Collage by Grant Butler, The Oregonian/OregonLive

By Grant Butler, The Oregonian/OregonLive

Like any vibrant city, Portland is constantly changing. People come and go, mixing up the makeup of our citizenry. Businesses open and close, and development changes the way the city looks and functions. Some of these changes can be dramatic over a short period of time, like the dramatic way downtown has changed over the last decade.

While it’s easy to gripe about the downsides to change (all this traffic, for crying out loud!), some changes are for the good. Here’s a look at 10 positive ways that Portland changed in 2017.

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The local economy is booming

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Pixabay

The Portland area continued to rebound from the Great Recession, with employment about as strong as it can be, and people beginning to get raises.

According to numbers released by the Census Bureau's American Community Survey earlier this month, the buzzing economy has attracted a flood of new residents. While household incomes overall remained stagnant, some neighborhoods have seen big increases in wages.

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The growth in rent and home prices appears to be slowing down

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Pixabay

After a crazy couple of years that saw rents and home prices go through the stratosphere, things started to slow down in 2017 (though there’s no sign that prices are going to go down). That stopped some of the panicky bidding wars and reduced the number of homes selling for far above their asking price.

That said, rents and home prices in Portland remain out of reach for some people, particularly millennials, because the region’s housing supply hasn’t kept up with population growth.

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It got harder for landlords to evict renters without cause

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The Associated Press

In recent years, Portland’s apartment market has become increasingly competitive, and the number of instances of landlords raising rents dramatically or evicting tenants without cause was on the rise.

Soon after taking office, new city commissioner Chloe Eudaly introduced a renter protection rule that the City Council adopted in February. Now, landlords must pay $2,900 to $4,500 in relocation costs to tenants whom they evict without cause or who leave as the result of a rent increase of 10 percent or more.

The change didn’t sit well with some landlords, who raised rents by just under 10 percent to skirt the new rule, or started charging tenants for utilities that were previously covered by rent. But the council’s move signaled that city leadership is aware of the lack of affordable housing, and wants to help make Portland a place for everyone.

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Portland finally gets serious about tackling winter storms

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Stephanie Yao Long, The Oregonian/OregonLive

Last winter was a disaster for Portland. Storm after storm dumped snow and ice on the city, which was poorly prepared to keep roads and sidewalks cleared, forcing school cancellations and business closures (though auto body shops saw a brisk uptick in work, thanks to hundreds of fender-benders caused by dumb drivers who insisted on trying to get up icy hills without chains or snow tires).

For years, the city rejected widespread use of salt on roads, citing environmental concerns. But after public outcry, transportation officials relented. The city purchased six new salt spreaders that can be installed on city trucks, and it's turning to other bureaus and private businesses to get more crews out clearing roads as soon as icy conditions begin.

It’s unclear if that will be enough, particularly if the city gets hit with snowstorms as often as it did last winter. But admitting that past efforts were wildly inadequate and deciding to salt roads the way most major cities do is a step in the right direction.

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Right 2 Dream Too finds a new home

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Stephanie Yao Long, The Oregonian/OregonLive

The Old Town homeless camp Right 2 Dream Too spent more than five years on the corner of Northwest Fourth Avenue and West Burnside Street. Advocates for the camp contended it gave homeless people refuge and a place to sleep safely. Critics argued it was an eyesore that marred the Old Town Chinatown gates.

In April, Mayor Ted Wheeler brokered a deal that moved the camp from downtown to a new paved lot between the Moda Center and the Willamette River on the eastside. The new camp opened in July, and featured a number of improvements, including the ability to accommodate more people, and electricity.

The move improved conditions for camp residents, and removed an obstacle for the ongoing revitalization of Old Town.

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The food scene finally talks about cultural appropriation

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Ross William Hamilton, The Oregonian/OregonLive

Last summer, Portland found itself at the center of a national controversy after a two-day-a-week burrito pop-up closed after it was charged with cultural appropriation -- wantonly cooking the food of other countries, arguably at the expense of people from those very cultures. That touched off a much-needed discussion in the food community about cultural appropriation.

It’s a hot topic that’s been simmering for a long time, in a city where successful restaurants like Mi Mero Mole, Pok Pok, Bollywood Theater and Por Que No are run by white chefs serving other cultures' foods, and where the booming food cart scene gives people a chance to pursue food passions on a small scale.

The discussion (characterized as “hand-wringing” or “navel-gazing” by some critics) focused on treating other cultures with dignity and respect, while honoring history, and supporting minority-owned businesses.

As Portland’s dining scene continues to grow, it’s a discussion that’s likely to continue. But in a year when so many political disagreements devolved into name-calling, it was heartening to see people trying to grapple with how culture is represented by the food we eat.

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The Portland Japanese Garden gets a $33.5 million expansion

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Beth Nakamura, The Oregonian/OregonLive

In April, the Portland Japanese Garden reopened after its largest improvement in a half century, which added 3.4 acres to its front. The $33.5 million expansion was needed to accommodate an increasing number of visitors, and took 20 months of construction to complete.

The expansion transformed the land leading up to the hilltop entrance of the Japanese garden, considered one of the most-authentic outside of Japan, but not the garden itself.

Funds for the expansion came from private donors, grants and state funding, and included more than $1 million from garden members.

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Washington Park's Rose Garden gets a major overhaul

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Grant Butler, The Oregonian/OregonLive

The International Rose Test Garden in Washington Park is one of Portland's crown jewels, and this year it celebrated its 100th birthday by getting a top-to-bottom makeover. Thanks to the Parks Replacement Bond OK'd by voters in 2014, the garden got $1 million in renovations to make it accessible to people with disabilities. The new features unveiled in late spring include viewing areas for people in wheelchairs in the garden's amphitheater, and sloped walkways that replaces stairs around the garden's signature Beach Memorial Fountain. Also new is a ramp from the gift shop into the garden.

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Grant Butler, The Oregonian/OregonLive

The centennial celebration was bittersweet for longtime curator Harry Landers, who has tended to the roses since 1988 as the garden's only full-time employee. After overseeing the completion of the garden's renovation and the replanting of its 10,000 plantings, Landers retired in September.

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You can now get almost anything delivered to your house, including pot

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Beth Nakamura, The Oregonian/OregonLive

Food and produce delivery services continued to grow this year, making it possible to order sushi or a box of organic vegetables without leaving the couch. And thanks to regulatory measures passed by Portland’s City Council late last year, you can now get marijuana delivered right to your door from approved dispensaries. That’s good news for people who have been known to use services like Caviar to get food delivered from restaurants that are only a few blocks away. There’s almost no reason to leave the house anymore, right?

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More new buildings aren't boxy monstrosities

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Stephanie Yao Long, The Oregonian/OregonLive

Portland’s building boom continued in 2017, and some of the newer apartment and office buildings actually feature some interesting designs, particularly compared to the six-story boxes that sprang up a few years ago, making places like Southeast Division Street look more like East Berlin than a hip neighborhood.

The stand-out building of the year is the just-completed Fair-Haired Dumbbell, which sits at Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and East Burnside Street. The project is actually two six-story towers connected by sky bridges, and was created by Guerilla Development Co. The building is a mix of offices and ground-floor retail, and features a whimsical hand-painted exterior, along with windows of varying sizes.

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-- Grant Butler

gbutler@oregonian.com

503-221-8566; @grantbutler