City Council to OLCC: Slow Down on Liquor Licenses for Food Carts

Portland Mercury:

Denis C. TheriaultRoger Goldingay, right, owner of the Cartlandia pod on SE 82nd, addresses the council.Fretting over the (remote) prospect that the Oregon Liquor Control Commission might suddenly decide to give annual liquor licenses out to hundreds of food carts all across Portland, the Portland City Council this morning unanimously approved a resolution asking the OLCC to let city officials, cops, and maybe even industry representatives help craft hard-and-fast rules meant to govern who gets a license and who doesn't. Even more importantly for a frustrated Mayor Sam Adams—who seized on a chance to take a stand against a dramatically "underfunded" liquor regulation system he called broken—the city also wants explicit powers to crack down on any hooch-slinging carts that don't toe the line. The vote on the resolution, put forward by Commissioner Amanda Fritz, came after a somewhat feisty hearing that pitted the only cart operator in town currently seeking such a license—Roger Goldingay of Cartlandia over on SE 82nd—against a prosecutorial city council worried they'd otherwise be powerless to stop a wave of license applications let loose by the OLCC. The resolution counts some 690-plus food carts in the city. "I'm surprised to hear you don't think there are any rules we have to abide by," Goldingay tried to tell the council. "We have certainly been presented with a lot of rules by the OLCC." The OLCC has long granted cart operators temporary licenses. But after the state Justice Department ruled it had to treat carts like regular restaurants, it began devising guidelines to govern how and when carts could apply for the annual permits. The problem, as Fritz and Adams see it, is that those guidelines aren't as strict as actual OLCC "rules"—giving the city little recourse for shaping them or enforcing them. "I have grave concerns about this proposal. We are spread thin as it is," Adams said, taking pains to declare his love of food carts but later referencing the city's struggle to shut down a problem establishment like Club 915 even with tougher "rules" in place. "Even if a fraction of the 696 apply it's a real problem for us. We're looking at budget cuts. We're also looking at gang violence. If this moves forward, it will inherently make our job harder." [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Read the full article here. Discuss below.