Editor,
In your Jan. 10 commentary, a better comparison to “Weird” Portland would be Indianapolis, not the very vanilla Carmel. It seems you arrived in Portland with your baggage, including a chip on your shoulder and closed mind. I suspect your party’s comments weren’t limited to “half joking” remarks, and they made their disdain and right-leaning politics evident. It’s hard to believe you saw Portland’s exceptional efforts to recycle as problematic and too complicated. But I forgot that in a week environmental issues and climate change will simply no longer exist!
I have made it a mission to visit all 50 of the amazing United States. Every state has something unique to share. I hope you took the time to visit some of the true gems of Oregon, all within an hour of Portland, including Mt. Hood, the Columbia River Gorge and Pacific coast. The majority of citizens are very welcoming and friendly, but of course there is the occasional “grumpy pants” everywhere.
There is no reason to denigrate another city to make you feel better about where you live. It fosters an “us and them” mentality that is not beneficial in bridging the divide in our nation.
Karen Dyste, Carmel