The Portland Daily Sun published a report on the competition for prime locations among Portland food cart vendors.
Most pushcart food vendors will tell you there’s an unspoken agreement among the 23 licensed sidewalk restaurateurs currently operating in Portland: Once you get a spot, stick with it, and no one will mess with you.
But this agreement can at times clash with the official stance of the city, which doesn’t recognize street cart vendors’ seniority. And some vendors say that competition, especially on Commerical Street, can get fierce.
The newspaper also includes an article on a rare orange lobster that’s on display at Harbor Fish Market.
Ben Alfiero, owner of Harbor Fish Market on Custom House Wharf, has seen a lot of lobsters over his 35 years in the business, but this is only the second orange one to have graced his tanks.
Though it may appear that it’s first come, first claimed that is not quite true. For example, no one ever sets up where Mark Gotti has his cart on the days ahn he is not there; likewise Joey Tucci’s spot is never claimed on his rare off days from that spot.
Where it really breaks down, and Perry should know having been on Commercial Street for a number of years, is that street is always a mess on the matter of who claims what spot. He got lucky before he left Portland for awhile in a hurry under a bit of cloud several years back in having a stable spot near Communiques but there were a lot less carts at that time.
Should the city decide who gets which spot? No as there is no logical way to determine who would get which spot. Popular carts will prosper, and carts that don’t have enough appeal will disappear.