[PLUG] Off Topic: Moving to Portland

Elliott Mitchell ehem at m5p.com
Sat Jul 22 21:28:56 UTC 2006


>From: "Richard C. Steffens" <rsteff at comcast.net>
> About the weather: Rich mentioned rain from Sep - May. In the city, that 
> stays as rain throughout the winter with only a couple of exceptions. 
> One or two times a winter we might get an ice storm. When that happens, 
> the city shuts down for a day or two, as far as traveling the streets 
> goes. Then the ice melts and we're back to rain. Winter temps tend to 
> run in the low 40's and summer temps in the 80's, this weekend not 
> included -- 105 yesterday, 101 predicted for today! But when it gets 
> hot, it's a dry heat. The only time it gets humid here is in the winter 
> time.

Note, Portland is 50 miles inland from the coast, unlike most of the
large West Coast metropolitan. As a result Portland weather tends to be
more towards the extreme than other West Coast cities. This is minor
compared to what it is like on the East Coast though. Figure two weeks in
the 90s each year, and a week very close to 30 each year. During the rest
of Spring/Summer it will be around 70, the rest of Fall/Winter it will be
around 40. Also 1000 _hours_ of rain each year, that is merely 30 inches,
but it takes forever to come down.


>From: "Randy Stapilus" <stapilus at ridenbaugh.com>
> Didn't see Rich's reply, but let me throw this in: Portland has good mass  
> transit, including an excellent train system called MAX which reaches  
> close (easy walking distance) to PSU. That gives you reach out in a number  
> of directions, without having to worry about downtown parking/traffic. And  
> as a happy resident of the Yamhill wine country west of the city (an  
> hour's reach both of downtown and of the ocean beaches), I'd suggest  
> scouting around before settling on a specific spot. There are a lot of  
> fine options here.

This needs correction. Portland has good mass transit, if you're in
downtown. If you're at a very common destination then it is decent. If
you're going anywhere else Tri-Met (the public transit system) *sucks*,
with the only plus side being that it is pretty clean; that though isn't
the primary goal of a mass transit system. Specifically, in Beaverton or
Tigard you'll want a car unless you get very lucky and manage to be
directly on a bus route.

It is quite possible to always stay within downtown and thus avoid
Tri-Met's warts, but I'll have to rate Tri-Met pretty low due to lack of
coverage anywhere but downtown. Perhaps New York's system is pretty
dirty, but it will get you *anywhere* in New York *quickly*.


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