Vendors Lobby for Mercado Expansion

Although he wasn’t there, Eastside Councilman Richard Alatorre was the intended target of last-minute pleas from 20 outdoor vendors at the Eastside’s El Mercado who urged him Monday to support the construction of permanent stalls to keep them employed.

Should the Los Angeles Board of Zoning Appeals rule against the new stalls at a hearing scheduled for today, the vendors say they will be out of jobs.

“That’s especially bad with Christmas coming,” Juanita Contreras, president of a vendors group at El Mercado, said at a news conference. “We want Mr. Alatorre to help us. We work hard for our families. We work 365 days a year. We don’t want government assistance.”

The vendors now only have temporary tarps and makeshift tents to protect them from the elements.

They see Alatorre’s support as crucial to their hopes of remaining at the Mexican marketplace on 1st Street near Lorena Street. Many of them have been selling food, toys, clothes and other wares at the mercado’s rear entrances for at least 10 years.

So far, Alatorre hasn’t been moved by their arguments. He opposes construction of permanent outdoor stalls because some neighbors say they will increase problems created by the crowds that come to the mercado. Neighbors say crime, noise, trash and prostitution are chronic problems because of El Mercado.

An Alatorre spokeswoman also said that the mercado’s owner, Pedro Rosado, has failed to make necessary repairs and improvements inside the three-story building, which was built in the late 1960s.

The councilman is expected to appear at today’s hearing to voice his opposition to a variance that would allow the construction of the stalls.

Should the variance be denied, city inspectors would be free to evict the outdoor vendors because their activities are considered illegal under city law.

Rosado appealed to the zoning board after a zoning administrator this year rejected the proposed variance.

Despite the seemingly long odds, the outdoor vendors used the news conference to rebut many of the neighbors’ complaints.

“We have gathered over 200 signatures from residents inside a 500-foot radius from here who support us,” vendor Maria Carlton said. “That amounts to a 90% majority. We are the community. [Complaining neighbors] are activists for whom this is a political exercise against those of us who do not have political power.”

However, one resident who opposes the proposed variance said she has nothing against the vendors.

“The bottom line is,” said Michigan Avenue resident Diana Tarango, “[Rosado] has been breaking the law for 10 years” by allowing illegal outdoor vending in the first place.