Page 2
July 3, 2019
photo by D anny p eterson /t he p ortlanD o bserver
Chefs were thanking customers last week at the iconic food cart pod at Southwest Alder and 10th Avenue, downtown, as they
served up last meals before clearing out to make room for the construction of a new Ritz-Carlton hotel. City officials and private
donors are trying to secure another place for some of the carts a few blocks away at the North Park Blocks.
Alder Food Carts Move
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Group offered help
on new location
by D anny p eterson
t he p ortlanD o bserver
Some of the food carts of the iconic
Alder Street Food Cart Pod, downtown,
have found a temporary home in the
old downtown Post Office parking lot,
thanks to an anonymous donation that
covered towing costs and support from
the city, with the hopes of securing a
new permanent home along the North
Park Blocks.
Oregon Minimum Wage Increases
July has ushered in a raise for minimum
wage workers in Oregon. Under a regional
formula accounting for inflation and geo-
graphic differences in local economies,
employers in the Portland area will now
pay at least $12.50 an hour, 50 cents higher
than before and higher than other parts of
the state.
The collection of food carts at South-
west Alder and 10th Avenue were the
first to give Portland a reputation for
being a food lover’s paradise without
the trappings of brick and mortar restau-
rants. Sunday they were all cleared out
after 20 years to make room for a new
Ritz-Carlton hotel, which began con-
struction Monday.
“It’s sad to move but the reality is, this
is private land, we have no way to con-
trol the owner’s actions,” Michael Xu,
who helps run Shanghai’s Best Street
Food, told the Portland Observer.
He added that he’s appreciated the
The
Week
in
Review
Single-Family Zones Eliminated
The Oregon Senate responded to an afford-
able housing shortage on Sunday by giv-
ing final legislative approval to a bill that
would effectively eliminate single-family
zoning in large Oregon cities. It will allow
duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes and “cot-
tage clusters” on land previously reserved
for single family houses .
Life Sentence for Hate Death
An avowed white supremacist who drove
his car into a crowd of counter protesters
during a white nationalist rally in Charlot-
tesville, Va. last year was sentenced to life
in prison Friday. James A. Fields Jr. plead-
ed guilty to 29 federal hate crimes as part
of an agreement that eliminated the death
penalty as a possible punishment.
Scooters Fished from River
The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office’s
dive team spent two days in the Willamette
River in Portland last week, recovering 57
e-scooters and bikes, so many that they had
to quit at one point because they ran out of
space to get them back to shore.
Max River Tunnel Considered
Metro and TriMet are taking concrete steps
this summer to determine if it’s feasible to
build a tunnel underneath downtown Port-
land and the Willamette River to speed up
light rail trains and provide an alternative
river crossing to the aging Steel Bridge. A
website by the government agencies asks
help that’s been offered by city officials
so far, “They reacted so fast. That’s so
lucky we have them to help us.”
A group of businesses, non-profits
and the City of Portland—spearheaded
by Commissioner Chloe Eudaly—is at-
tempting to create a space for the food
carts on the North Park Blocks between
Burnside and Northwest Davis, with a
tentative move-in date of July 15
The effort is backed by a Go Fund Me
page that aims to raise $300, 000 to cover
the costs of towing, electrical, and to de-
velop a long-term solution for food carts
in Portland.
for comments on the tunnel concept.
Carter Dishes on Trump Vote
Former President
Jimmy Carter said
Friday he believes
President Donald
Trump
actually
lost the 2016 elec-
tion and is presi-
dent only because
of Russian interference. Carter made the
comments during a discussion on human
rights at a resort in Leesburg, Virginia.
Superintendent Hire Extended
The Portland Public Schools Board of Edu-
cation voted unanimous-
ly last week to extend
Superintendent Guada-
lupe Guerrero’s current
contract by another two
years through June 2022.
The approval came after
board members offered a
positive review of his performance, cred-
iting him for putting the district on a foot-
ing to improve student outcomes in future
years.