I'm feeling a bit stifled in my city and want to move. My priorities are $1500-2000/mo rent and a path to an affordable house (see: picture), a unionised city workforce, good greenspace with an extensive parks system, good biking infrastructure, a good public university, and a good political scene. That leaves Portland, Minneapolis, Chicago, and maybe an East Coast city I haven't researched yet. Of those, Portland is at the top of my list because I'm getting an ocean for Great Lakes prices.
What's bad about the city that makes people move away? Is there a better option in Oregon, especially one that would let me commute into Portland without whatever problems it has?
I'm pretty fucking white but anecdotally that area is a land of contradictions. I stopped at a gas station there once and people tried giving me cash because I looked homeless (they weren't wrong). But I also know right-wingers move there when they're too racist to live in portland
This is true. The entire stretch of I5 between Vancouver WA and Olympia is a PVP enabled zone that I would avoid living/stopping in if possible