I noticed that Plutonic put up a thread of Seattle pics. Ok, well... two can play that game! :wink:

Here's some great shots of Portland. Portland is probably the city I most admire in terms of the urban design and development of their city.
Keep in mind, though, that I say this only based upon photos that I've seen -- I've never actually visited the city myself.

The source of these photos is a guy named Derek Abraham who's been lovingly capturing images of his town for a few years now
(he's kind of the Will Hider for Portland).

Source: Flickr: Derek Abraham's Photostream (http://www.flickr.com/photos/derekabrahamphoto)

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Source: Flickr: Derek Abraham's Photostream (http://www.flickr.com/photos/derekabrahamphoto)

Awesome pics. Honestly of money, family, job, etc were no issues I would consider living in Portland. It's smaller than Seattle and seems to be better integrated with its natural landscape from the pictures I've seen. Beautiful city.

Yeah Portland seem alright, I would prefer Seattle though ;)

I debated whether or not to post more picture threads from the forum I visited, sooooooo many great pictures from soooooo many great cities.

Portland is a beautiful city, no doubt. One thing, however, struck me as odd. In the entire gallery I noticed only three men in business suits.

These pics just reinforce the long way OKC has to go to become a "Big League" City

These pics just reinforce the long way OKC has to go to become a "Big League" CityWow, we must have a detective here. How on earth did you come to that conclusion?

Wow, we must have a detective here. How on earth did you come to that conclusion?

It's pretty obvious if you look at the pictures. We're still playing catch up and will be for the foreseeable future to a lot of these places. But we'll get there.

It's pretty obvious if you look at the pictures. We're still playing catch up and will be for the foreseeable future to a lot of these places. But we'll get there.I understand that, it's just funny how DCSooner is always the first one to point out the negative side of things lol ;P

These pics just reinforce the long way OKC has to go to become a "Big League" City

True, but you really can't compare a city like OKC to Portland. They are just in an entirely different world. For a good example of what OKC could be, look to Louisville or Nashville. Comparing OKC to Portland would be like comparing it to Bordeaux, France. That city is actually a little smaller than OKC but there is no comparison because of its history, culture, sophistication, and natural beauty. In my opinion, even Dallas would have a tough time holding a candle to Portland.

Portland is a beautiful city, no doubt. One thing, however, struck me as odd. In the entire gallery I noticed only three men in business suits.

Ha, that's true! If I recall correctly from some of the comments that Derek had posted with his photos, many if not most of them were taken on the weekends.

Portland does not have a huge urban core of skyscrapers -- that's not its strong suit. I'm pretty sure it doesn't have anything near the Devon Tower in height. So those only interested in dazzling skyline views probably won't be impressed. But once you get past that, and down to the ground level, Portland just does so many details right. I'm definitely a fan.

Does someone need to post pics of Spokane now?

When it is nice in Portland it is the best! Dry and temps in the 70's to 80's. The problem is it doesn't last long. Generally June is wet and cool although we had an unusually warm and dry June this year. Once you hit September all bets are off with rain making a return although there have been nice fall periods.

Someone remarked on the lack of business suites. Dress is very casual in Oregon with suites only where absolutely necessary.

Downtown Portland is nice and has stayed relevant over the years despite not being the state capital and large shifts of jobs and people to the suburbs. One of the reasons for this is we have land use planning and regional government which controls how land is used. This is for the express purpose of limiting urban sprawl with something called the urban growth boundary. On one side only high density housing is permitted and on the other rural land is preserved. The state very definitely tells you what you can do with your land. In many cases it is almost impossible to subdivide your property. It can be extremely complicated and expensive and by no means certain if you would like to, say, divide your property among your children.

The "livability" has a price!

I have lived in a rural area on the western fringes of the Portland metro area for the last 17 years. If I want to go into Portland I take light rail into town. The suburbs were getting too crowded for my tastes even back then. They are now more "high density" than ever.


Dry and in the upper 60's all week here in the Portland area. Not the norm.

It's pretty obvious if you look at the pictures. We're still playing catch up and will be for the foreseeable future to a lot of these places. But we'll get there.

Thank you for that rather obvious explanation. What I am saying is that OKC has a very long way to go to become a true "urban" city" with street life and culture. That is simply a fact. Making some progress though, but don't expect anything radical in OKC's urban fabric for another 30 years, OKC demographics are not diverse enough to alter the current "sterotypical" western branding. I agree that Dallas cannot match Seattle Portland, SF and any number of cities for similar reasons. Dallas is just big, but not impressive to me,.

Thank you for that rather obvious explanation. What I am saying is that OKC has a very long way to go to become a true "urban" city" with street life and culture. That is simply a fact. Making some progress though, but don't expect anything radical in OKC's urban fabric for another 30 years, OKC demographics are not diverse enough to alter the current "sterotypical" western branding. I agree that Dallas cannot match Seattle Portland, SF and any number of cities for similar reasons. Dallas is just big, but not impressive to me,.

Personally I don't think OKC can or should model itself after Portland. OKC will never be able to compete with the cities of Ecotopia. The cultural difference is just too vast. In fact, the only city in this region of the country that can possibly compete is Austin but even that comes up short. Like I said, Louisville, Nashville, and even Charlotte are all great, happening cities with cultures not too different from OKC. Those should be the model cities for us and it really wouldn't take that much further gentrification to get us to that level.

AWESOME PICS! Fell in love with the streetcar in Portland. I saw what it did to that city over several years. A big reason as to why I have been so personally involved in the project here. I used to work for Roland Music Corp and would fly out there every quarter to the factory. The pics bring back great memories.

Amazing city!

Anybody have a problem or even notice the overhead wires for the PDX streetcar or MAX light rail?

They're not very noticeable, but I would still prefer some kind of magnetic induction system or something. No wires would be better.

Anybody have a problem or even notice the overhead wires for the PDX streetcar or MAX light rail?

You know, I hadn't even noticed. But now that you've pointed it out, I went back and re-examined those photos and...

That's it, I take it all back. Portland is a horrible looking city. All those nasty, ugly, terrible overhead wires. Yuk. Ick. Blech.

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Just kidding (obviously)

Personally I don't think OKC can or should model itself after Portland. OKC will never be able to compete with the cities of Ecotopia. The cultural difference is just too vast.

We need to learn to appreciate what we have...not moan about what we don't. I had a friend from Massachusetts visiting once and was driving her around the metro area. We had gone out past Lake Overholser and were on some country road and she said, "I can't believe how beautiful it is out here." I looked out the window and said, "Where?" She said, "Here!"...and spread her arms to indicate it was all around us. I said, "What do you mean?" All I saw was just typical central Oklahoma landscape. She said, "You can see forever!" I said, "Oh, yeah...well, you can definitely do that." It wasn't until I went to visit her back east that I saw what she meant. In her neck of the woods, there weren't many places where you could get views like we have here in Oklahoma. You had to go to the ocean or get up on top of anything if you wanted to see very far. I heard an interview with Jimmy Webb where he talked about something similar. He said he liked coming back to Oklahoma because he got the same feeling from the prairie that he gets from the ocean. A sense of boundlessness. And here all this time I thought it was just flat. LOL

We need to learn to appreciate what we have...not moan about what we don't. I had a friend from Massachusetts visiting once and was driving her around the metro area. We had gone out past Lake Overholser and were on some country road and she said, "I can't believe how beautiful it is out here." I looked out the window and said, "Where?" She said, "Here!"...and spread her arms to indicate it was all around us. I said, "What do you mean?" All I saw was just typical central Oklahoma landscape. She said, "You can see forever!" I said, "Oh, yeah...well, you can definitely do that." It wasn't until I went to visit her back east that I saw what she meant. In her neck of the woods, there weren't many places where you could get views like we have here in Oklahoma. You had to go to the ocean or get up on top of anything if you wanted to see very far. I heard an interview with Jimmy Webb where he talked about something similar. He said he liked coming back to Oklahoma because he got the same feeling from the prairie that he gets from the ocean. A sense of boundlessness. And here all this time I thought it was just flat. LOL

I agree with this assessment. There is a certain feeling you get from the prairie that you can't find on the east coast, especially in the northern and western parts of the state. I love the gently rolling hills covered in tall grasses when they are all but treeless, with maybe an old fashioned windmill or an oil well. A lot of people discount Oklahoma's natural beauty but it really is here. You just need to get away from the sprawl that characterizes the fringes of the metro.

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