Cartlandia brings food carts to SE Portland

Roger Goldingay and his Cartlandia food cart pod on SE 82nd Ave. along the Springwater Corridor trail has brought food carts to southeast Portland. Goldingay, who played for the Portland Timbers in the 1970′s, is credited by many as the founder of the idea of the devoted food cart pod. Goldingay sees the southeast Portland site as a cycling destination stop and a family friendly option for people that live in the neighborhood. When Roger Goldingay opened his Mississippi Marketplace food cart pod in 2009, it wasn’t the first. Food trucks had already rolled onto several parking lots downtown. But Goldingay’s was the first pod built with power and water outlets and other amenities specifically for food carts.

Pods are a uniquely Portland phenomenon, though delegates have traveled from other cities to figure out how they work. Goldingay says his design has been imitated at other pods throughout the city.

“After we opened Mississippi, there were literally dozens of people coming and sniffing around the lot, wanting to sit down and have a cup of coffee with me and pick my brain,” he says.

Goldingay is expanding the pod concept even further with his Cartlandia, a “bike-centric food cart super pod” which held its grand opening last weekend. Cartlandia, which has space for more than 30 carts, unofficially opened two months ago on a stretch of Southeast 82nd Avenue better known for used car lots, Chinese food and crime. Goldingay
has so far attracted 14 carts selling Hawaiian shave ice, Philadelphia cheese steaks, coffee, tacos, bicycle repairs and more.

As cars motored by the lot Tuesday, a dozen people browsed for lunch or sat watching early rounds of the U.S. Open on a big screen television under a tent.

“It was just two months ago that people were saying to me, ’82nd, what the heck are you doing out there?’ Now I talk to food cart owners and they say, ‘Oh, yeah, Cartlandia, I’ve heard of that. That’s a pretty cool place,’” Goldingay said while answering our questions, which have been edited for clarity and brevity:

Why open here?

You know what they say in real estate, it’s location, location, location. We have 300 feet of frontage on the Springwater Trail Corridor, very close freeway access, 82nd Avenue with 30-odd thousand cars going by, 1,000 cyclists going by each day in the summertime, a bus stop and the Flavel Street MAX station is about a 5- to 10-minute walk away. We’re in the Brentwood-Darlington neighborhood, which has 10,000 people. We’re right across the street from the Lents neighborhood with 15,000 more. Anywhere off 82nd Avenue, it’s just house after house after apartment, and they’ve got nothing but big boxes.

What was this space before you bought it?

It was a used car lot. There was razor wire all over the top of the fence, privacy slats. It was almost like a prison in here, designed to keep the neighborhood out. We took out all the razor wire, took out the privacy slats, and I got permission from the parks department to maintain a section of the trail here, so we’re trimming the trees and keeping the grass down so we don’t have homeless encampments here.

What changes have you made?

We’ve done a lot of work and a lot of that is in the ground. You don’t really see it, but we put in all the utilities, the plumbing, the wiring, fresh water supply, gray water disposal, grease entrapment systems, security lighting, fencing, gates. We have indoor bathrooms, hand washing sinks and things like that.

What has the reception been like?

People out here a couple of months ago really didn’t even know what a food cart pod was. And they had a lot of questions about what we were doing tearing up all this lot. We were working here for months, and people didn’t know what we were doing. I may not have known what I was doing (laughs). Now we have more of a critical mass. We had our grand opening on Saturday. We had a band, and it went until 10 or 11 at night. We still had kids running around. Someone said, “82nd Avenue hasn’t seen anything like this for quite a while.”

How many carts do you want?

I’d like to have 20 to 30 carts here. We put up our first nonfood cart, which is the bicycle repair cart (the Bike Rack). They do quick fixes of your bike. We’re offering free air, and they do quick tune-ups. You can stop and have a bite and refuel.

You played for the Portland Timbers soccer team in 1975. What was that like?

It was the start of something new, and it was really a love affair between the city and the team. We had 6,000 people at that first game, and they stood in a downpour. And they stood through the whole game. By the end of the season we had 30,000 people crammed into Civic Stadium (now Jeld-Wen Field). It was a pretty amazing time.

You also played for the Sounders. Where do your true loyalties lie?

I grew up in Seattle, but I just have a much stronger affinity with Portland.

Portland, OR — A year ago the Federal Reserve was busy “creating” a few trillion dollars for “too-big-to-fail” Wall Street brokerage houses, automobile producers and mega banks.

This recently minted currency helped stabilize some businesses in need of help. More solid firms found themselves afloat in a sea of low interest loan money. As Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke put it, “…many large firms are holding exceptionally large amounts of cash on their balance sheets.”

At an August, 2010, symposium at Jackson Hole, Wyo., Bernanke highlighted the disparity between huge corporations and small businesses. “Although most firms faced problems obtaining credit during the depths of the crisis, over the past year or so a divide has opened between large firms that are able to tap public securities markets and small firms that largely depend on banks,” Bernanke said. “Generally speaking, large firms in good financial condition can obtain credit easily and on favorable terms …”
Bernanke went on to say, “Bank-dependent smaller firms, by contrast, have faced significantly greater problems obtaining credit, according to surveys and anecdotes.”

Metro Portland Lenders

In an August report by Oregonian business writer Jeff Manning, it was noted in Portland that huge banks have a mixed record of making loans to small businesses. However, Manning cited three smaller banks — Pacific Continental Bank, West Coast Bank, and Albina Community Bank — for being very receptive to local small businesses. Recently however, James Mayer with the Oregonian also reported that members of the Oregon Banker’s Association indicated that while banks remain receptive, “loan demand is down by half. There’s so much uncertainty… most businesses are not willing to take on the risk of more debt.”

One must wonder if there isn’t a little more to this lending story. In the same article, a small business lobbyist said that “tight credit remains a concern, noting that the businesses most in need are the least likely to qualify for loans.”
So, where do good small businesses go when banks say no due to tightened lending requirements? What do these companies do after struggling to survive through one of the nation’s most difficult recessionary periods in history?

The tale of the tape indicates that many existing companies have survived by borrowing over the last two years from previous authorized high-balance credit cards. They have now been rewarded by lenders who have more than tripled their interest rates and cut limits by more than half. In turn these small businesses have seen their credit scores significantly drop due to these artificially pumped up loan balances as a percentage of their new loan limits. Further, the security used to secure these credit lines has been devalued to unreasonable levels. Yes they have good sales revenues, but try to sell that alone to the banks.
Two other lending sources in Portland — small by comparison to local banks — have recently emerged to form a loose partnership to provide backing to smaller businesses that have first- hand knowledge of this dilemma.

The first, Mercy Corps Northwest, came on line in 1998 as an arm of Portland based Mercy Corps, the international relief and development agency. MCNW is set up to provide loans in the $12,000 range to established businesses and start-ups.

The second, officially launched in 2009, is Albina Opportunities Corporation. AOC, with a larger loan fund, aims to support established small firms owned by women and/or minority entrepreneurs. AOC Executive Director Terry Brandt says they also serve “businesses that have been under-banked and under-served in the past.” AOC’s loans typically range around the $75,000 – $125,000 level, although they also make smaller loans.

MCNW draws on the developmental experience of Mercy Corps in devising creative programs to enable small firms to develop resources. AOC, with its diverse board of directors and local investment partners has designed some innovative programs tailored to the community.

Both, in slightly different ways, provide teams of business experts to help small entrepreneurs navigate the tricky waters of money management and bureaucratic red tape.
Flying under the radar of local media, these two lenders have become more active in getting essential operating cash to Portland’s mini-capitalists.
Although MCNW Executive Director John Haines says, “All of our clients are on the edge of viability,” he also notes that they have a very low default rate — somewhere around 6 percent.

Brandt says AOC specializes in “gap loans.” These, he explains, come when a commercial bank is unwilling to lend all or the full amount the business needs. At that point AOC can step in and provide the difference, closing all or a portion of the gap.
“We aren’t hard money lenders,” Brandt says. “We charge regular commercial lending rates and are not afraid to work with our borrowers when unforeseen problems arise.”
To date, AOC has provided loans to a diverse field of clients, ranging from food cart vendors and a massage therapist, to building contractors and a bilingual pre-school. AOC has also partnered in loans with MCNW.

“Big businesses get the headlines,” Brandt says, “but in Portland 95 percent of the employment base is in small businesses. They are the ones that provide economic stability to our communities and deserve our financial and personal investment. People talk as if the main reason we got into this lending mess is because businesses got loans they shouldn’t have. I see it differently – good small businesses got into this mess because of unforeseen and uncontrollable events that negatively impacted them as it did most others. Those that have survived have had to do it alone due to their hard work and without subsidies or hand outs.”

“We are a non-profit organization,” he points out. “While the government is putting money into infrastructure, we are putting our money to work directly into communities by investing in small businesses.”

Brandt sees AOC as a model that can work in other cities. “If we take good care of our own backyard,” he says, “our example will send positive ripples throughout the rest of the country. Our message is simple — support one another.” Both Haines and Brandt recognize that by working together on some projects they could leverage their resources to provide more loans to small businesses. “And,” Brandt says, “We are doing just that.”

To learn more about MCNW, contact Haines at (503) 896-5072 or e-mail him. Brandt can be reached at (503) 227-3950 or tbrandt@albinaopportunities.org.

Portland, OR — On August 4, 2009, Terry Brandt sat as a witness before the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Small Business. Brandt, executive director of the Portland-based Albina Opportunities Corporation, told the committee of the potential of small, non-bank lenders to help the country’s economy. He also told them what was stifling that potential.

The 2008-2009 disasters on Wall Street had begun drying up capital. Business loans had become difficult for many firms to come by.

Brandt spelled out the problem clearly to the Congressional committee: “… small businesses can’t get loans, not because their ventures are considered too risky, but because the capital markets themselves are in crisis.”

“Until banks return to this market, we will be unable to satisfy the demand for loans needed by our local small businesses,” he added.
Fortunately, a solution was possible for a handful of banks and non-bank lenders. This was the federal Community Development Financial Institutions Fund — usually called the CDFI.

According to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, CFDIs should “increase lending, investment, and service activities within economically distressed communities.”
Brandt made the case for Albina Opportunities Corporation — AOC — to participate in the CFDI program.

“AOC is receiving loan requests from long running small businesses that are experiencing temporary drops in (net operating income) due to the ripple effects of the historic downturn in the world economy,” Brandt reported. “AOC considers CDFI business lending an important tool to restart commercial finance in our community.”

The proof of process

On January 27, 2010, the word from Washington reached AOC in Portland. “Your application has been reviewed and it has been determined that your organization qualifies as a CDFI. Therefore, your application for CFDI Certification has been approved.”
Since its inception, AOC has taken an active role in providing capital to women and minority owned businesses around Portland and to those businesses located in low-to-moderate income neighborhoods. Now, with CFDI backing, Brandt sees many more opportunities opening.

In 2009, a loan went to Roger Goldengay’s Mississippi Marketplace in North Portland, allowing them to provide a clean, appealing site for 10 food cart operators and farmer’s market vendors, as well as an anchor brew pub. Another loan went to a Marketplace food cart vendor, The Sugar Cube, that subsequently has received top ten awards for owner Kir Jensen in both daily and weekly papers.

More recently, AOC processed loans to two women contractors — Valerie Solorzano, dba Chick of All Trades, and Kathryn Merritt, dba Great Kate! Construction Company. In the Daily Journal of Commerce awards in 2009, Chick of All Trades won in the Professional Services category. Both firms have turned investment capital into new and sustainable jobs for dozens of local workers.

Profiles of these businesses are currently posted on AOC’s Business Showcase.

Also, Michael Martin, owner of Northwest Infrastructure, received a loan to provide necessary operating capital to win bids from the regional streetcar system and several other state related and municipal organizations.

Two other AOC loans went to Briana Borten’s The Dragon Tree — a day spa — now operating at the Portland International Airport and to Don and Carissa Niemyer’s drive-thru CoffeMax.

Brandt says many more loans are in the developmental phase and AOC is actively looking to make more small business loans. As Brandt likes to say, “We work from the ‘ground up’ not from the top down to find ways we can beneficially support our valuable small businesses in our local communities.”

For more information about AOC, call Brandt at (503) 227-3950.

Portland, OR — The economic climate got a bit brighter for women- and minority-owned green businesses as two funding operations joined hands last week. The Northwest Environmental and Self-Reliance Trust — NEST — approved the Albina Opportunities Corporation — AOC — as a working partner in providing loans to small businesses working to reduce greenhouse gasses. NEST has agreed to use AOC to invest its funds, up to $500,000, for these community businesses.

NEST administers the Green Revolving Loan Fund which is dedicated to investment in sustainable business practices and creative entrepreneurship to reduce what are commonly called “greenhouse gasses.”

NEST representative Linda Williams said that while they had experience making grants, they needed another firm to provide lending expertise. AOC not only had that expertise, but shares the same values and mission.

“Certain communities and certain green business ideas have previously not been able to access financing, but AOC and the Green Revolving Loan Fund are both working on these overlooked, underserved areas,” Williams said.

Dan Meek, an attorney who achieved a settlement leading to the creation of the loan fund, pointed out that “Successful ventures would repay and return out loan funds. That helps people build better lives, moves towards a sustainable economy and a healthier, sustainable environment.”

An environmental activists’ 1994 law suit against a Northwest gas-fired generating plant resulted in a settlement trust fund exceeding one million dollars to be directed to habitat restoration and reduction of what are commonly called “greenhouse gasses.” Some grants went to nonprofits providing solar cookers in West Africa and efficient lighting for cooperative ventures in Vietnam.

In 2004, NEST received a grant to administer a “Green Revolving Loan Fund” to help fund green companies and projects. Last week, AOC’s Board Chairman Mark Kalenscher and its Executive Director Terry Brandt met with Meek of NEST. The session resulted in signing an agreement that has been in development for more than a year.

AOC is dedicated to helping small, under-banked successful women- and minority-owned businesses to obtain access to capital.

Some of Portland’s brightest young entrepreneurs have received a hand upward from AOC. Businesses include contractors, infrastructure providers, food cart services and therapeutic health operations.

On the horizon, Brandt expects to provide financing for charter schools, fruit and vegetable producers, and companies that manufacture sustainable wood products. And that, he promises, is just the beginning.

In a struggling economy, people look for any reason to celebrate. On Tuesday evening, the Daily Journal of Commerce gave those in the building industry 10 reasons by naming the winners of the first DJC Minority Contractor Awards.

The sit-down dinner and awards presentation, held at The Nines in downtown Portland, was sold out in advance, even though this was the first year for awards honoring disadvantaged, minority- and women-owned, and emerging small businesses in the building industry.

“The DJC’s involvement with these companies led to the decision that there was a need to support and honor DMWESB firms,”  DJC Publisher Rynni Henderson said.
PLI Systems Inc., based in Hillsboro, was honored for the most contracts worth $5 million or more and as the top DMWESB company. The firm is a second business venture for Manuel Castaneda. He started Hillsboro-based Pro Landscape when he was 20. As he picked up more soil stabilization projects over the years, he decided to start PLI Systems as a subsidiary.

O’Neill Electric received an award for the most contracts in the $500,000-to-$2-million range. The company, owned by husband-and-wife team Maurice Rahming and Ali O’Neill, also walked away with the People’s Choice – Contractor award. The company, located in Southeast Portland, began in 1998 and now employs 54 people.

A second People’s Choice award, for professional services, was presented to Alcantar and Associates. Marcela Alcantar opened the doors of her civil engineering company in 1993, a move she hoped would help inspire other women to enter nontraditional industries such as construction and engineering.

In Line Commercial Construction Inc. was honored for the most overall contracts valued up to $5 million. The company, which has 50 employees, reported more than $22 million in earnings last year and has been identified by regional business publications as one of the largest and fastest-growing minority-owned companies in Oregon.
Garner Construction was recognized for the most contracts in the $2-million-to-$5-million range. Owner Jackie Garner worked for several years as a crane operator before forming the Seattle-based company in 1990.

Chick of All Trades won the Professional Services category. Val Solorzano started the company in 2005 as a one-woman shop and now has two field employees and three office staffers.

Willie Davis and his Salem-based company, Just Bucket Excavating, was named the outstanding DMWESB mentor. Since starting his company in 2000, Davis has earned a reputation as a contractor willing to share his business and industry knowledge with other DMWESB firms, even when those firms are his competitors.

Stacy and Witbeck Inc. were recognized with a Non-DWMESB Mentor award. The company has been recognized by several groups and organizations for its willingness to help DMWESB firms on projects.

Award and event co-presenting sponsors were Aadland Evans Constructors and David Evans and Associates. Gold sponsors included Hamilton Construction, Howard S. Wright Constructors, Slayden Construction Group, Skanska, James Fowler Co. and Turner Construction.

Posted March 1, 2009: Small Business Development Center (SBDC)

Small businesses account for the largest number of jobs created in Oregon. Many of these businesses may want to expand but may not have the credit or collateral needed to qualify for more traditional bank loan funds, especially in today’s marketplace.

Albina Opportunities Corporation (AOC), through its own special loan program and commitment to assist these “under banked” companies, believes that it can make a significant positive impact and stimulate our local economy by providing these small businesses with loans. This will result in the creation of more jobs and the addition of economic wealth needed to provide stability to our communities.AOC is making loans through partnerships with local area banks. Examples may include “gap” financing provided by AOC that is needed to make a loan package work for both the lender and borrower that normally would not have been approved due to poor credit or lack of security. Federal economic stimulus dollars made available to the State, Port, City, and local area governments will provide a necessary ingredient to kick-start the process of getting people to work from the “ground up”. AOC also believes that these Federal dollars could be additionally leveraged with local dollars by making small business loans available to many of our struggling minority owned local area businesses.

AOC’s initial funding is from grants by Albina Community Bancorporation; The Oregon Community Foundation and PacifiCorp; and with program related investments from Meyer Memorial Trust, NEST, The Oregon Community Foundation, and a number of individuals who care the most about our community.

Contact Terry Brandt, Executive Director Albina Opportunities Corporation.