Portland Mommies to Toddlers?

[littlebabydoll]

Hello Portland mommies!

I am moving to Portland from the CA Bay area in a week. I'd love to meet some new friends, have play dates and learn all about Portland.

My husband and I are running out of Oakland, CA after a slew of robberies in our neighborhood. We hope to find a safe neighborhood for our 20 month old son to live in. Any suggestions? We will be buying our first home and would love to know school recommendations as well as pediatricians.

About me: I'm a 29 year old crafter. I know, sew, crochet and more. I love the 1920's era the best and adore everything vintage. I'm attracted to the Portland DIY movement, the rain, the greenery and vintage houses.

We ap parent, co-sleep, breastfeed, cloth diaper our lil guy Damien who loves trucks, tools and balls most of all.

Anyone want to come out and play with us?

[hezasan]

C'mon over!
We like it up here I grew up in the bay area, and my parents moved us back up here because of the environment down there too. We love it here!
My ds is just a year, we don't know much about the schools yet.
We live actually outside the Portland metro (but not much), but we would love to get together in Portland (we haven't had much opportunity for play dates yet)
Good luck with everything! And welcome!

[OregonUrbanFarmer]

I live west of Portland in Forest Grove. Welcome! I grew up between Sac and Tahoe.

NE Portland isn't the best place to consider - my sister lives there and every time I read the paper I worry about her. A friend lives near Multnomah Village and that is nice.

It really depends on what you want as to where you should live. I'm not a city girl and prefer the cows. I'd rent for awhile and check out the city.

[Italiamom]

Originally Posted by littlebabydoll

I am moving to Portland from the CA Bay area in a week. I'd love to meet some new friends, have play dates and learn all about Portland.

Neighborhood kind of depends on what you're looking for... Do you want to be in the city proper? Would you rather be in a suburb? What are your priorities in a house (space, quiet, proximity)?

[MamieCole]

We moved from San Jose to Beaverton in the summer of 2007 and stayed there for two years until DH lost his job and couldn't find another one. We loved it while we were there and can't wait to go back to visit. (And live someday, if I have my way )

We bought a great house on a cul-de-sac near the Beaverton/Aloha/Hillsboro border...the Tanasbourne area to be exact. We were in the Hillsboro school district and my daughter was in middle school/high school while we were there. She loved her middle school (Brown) and High School (Century). Sorry I have no idea about what the elementary schools are like. My two little ones were too little for school and we are planning to homeschool anyway. You can probably buy our exact house, as the bank owns it now.

If you end up somewhere on the westside, we really liked Hillsboro Pediatrics. We saw Dr. Guiterriez, but I've heard good things about lots of the other docs there as well. They are super supportive of breastfeeding and tolerant of selective/delayed/alternative vaxing. I say "tolerant" because it really depends on which doc you see. They never gave me a hard time about not vaxing, but I did get the obligatory "Here's why you should vax" speech.

I would be remiss if I did not recommend our pediatric dentist, Dr. Pike. We saw Dr. Allan for a while and then his son, Dr. Steven. They are SO AWESOME! I almost want to make the 10 hour drive up there just so my kiddos can still have them as their dentist.

Portland public school district has had some school issues and last I heard it was not the best. Lots of the suburbs have good public schools (in regard to test scores): Beaverton, Tigard, Lake Oswego. It really just depends on what you are looking for. You can probably find a great school wherever you are, you just might have to look beyond your local neighborhood school.

If you are looking to live in a place where you can walk to whatever you need, then the suburbs are probably not your best bet. (Maybe Multnomah Village) but otherwise, you have to drive to get to shopping/groceries/restaurants.

That being said, the public transit in Portland is like none I have ever seen. It was SO easy to hop on MAX and go to the zoo or into Portland. I SO miss Portland's great public transit.

Anyway, congrats on the move. The Portland area is so wonderful! And despite what people will warn you about, the rain is NOT that bad. The grey and cold for 9 months sorta sucks, but IMHO the trade-off is worth it.

[littlebabydoll]

I'd love to meet up. I'll let you know when we get settled in our sublet. I suspect the second week in September we will start feeling more grounded.

OregonUrbanFarmer- What areas of NE are bad? All? Hollywood? Piedmont? Concordia? Alberta Arts? Sabin? Alameda? Roseway? Laurelhurst? Can you also describe bad? Robberies, burglaries, rape, murder, drugs?! It would be great if you can elaborate as there are a lot of real estate options in those areas for us. Of course once we are in Portland on Monday-Tuesday we can start looking around and really judge how the neighborhoods feel to us. We can only tell so much from a car window though so any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Being a Bay Area girl, we are total car people. We drive 15 min to get our fav pizza every week. We drive to SF 30-45min to be in SF. We don't mind being a little out there as long as it doesn't sacrifice culture. I think it would be nice to be able to walk to get groceries, etc. but I dont think it's a requirement. We own one car to get around and my husband works from home. I wouldn't want to live in downtown Portland, that's for sure. No condos an loud city life for me. I'd like a nice little quiet bungalow that I can garden in and really just feel safe walking my son around the block. (As I dont feel that here in Oakland now at all) We are hoping to get a 3 bedroom house with a grassy backyard enough just to kick around a ball in and grow a few veggie patches. I'm picky and hoping to find a house that is more or less untouched with vintage charm still there. We can shop up to the $417k range so that gives us lots of options it seems. Oh, and I want chickens too but I think that can fly most anywhere these days.

MamieCole- Thanks for the doctor recommendation. That sounds like our current doctor, tolerant but still makes their case for vaccines.

[Italiamom]

Originally Posted by OregonUrbanFarmer

NE Portland isn't the best place to consider - my sister lives there and every time I read the paper I worry about her.

That's a very interesting perspective, because NE Portland has some of the BEST neighborhoods to be in Portland right now, IMHO. The Alberta neighborhood, the Laurelhurst neighborhood, the neighborhoods around Mississippi... I know that the NE Portland LLL is always packed with mamas, and the NE LLL toddler group is super active too. I think that a lot more of the crime happens in NORTH Portland neighborhoods, not NE (i.e., when you're looking at the classifieds, it will have a N. Portland address, rather than a NE. Portland address). And even then, if you steer clear of living near the main arteries (which I think is totally unnecessary, but for sake of paranoia here), you shouldn't have any problems. No one is going to pull you from your car and shoot you here...

I don't know if y'all have ever spent much time in Oakland, but I have. And you would be hard pressed to find a neighborhood ANYWHERE in Portland that is half as bad as some of the neighborhoods in Oakland (not dissing on Oakland here, btw, it has some of my favorite restaurants on the whole west coast, and some very dear friends too).

To the OP, as long as it isn't rush hour, you can drive in to the city from most of the 'burbs within about 30 minutes. That said, you'll sacrifice a bit of culture. I know people who love the suburbs (although check first on your chickens, the 'burbs have different laws than Portland proper). But for our family is was a bit too homogeneous. I like that community neighborhood-y feel, and the 'burbs just didn't have that to me.

I live in Portland proper (SE) and I love my neighborhood. I don't feel unsafe walking around with my kiddo by myself, and I like the proximity. I only know one person in Portland who has been robbed, and it happened very late at night while she was parked and not paying attention on one of those main arteries, and she was alone.

[littlebabydoll]

Italiamom- Thanks for your input. I really appreciate it. I have to agree that Oakland can be pretty rough. I live in a very residential cute bungalow area, not ghetto by any means but our two block street has had about 6 house robberies at gun point in the last month as well as a bunch of robberies when people were getting out of cars 6 months ago, then even robberies on second floor apartments, just coming up to their door and knocking! The Oakland police department just announced like 80-90 cop lay offs due to lack of funds which spiked the crime. They said they won't be showing up to robberies unless they are violent. Who's to say they won't TURN violent.

ANYWAYS, I think peoples definition of safety is all relative.

[Abraisme]

Wecome to Oregon (almost)! I would say that you might want to investigate schools before you investigate neighborhoods. The Portland school system has a wide range from terrible to decent. Once you establish where the good schools are you can search the proximity from there.

My DH and I choose to move to Lake Oswego because EVERY school in the district rates a 10. We live in the unincorperated part of town (but still in a neighborhood), so we don't have any zoning rules about chickens, pets, etc. We actually have 9 chickens, 2 goats, 4 bunnies, 2 dogs and 2 cats. While we're not within walking distance of many things we feel like we have a lot here. We love the school that my son is in and we also happen to be close my DH's work (which means a lot to us).

Anyway, that all being said.. My friends and I have a little AP mommies group that gets together every Tuesday from 11:30-2:00 at my place in Lake Oswego. If you'd like to join us please PM me and I'll send you the info.

[karen1968]

Welcome to Portland! I'm another Bay Area transfer (grew up in Cupertino and owned a house in downtown San Jose just before moving here).

I highly suggest you check out www.portlandmaps.com. There you'll find all sorts of statistical information, including on crime (personal and property), owner/renter ratios, even property values and permitting for an individual house. It can be very informative, but you need to start with an address or intersection.

One of the difficult things about Portland, IMO, is that crime, etc. can vary block to block. For example, SE Somestreet at 40th might be fine, but at 42 there's been lots of property crime. That's where I think PortlandMaps come in handy.

If you want to be close-in near vintage-y stuff, esp. 1920's era houses, you probably want to be on the Eastside. There are lots of little neighborhood pockets with great shopping areas, like Division, Clinton, Sellwood, Woodstock, Hawthorne in the SE...Alberta, Killingswoth, Mississippi in NE. However, some of these, because of the "vibe", also tend to attract property crimes. If you can afford it, neighborhoods like Laurelhurst and Irvington are safer, but more upscale and less walkable.

That said, I've never felt particularly unsafe in Portland, although my friend who lives in the Lents area talks a lot about the number of sirens

As to Portland Public Schools, they are struggling, as are many SD these days. My friends whose kids are in PPS often apply (va lottery) to get into one of the charter schools. Depending on your school/education astethic, there are choices, but some of them can be difficult to get into.

[jazzybaby9]

New to Portland from Denver and looking for some friends... hellooo, anyone out there?

[littlebabydoll]

I've arrived! It kind of feels like heaven here compared to the Bay Area. The neighborhoods are so beautiful. There is a hitch in our house buying plans, my husband got kicked out of his company two days before we moved. He was the CPO of a big startup but the CEO got egotistical and didn't want to share the founding glory. (plus the guy is on drugs) long story short, no house buying for us asap. I feel so displaced and our sublet is SW so I feel like I'm not quite part of the Portland areas I'm growing to love.

Anyways, we visited Sellwood, Mt Tabor, Grant and Laurelhurst Parks and we are blown away by their beauty. There just isn't parks like this in the Bay Area, nice area of town or not!

I hope our lives will piece back together soon. I want a home here and my chicken coop! I love Laurelhurst, Irvington, Alameda, Dolph Park, Sellwood areas for houses so far. I love the hipness of Alberta Arts and Hawthorn too! I'm sure there are others but I can't keep track of all the neighborhoods yet.

[zjande]

Wow, we moved up here from Oakland, too, and our house being burglarized was the last straw for us. After that we knew we had to move! We lived in Montclair. We've been in Beaverton now 4 years. We're saving our pennies to buy some land, most likely in Idaho.

I do love it here, but, I'm just kinda over the whole city thing. I spent enough hours in SF for a lifetime. I need some rolling hills covered with hay bales now.

But who cares about me. LOL Welcome to Oregon! Good luck & have fun getting settled!

[littlebabydoll]

Zjande-I'm sorry you were burglarized too, even though it was 4 years ago. You can understand the feeling of needing to run away! So many neighbors in Oakland just have this "live with it" attitude. People always ask if "you have family here" also, making me feel that somehow I am doing a horrible thing moving my son away from family in the Bay Area. I felt like I was going to be robbed at the park


Amazing how so many of us Californians are here now! I secretly hope to move all my friends and family here too. I'm trying to through taking the best pics of Portland now that I am here. Portland is country enough for me! I'm not one to want to be too isolated from people so I love that it's a great mix of city and country feelings. (I guess a little bungalow with a picket fence and tree lined streets counts as country for me)


I laugh at how someone complained about the traffic to me! Bad traffic in the Bay Area is sitting for an hour in traffic to get dinner 5 miles away from Oakland to Berkeley. Here, the most we've sat in traffic was Friday at 4 for maybe 30 min. as we are subletting in SW and we like to visit the East more.

Anyways, I cant wait to meet more Portland folk in time.

We were in Beaverton today for a 5 guys burger, num num!

[littlebabydoll]

Abraisme - That time is currently my son's nap time or I'd join you for your meetup!

[Italiamom]

Welcome to Portland littlebabydoll! Very sorry to hear about the hitch in your homebuying plans. That's rough!

[thegoodearth]

New to Portland here.  I know this is an old thread, but I thought I'd resurrect it since it fits my current situation perfectly. We just moved here about 2 weeks ago (yes, from CA) and are loving it! I have a 15 month DS and a hubby that works in downtown Portland. We live in the SE, specifically the Sunnyside neigborhood - which is terrific! We love the rain and this city - especially the older neighborhoods. I've started doing the whole meetup thing and have found one group so far but not in my neighborhood. Unfortunately it seems like all the meetup groups that I'd like to join are already full. Anybody have ideas on how to meet other mamas with toddlers in the Southeast or Northeast neighborhoods? I get out quite a bit on my own with him, but I'm looking for social groupings or just meeting other moms with tots.

[Abraisme]

You're welcome to join my mommies group, but I'm also not in your area..  I'm in Lake Oswego right off of I5.  If you'd like the info please PM me.
 

Originally Posted by thegoodearth 

New to Portland here.  I know this is an old thread, but I thought I'd resurrect it since it fits my current situation perfectly. We just moved here about 2 weeks ago (yes, from CA) and are loving it! I have a 15 month DS and a hubby that works in downtown Portland. We live in the SE, specifically the Sunnyside neigborhood - which is terrific! We love the rain and this city - especially the older neighborhoods. I've started doing the whole meetup thing and have found one group so far but not in my neighborhood. Unfortunately it seems like all the meetup groups that I'd like to join are already full. Anybody have ideas on how to meet other mamas with toddlers in the Southeast or Northeast neighborhoods? I get out quite a bit on my own with him, but I'm looking for social groupings or just meeting other moms with tots.

[littlebabydoll]

Hello!

We made in to Portland after all about 8 months ago. I've found some meetup.com groups that are ok. I say just get to the parks now that its summer and chat up mommies! People are so friendly and its a good way to make friends. I'm NE near Grant park. My son is now 2.5. 

[ilovelabello]

i am also a pdx mama to an almost-walking toddler dd  (14 mos) and would love to find a meet-up. i live in nw, but would be happy to travel to the eastside to meet!