Keep Portland’s Local Food Trucks on the Prom! 

As Portland locals, one of our favorite ways to enjoy the city is to hang out on the Eastern Prom, eat from food trucks, and enjoy the beautiful views and historic park. Over the past several years, we have supported the various food trucks who consistently park on the Eastern Promenade road, and are saddened to hear that their ability to do business there may be in jeopardy. 

Interim City Manager, Danielle West, made the decision to relocate trucks to one of the middle lots and will limit the number of food trucks allowed to park in the lot to 10 trucks. Anyone with a mobile city license is able to apply, and if there are more than 10 trucks then permits will be determined by lottery.

The Lottery will potentially remove all of your favorite local food trucks who have based their livelihoods on the Eastern Promenade for the last 3+ years. It opens the opportunity up in the name of  “fairness” to all able to apply, regardless of where their business is based. Many mobile license holders are not Portland based companies, but come into Portland for events such as the carnival vendors on the 4th of July and concerts at Thompson’s Point. 

As local citizens, we are deeply concerned about the small Portland based companies who have built their businesses and livelihoods at this location. We fear that a lottery will exclude the businesses whose food has made Portland into New England's premiere food truck scene. We worry that these changes will impact their ability to staff locals to whom they pay living wages.

In recent years, the food trucks on the Eastern Prom have brought a new sparkle to Portland's food scene. They have garnered national acclaim, brought tourists from near and far to the city, and provided a setting for locals to gather outdoors and enjoy the amenities that Maine has to offer.  We worry the quality of the businesses that may be randomly chosen will diminish the value of the Eastern Prom park and the viability of the food truck park.  The trucks who made this spot a destination should not be excluded from the community they have created.

This is not just a matter of "go park somewhere else." Portland has extremely tight restrictions on where they allow food trucks to park and the trucks that are there everyday rely on the business opportunity that the Prom offers. 

Please join us in letting Portland City Officials know that the food trucks that made the Eastern Prom location the food scene that it is should not be pushed out of our local parks. If the city is going to limit the number of trucks, do NOT have trucks be chosen by lottery alone. Let the trucks that have based their businesses on this location for 3+ years be allowed to decide if they would like a spot in the new food truck park lot, before the lottery is drawn.