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Comment by fillskills | Hacker News Reader

How is Portland doing for you? I am moving there in a few days

Portland is great. My wife likes to call it "the last liveable city in America". I like the culture; food is varied and superb; public transit exists. Especially the east side has a funk going that I really like. Although local chains are growing in recent years and making most little downtown areas a lot more alike. It sometimes grid a little provincial to me and I more frequently get on an airplane then I drive outside of the Portland metro area. All that might say more about me you than the city and region.

I could say a lot more, but am not sure what you'd be interested in.

Showed my wife (6th generation Oregonian) this thread. Steam is coming out her ears.

Some people really hate change.

Only change that they didn't cause.

So... most things in the world?

I get it, I grew up in a small town and this feels like straight townie-ism to me.

Portland people who hate CA transplants have the same mindset as SF people who hate "techies" who have the same mindset as Red Americans who hate immigrants. There are always some cultural differences people point to (they are raising prices!/taking jobs!/crappy people!/more traffic!) but it is really just a form of territorial pissing that dumps negativity on individuals for societal shifts.

I went to college in Arizona in the 90s, and got the impression a large number of people were annoyed by newcomers from CA.

Having been born in Portland myself (and otherwise a 4th gen Washingtonian), transplanting is just a way of life in the PNW.

I was a transplant from California over a decade ago I guess I never fully took root, I ended up moving to Texas

Texas has a lot of transplants as well. If you look at the population today vs 20 years ago, it becomes really obvious that it has to be the case.

I showed your comment to my 7th generation wife and she was glad people like her birthplace.

My 8th generation wife asked me to convey that everything has been downhill since they put in running water and the iron horse.

Reddit called. They want their thread back.

If she's angry about the problems that come with newcomers, she can ask the govt or people to outlaw newcomers.

Otherwise ... No one occupies the high moral ground. Every newcomer, no matter how far back, changed forever what was there.

Edit: when I lived in San Diego in the seventies, it was all but impossible to get a permit for a new water hookup, effectively banning new homes and therefore new people. Your wife could start with that.

It’s not newcomers. (The native Americans weren’t too thrilled when here ancestors came into town, I’ll tell you what.) It’s Californians specifically.

OK, different bias.

And the native Americans changed the land when they arrived.

People say this as if Californian is an ethnicity. Please.

The popular perception is that the people leaving California bring their politics with them and vote for the same things they did in California, therefore making their new state just as miserable as the parts of California they fled.

There was a big influx of Californians to Seattle early 90s from aerospace tectonic shifts and normal moving around. The worry was rising property prices mainly, because they brought lots of cash from selling their expensive California homes.

And they were always leaving off the last syllables of words. But mainly property prices.

My experience living in CA had taught me that NIMBYs are at the root of many problems there.

Ehhhh it would be hard to bring the truly destructive legislation. California's system is exceptionally dumb.

Do you mind explaining which legislation in particular you are considering destructive?

The property tax system is terrible.

> People say this as if Californian is an ethnicity.

You say that as if it is not.

Even people on the other coast are dismayed at the californians trying to change oregon, nevada, washington (too late) and even texas it seems. It is quite startling actually. As someone who has been looking into those areas for possible moving, the changes in recent years are bringing real fears that they could actually start going the way of California, which makes them much less attractive.

Nothing personal, I can very much relate to this attitude as someone who grew up in the Bay Area and watched it explode... but cities grow. Everyone came from somewhere else, right?

The US has gained 40 million people since the year 2000. Growth is just an inevitability.

Tell your wife her ancestors should have bought all the land in the state if they didn't want anyone moving there. I don't find these sentiments funny or cheeky at all.

Please convey to your spouse that we come in peace

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