Wweek.com Readers Speak On: “The Economist’s take on Portland”
“I left this so-called creative class of a city three years ago. There is absolutely no diversity there. The whites look at blacks as if they were from the planet Mars. And the Portland police appear to love killing black men and women. The art scene? It is so bland that Wonder Bread seems good. One thing that they can claim: It is the PBR capital of the nation.” —“Jerry Harris”
“Why is it that Portlanders love to bash our town? Yes, we are an extremely green city, literally and metaphorically. We love our bikes, and want to be like Europe. We have a very racist past, so little diversity now but what are we supposed to do? Start calling black people on the phone? email? ‘Hey are you an African-American? You should move to Portland! It rains a lot and we have one professional sports team!’ We do have families, they just tend to move to the suburbs, WHICH THEY DO IN EVERY CITY IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. ” —“Eli Shell”
“Imagine going to Barcelona, Spain, and saying “HEY! There are not enough French people here! Where are all the Chinese? This place is RACIST!” I noticed on a trip to Atlanta that it’s mostly black—I think Atlanta must be racist and not diverse enough. They should get more Chinese people there.… ‘My country, love it or leave it’ has worked so well for the Republicans and right-wing nutcases since, say, Vietnam. I’m glad to see you’re not afraid to trot it out here, too.” —“Hey, I Know, Let’s Ride Our Bike to the Unemployment Office”
“Sometimes green marketing smells like poopie. Nose to the wind, people, nose to the wind. ” —“Gordon”
“If Portland were truly childless people would be breaking down the doors to get in…sadly, it’s not.” —“iwillbecauseiam”
“It’s the Chinese we’ve got to look out for.” — “jim bob”
Corrections: Last week’s “Money Shot” overstated the Oregon Education Association’s contribution to state Superintendent of Public Instruction Susan Castillo and gave a wrong hometown for Castillo. The OEA gave Castillo $50,000. And she is from Eugene. WW regrets the errors.
Last week’s “Success has Three Fathers” incorrectly reported who sued Metro over land now owned by Genentech. In fact, it was the City of Hillsboro, where the land is located, that sued. WW regrets the error.
