Can someone please tell me how the air pollution is in the Portland area? How about the crime? Are the streets free of trash or clean? What about the homeless? I live in Texas and want to move! It is so stinky and you see trash everywhere. The smog is terrible! There are also alot of people begging for money on the street. Makes you wonder if it is a scam. I appreciate the info. Thanks.

Oregon, and Portland in particular, is among the cleanest, best cared for locales in the US. Oregonians are extremely environmentally conscientious and value preservation of the natural beauty and resources of Oregon more than economic development and tourism. It's a very unique state and its residents are rightfully proud of it, and not necessarily interested in rapid population growth. It's VERY different from Texas in most every way you can imagine (except perhaps the state pride issue). BTW, I've never lived in the northwest, just like to visit.

I love Portland...every American city should be like it.
As far as the homeless...why would that affect your decision? Sadly, there are homeless in every city in the world.....

do you like rain? you'll rarely see the sun in portland

If you go to
http://community.webtv.net/angry9/VacationTravelOregon
You will find Portland the state, that should answer many of your questions

I live near Portland, and I think you will like the city. You don't see too many homeless people, except if you go down by pionner square. Every city has this problem. As for the crime, you do not see it out in the open. There's crime, but again every city has it. A good web site to go to is a local tv station, www.kgw.com. this is a very good site. another one is www.koin.com this is also a local station. It is true that it rains ALOT, but you get use to it. I hope these's web sites will help.

Gee-I would advise you to take the rain warnings seriously. I lived in Bristol, England for a year (climate very similar to Pac NW) and was amazed by how much my mood was affected. It sneaks up on you. And I was coming from Boston, no stranger to the elements. Maybe you should also look into Santa Fe, or someplace in Arizona?