
The Portlandia Effect: How Did the Show Change the City It Satirized? - eindiran
http://www.vulture.com/2018/03/portlandia-effect-how-did-the-show-change-portland.html
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trophycase
I seriously doubt the show has as much effect as some in the article are
suggesting. I'd bet that it is largely spillover from Silicon Valley and
Seattle.

~~~
KANahas
The creators of the show agree: “You’re going to have to find something else
to talk about why Portland’s changing. Oh, it’s still changing, but
Portlandia’s over.” -Carrie Brownstein

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finnthehuman
People tend to pick either "Piece of media X had no effect on culture" or
"media X had these specific, clear, well-defined effect on culture."

Both are cop-outs, born from what the speaker wants to be true.

The more interesting question is: Given that Portland has long since replaced
San Francisco as the most prominent uniquely-cultured west cost city, what
changes are inevitable? And what role did Portlandia play in the larger
picture of that change?

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p3llin0r3
I've been looking at a move to Portland from Chicago for the past year. I've
never seen the show, I've lived in Chicago for the past 10 years.

( Online ) Portlanders love to say that people are moving there for the show,
are openly hostile to the thought of people moving there, harass people
online, and quote things like "Oregon is full" and for some reason seem to
think their city is the most expensive in the United States.

You see things like people explaining they're moving to Portland from New York
for a job, and people's advice will be: "HAH, good lock affording the rent!",
when in reality, rent is much higher in Seattle, New York, Los Angeles,
Denver, and the nice parts of Chicago.

I guess my point is: Portland is experiencing what these cities experienced a
decade later. It sucks and it's wrong. But blaming a television show and
harassing people for moving there isn't really productive.

> Tobias Read, the Oregon state treasurer, stood at a podium before news
> station cameras and a heaping display of cupcakes to applaud Portlandia for
> providing the city with $36 million in direct spending, 200 annual jobs, and
> $18 million spent on in-state goods to Oregon vendors. The show “increased
> tourism and our city’s notoriety,” he said.

I find it telling that city officials are thanking Portlandia for the tourism
money.

There are a lot of good reasons for moving to Oregon besides a television
show. Here are mine:

\- Better housing. Sure, you can find pretty cheap housing in Chicago, if
you're willing to ride the El to and from work at an hour a pop each way (
MINIMUM ). Living in the upscale neighborhoods of Portland cost basically the
same amount as living in an upscale Chicago neighborhood ( AKA, has good
proximity to work ).

\- Less violent crime.

\- Better climate. Last year I swore I would not live through another Chicago
winter, they are absolutely horrible and never end.

\- Proximity to nature. The midwest is boring for nature, especially around
Chicago. It's cornfields and nothing else for miles and miles.

\- Access to skiing and other active lifestyle activities.

\- Portland is legendary for it's biking infrastructure and culture, and has
one of the highest pedestrian commuting rates in the country.

\- It has decent public transit.

\- It's a smaller city, and is not a nightmare to traverse.

\- My partner is an architect, and Portland is actually building housing like
crazy.

For the sake of fairness, I'll list out the cons:

\- Locals seem to be hostile to transplants

\- VERY LARGE homeless problem. Not as bad as Los Angeles, Seattle, or New
York, though. Problem with this is that you really have to live there for a
while to understand the extent of the problem.

\- Taxes are higher

\- Smaller city, smaller tech scene, less job opportunities

\- SAD amount of diversity, and an extremely racist past

\- Much fewer days of sunlight.

~~~
tptacek
How do you ride more than an hour one direction to get to any place people
work in Chicago? I don't remember even Loop to Evanston being that long.

~~~
p3llin0r3
Evanston has the metra, not the el. Fewer stops. And even THEN, you have to
get to your actual place of work from the transportation station. And things
have changed even in the last 5 years.

It adds up:

If you don't live close to the El, you have to walk there or catch a bus.
That's 20 minutes.

Actual trip on the el is another 30 minutes, if you're lucky.

If you don't work right off of an El stop, that's another 15 minutes.

And that is OPTIMAL time, oftentimes you will get delays because the blue line
is over-populated and has constant delays.

[http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-
per...](http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-perspec-blue-
line-cta-delays-commute-20180220-story.html)

~~~
grzm
> _”Evanston has the metra, not the el.”_

Evanston is served by both Metra and the El. The Purple line north of Howard
runs through Evanston and has multiple stops.

