SANTA ANA : Swap Meet Vendors Want Park Location

A group of swap meet vendors who were put out of business by the courts in March will lobby the City Council next week in an attempt to resurrect El Mercado, the privately run swap meet formerly held in the parking lot of Rancho Santiago College.

The vendors want to reopen the outdoor event at Centennial Park on weekends and say their idea is supported by residents who live near the park at 2900 W. Edinger Ave.

“We sent a questionnaire in English and Spanish to 380 houses and 97.5% of the houses want El Mercado,” said Alex Vega, a former vendor who has led the campaign the save the market.

But Mayor Daniel H. Young, who was presented with the questionnaires this week, said on Friday he is doubtful that the Centennial Park location would be acceptable to the council or the public.

“Why would we want to turn our parks into swap meets?” Young asked. “If it’s a business and people make money, go get a piece of private land and go do it. . . . Why would we want to take a neighborhood park and set up a business? It’s not a charity, it’s not like we are going to take a cookie sale and buy books for the local school. It’s a business.”

Young said he told the vendors last March that he would support the project if they received the support of neighbors and did not use government land. Since this proposal calls for the use of a public park, Young said he would not support it.

Councilman John Acosta is not opposed to the use of public land, saying that he favors reviving El Mercado in some form as long as it doesn’t have a negative effect on any surrounding neighborhoods.

“I support the concept,” Acosta said. “There’s got to be a place in this city where we can put on an open-air mercado. The demand for that kind of event is here in this city. We can make it happen.”

Acosta suggests holding an open-air market on the top floor of the parking structures at Eddie West Stadium or the Santa Ana Main Library, or on the top floor of the parking structure at 3rd Street and Broadway. Acosta also suggested using the Civic Center parking lot for such an event.

“We can satisfy a need for many low-income people in the city and it doesn’t have to impact the neighborhoods,” Acosta said. “The possibilities are there. It’s just a matter of attitude and desire.”

For the outdoor swap meet to be revived at any location, vendors would have to apply for an exemption from a city ordinance that bans all outdoor swap meets in the city.

Outdoor swap meets have been a source of controversy since 1987, when city officials shut down a popular swap meet held at Eddie West Stadium after receiving complaints about trash and noise.

After the swap meet moved to the college, the city then spent more than three years in court trying to shut it down. The city finally succeeded last March when a Superior Court judge ordered the swap meet closed because it was violating city zoning laws.

If the council is not receptive to the vendors’ plan next week, Vega said they will continue their fight to reopen the event elsewhere in Santa Ana.