Both can be true. Portland has some nasty parts (inner downtown, anywhere near a trail or a body of water) that are riddled with needles or feces, but there are also some very nice parts like the suburbs or anywhere that can afford private security.
I don’t know if that last bit is completely true. Portland was worse on my last visit earlier this year than it was on my first visit almost ten years ago. On the other hand, my wife grew up in Oregon and from her account, the city was dirty and full of drug addicts when she was growing up in the 1990s.
