|
|
PORTLAND, OREGON - USA
Portland is the largest city in Oregon, and county seat of Multnomah County.
It is a major Pacific seaport located about sixty miles from the west coast
of the United States, situated on both sides of the Willamette River, just
south of its confluence with the Columbia River. According the US Census
estimates, as of July 2003, the city's population was estimated to be
538,544, a growth of 1.7% over the April 2000 census figure of 529,121.
The Portland metropolitan area spans Multnomah and Washington counties and
parts of Clackamas, Columbia, and Yamhill counties in Oregon, and Clark
County in Washington, with a population of 2,016,357 as of July 2003, 5.2%
more than the 2000 census figure for the area. The metropolitan area
includes the neighboring cities of Beaverton, Gresham, Hillsboro, Milwaukie,
Lake Oswego, Oregon City, and Tigard (all in Oregon), as well as Vancouver
(in Washington).
The city and the region
Portland is often cited as an example of a well-planned city. The credit for
this starts with Oregon's proactive land use policies, particularly the
establishment of an urban growth boundary (UGB) in 1974. The boundary
preserved agricultural land and reduced sprawl. This was atypical in an era
when automobile use led many areas to neglect their core cities in favor of
development along interstate highways, in suburbs, and in satellite cities.
Portland's success in urban planning continues with the Metropolitan Service
District (Metro for short), a regional government directly elected by voters
in the Oregon portion of the metropolitan area. Metro's charter includes
protecting open space and parks, planning for land use and transportation,
both key to Portland's livability. Metro also manages garbage disposal and
recycling. Metro manages the UGB by coordinating with the cities and
counties in the area to ensure a 20-year-supply of developable land with the
infrastructure that land needs.
Metro's master plan for the Portland region includes Transit-Oriented
Development (TOD), centered around light rail lines. This includes mixed-use
and high-density development around stops and transit centers, and investing
the metropolitan area's share of federal tax dollars into multiple modes of
transportation. Metro's master plan also includes multiple town centers,
smaller versions of the city center, scattered throughout the metropolitan
area.
TOD is part of the national trend sometimes referred to as new urbanism, a
trend that Portland developers and city planners are helping to pioneer.
In July 2004, however, the metro area development commission revised
Portland's current urban area to its intended to be 2040 plan. This created
some criticism from enviromentalists, but few think that it would destroy
Portland's legacy of urban growth management.
An April 2004 study in the Journal of the American Planning Association
tried to quantify the effects of Metro's plans on Portland's urban form.
While the report cautioned against finding a direct link between any single
one policy and any improvements in Portland's urban form, it showed strong
correlation between Metro's 2040 plan and various west-side changes in
Portland. Changes cited include increased density and mixed-use development
as well as improved pedestrian/non-automobile accessibility.
City nicknames
Portland has many nicknames. The City of Roses and Rose City originated
during the 1905 Lewis and Clark centennial. The climate is ideal for growing
roses and the city is home to the annual Rose Festival, the International
Rose Test Garden, and the Rose Garden Arena.
One of the oldest nicknames, "Stumptown", comes from the period of
phenomenal growth after 1847. The city was growing so rapidly that the
stumps of trees cut down to make way for roads were left until manpower
could be spared to remove them. In some areas, the stumps remained for so
long that locals painted them white to make them more visible, and used them
to cross the street without sinking into the mud.
Other nicknames include:
City of Bridges, or Bridgetown, due to its numerous bridges;
PDX, from the airport code of its airport;
Puddletown, because of its weather;
Rip City, a nickname stemming from a chance remark from Bill Schonely a
long-time announcer for the Portland Trail Blazers;
River City, because of its proximity to the Willamette River and Columbia
River;
Little Beirut, for the hostile demonstrations in response to the visits of
presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and his son George W. Bush;
Deportland, from the alleged rough treatment of passengers at the Federal
Inspection Service facility when Delta Air Lines operated flights to Asia
from PDX.
History
Portland started as a spot known as "The Clearing" which was on the
Willamette about half-way between Oregon City and Fort Vancouver. In 1843,
William Overton saw great commercial potential for this land; his only
problem was that he lacked the quarter needed to file a land claim. So, he
struck a bargain with his partner Asa Lovejoy: for 25˘, Overton would share
his claim to the 640 acre (2.6 km˛) site.
Bored with clearing trees and building roads, Overton sold his half of the
claim to Francis W. Pettygrove. When it came time to name their new town,
Pettygrove and Lovejoy each wanted to name it after his home town. They
settled the argument with a coin toss. Pettygrove won, and named it after
Portland, Maine; had Lovejoy won, he intended to name it after Boston,
Massachusetts.
In its early years, Portland existed in the shadow of Oregon City, the
territorial capital twelve miles upstream on the falls of the Willamette.
However, Portland was located at the Willamette's head of navigation, the
furthest point inland one could reliably reach by ship. This gave it a key
advantage over its older peer. It also triumphed over early rivals like
Milwaukie. By 1850 Portland had approximately 800 inhabitants, a steam
sawmill, a log cabin hotel, and a newspaper, called the Weekly Oregonian.
Portland was the major port in the Pacific Northwest for much of the 19th
century, until the 1890s when direct railroad access between the deep water
harbor in Seattle and points east by way of Stampede Pass were built. Goods
could then be transported from the northwest coast to inland cities without
needing to navigate the dangerous bar at the mouth of the Columbia.
In 2003, Vera Katz, mayor since 1992, announced that she would not seek a
fourth term. In the May 18, 2004 primary election, none of the 10 candidates
running received a majority of votes, so the two with the most votes --
former police chief Tom Potter and City Commissioner Jim Francesconi -- will
face each other in the November general election.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of
376.5 km˛ (145.4 mi˛). 347.9 km˛ (134.3 mi˛) of it is land and 28.6 km˛
(11.1 mi˛), or 7.6%, is water.
Downtown Portland has compact city blocks and narrow streets. Each block is
200 ft (60 m) square; by comparison, Seattle's city blocks are 240 by 320
feet (70 by 100 m), and Manhattan's east-west streets are divided into
blocks that are from 600 to 800 feet (180 to 240 m) long. In addition, most
streets are 60 feet (20 m) wide, so the combination of compact blocks and
narrow streets make the downtown more pedestrian-friendly.
As a result of a "great renumbering" on September 2, 1931, Portland is
divided into five sections [1]
(http://www.portlandonline.com/auditor/index.cfm?&a=bbadi&c=cheai). Burnside
Street bisects it into northern and southern halves. Below Burnside are the
Southwest and Southeast sections, divided by the Willamette River. Above it,
are Northwest, North, and Northeast sections; a separate North section is
due to a bend in the Willamette which splits what would otherwise be a
northwest quadrant into North Portland and Northwest sections of town.
Locals refer to these areas by their section names (such as "Northwest"),
with the exception of "North Portland", for which the full name is typically
used, although it is infrequently abbreviated as "NoPo". The more densely
populated parts of the city proper are somewhat asymmetrical, with the west
side hemmed in by the West Hills, while the flatter east side stretches on
for more than 150 blocks, until it meets Gresham.
Northwest
Northwest includes the Pearl District, a fairly recent name for what
originally was an old warehouse area. Since the late 1980s, many of the
existing warehouses have been converted into lofts, and new multi-story
condominiums have also been developed. The increasing density has attracted
an urban mix of restaurants, brewpubs, shops, and art galleries, though in
some cases pioneering tenants have been priced out of the area. The
galleries sponsor receptions for their artists on the first Thursday of
every month.
Further west is the toney NW 23rd neighborhood and shopping area.
Portland's Old Chinatown neighborhood is marked by a pair of lions at the
corner of NW 4th and Burnside, and includes the district along the
Willamette River between Burnside and Union Station.
Southwest
Southwest includes Pioneer Courthouse Square (downtown's "living room"),
various suburban neighborhoods including the expensive West Hills (mentioned
in a 1997 Everclear song,I Will Buy You A New Life.), the campuses of
Portland State University, OHSU, and Lewis and Clark College, and the south
riverfront along Macadam Boulevard and the Willamette, over 100 acres (0.4
km˛) of former industrial land. The city of Portland is hoping to redevelop
this area into a mixed-use, high-density neighborhood, with 2700 residential
units and provide 5,000 high-tech jobs after build-out. It is estimated that
it would cost the city about 2 billion dollars to build altogether but the
estimate could change in the future due to change in plan or scaling-down of
the operation.
North Portland
North Portland, another working-class area, contains the St. Johns
neighborhood adjacent to the St. Johns Bridge. St. Johns has been described
as having an old-fashioned and slightly run-down feeling; North Portland
overall has been accredited with a cozy "small town" charm by some
inhabitants.
During World War II, a planned development named Vanport was constructed to
the north of this section between the city limits and the Columbia River. It
grew to be the second largest city in Oregon, but was wiped out by a
disastrous flood in 1948. The old Housing Authority of Portland's Columbia
Villa in the Portsmouth Neighborhood is being rebuilt; the new, $150 million
community will be known as New Columbia and will offer public housing,
rental housing, and single family home ownership units.
The area includes a new light-rail line (opened in 2004) along Interstate
Avenue, which parallels Interstate 5. It is also home to the University of
Portland. North Portland also has other various public transportation routes
with several frequent service lines.
Northeast
Northeast contains a diverse collection of neighborhoods, both
sociologically and ethnically. While Irvington and the Alameda Ridge boast
some of the most expensive homes in Portland, nearby Albina (for example) is
a more working-class neighborhood. Northeast is more diverse racially than
Portland as a whole. Inner Northeast includes several shopping districts
such as the Lloyd and Hollywood Districts. The city plan targets Lloyd
District as another mixed-use area, with high-rise residential development.
Developers are waiting for the success of a seed project before intensive
development occurs.
Rose Quarter is another district within the area. It is named after the Rose
Garden, which is the home of the Portland Trail Blazers, and includes the
Blazers' former home, the Memorial Coliseum. During the team's home games,
the area is quite active, with spectators for the game mixing with local
restaurant and bar patrons. The city hopes to expand this area beyond
game-time entertainment, by promoting a major increase in residential units
in the quarter, using zoning and tax incentives.
Southeast
Southeast stretches from the warehouses by the river, through the expensive
Ladd's Addition, to hippie/Generation X Hawthorne and Belmont districts,
over Mt. Tabor and on to poorer neighborhoods beyond 82nd Avenue.
Farther south, the Brooklyn, Sellwood, Woodstock, and Brentwood-Darlington
neighborhoods and wealthy areas near Reed College are close to the
Willamette, with Clackamas Town Center acting as a hub for business further
east, where I-205 splits the region.
Between the 1920s and the 1960s. the southeast was home to Lambert Gardens.
Transportation
Highways and bridges
The metropolitan area is served by the following highways:
Interstate 5
Interstate 84
Interstate 205
Interstate 405
U.S. Highway 26
U.S. Highway 30
along with several state highways.
The metropolitan area contains the following bridges spanning the Willamette
River:
St. Johns Bridge (1931) - U.S. Highway 30
Burlington Northern Railroad Bridge 5.1 (1908)
Fremont Bridge (1973) - Interstate 405
Broadway Bridge (1913)
Steel Bridge (1912)
Burnside Bridge (1926)
Morrision Bridge (1958)
Hawthorne Bridge (1910)
Marquam Bridge (1966) - Interstate 5
Ross Island Bridge (1922) - U.S. Highway 26
Sellwood Bridge (1925)
And two spanning the Columbia River:
Interstate Bridge (1917/1958) - Interstate 5
Glenn L. Jackson Memorial Bridge (1982) - Interstate 205
Mass transit
Portland is well-known for its comprehensive public transportation system.
The major bus and rail system is named TriMet, reflecting the three
metropolitan counties it serves (Multnomah, Clackamas, and Washington).
A bus mall (known as the Portland Transit Mall) dominates 5th and 6th
Avenues downtown. Almost all TriMet buses route through the mall, with bus
stops grouped geographically by destination. This approach gives riders who
miss a bus to have additional options for reaching their destination. Since
the mall acts as a metro-area-wide hub, it also means riders can often get
downtown without changing buses and reach most other destinations with only
one change.
Most of the downtown area is a "Fareless Square" where mass transit systems
are free within the square. The original Fareless Square was bounded by the
Willamette to the east, Irving Street to the north, and I-405 to the west
and south; a spur into the Lloyd District was later included, rendering the
fareless area a square in name only.
The light rail, or MAX consists of three color-coded lines:
The Blue Line is 33 miles long, and goes from Hillsboro, a western suburb,
through Beaverton and downtown, across the Willamette River to the
eastern-most suburban city of Gresham.
The Red Line incorporates a five-mile north-south addition between the
airport and the Gateway transit center near the northeast Portland
neighborhood of Parkrose. From that point the line overlaps with the Blue
Line, continuing west through downtown, and terminating at the Beaverton
transit center.
The Yellow Line adds almost six miles to the system. It connects North
Portland's Expo Center with downtown. This line is sometimes referred to as
"Interstate MAX" because much of it runs along Interstate Avenue.
Proposed extensions to MAX include:
The proposed route would run from Clackamas Town Center near Clackamas,
north along I-205, up to Gateway transit center, where the Blue and Red
Lines meet. There, it would travel westwards towards downtown Portland along
the Blue Line's existing tracks and then run along a proposed light-rail
addition to the Portland Transit Mall. This proposed route is referred to as
the I-205 Light Rail Project or the Green Line. The Portland Transit Mall
segment of this line is in many ways a separate but synchronous project.
Once both are complete (again, proposed to be complete in 2009, the Yellow
Line would also run on the new Portland Mall light rail tracks.
Longer term, the Green Line is proposed to be extended past the transit
mall, continuing through Southeast Portland along existing rights-of-way to
downtown Milwaukie. No construction date for this extension has been
proposed yet.
In addition, the Portland Streetcar began operation in 2001, with a
five-mile loop from downtown's Portland State University (PSU), past
Powell's City of Books, through the Pearl District, to the NW 23rd
neighborhood. For 2004, a 0.6-mile extension to the streetcar line is being
constructed; this connects PSU with RiverPlace, and is a step towards
continuing into the South Waterfront/North Macadam area and utilizing the
right-of-way preserved by the Willamette Shore Trolley to reach Lake Oswego.
A more unusual form of public transportation, the Portland Aerial Tram, is
an aerial tramway planned to connect the South Waterfront with Oregon Health
and Science University and the surrounding Marquam Hill area. This plan
encountered significant opposition from the citizens living underneath its
planned route, though resulting changes in design have addressed their most
serious concerns.
Alternatives
Portland has earned more than one "most bicycle friendly city" award. An
important hallmark for bicycle-friendly infrastructure was the expansion of
the sidewalks of Hawthorne Bridge in 1997. Other bicycle-friendly projects
include the blue bike lanes project, and the Esplanade Riverfront Park. A
more-recent project will bring covered bicycle parking to the popular
southeast Hawthorne Boulevard shopping district.
Parks
Portland is proud of its parks and its legacy of preserving open spaces. In
fact, it has one of the highest parks-per-capita ratios among cities in the
United States.
Forest Park is one of the world's largest parks contained within a city (and
definitely the United State's largest park contained within a city), at
about 5000 acres (20 km˛). Portland is also home to Mill Ends Park (web
site) (http://www.portlandparks.org/Parks/MillEnds.htm), the world's
smallest park (being a two-foot diameter circle, its area is only about 0.3
square meters). Washington Park (web site)
(http://www.portlandparks.org/Parks/Washington.htm) is west of downtown,
home to the Oregon Zoo, a Japanese Garden, the International Rose Test
Garden, all accessible from a MAX stop which is the deepest subway station
in the country.
The Gov. Tom McCall Waterfront Park runs along west bank of the Willamette
for the length of downtown. The 37-acre (150,000 m˛) park was built in 1974
after a freeway was removed. Today it plays host to large events throughout
the year, including several beer festivals, a series of blues concerts, and
the Rose Festival carnival.
In addition, within Portland's downtown, two groups of contiguous city
blocks are dedicated for park space; they are referred to as the North and
South Park Blocks.
Portland is also home to Portland Classical Chinese Garden, an authentic
representation of a Suzhou-style walled garden. Local construction workers
provided the site preparation and foundation and dozens of workers from
Suzhou, using material from China, constructed its walls and other
structures, including a tea house.
The only state park in the area is Tryon Creek State Park; its creek still
has a run of steelhead.
Beer
Portland, like other Oregon cities, Hood River and Bend, is well-known for
its good beer. Some illustrate its interest in the beverage by an offer made
in 1888, when local brewer Henry Weinhard volunteered to pump beer from his
brewery into the pipes of the newly dedicated Skidmore Fountain. But the
renown for quality beer better dates to the 1980s, when microbreweries and
brewpubs began to pop up all over the city. Their growth was supported by
the abundance of local ingredients, including two-row barley, over a dozen
varieties of hops, and the water from Bull Run and other watersheds of
nearby Mount Hood.
Today, the city has more craft brewers than any other city in North America,
at least on a per-capita basis if not in number. The McMenamin brothers
alone have over thirty brewpubs scattered throughout the metropolitan area,
many in renovated theaters and other old buildings otherwise destined for
demolition. In 1999, Michael Jackson (the beer hunter, not the musician)
called it a candidate for the beer capital of the world because the city had
more breweries than Cologne, Germany.
Portland hosts a number of festivals throughout the year in celebration of
beer. One of them, the Oregon Brewers Festival, is the largest gathering of
independent craft brewers in North America.
Skiing
Portland is served by a number of local resorts located on nearby Mount
Hood: Timberline, Mt. Hood Meadows, Ski Bowl, Cooper Spur, and Ski Bunny.
Timberline allows skiers to reach the Mt. Hood Glacier area and allows
skiing year round. In the summer months there are many ski and snowboard
camps. Timberline remains one of only two resorts in North America to have
year-round skiing, Whistler in British Columbia being the other.
Professional sports
Portland Trail Blazers, NBA
Portland Beavers, Minor league baseball
Portland Winterhawks, Junior league hockey
Portland Timbers, A-League Soccer
Jackson Lacrosse, AAA-League Lacrosse
Tourist attractions
Portland Classical Chinese Garden
Pioneer Courthouse Square
Portland Rose Garden
Japanese Garden
Portlandia
The Grotto
Oregon Zoo
Oaks Amusement Park
Northwest Film Center
Oregon Historical Society
Pittock Mansion
Portland Art Museum
Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA) (web site)
(http://www.pica.org/)
Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) (web site)
(http://www.omsi.edu/)
The American Advertising Museum (web site) (http://www.admuseum.org/)
The Bathtub Art Museum
Portland Saturday Market
Powell's City of Books (web site)
(http://www.powells.com/info/briefhistory.html)
Burgerville, USA
Colleges and universities
Concordia University
Lewis and Clark College
Multnomah Bible College
National College of Naturopathic Medicine
Oregon Health and Science University (formerly Oregon Health Sciences
University)
Pacific Northwest College of Art
Portland State University
Portland Community College
Reed College
University of Portland
Warner Pacific College
Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there are 529,121 people residing in the city,
organized into 223,737 households and 118,356 families. The population
density is 1,521/km˛ (3,939.2/mi˛). There are 237,307 housing units at an
average density of 682.1/km˛ (1,766.7/mi˛). The racial makeup of the city is
77.91% White, 6.64% African American, 1.06% Native American, 6.33% Asian,
0.38% Pacific Islander, 3.55% from other races, and 4.15% from two or more
races. 6.81% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
Of these 223,737 households, 24.5% have children under the age of 18 living
with them, 38.1% are married couples living together, 10.8% have a female
householder with no husband present, and 47.1% are non-families. 34.6% of
all households are made up of individuals and 9% have someone living alone
who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.3 and the
average family size is 3.
In the city the population is spread out with 21.1% under the age of 18,
10.3% from 18 to 24, 34.7% from 25 to 44, 22.4% from 45 to 64, and 11.6% who
are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 35 years. For every 100
females there are 97.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there
are 95.9 males.
The median income for a household in the city is $40,146, and the median
income for a family is $50,271. Males have a median income of $35,279 versus
$29,344 for females. The per capita income for the city is $22,643. 13.1% of
the population and 8.5% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the
total people living in poverty, 15.7% are under the age of 18 and 10.4% are
65 or older.
Portland in film
Portland has been the setting or background for a number of films, including
the following:
Body of Evidence
Bongwater
Drugstore Cowboy
Elephant
Five Easy Pieces
Free Willy
Mr. Holland's Opus
My Own Private Idaho
The Hunted
Men of Honor
Zero Effect
Donut Hole
The Last Innocent Man
What the #$*! Do We Know?! (aka What the Bleep Do We Know?!.)
Foxfire
Sister cities
Sapporo, Japan, since 1959
Guadalajara, Mexico, since 1983
Corinto, Nicaragua, since 1985
Ashkelon, Israel, since 1987
Ulsan, South Korea, since 1987
Suzhou, China, since 1988
Khabarovsk, Russia, since 1988
Kaohsiung, Taiwan, since 1988
Mutare, Zimbabwe, since 1991
Bologna, Italy, since 2003
|
|
