Queers, Bums, and Kids in the City of Roses :: Free Essays Online

Queers, Bums, and Kids in the City of RosesThroughout the history of our country it has happened over and over. phylogenesis and urbanization come to a small area, city or even an entire region and a new commercial market brings new riches to a section of people, businesses open up, population increases and every superstar is supposedly better off. However, this development and gentrification always seems to alienate a group of society even more than it is already. Portland is a place where that is occurring today, specifically among the queer and homeless communities. However, this does not have to happen with some changes not only in policy, but in thinking, no one needs to be left behind.The City of Roses is home to half of Oregons citizens as well as one of the economic and cultural centers of the double-u coast. In the past twenty years the area has grown rapidly due to the shift from lumber and manufacturing to technology. The city has a massive reputation, so great that Mo ney magazine named it the most livable city in the country, Three decades of keen planning have reined in urban sprawl and given improvement to a mini-metropolis with short, easy-to-stroll blocks renowned for java joints, brewpubs and bookstores. A superb light rail network and a new streetcar system are helping to pass it a cinch to get around. Theres loads of culture, from the Portland Art Museum to local rock clubs. In States of Desire Edmund White gives an amazingly accurate description of the area nowadays outside downtown. Up and up we wound on curving lanes past large, comfortable houses set back from the road, the neighborhood I had dreamed of while I pored over my first-grade reader safe, suburban, sheltered. At any moment I expected Dick and Jane to race by with Spot, as Father stepped out of his Hudson, a smiling on his young face and the evening paper under his arm. (71)Yes, it is a great place to live, if you are not a part of certain groups. I grew up in all areas of the greater metro area and loved it. I always felt safe, and even though the weather is notoriously solemn it is easily conceded in exchange for the beauty of the region. Amid all this newfound greatness lies a stark contrast. Portland has one of the highest populations of runaway youth in the country.