The coolest neighborhood in America is located in Portland, Oregon, even though the city is famous for having problems with crime and homelessness.
time is upA website that helps tourists discover what to eat and do during their travels, ranked the 38 most interesting parts of the world’s major cities.
Kerns, an arts community in downtown Portland, ranked No. 5 on a list that included neighborhoods in Marseille, France; Bali, Indonesia; Seoul, South Korea; and many other cities.
Alice Wolf, a local writer based in Portland, said: ‘Kerns may belong to one of the largest cities on the West Coast, but it seems like a perfectly formed small town.
“It is surrounded by residential streets filled with some of the city’s most charming craftsman homes, Spanish-style apartments, gardens filled with flowers and fruit trees.”
Kerns, an area of Portland (pictured), was ranked the coolest American neighborhood
Pictured: German restaurant Stammtisch, located on Northeast 28th Avenue in Kerns.
Cowbell Creamery is a cheese specialty shop across town from Stammtisch.
Kerns locals often get their fresh produce from Providore Fine Foods (pictured)
He goes on to explain that Northeast 28th Avenue, the main pedestrian-friendly thoroughfare, is dotted with quaint one- and two-story brick buildings.
If you’re ever in this area of Portland, Wolf recommends grabbing a beer at Stammtisch German Restaurant, catching a movie at the Laurelhurst Theatre, or taking a walk through Laurelhurst Park.
For coffee lovers, a caffeine boost can be found at Heart Coffee. Those who love specialty cheeses might enjoy a visit to Cowbell Creamery.
A good option for lunch is the Vietnamese restaurant Friendship Kitchen, while a nice upscale option for dinner is Farag’s, which also doubles as a wine bar.
This undeniably charming little neighborhood is still in a struggling city.
Portland saw a sharp rise in crime in 2020 as the city moved to defund the police following protests over the killing of George Floyd.
The city council voted to approve $15 million in reductions to the police office, eliminating 84 sworn staff positions.
Portland would later reimburse police after a 2020 attempt to divert funds from the department yielded undesirable results. Above, agents confront protesters at an ICE facility in Portland in May.
Chart reveals homicides in Portland have increased since city cut police budgets in 2020
Portland’s homicide rate soared from 36 in 2019 to 85 last year, following a record 97 homicides in 2022, according to data from the Portland Police Bureau.
A December 2023 survey commissioned by the Portland Police Union found that 56 percent of residents would move if they could afford it.
Another 87 percent were dissatisfied with the state of public security.
Due to the backlash, Portland restored police funding in 2021 and only recently have drops in crime been seen in the data.
Portland is also plagued by a serious homelessness crisis, which has caused tensions to rise dramatically between locals and people living in encampments.
The problem has become so serious that city officials created a homeless tracker which catalogs every report of an illegal outdoor encampment.
Over the past year, discounting duplicate reports, 45,000 camp cases have appeared.
The city expelled 746 of them in August alone.
Homeless encampments in Old Town Portland on May 14, 2020
However, it appears city officials may have responded to these major issues too late, as area employers are in the midst of a job-cutting frenzy.
Even the Kerns neighborhood is not immune to homeless encampments, although it appears to have far fewer than other parts of the city.
However, it appears that city officials may have responded too late to these important issues, as area employers are in the midst of a job-cutting frenzy.
Nonfarm employment in Portland plummeted 0.8 percent over the past year, the steepest decline among the top 50 U.S. cities, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Intel, the area’s largest private employer, announced plans to cut a staggering 15 percent of its workforce, potentially affecting thousands of local jobs.
Nike, another major company in Portland, already reduced its workforce by 5 percent last year.
Public data shows that since the pandemic, more than 2,600 downtown businesses have filed address changes with the U.S. Postal Service to leave their downtown ZIP codes.
Several big-name employers, such as Umpqua Bank, have been among the mass exodus, carried out by landlords who have taken issue with rising levels of crime and homelessness, and the city’s failure to address them.
