A Bouquet of Hand Rolls Made From Crab, Salmon and Tuna, for Sale at Mr. Tuna in the Cutter Street Parking Lot off the Eastern Promenade on the East End of Portland. The Hand Rolls Were Purchased by a Customer From Cape Elizabeth.

The Inept Interim City Manager Danielle West Appeared Bored by the Request of the Food Truckers at at a City Council Meeting Earlier This Week to be Placed on the Council’s Agenda This Fall So Business Pans can be Made and Iplemented in Advance of the 2023 Season.  o Return to the Cutter Street Parking Lot or Not to Return?

About 15 food truckers attended a city council meeting this past Monday, September 19, 2022.  During a specific time reserved for people who want to speak on non-agenda items, many of them spoke. But not all of them.  Those who did speak asked for the same thing over and over; put us on the city council agenda this fall so we can make our plans for the upcoming 2023 season. Forget it said city officials.  We have a better idea!

Food truckers need time to develop and implement business plans  months in advance – just like city hall does.  A foreign idea to city hall employees who know that their salary and benefits are not in  jeopardy –  they are part of the city’s budget that is passed the previous year.  Just raise the costs of garbage bags and parking meters  to meet salary expenses.!

Sometime following the exit of the 15 or so food truckers following their testimony and the exit of this blogger from City Council chambers, the inept Interim City Manager Danielle West announced that she would be issuing a survey in early October.  No details.  Not much transparency either.

Stalling tactics while West assesses the popularity of the food truckers on the east end of Portland?  Is this a pause  because of the backlash from opponents of her out-of-touch policies in Portland?

Despite multiple inquiries to the communications department at city hall beginning Tuesday morning seeking confirmation or a denial of the survey by this blogger, no response from Jessica Grondin, city spokesperson has been forthcoming as of late today.

There are surveys and there are SURVEYS.  Some are scientifically designed and others  are designed with a built-in bias.  Who will be designing this survey?  Someone professionally hired to design such a survey?  Have RFP’s been issued to design,  conduct, distribue and anlyze this survey?

What guarantees are there that opponents of the food truckers at the Cutter Street parking lot will not “stuff the survey” with their untruths.  Multiple other questions about the survey and its implementation went unaswered by city hall since yesterday morning.  For example, many of the food truck patrons are from or out-of-town locations.  The Park has become a destination for many from out of the area. Will they be counted in the survey?  The devil is in the details.

Wonder why?  Let’s hope it’s not just another poorly thought out idea announced to save face for city hall afraid to displease Eastern Promenade residents.

For more background information on this subject, please visit post herein dated September 19, 2022 as well as numerous previous posts on the food truckers in the Cutter Street parkig lot off the Eastern Promenade on the East End of Portland.