, so that's nice. If you've previously established care back home, I don't think you'll have any trouble hooking up with a trans care doc.

I find even the ''bad'' areas of PDX to be quite livable, but would advocate avoiding the Skidmore Fountain area (downtown near Burnside), some parts of North Portland, and anywhere east of 82nd. Don't live in Gresham, it's depressing as hell. Stay in Portland city proper.

The Pearl is hipster central and absolutely gorgeous. Also, expensive. It's actually a victim of serious gentrification, as it used to be the warehouse district, but these days it's all glass and brick and cupcakeries. Basically, it's the district my mom wants me to live in, haha. It's a part of downtown. Northwest is also a little pricier and beautiful. Very green, very safe, typically upscale. Parking is a bitch. These are both aspirational areas for me, so I can't tell you much more than that, re: living there!

Richmond and Sunnyside are very near to me (I'm in Creston-Kenilworth), and are delightful, if you ask me. The Hawthorne-Belmont-Stark area of Inner Southeast is really very nice, sort of suburban-Bohemian and classically Portland. Lots of breweries, bike shops, eateries. SE/East side is more affordable than NW/SW, in general, but also less downtown urban-eqsue. The Lloyd district is also SE, but more commercial? There's a big mall there. That's all I really know, unfortunately, sorry!

Hope that helped.

Portland would need more snow for me to live there. It sucks but the really LGBT-friendly cities I could see myself living in like Seattle or Portland, don't get enough snow for my Alaskan sensibilities.

Quote from: Wynternight on November 25, 2014, 03:26:13 PM
Portland would need more snow for me to live there. It sucks but the really LGBT-friendly cities I could see myself living in like Seattle or Portland, don't get enough snow for my Alaskan sensibilities.

The lack of snow is one of the attractive things for me.

Very nicely laid out, Cameron.  I would also put out there that Sellwood, Ardenwald and Johnson Creek (all in the Southeast area) are also extremely safe, sort of a mix of hipster/artsy with very nice craftsman type homes and nice wide streets.  I managed to score myself a nice 3000 sq/ft rental home on half an acre for under $1500 in Ardenwald.

Johns Landing and Lake Oswego are both along the river, extremely beautiful, accessable to Downtown and tech jobs, and highly desireable (in my opinion.) 

Now we're just braggin' on our town.   

Quote from: Miharu Barbie on November 25, 2014, 03:37:08 PM
Very nicely laid out, Cameron.  I would also put out there that Sellwood, Ardenwald and Johnson Creek (all in the Southeast area) are also extremely safe, sort of a mix of hipster/artsy with very nice craftsman type homes and nice wide streets.  I managed to score myself a nice 3000 sq/ft rental home on half an acre for under $1500 in Ardenwald.

Johns Landing and Lake Oswego are both along the river, extremely beautiful, accessable to Downtown and tech jobs, and highly desireable (in my opinion.) 

Now we're just braggin' on our town.   

Is Johns Landing and Lake Oswego still in Portland? Or are those different cities.
3000sq ft for $1500?? I just looked at a 1bed that was no more than 450sq ft for $1550, with no parking and no backyard in Cambridge(right outside of Boston).

Quote from: michelle666 on November 25, 2014, 03:49:05 PM
Is Johns Landing and Lake Oswego still in Portland? Or are those different cities.

John's Landing is in Portland, right outside of Downtown... like, an easy bike ride from Downtown, and a very nice area right next to the Willamette River.  Lake Oswego is a town apart from Portland, but considered part of Portland Metro.  If you look on a map, you'll see that Lake Oswego is also at the edge of the river about 2 or 3 miles south of Downtown Portland.  I live in Ardenwald (Southeast Portland), and work in Lake Oswego... about a 15 to 30 minute commute depending on traffic.  (If I wanted to swim across the Willamette, I could get to work in about 5 minutes, but the river is hell on my mascara.)

You might also consider looking at the Multnomah Village area.  It's super cute and not too far from Downtown.

To be honest, I believe that the bulk of the IT jobs are in Hillsboro and Beaverton, just west of Portland.  I'm not a huge fan of either place.  Beaverton is very crowded and poorly planned (in my opinion), and Hillsboro (I lived there for 5 years) is kind of devoid of personality or character and a little too removed from all the good stuff that makes Portland such a nice place to live.  (The Nike campus is in Beaverton and Intel is centered in Hillsboro and surrounded by a ton of technology companies.)

sorry to cut in on you girls conversation I was just kind of curious good areas close to the Mount Hood side of Portland I live in Lake Tahoe now and would really like to move to Portland but still be close to the mountains so I can snowboard whenever I want!

Quote from: michelle666 on November 25, 2014, 02:36:27 PM
Is downtown just called downtown portland? I know some cities call it something else. I'm looking at padmapper and saw a few places I like and can afford in sections called the pearl district, northwest, lloyd district, richmond and sunnyside. Are those ok areas?

The driving cant be any worse than Boston. It's taken me 3 hours to go less than ten miles on the highway here.

Thanks for the links, got them bookmarked in my Portland folder!

Nothing in Portland is as scary as Boston, including the traffic, but it can be pretty bad.  It is a city of bridges, and they all become slow and go for big parts of the day.  But at least they don't park trucks and cars in the middle of the street and then go get lunch.

The Pearl district is pretty hip.  Lots of eateries, lots of clubs nearby. 
Northwest is also urban hip.  Not far from Pearl if I remember right
Lloyd I'm guessing is the area near Lloyd Center.  Think shopping mall central

Richmond is south central Portland, I don't know much about it except generally where it is.  My cousin used to teach there, but didn't live there - one of the less nice spots I think.

Sunnyside - Artsy and spendy is what I recall.

I haven't been down prowling around for  while, but I doubt if much has radically changed.  There is lots of stuff on line - even Portlandia

Cheers,
Julie

Quote from: JulieBlair on November 25, 2014, 05:26:16 PM
Nothing in Portland is as scary as Boston, including the traffic, but it can be pretty bad.  It is a city of bridges, and they all become slow and go for big parts of the day.  But at least they don't park trucks and cars in the middle of the street and then go get lunch.

The Pearl district is pretty hip.  Lots of eateries, lots of clubs nearby. 
Northwest is also urban hip.  Not far from Pearl if I remember right
Lloyd I'm guessing is the area near Lloyd Center.  Think shopping mall central

Richmond is south central Portland, I don't know much about it except generally where it is.  My cousin used to teach there, but didn't live there - one of the less nice spots I think.

Sunnyside - Artsy and spendy is what I recall.

I haven't been down prowling around for  while, but I doubt if much has radically changed.  There is lots of stuff on line - even Portlandia

Cheers,
Julie

Youre not the first prson who has mentioned Portlandia. I have a friend who lives there and she told me to watch it because it's pretty accurate.

Quote from: JulieBlair on November 25, 2014, 02:11:47 PM
Living - There are a few rough neighborhoods, and more junkies per mile than most anywhere else in the west but once you get out of downtown, it is pretty safe if that is what you mean, and even downtown, the homeless and strung out are amazingly polite.  It's almost weird.

Yeah, I talked about moving there last year and my brother flipped out because of this reason. Not cause it's bad, per se, but because I'm a recovering addict and he knows some people flock there to be homeless and for the dope. Or so he says and KI did hear that. But that is weird they are so polite. In Philly, the homeless don't take no for answer. If they ask you for a cigarette, and you say no, they ask for a short (the last few puffs of a smoke. This might be Philly colloquialisms, not sure.) I've had two homeless men grope me: one in a bad neighborhood on the El. And he followed me to Independence Hall. I felt I'd be safe there. This guy literally grabbed my butt and ran his hand across my breasts.

The other was in Center City, but the police are pretty hard (too hard) on them there. Philly is a great place for the most part to be trans/intersex, as it has the Mazzoni Center, I get free HRT, and if you have a job with the city, you can get  SRS all expenses paid. Philly has three SRS surgeons: Leis, McGinn, and that other woman lol. McGinn is kin Bucks but it's a 30-minute ride to Philadelphia. It's, for the most part, a great city with lots of night life and good food and an awesome gayborhood. Though, I'm not gay. But I could be.

Oh, and if you get a job in the city, the city will offer $5,000 towards costs and tax breaks for the employer. There is an active anti-dicrimination on the books. They hunt down anyone who gay-bashes and shame them on the news. You pretty much have to leave if you do that as you will be a pariah.

It also has pklenty of IT jobs, load actually. Most are in the medical field or, ugh, COMCAST. Wait, I feel like I'm a sales rep for the city I can't wait to leave lol

I'm a long time Portland resident and I work in technology. PDX is a trans friendly place and the safest and most laid back place I've lived. I've never felt unsafe anywhere in the city, even the "rougher" neighborhoods. Sure there are some less classy neighborhoods (82nd ave and east). Fortunately the rest of the city is highly livable.   I'll concede though I'm very scrappy and don't get intimidated easily, so YMMV. I lived in predominantly  Southwest Portland and never locked the door to my house or my car.   Currently I live across the river in Vancouver, Washington (it's total suburbia but you can buy weed from your gay dealer who just married his long time boyfriend. Happy to live in a progressive state). 

Traffic is not nearly as bad as some cities but certain routes are better than others. Depending on what your job is you may want to live on either the east or west side. I recently took a job Beaverton (opposite end of the metro area) and my commute is about 1 hour but I'm going through the worst of it. Most IT jobs tend to be downtown or on the west side (Tigard, Beaverton, Hillsboro).  I'm considering getting a house in Portland again to help with the commute and considering I have to start paying Oregon income tax now that I'm working in Oregon again.
Portlandia isn't fiction, it's a reality TV.  My partner acted as an extra in last season's finale.

Over the past three years I have recruited and staffed many people in IT through my prior job. There is a lot of work across the IT spectrum. PDX does have a lot of healthcare IT but it also has plenty of other IT jobs as well.

Lake Oswego is it's own city south of Portland. Johns Landing is a neighborhood in Portland proper. If it were me I'd live in Southwest (Multnomah Village), Southeast (Sellwood), North Portland (Mississippi area), or North East (Alberta/Killingsworth). Rental vacancy is at an all time low in Portland which may make finding a place a challenge. If you drive then you will have more options. When I moved here I lived Wilsonville right on the river. Co-housing is extremely popular here where a room is rented out in a house with one or more people. There other interesting permutations like tiny houses (150 sq foot house on a trailer usually parked in the backyard of a house in Portland). Most who live in a tiny house build their own house but I've seen them for rent as well.

If you need to find work here I can put you in touch with a recruiter that I've worked with for several years.

Quote from: Xipup on November 26, 2014, 05:55:22 PM
I'm a long time Portland resident and I work in technology. PDX is a trans friendly place and the safest and most laid back place I've lived. I've never felt unsafe anywhere in the city, even the "rougher" neighborhoods. Sure there are some less classy neighborhoods (82nd ave and east). Fortunately the rest of the city is highly livable.   I'll concede though I'm very scrappy and don't get intimidated easily, so YMMV. I lived in predominantly  Southwest Portland and never locked the door to my house or my car.   Currently I live across the river in Vancouver, Washington (it's total suburbia but you can buy weed from your gay dealer who just married his long time boyfriend. Happy to live in a progressive state). 

Traffic is not nearly as bad as some cities but certain routes are better than others. Depending on what your job is you may want to live on either the east or west side. I recently took a job Beaverton (opposite end of the metro area) and my commute is about 1 hour but I'm going through the worst of it. Most IT jobs tend to be downtown or on the west side (Tigard, Beaverton, Hillsboro).  I'm considering getting a house in Portland again to help with the commute and considering I have to start paying Oregon income tax now that I'm working in Oregon again.
Portlandia isn't fiction, it's a reality TV.  My partner acted as an extra in last season's finale.

Over the past three years I have recruited and staffed many people in IT through my prior job. There is a lot of work across the IT spectrum. PDX does have a lot of healthcare IT but it also has plenty of other IT jobs as well.

Lake Oswego is it's own city south of Portland. Johns Landing is a neighborhood in Portland proper. If it were me I'd live in Southwest (Multnomah Village), Southeast (Sellwood), North Portland (Mississippi area), or North East (Alberta/Killingsworth). Rental vacancy is at an all time low in Portland which may make finding a place a challenge. If you drive then you will have more options. When I moved here I lived Wilsonville right on the river. Co-housing is extremely popular here where a room is rented out in a house with one or more people. There other interesting permutations like tiny houses (150 sq foot house on a trailer usually parked in the backyard of a house in Portland). Most who live in a tiny house build their own house but I've seen them for rent as well.

If you need to find work here I can put you in touch with a recruiter that I've worked with for several years.

I'm starting to send resumes out, so if you can help me out with a recruiter, that would be awesome! send me a PM.