Swapping out the swap meets

Lolita Harper

While some argue that Costa Mesa is becoming too much like Santa

Ana in areas of crime, illegal immigrant population and property

values, when it comes to handling unruly swap meets, the inland

neighbor may just be a shining example of what to do.

About a decade ago, Santa Ana city officials took a hard-line

stance and canceled not one but two city swap meets because of

parking problems, excess trash, traffic and congestions.

Santa Ana City Manager David Ream said the first swap meet at

Santa Ana Stadium grew too large for the venue and cars spilled into

the surrounding residential neighborhood, causing myriad

difficulties. Because the city owned the stadium, it simply canceled

the lease in the late 1980s.

A year later, Santa Ana College opened a swap meet with the same

devastating success. Traffic, trash and litter abounded and the city

took legal action to get it removed.

“The swap meets were popular to the point where there was not

enough parking to accommodate all the cars and they began to spill

onto the streets,” Ream said. “That led to the cancellation of both

the city one and the college one.”

Sound familiar?

Councilwoman Libby Cowan noticed the same kind of traffic

congestion on Fairview Drive, and as a result the Orange Coast

College swap meet was cut in half last May. After a lengthy

application process that took the rest of 2002, the OCC swap meet was

allowed to return to its two-day operation but was forced to provide

a better traffic and parking flow and reduce its overall number of

vendors.

NOT QUITE ENOUGH CHANGE

Still, some Costa Mesa residents say the restrictions just aren’t

enough and have urged the city to reevaluate its connection with the

OCC swap meet altogether.

Many people contend former vendors and buyers from the Santa Ana

swap meet have migrated to Costa Mesa and turned the college venue

from a reputed flea-market venue to “an outdoor K-Mart.”

“Most of the people who use the [OCC] swap meet are Latinos from

Santa Ana,” vocal resident Martin Millard told the City Council at

last week’s meeting, arguing the venue does not serve Costa Mesa

residents.

Mesa del Mar resident Michael Dilsisian echoed Millard’s concerns,

saying the shopping venue was “not a swap meet but a Third World

bazaar.” He said it is nearly impossible to get out of his

neighborhood with all the traffic caused by nearby attractions,

including the Farm Sports complex, the fairgrounds, the Marketplace

and the OCC swap meet.

Dilsisian said he couldn’t understand why Costa Mesa residents had

to bear the brunt of a venue that largely catered to Santa Ana

residents.

“If they want their swap meet, they can have them in their own

city,” Dilsisian said.

George Blanc, who oversees the swap meet as administrative dean of

economic development at OCC, at first acknowledged the largest bulk

of vendors is from Santa Ana.

But then he quickly corrected himself: “It’s a tie between Costa

Mesa and Santa [Ana].”

Some vendors may have migrated from the previous Santa Ana venues,

Blanc said, but the OCC swap meet did not change drastically when

they disappeared. He said patrons were probably attending both swap

meets on a regular basis and therefore business remained steady.

“There was not a big influx but some, because all of the sudden

they didn’t have any place to go,” Blanc said.

The remaining vendors come from a variety of Orange County cities

and some, like Blanc’s favorite produce vendor, come all the way from

Bakersfield.

WHO’S BEING SERVED?

When asked which cities the buyers at the OCC swap meet come from,

Blanc said, “Let’s just say that 33% of Costa Mesa residents are

Hispanic.”

People also come from Santa Ana, Fountain Valley, Irvine and even

Newport Beach, he said. The more affluent customers are attracted to

the flea-market style of the venue, where one is likely to find

useful items from a cleaned-out garage.

“The majority are coming from Costa Mesa but some are coming from

all over the county,” Blanc said.

The college swap meet, which will resume its Saturday operation on

Feb. 1, is encouraging applications for vendors of used merchandise

to bring back the flea-market feel, Blanc said.

Robin Leffler, a Mesa Verde resident who said she once sold wares

at similar swap meet venues, said she is concerned the swap meet is

simply not a good deal for the city.

Leffler said the benefits of the swap meet for Costa Mesa

residents must rival its negative effects on the surrounding area --

but isn’t.

For instance, Leffler said she witnessed widespread gross

under-reporting of sales tax by many of her fellow vendors and

predicted the same actions at OCC swap meet.

“The revenue we receive doesn’t even begin to make up for the

impacts,” Leffler said.

FINDING OUT THE FUNDING

Blanc said the college works very closely with the State Board of

Equalization to make sure taxes are being adequately dispersed. The

college requires vendors who sell more than twice a year to file with

the board as a Costa Mesa business. That way the sales tax reported

by that business is divided between Costa Mesa and the business’s

home city.

College officials send monthly vendor status reports to the board

and, aside from the formal communication, the two agencies phone each

other at least twice a week, he said. As far as the city getting its

due share of the sales tax, Blanc said it is out of his control. The

vendors are responsible for reporting their earnings and the rest is

up to tax officials.

“It’s the Board of Equalization that determines how much each city

receives,” Blanc said.

Council members said they are aware of the adverse opinions about

the outdoor shopping venue but are not prepared to follow Santa Ana’s

dramatic lead in the near future. The OCC swap meet will again be

scrutinized by city officials in six months so the council can

evaluate whether the changes have lessened the negative effects on

the surrounding community.

Councilman Chris Steel said he is willing to wait and see.

“I am not in disagreement with the comments but I am willing to

let it play out for the six months and give the college, the vendors

and everyone the benefit of the doubt,” he said.

* LOLITA HARPER covers Costa Mesa. She may be reached at (949)

574-4275 or by e-mail at [email protected].