Portland Archives - Empathic Finance

It’s not what you think: Store closings and retail crime

Posted by Mike Pumphrey on October 2, 2023 | Featured

Recent store closings said to be due to theft and organized retail crime are misleading, meant to shift blame away from the businesses. … Read More

Tags: Portland, retail, Target, theft

How your mode of travel affects your experience

Posted by Mike Pumphrey on February 26, 2015 | Featured

I recently attended Dan Savage’s Valentine’s Day live event. I’ve actually spent the past three V-Days with Dan, but this is the first year he came to my town instead of me going to his. The event was in … Read More … Read More

Tags: Dan Savage, driving, Portland, walking

How to handle when your neighborhood changes

Posted by Mike Pumphrey on January 15, 2015 | Featured

Portland is known as a hotbed of urban progressiveness, but it’s surrounded by some fairly rural and conservative areas. Drive out toward the edge of the urban growth boundary, and the Subarus and Priuses (Priii?) will be replaced by … Read More … Read More

Tags: Portland, urban planning, urbanization

Your right to park on your street

Posted by Mike Pumphrey on January 12, 2015 | Featured

There are big changes in my area of Portland, changes that mirror a lot of areas of the country. One of the thoroughfares, Division St., is undergoing a dramatic transformation. Once populated by auto-supply stores, dive bars, and other … Read More … Read More

Tags: parking, Portland, street, urban planning

Me as a remote worker, or how I became spatially independent

Posted by Mike Pumphrey on December 18, 2014 | Featured

I’ve talked before about how the phrase “location independence” is actually two different situations that are often confused: spatial independence (being anywhere) and temporal independence (being, um, “anywhen”?) I believe that it’s much easier to transition to spatial independence … Read More … Read More

Tags: independence, jobs, location independence, Portland, work

Why rail trails are great, sort of

Posted by Mike Pumphrey on May 23, 2013 | Featured

The Springwater Corridor Trail is a rail trail in the Portland area. It starts out on the eastern waterfront, and follows the Willamette River south for about 4 miles before turning inland along Johnson Creek, through the towns of … Read More … Read More

Tags: cycling, land use, Portland, tracks, trails, trains

Why renting is better than owning

Posted by Mike Pumphrey on December 20, 2012 | Featured

I was taught that everyone should eventually own a home. Actually, like so many of these cultural imperatives, I didn’t so much learn this as much it was absorbed into my head through some kind of osmosis. Owning is … Read More … Read More

Tags: apartments, houses, moving, New York City, owning, Portland, renting

You can (and should) love where you live

Posted by Mike Pumphrey on November 29, 2012 | Featured

In my post on managing the post-vacation blues, I identified three strategies that you can employ to reduce or manage the emotional let down that comes along with returning from a trip or vacation. There was a fourth strategy, … Read More … Read More

Tags: home, New York City, Portland, subway, train, travel

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