San Juan Peddles Its Past : Municipal Castoffs Sell Like Hot Cakes

For Sale: Old San Juan.

The city of San Juan Capistrano has adopted a novel approach to combat a severe revenue shortfall and get rid of unwanted items at overflowing warehouses: Sell the junk for cash.

Residents are now lining up to buy old street signs, water-damaged books, and even fire hydrants.

So far, the city has raked in about $5,000. That is a fortune considering that most of the items might have been thrown away, city officials say.

“We need the money,” said George Scarborough, an assistant city manager. “Any cash that flows in is very helpful to meet needs that would have otherwise been unmet.”

The idea to turn trash into cash came from Greg Marquard, a maintenance supervisor who is responsible for storing unused items from the various departments in cluttered warehouses behind City Hall.

Marquard, knowing that the city is running short of storage space, proposed to his superiors that they borrow an idea from San Diego, which only a week ago opened a store that peddles paraphernalia from flashing traffic lights to retired parking meters.

San Juan Capistrano officials tested Marquard’s suggestion at the San Juan Market Place, a monthly downtown street fair featuring barbecues, vendors and entertainment.

The city’s trash has become its citizens’ treasure.

Fair-goers made a beeline for the city’s booth, buying up almost all the items just half an hour after the fair opened. Marquard said he had to send maintenance workers to find more street signs and other items to sell.

Favorites included rattlesnake warning signs, bullet-riddled street signs, fire hydrants, and photographs depicting San Juan Capistrano as a community of orange groves and undeveloped hillsides. Prices ranged from $1 for pavement markers to $350 for a hand-carved wooden street sign.

Dick Horn, a 41-year-old retired truck driver, found the perfect item for his Capistrano Beach home, a brown and white reflective sign that proclaimed “Capistrano Royal.” It now hangs from his front porch.

“Hey, a man’s home is his castle,” Horn said. “And this confirms it.”

Julie Stanley, a city receptionist, bought two rattlesnake warning signs, one for her Mediterranean-style Mission Viejo home and another for her ex-husband. Some friends later convinced her that she should not give it to her ex-husband “because he would not take it the right way,” Stanley said.

She even thought about buying a rusted fire hydrant, painting it red and installing it in the front yard as a present for her two dogs, but decided that she couldn’t afford to spend $195, she said.

Several firefighters, however, bought the hydrants. Others have asked the city to hold them until they come up with the cash.

Marquard said the city would have received a little more than $100 if they had sold the discarded signs as scrap metal.

Scarborough and other city officials said money from the sales will boost the city’s dwindling coffers. City officials warned recently that they are bracing for an unexpected $700,000 decrease in annual revenue. During the last two years, the city has also cut 13 jobs--16% of the work force--through attrition and layoffs.

The response to the “new city store” has boosted morale of city employees, said Mayor Gil Jones.

“I think it shows that even a public entity can join in private enterprise and be successful by adding money to the city coffers,” Jones said. “We are also happy to satisfy people who have a little nostalgia in their soul.”

Meanwhile, Marquard has been combing through city warehouses during the past two weeks, looking for items to sell at Thursday’s fair. .

The booty has been boundless: Old wood saws. Jackhammers. Hand-crafted waiting-room benches from the old train station. Turn-of-the-century luggage carts.

“These are going to sell like hot cakes,” said Marquard, beaming with enthusiasm. “We are not really getting rid of anything, just sharing history with our citizens.”