[thechat] re: Jan 18 peace march

[Erika Meyer]

Madhu, Oregon is a nice place.  The economy however is one of the
worst in the nation, currently.  The schools were at one time top
notch, but there are weird property tax laws here and no sales tax
and that's all had a bad effect.  Some school districts have cash;
Portland is not one of them.

I think it's still an okay place especially for single or married
with no children.  But we suffered the same boom and bust as the SF
bay area.  Oregon is one of those states with one or two big
metropolitan areas and lots of rural space.  One of the problems in
Portland is lack of low-income housing.  So if I want to rent a 2
bedroom apartment, I would expect to pay around $750-900 (or $1000+
for a small house)... regardless of my income.  A lot of people
house-share (most singles I know do that).

To contrast, I was in Minneapolis at Christmas time.  My friends in
Portland are mostly unemployed.  My friends in Minneapolis are mostly
working, and earning decent salaries.  On the other hand, rent is
higher there.

There are advantages to this economy, though.  It seems like there
are a lot of rentals opening up.  Also a lot of homes going into
foreclosure, a lot of homes for sale, low interest rates.  As long as
I am employed, I kind of like the dismal economy because I'm used to
it.   Anyone who is used to hardship can deal okay.  It's those who
came out of college straight into high-salary tech jobs and never
have starved before that I think got hit the hardest, and people with
kids (because of the high cost of housing and education problems).

I know someone, btw who owns a restaurant with her ex husband.  As a
single mother, she's doing quite well and has just bought a house.
So there's hope for a prosepective restauranteer...  we're a bit
choked with Thai and Japanese places, but there's room for just about
anything else (though you can never get enough Thai and Japanese food
IMO).

Erika