SANTA ANA : Study of El Mercado Impacts Facing Vote

The festive atmosphere of El Mercado, with its mariachi music and bargaining vendors, contrasts sharply with the gloomy controversy that has surrounded the swap meet that operates each Sunday in the Rancho Santiago College parking lot.

Since it opened in 1987, the mostly Latino El Mercado--Spanish for open market--has drawn complaints. The swap meet has been the subject of a lawsuit filed by the city, the source of complaints from neighbors and the target of criticism from people who say a privately run business has no place on a college campus.

Today, the Rancho Santiago College Board of Trustees is scheduled to vote on a court-ordered study of the swap meet’s impact on the area. The study, conducted by the Irvine-based firm of S/R Lamoureaux, covered traffic, noise and litter, and concluded that the swap meet doesn’t harm the area.

If board members reject the report, they will probably order a more extensive environmental study but would not close down El Mercado unless ordered to do so by the court. If the study is approved, it will be up to the city whether to challenge the findings, said board President Vernon Evans.

A group of neighbors, members of the Washington Square Neighborhood Assn., disagree with those findings and are lobbying to have El Mercado removed from the college grounds. They were successful in having the swap meet moved from Eddie West Stadium in 1987 after voicing similar concerns.

Tim Rush, a member of the association’s board of directors, said: “The neighborhood feels very strongly that it presents the wrong image for Santa Ana, and we object to the amount of trash, automobile traffic and foot traffic that the swap meet generates.”

The city would also like to see the swap meet closed. In 1988, the city filed a lawsuit charging that the college allowed the swap meet to operate without first conducting a study of El Mercado’s impact, Deputy City Atty. Frank Rhemrev said.

Board trustee Shirley Ralston said city officials originally asked the college to house the swap meet periodically when there were scheduling problems at Eddie West Stadium. She also said that she is satisfied with the report and that complaints about El Mercado have not changed her support of the swap meet.

For the more than 200 merchants who sell goods at El Mercado, the swap meet is a major source of income, said El Mercado manager Edward Salcedo.

“Our vendors are decent people who are trying to make a living,” Salcedo said. “If some of the neighbors who are making these complaints would come over here and talk to some of the people, they would see that there are a lot of nice people here.”