Vendors, OCC ready to swap

Lolita Harper

Orange Coast College officials said this week that they are

anxious to comply with a newly issued permit to return operation of

the swap meet to Saturdays and make up for six months of lost

revenue.

George Blanc, administrative dean of economic development and

community education, who oversees the swap meet, said school

officials are ready to start the necessary groundwork to reconfigure

the swap meet and parking layout for its most efficient use.

“It makes it easier for the city and for us,” Blanc said about the

recent changes to the campus swap meet made by the Planning

Commission. “We will be running a truly legit business enterprise

while still being able to offer a wide variety of products to a broad

base of shoppers.”

Planning commissioners agreed Monday to reopen the swap meet on

Saturdays with an average of 260 vendors per day, as long as college

officials worked on a more advanced vendor reservation process and

prohibited parking in the Coast Community College District parking

lot across the street. Commissioners also ordered a six-month review

to track the college’s progress.

The decision is final unless appealed by 5 p.m. on Monday.

If all goes well, Blanc hopes to have the weekend swap meet

revamped by Nov. 16.

In April, city officials notified the college that the campus swap

meet was violating the school’s 1984 agreement with the city. A study

-- prompted by Councilwoman Libby Cowan in November because of an

apparent increase in traffic along Fairview Road -- found that the

swap meet was operating with an excess of 200 vendors and on an

additional day not authorized by the city.

City and college officials met to discuss the study, and the

school readily agreed to decrease the size to comply with the

existing permit, starting the weekend of May 4.

Since the cutbacks, the school has lost more than $600,000, Blanc

said. The campus swap meet generally brings in at least $1.5 million

every year, minus expenses for sweeping and staffing, Blanc said. The

remainder of the revenue is applied to funding myriad community

programs, including a small-business support center, summer college

program for children and performing arts.

Those programs took a big hit from the loss of Saturday operation

and were in jeopardy of being wiped out altogether. For example,

there will be fewer fine arts performances by visiting professional

companies next year, as Orange Coast College officials cut the budget

by 45% to make up for lost revenue from the swap meet.

The swap meet also lost a lot of vendors because they could not

afford to keep their businesses in a location that was only open one

day. Blanc said he is worried about rebuilding that vendor base

because many moved permanently to Riverside or Los Angeles county

venues.

“I have reservations because it took us years to build Saturdays,”

Blanc said. “I know that some vendors moved their families out of

Orange County to survive. It will be interesting to see if they come

back.”

Vendor William Pezzullo, who stuck through the lean swap meet

days, said he is thrilled to re-establish his Saturday set up.

“It think this is the right thing for the city to do,” Pezzullo

said. “It really provides a great service to the community and

provides income to the vendors. I really believe it’s one of the

traditions that so many people in Costa Mesa talk about either

getting back or maintaining.”

While the decision would have been welcomed a lot sooner, Pezzullo

and Blanc said, they hope vendors will be able to take advantage of

the busy holiday season. Any further delays and sellers might miss

out on the peak business time and instead be faced with rebuilding

the swap meet during the traditionally slow months of January,

February and March.