TapeGate stirs city/suburb cold war
In an interesting twist to TapeGate 2007 a schism has occurred in the Portland Metro area, pitting suburbs against city, soccer mom against hipster and ‘Couvs against Portlanders. Comments made by city commissioner Randy Leonard to The Oregonian about how “a man in a Hummer with Washington license plates, a gold pinky ring and a cooler of Budweiser can evict a poor couple from inner Northeast Portland from front-row seats” have stoked the flames of the ever popular urban/suburban debate. Some choice round up:
- The Portland Mercury chimes in about how the taping issue “has unleashed a wave of anti-suburban sentiment that is always bubbling just under the surface.”
- The Columbian fires off a shot at Leonard for his comments.
- The Oregonian rehashes what Leonard said earlier this week.
It goes without saying there are advantages and disadvantages to the urban core versus the suburbs. For the record, I do live in the burbs (though my wife and I are trying to sell our place to move into Portland). What lifestyle advantages can you have by living outside of the city and driving in to get your urban fix? What advantages are there to living close in, being mere steps from all the action? Is there more diversity in the suburbs versus Portland? What about mass transit? Many questions to be pondered and debated…the mic is yours to respond.
I work in Beaverton, so I live here too. I don’t hate the city I love it and would live there if I could. However, the commute is so short and on a nice day I can bike it easily in my own little lane the entire way. And when I want to spend the afternoon at Powells I can take the train. So I’m happy out here and see no reason for hate and discontent between us. Plenty of hummers/escalades parked around the pearl so I see no real reason for finger pointing.
Also, down with the tapers.
I suppose the fact that I came in from Vancouver to spend all night last night pulling up tape just totally screws up the whole thing…
Not to mention that this soccer mom and her soccer-playing kid spent the evening ripping up tape alongside the hipsters.
(Loved The O’s characterization of the group as a bunch of 20 and 30 year olds, as neither one of us fit that demographic…!)