Shuttered Portland

The recession pummeling Oregon is easy to quantify.

Home values are falling. Foreclosures are increasing. As of April, Oregon had the second-highest unemployment rate in the country at 12.1 percent, behind only Michigan.

But we at WW wanted to know how those figures were reshaping Portlanders’ lives, their families and their neighborhoods.

So for two weeks, we collected readers’ photographs in a contest we dubbed “Shuttered Portland.” Some sent in portraits of themselves or loved ones. Others sent in evidence of the changing retail landscape. Still more people sent us examples of how they were adjusting their personal spending: buying fewer bottles of wine, getting free beauty treatments from students, growing more food at home. One man called our recession hotline to explain how he saves gas in his Suburban by coasting down one particular hill every time he drives it.

Not all of the entries were pessimistic, even though the recession is unlikely to turn around in the short term. One family sent in a photograph of their 7–month–old daughter, Rainbow, wrapped in a handmade blanket. The baby’s mother also explained her hope for the future on our recession hotline. You can listen to her description of faith’s role in a time of crisis online, too.

Now you get to vote. Tell us online which entry you like best in the comments below, and we’ll award the top prize of a $100 bar tab to the winner. Runners-up will receive gift certificates to a local salon and a local restaurant.