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Multnomah County officials warned Thursday of a new enterprise they say is operating outside of city, county and state regulations: hot dog carts and stands outside of Providence Park and Moda Center.
“Since the summer of 2023, the Health Department has responded to a rise in unlicensed, makeshift red push carts across the city that sell hot dogs near event venues and bars, often operating on sidewalks or in the middle of closed roads,” the county wrote. “Many of the vendors of these carts are known to be transported to Portland from other areas.”
Updated at 5:15 pm: Emails between city and county officials earlier this week, obtained through a public records request, show the county believes the hot dog stands harbor something more sinister than just unregulated frankfurters: human trafficking.
“The vendors are unlicensed and selling food and alcohol, and appear to have ties to trafficking and gangs,” Stacy Borke, deputy chief of staff to Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson, wrote to the city of Portland’s director of community safety, Stephanie Howard, on Aug. 12.
Emails show the city and county are planning a coordinated crackdown on the pushcarts this weekend, with law enforcement close by. Borke wrote to Howard that the county wished to collaborate with the city this weekend to shut down hot dog stands at Moda Center and Providence Park.
“We expect 2 events this weekend to draw 25,000-30,000 patrons and would like to conduct a mission that prevents the setup of unlicensed vendors,” Borke wrote. “This would be a long process as some vendors do arrive around 10 hours prior to the event starting.”
Borke added that law enforcement, ideally 10 or so officers, would be on standby “if anything potentially goes wrong.”
Howard said the city was ready and willing to help. “We have been discussing this issue and we will be glad to assist in every way we can,” Howard wrote back.
An email sent the following day by the county’s interim environmental health director, Jeff Martin, to department staff provided further details of the plan to flood sidewalks and streets outside Moda Center and Providence Park with city, state and county agencies.
Agencies that will be present, Martin wrote, include the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission, the Portland Bureau of Environmental Services, the Portland Bureau of Transportation, the Portland Fire Marshal and the Multnomah County Health Department, which regulates restaurants and food carts. He wrote that the agencies “are supported by law enforcement.”
Martin noted that the vendors are dumping grease into the streets, selling alcohol without a permit and sometimes to minors, operating without proper sanitary protocols, using propane, and blocking sidewalks.
In an earlier email Aug. 7 to top city and county officials, Martin wrote that the two governments were exploring what enforcement tools they had available for the pushcarts, including city nuisance rules, misdemeanor charges, and right-of-way rules. He added that “Providence Park and Moda Center again stressed the need to have a response next weekend (16th and 17th) regarding the concerts.”
According to county officials, other West Coast cities, including San Diego and Seattle, have dealt with similar issues.
The Foo Fighters perform Friday and Saturday nights at Providence Park. Peso Pluma, a Mexican artist, plays at Moda Center on Saturday.