Stephan: Here is a lovely bit of good news. I can also report that throughout Cascadia, the bio-region from above Vancouver to San Francisco, there is an emerging movement focused on creating thriving and resilient communities. Cascadia has citizen movements that are committed to getting through the perfect storm of transition we face in the most life-affirming way, whatever the rest of the country does. This report, is more polemic than I would like, but it gives a good sense of the flavor of our public conversation out here.
Jay Walljasper is editor of OnTheCommons.org, a news and culture website devoted to recognizing the importance of the commons -- those things that belong to all of us -- in modern life.
Everyone who cares about vibrant, vital cities loves Portland.
Oregon’s largest city manages to excel at almost every measure of urban livability from streetcars to bike commuters to microbreweries.
In fact, Portland gets so much positive press that our jealousy of the place can sometimes overpower our love. That explains the humorously jaundiced look at the city on the TV series Portlandia, where it is lampooned as a vegan Shangri-La where no one really has a job.
Here in Minneapolis, we’ve grown accustomed to chanting ‘We’re number two!
