Two longtime food cart pods in downtown Portland will close later this year after the development company that operates them says the city’s new regulations around waste disposal are unreasonably onerous. Matt Goodman, co-president of the real estate company, wrote about the impending closures in a July 28 email to Mayor Keith Wilson and the Portland City Council. Behind the closure, he said, are the city’s new regulations for waste disposal at food cart pods. The pod regulations are a product of the city’s local implementation of Oregon Health Authority rules that went into effect in 2023. Seventy-seven of the city’s pods now comply, Zero said.