'Youth Magnet' Cities Hit Midlife Crisis

[WriteDown]

Source: WSJ

PORTLAND, Ore. -- In October, as the stock market tanked and the economy shed 400,000 jobs, Matt Singer moved from Oxnard, Calif. to Portland, Ore. He didn't have a job, but he was attracted to the city's offbeat culture and hungered for change. Mr. Singer's plan was to get an editing or writing gig at an alternative weekly newspaper, the job he was doing in California.

Seven months later, the 26-year-old is still without a steady job -- and still here. "I wasn't really aware of how bad the job situation was at the time," says Mr. Singer.

This drizzly city along the Willamette River has for years been among the most popular urban magnets for college graduates looking to start their careers in a small city of like-minded folks. Now the jobs are drying up, but the people are still coming. The influx of new residents is part of the reason the unemployment rate in the Portland metropolitan area has more than doubled to 11.8% over the past year, and is now above the national average of 8.9%.

More photos and interactive graphics Some new arrivals are burning through their savings as they hunt for jobs that no longer exist. Some are returning home. Others are settling for low-paying jobs they are overqualified for....


Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124242099361525009.html#mod=whats_news_free?mod=igoogle_wsj_gadgv1

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Mixed bag. At least this will slow down some of the gentrification that has taken place.

[create.peace]

1. oregon in general has had a horrible job situation for a long time

why don't people investigate before they move somewhere. my children live in pdx and are holding on to their less than satisfactory jobs for this very reason..... for them, it is worth the sacrifice. i wonder, though, if singer isn't like a lot of the 20 somethings, not willing to work at something 'beneath' them. both my children graduated at the top of their universities, but one is at fred meyer selling, and one is a nanny.

[ixion]

3. I investigated Oregon back in the 90's

I really love the state. But the lack of jobs, even back then, was enough to discourage me from moving there.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

6. They sure don't investigate before coming here

Kids are still showing up in Orange County looking for the $100,000 a year boiler room mortgage scammer jobs,

[imdjh]

2. Peter Pan meets Dorothy

I know the article says "they keep coming" but in a country this size, there are enough people to generate that while something else is happening at the same time.

What I see happening is that people who are looking for a hip destination are increasingly building on existing if fledgling communities closer to home. I thought Tampa was an unlikely area for this, but that's exactly what's happened, if on a much smaller scale. There is tech, tattoos, drum circles, lots of local live music, established neighborhoods of "like minded people" and up and coming ones too. The weather doesn't suck either, unless you insist on wearing sweaters and hiking boots. Places throughout the south have become home, or have long standing homes, of alternative communities who simply couldn't afford California or who wanted to recreate the rural and semi-rural collectives where people can grow their own food and dance around camp fires.

With so many people, it's hard to imagine that places like Portland will ever go back to being the abandoned or forgotten ghosts of a boom town- most will age gracefully in all liklihood. There will always be demand for that kind of dense urban living, and yes sweaters and leather jackets.

[LeftyMom]

4. Portland's pretty awesome.

But the insane cost of tuition (compared to CA) and the lack of jobs keep me from moving, though I'd seriously consider it if I could afford to do so.

I visit friends up there a lot though.

[MadHound]

5. The curse that befalls any city or state that suddenly becomes the hip place to be

It's happened with California, Colorado, Austin, Portland and many other places across the country. They start out as cool, hip little enclaves of counter culture, and then they get swarmed, buried under an avalanche of people who want to get in on this scene. Pretty soon the greed merchants swoop in, gentrifying entire neighborhoods, making the quick buck however they can. Runaway development happens, and within a few years, that cool, hip little place is now just another McCity, only a ghost of its former self. I've seen it happen lots of places, including my home town, and frankly it sucks.

[DAMANgoldberg]

7. I have a city for you...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asheville_(NC)">Asheville NC. It still has the eclectic charm of a hip place, and a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heath_Shuler">Democratic congressman, albeit a Blue Dog. The Orange Peel is awesome, and it doesn't get very hot in the summer.

[WriteDown]

8. I was in Asheville 13 years ago...

It was cool then. Way too many people now. Feels like people there are just trying to hard.

[able1]

12. Fine place.

Nice, relaxed, progressive, decent weather.

[EndersDame]

13. I recently moved from Austin. While I am homesick,

I am enjoying the way lower cost of living and the lower pretension levels . Being able to feel cool even though I cant afford to buy $100+ skinny black jeans with pre fab holes and fading is a plus.

[Jack_DeLeon]

15. Thats life, change is constant, moments are just that moments...

its nice to remember the fun things about the past, but things always change.

[smalll]

9. Boo hoo. Most kids know not to move to "cool" cities with a plan to "get an editing/writing gig ...

at an alternative weekly" unless they have a TRUST FUND to back themselves up with.

This Matt Singer just sounds like an undercapitalized hipster. Who can feel sorry for such dolts?

You can't play kickball in Williamsburg unless you can clip coupons (bond coupons that is) at the same time. I though everyone knew this by now. :shrug:

[On the Road]

10. I Know --

If you are going to pick a example of a problem with the economy, this is not the one.

On the other hand, I don't know about the "most kids know" part. I am getting increasingly impatient with liberal arts colleges for encouraging unrealistic plans. The ones who fall for it are often the most serious, creative students who love learning. They end up wrecking their lives while the materialistic schmucks become successful professionals.

[fasttense]

11. An unemployment rate of only 11.8%?

Think that's bad? You should be here (Greene Co, TN), our unemployment rate is currently 15.2% that's up from when the bush took over at 6.3%.

Oh by the way, unemployment rate in Asheville NC is 9.4% it was about 2.7% when the bush took over.

[EndersDame]

14. He has a 12 dollar an hour job!

I am 23 and am working for tips but am excited to maybe be getting a 9 dollar an hour job!

[Xithras]

16. I'd love to move to Portland, but the job thing keeps me in California.

Most of my family lives on the Oregon coast around Newport, where the only decent jobs involve serving tourists, cutting trees, or working fishing boats. They've been hounding me for years to move back up there, but the jobs don't exist,