Anyone know much about Gresham, OR?

[Mika M]

DH and I started pushing ourselves on the path to frugality with FIRE stars in our eyes about a year ago... but another possible middle-ground option has presented itself, and DH submitted his application for a job opening fitting his skill set with good pay working for the city of Gresham. I would probably stay home with our toddler (possibly with part-time daycare). We both love the region so being from the DC area it seemed like a great option to have if they like him.

I'm familiar with the region (with a lot of extended family up in Tacoma) so I know about the weather and the outdoorsy culture and mountain views you can get from almost anywhere from Portland to Bellingham... So my question is does anyone know much about Gresham in particular? I've heard it's like any city with good parts and bad parts. There would definitely be lots of pros and cons to either keeping our jobs here in DC or shifting to one job way out there, so the more informed we can be the better.

Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated!

[theknitcycle]

The Good:

Parts of the downtown area are pretty.  It's trying to become a nice bedroom community for Portland, and it's kind of working.

There's an off-street multi-use path ("Springwater Corridor") that lets you bike west from Gresham all the way to the Willamette River on the far side of Portland, east to the town of Boring (which is aptly named and there's really no reason to go there, but it is a nice ride). At dusk, the part of the trail that passes through Gresham is full of tiny adorable bunnies.

Portland is reachable when you want it.  There's even kind of public rail transit from one downtown to the other.  It's a very long, slow trip that way -- not something you'd want to do if you had a car or a bike and strong legs.  But if you have no car and want to get the kiddo to the Children's museum by train, you can do it.

There's a MMM community in the area with monthly potlucks.


The Bad:

The town has a reputation for being full of meth heads and petty crime.  It didn't come from nowhere.  I do think things are better than they used to be and continuing to improve, but it's not a non-issue.

Even though it looks close to Portland on a map, it doesn't feel close.   Which could be a good or a bad thing depending on your taste for cities, I guess -- but the thing is, if you have friends in Portland, you will always or almost always be the one going to see them.  They will not want to travel out to Gresham to see you.

Much of it is very auto-centric, big stroads and strip malls, etc.  The sort of infrastructure that tries to force car clown behavior.  You'll definitely want to spend some time getting to know the town before choosing a place to settle.

[JetBlast]

Lived there for a year and a half back in 2007/2008. Taking the train downtown was easy and while a little longer than driving it was much less stressful. I'd walk to the civic drive stop and it was about 45 minutes to Pioneer Courthouse Square in downtown.

I never had any crime problems while I was there, though I generally stayed out of the worst parts of Gresham. At the time it seemed like the worst areas were generally the ones closest to East Portland and it improved as you moved farther East, though someone who lives in the area now could hopefully provide an update.

[Mika M]

if you have friends in Portland, you will always or almost always be the one going to see them.  They will not want to travel out to Gresham to see you.

Hah! Well being as we live in Springfield, VA - a half-hour from my family in Arlington (as close to DC as you can get in VA), the same is true over here. To be fair some friends are willing to drive down here but we don't have too many people out very often partly cause our place is tiny and inescapably messy and also because we're both introverts. In any case everyone I know in that corner of the country is up in Tacoma so in the event we move to Gresham I'm sure we'd still be the ones making the trip to visit people (just several times longer).

Thanks so much for the info. I've read about Gresham's crime rate and was definitely curious about it. Now I'm starting to wonder if the impressive salary advertised for such a small city is because of the crime issues, as I saw a similar job for the Oregon state government for a noticeably lower salary. (I know hospital worker in a small town in the outer-Chicago area who took a job in Gary, Indiana because of the high pay but the salary was pretty much a form of "hazardous duty pay"...)

On the other hand, I see on this crime rollup site that the most recent found drug labs were back in 2009, with the majority back in 04/05.

At the time it seemed like the worst areas were generally the ones closest to East Portland and it improved as you moved farther East, though someone who lives in the area now could hopefully provide an update.

JetBlast's experience offers some hope; thanks for the specifics. :)

[Zoot Allures]

theknitcycle laid out the pros and cons very well. One other plus I would mention is that if you love going to the Mt. Hood area or exploring the Columbia River gorge, Gresham can be a more convenient home base than Portland.

Many Portlanders tend to look down at Gresham as ugly and unsophisticated. It's long been an easy target for ridicule. But I'm sure there are plenty of Greshamites who have their reasons for living there and enjoy the lower housing costs.

Another thing to note is that Gresham has become much more diverse in recent years. Historically it was working-class white, but as Portland's inner-city neighborhoods become whiter and richer, minorities have been pushed further to the east, including Gresham.

[johnintaiwan]

Growing up we would travel to Gresham sometimes for school sports and things. I remember it as not a very nice place. But I have not been there in probably close to 10 years now, a lot may have changed since then.

[colganc]

For the Portland metro area, Gresham defintely has a repuation for higher crime, however there are parts that are good.  You could also look at Troutdale which is a bit further out and more "suburban".  Troutdale had good schools (I had cousins that lived there), I'm not sure about now though.  Even though it is a little farther away from Portland, it is also closer to cheap vacations on Mt Hood and further up the Columbia Gorge.  About 15 minutes from a ton of hiking options, natural vistas, etc and maybe 30 minutes from snow fun.

[DollarsAndDissonance]

I spent a bit of time living in Portland and working in Gresham.  I wouldn't be at all concerned about the crime stats, personally, based on what I saw there.  Gresham is definitely Portland's blue collar/strip mall suburb (versus the more affluent west side suburbs including Beaverton, where Nike is located).  Historic Downtown Gresham is cute and has a few decent restaurants.  Otherwise it's mostly middle class neighborhoods and strip malls.

One option I haven't seen mentioned: Depending on the location of your husband's job, you could potentially live in Portland and he could take the MAX light rail to work.  There are some nice, relatively affordable, extremely bike-friendly neighborhoods in inner East Portland along the blue line (between Lloyd Center all the way out to 60th or so).  Could make for a better and more FIRE-friendly lifestyle if you enjoy the benefits of the city and don't want to car commute frequently.

[ncornilsen]

I lived in gresham for 6 months in 2008 when I was interning.

-I heard gunshots at least twice a month
-A quick bikeride anywhere near Burnside could provide you with a snapshot of the market rate for various sexual favors. The goods were suspect, as you might guess.
-I got mugged on the max line.  My roommate saw someone get stabbed on the maxline.
-Access to mount hood was easy.
-rent was more reasonable than inner portland.

Now, the area I lived was pretty nice, and I didn't have any trouble. It was proximity to the Max line that seemed to be where things got dicey. You can find nice pockets here and there, so i'd evaluate the neighborhood on a case by case basis.

[Mika M]

-I heard gunshots at least twice a month
-A quick bikeride anywhere near Burnside could provide you with a snapshot of the market rate for various sexual favors. The goods were suspect, as you might guess.
-I got mugged on the max line.  My roommate saw someone get stabbed on the maxline.

Wow, reminds me of Killeen, TX. My apartment was in an area that wasn't too bad but I would hear gunshots in the distance on spring/fall nights when I could sleep with the window open. That said I still thoroughly enjoyed my time in Texas. Although with a kid in tow there's more to worry about... I get the impression that the area may have improved a little since 2008, but I hopefully DH will be able to scope it out if he gets an interview...