Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN), Google Inc (GOOG): One Reason Portlanders Drive Less but Drink More

What impact has that had? Portland is reputed to have the most bookstores per capita, the most roof racks per capita, the most strip clubs per capita.

Isaac: They’re just having fun out there.

Speck: These are all slight exaggerations of a true fact, which is that they tend to consume recreation more than other cities. It’s the second-best city per capita for dining, in terms of number of restaurants per capita in the country, after San Francisco.

They consume, at least Oregonians, spend a lot more on alcohol than other Americans. Most of it’s beers, special, expensive beers, but that makes us glad they’re driving less.

But mostly it goes into their housing. It’s the difference between money spent on driving, 85% of which leaves the local economy, and money spent on housing and recreation, most of which stays in the local economy, so it’s very mutually supportive, what they’re doing.

Then there’s this other thing. Did you know — you probably do — that all your friends are moving to Portland, and that in the ’90s the number of educated 25-to-35-year-olds in Portland went up 50% in one decade, which is five times any other city in the country?

It’s because Portland is a cool place to be, because of these decisions that people are making, particularly the bicycling infrastructure, which has a tremendous impact on how people view cities.

I’m often advising cities, “Yes, build bike lanes. Stripe them in a bold green color. Do it for the bikers, and if you do it the bikers will come,” because the evidence is now clear that bicycle lanes, especially separated bicycle lanes, absolutely mint cyclists.

But also think of it as a horizontal billboard advertising your city, saying, “We’re a cool place. We’re a young place. We’re a healthy place. We want to attract this sort of lifestyle in our city.” That’s worth its weight in gold, in terms of marketing.

Isaac: I’m surprised you didn’t bring up in your book the Portlandia show. The dream of the ’90s is alive in Portland. Free-range chickens everywhere…

Speck: I’ve never seen that show, but I understand I need to, yeah.

Isaac: You should check it out sometime.

The article 1 Reason Portlanders Drive Less but Drink More originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Isaac Pino, CPA.

Isaac Pino, CPA, owns shares of Google. The Motley Fool recommends Amazon.com and Google. The Motley Fool owns shares of Amazon.com and Google.

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