SANTA ANA : Vendors Ask to Keep El Mercado Open

Dozens of vendors from El Mercado, the last outdoor swap meet in Santa Ana, asked the City Council this week to drop plans to shut down the meet, which many say is their main source of income.

The vendors, joined by several Latino activists, packed the council chambers Tuesday and, in emotional pleas, asked the council to keep the weekly swap meet operating in the city.

“The majority of us are not rich people, and it’s a struggle for us to provide the day-to-day necessities,” said Lucinda Solorzano, whose father is a swap-meet vendor. “We’re not asking for a swap meet every day. All we ask for is one day.”

El Mercado, which is held in the parking lot of Rancho Santiago College on Sundays, will be shut down by the city soon because it violates city zoning laws.

Two weeks ago, Shirley Ralston, president of the Rancho Santiago Board of Trustees, told the vendors that the college had no legal recourse to keep El Mercado operating. But Mayor Daniel H. Young said Tuesday that the college could conceivably continue the event by applying for an exemption from the city’s zoning code. The exemption would have to be approved by the council.

“We know it’s an emotional issue,” Young said. “But we won’t have anything to vote on unless the college decides to make some kind of application for it.”

Young said he is not opposed to outdoor swap meets but said Santa Ana just doesn’t have the room for them.

“I think swap meets are great if you have an area of the city that is undeveloped and you have adequate parking,” Young said. “The reality in Santa Ana is that we don’t have any of those large areas.”