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PORTLAND, OR – The food baskets making up the largest gondola in Portland need to be moved to make room for a 35-story sky climb by the end of next month.
Owners of food trolleys in bake shops on Southwest 10th Avenue and Alder Street received notifications on Thursday that they were due to leave before June 30th.
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As development begins on surface lands across Portland, some worry about the future of food carts in downtown. With that comes the fear that a piece of Portland's character and identity may be erased.
Benjamin Kilbada, who serves mouth-watering pancakes, likes to bring diversity to Rose City with a basket of food near Portland State University.
"No food will ever be better than a food basket. Everyone brings a different type of food, whatever their culture, "said Kilbada.
He fears that small business owners – many of whom are immigrants – will be expelled from the alder. Each of them has their own unique stories. The opportunity to open a food basket allowed them to reduce barriers to entry and allowed them to succeed and prosper.
"I think it's a shame, because by removing things like these, you're taking away the culture," Kilbada added.
Nick Morrison and Will Schmid work in the street from the PSU cardboard collection, taking their lunch at least twice a week.
Both regulars believe that food carts help define Portland's character.
"I think it's a shame to lose that," Morrison said.
"This is not the first basket of food that I love so much to be moved. It happens, "added Schmid.
They hope that golf cart owners on Alder will be able to relocate quickly.
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"I only hope that most of these trolleys will still continue to work because it's hard, especially for food trolleys." The competition is crazy, they have to find a place and now, the One of these things is: removed from them, "added Schmid.
Surface land is being erased in the city center. Randy Gragg, an architectural writer and long-time architect in the field of urban planning and automotive restoration, says that he does not have much space left him.
"There is a kind of internal contradiction: we want food trolleys, but not surface lots," Gragg told KGW. "It's really a question of whether we're going to be a separate city or a generic city, and it's a bit of a twist."
Gragg does not blame developers for creating a high-end space that will generate more tax revenue and other good things in town; he says that it is their land and that they are free to do what they want with a land ownership system.
"But [food cart pods] bring a lot of good things to the city too, "he added. That's one of the things that put Portland on the map, you know. We have a choice: we can keep it or let it go. "
His solution to save displaced carts: a culinary corridor. Gragg and a group of shopping cart enthusiasts submitted the proposal to City Council several months ago and continue to try to get it pbaded.
"You have to think outside the box. Our idea was to remove parking spaces, place food carts and create a corridor connecting this part of the city to the direction of Director Park. "
"We have to maintain this layer of the economy in Portland. Otherwise, we're not really in Portland anymore, "said Gragg.
KGW regulars have expressed optimism that the city's shopping cart scene will persist – but perhaps not in the city center.
"I think that there is a culture that surrounds it, so think that as long as there is a desire to eat in food bins, there will be food carts," he said. said Morrison.
"I guarantee you that I will always be here eating good quality food, anyway, so it may not be the same people who do it, which is a disappointment. Some people might be forced into bankruptcy, "added Schmid.
Working in this world, Kilbada feels where there is a will and a way.
"Even if they're chasing us out of here, we're still going to find another way to kick-start business because if people like it enough, they'll find a way to make it happen," he said. -he declares.
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