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Portland, Ore., Is Losing Residents Weary of Crime and High Housing Prices (www.wsj.com)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Pacific Northwest city lost nearly 3% of its population between 2020 and 2022

Mark Rogers has made a list of things he misses about Portland—its vegan restaurants, Powell’s bookstore, public transit—and the things he doesn’t—having his things stolen, stepping in human excrement, extreme politics.

The 44-year-old artist moved across the country to Fort Wayne, Ind., last year.

“I don’t want to talk trash about my home city even though there’s trash everywhere,” Rogers said. “I still love Portland even though it’s got some problems, and I wouldn’t have left if the housing prices weren’t so high.”

Unfortunately for him, he probably moved from one political extreme to another. It's like there's no home for normies anymore.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

What will the WSJ do when they don’t have portland as their punching bag?

The idea that portland is losing people in droves is a fun one. And as a portland resident I would support it because we have way more humanity than the city was meant to support. But the levels of traffic and the competitive rental market do not backup these stories.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I think you can probably take the census data at face value: Portland is perhaps losing residents. The reasons the WSJ is offering are purely anecdotal, though.

Having said that, high rent doesn't mean that the city isn't losing residents. Rents are skyrocketing in entire countries with declining populations (eg, Portugal).