Its no secret that Portland has public transportation - but what might not be known is the vast network that Portland has to support the efforts to expand its public tram / light rail system to all or the city, even in our South East parts that are commonly overlooked (although currently well supported with bus routes). Portland’s street cars / light rails are amazing, clean and operate on power supplied by the city from mostly renewable resources. The cars themselves are very cheap to ride and monthly passes can be secured for a reasonable fee.

One of the largest perks of this system is called Fareless Square - it is a part of downtown that the street car is totally free (hence Fareless). It is meant to bolster support for downtown businesses where parking might be a bit tough, and to provide businesses with the abilities for larger neighborhood customer bases - and it works extremely well.

Next time you are in Portland and downtown - check one of the stops and see if you are in the Fareless Square - if so, jump on a take a ride, you would be part of Reason #13.

Yea, you heard that right - 0%. On everything, even if you buy a car. People from surrounding areas drive in just for the deals, and although some have tried to pass laws to increase our sales tax to 1%, they have all failed.

The importance of no sales tax is more than just saving a few cents on a candy bar, because it relates to the entire cost of living expenses that many directories and polls never take into consideration. But let’s break it down, Portland style. Say every day you buy a cup of coffee (or a latte with three shots of espresso and a shot of caramel) for $2.50. You also eat one meal a day out for around $10. That’s $12.50 a day here, but if you compare it to say New York City where the sales tax is 8.625% that $12.50 is actually $13.58 a day. A whopping $1.58 a day, extra (you should also add on the fact of transportation costs and more in NYC). So if you look at your yearly overhead you pay $576.70 more… just on those two things alone. If you add in groceries, gas, drinks and everything else you buy on a daily basis you can see immediately how much you can save just by relocation alone.

There are other 0% sales tax cities out there, but not many – and usually they have extremely high property taxes or some other way to recoup the money. Portland doesn’t, and its on the path to keep it that way with a budget surplus and great city programs - all growing as more and more people move here.

So there you have it, back in your pocket and not with the politicians, reason #11 for $0.99 (with a penny back).

About 4 days a week, when we are walking our dogs to the park we make a small detour to get Stumptown Coffee (see earlier post). But Stumptown Coffee doesn’t have to be from a Stumptown shop - our neighborhood shop (one of the four) of choice is Floyd’s. Not only for the coffee and proximity, but for the calming effect and friendliness that you can only really get at Floyd’s. Sheri, Jack and the gang greet you by name, know what you want to order (because I never get anything different) and provide it with the utmost consistency.

Floyd’s isn’t a chain, far from it - its a single store and a true Portland small business. When you are in our neck of the woods - check out Floyd’s and grab a cup of Joe.

Image from Floyd’s Web Site

This post might be a bit bias, so I will make sure to cover all the other neighborhoods as soon as I can, because there are many – but this one is ours. The Belmont / Hawthorne area of South East Portland has seen explosive growth over the last 8 years, culminating with a multitude of new businesses, high housing prices (demand is there) and some of the best bars and restaurants in the city. The established neighborhood is only a few blocks (it starts on 12th or thereabouts, 12 blocks away from the Willamette river that separates East and West) and spans up to the mid-forties (I think only 39th but some will disagree). Encapsulated in this span are many parks, bars and restaurants and almost make Belmont Hawthorne self-sufficient.

Currently the neighborhood is home to 5 (or more) development projects to build mid to high end condos and lofts in the high traffic areas, along with new retail shopping areas. The neighborhood policies these new projects to make sure they “fit” with the current areas, architecture and more; in the past have beat McDonald’s, Wal-Mart and a few others out of the hood’.

Not only are there a multitude of options for recreation, food, and drink - there are some amazing schools and educational centers based here along with a great branch of the public library.

When visiting Portland, many people quickly realize why they are part of Reason #10 - it really is that good here.

Mt. Tabor park, located in the middle of the South East side of Portland is an extinct volcano that has everything you would ever want in a park. Our favorite area (and our dogs favorite) is the nearly 5 acre off-leash dog run that sits on the South side of the park. It is practically a private forest for you and your best friend to run and around and play with other dogs and people. It is fenced in, has trash cans, benches and it maintained better than anything I have ever seen - possibly why they call Portland “The City The Works”.

Continuing up the mountain you can find recreation areas, picnic areas, and more and it is especially lovely for bike or Vespa riding on a warm spring day. If you are a jogger, you can find many paths that take you all over the park including one that encircles the largest fresh water reservoirs in the North West. It is massive - multi-level and a sight to see for sure. Its also a very peaceful surrounding and the park is really never that crowded.

If you can’t make it out of the city or to Forrest Park, the oasis that is Mt. Tabor comes in at reason #8 (although our dogs would peg it in at #1).