Appeals Board Rejects New Mercado Stalls

After nearly four hours of testimony, a Los Angeles zoning board Tuesday rejected plans to build 45 permanent stalls for outdoor vendors at El Mercado, a landmark marketplace in Boyle Heights.

In making its decision, the city Board of Zoning Appeals agreed that outdoor vending at the Mexican marketplace’s rear entrances is illegal. It set a March 1, 1997, deadline by which all of the outdoor vendors, some of whom have been selling their wares there for more than 10 years, must be gone.

“Good, it’s about time,” said area resident Jesus Melendez.

Residents have longed opposed the outdoor stalls, saying they would exacerbate long-standing complaints about noise, parking, trash, loitering and public drunkenness at El Mercado. The vendors and their supporters countered that such charges were groundless, noting, for example, that the commander of the Police Department’s Hollenbeck station, which patrols Boyle Heights, says the mercado poses no problem for his officers.

A zoning administrator earlier this year rejected an application from El Mercado owner Pedro Rosado for a variance to build the stalls. He appealed the decision to the Board of Zoning Appeals.

But instead of bringing some clarity, the decision by the five-member board confused many of the Spanish-speakers who packed a City Hall hearing room.

While agreeing with city officials that Rosado over the years had failed to comply with many of the conditions imposed on the three-story marketplace on 1st Street, the board decided to grant Rosado’s appeal for the variance for the sole purpose of setting a March 1 deadline when the outdoor vendors must vacate.

The board ordered that no construction or any other improvements could take place.

Board member Rob Gloshon, who proposed the partial granting of the appeal, said his reasoning was out of concern for the vendors, who could have been evicted today if the appeals board rejected the appeal outright Tuesday.

“You can’t put conditions on a denial” such as setting a specific date when the vendors must vacate, Gloshon said.

He agreed with many at the hearing who said the vendors were unintended victims in the controversy over El Mercado’s compliance with city regulations.

When the other four members went along, many in the audience wondered about the true meaning of Gloshon’s wording in his motion. “Did we win or not?” asked one vendor.

Eastside Councilman Richard Alatorre, who opposed the new stalls, pleaded with the board not to give Rosado a loophole by which he could still build the stalls. It was then that Gloshon made it clear that no new construction could take place.

Nevertheless, there was a loophole in the board’s decision. Since it partially granted Rosado’s appeal, the decision allows him to appeal directly to the City Council for permission to build the stalls, city officials said.

An outright denial of Rosado’s appeal, which Alatorre favored, would have precluded that possibility.

Rosado said he would appeal to the council “to protect the jobs of these hard-working vendors.”