Council to Reopen Debate on Mercado Rezoning Plan

LOS ANGELES — Reigniting a bitter dispute, the City Council agreed Wednesday to reexamine whether the owner of El Mercado should be allowed to build permanent enclosures for the outdoor vendors operating in the parking lot of the Boyle Heights swap meet.

Despite objections by County Supervisor Gloria Molina and several neighbors of the 1st Street business, the council voted to ask the Planning Commission to evaluate whether the market’s zoning should be changed to allow commercial uses of the parking lot, or whether the site should be reserved for parking.

Councilman Richard Alatorre sought the reexamination, noting he was in the hospital recovering from an operation in October when the City Council voted to reject a zoning change that would allow 40 vendors operating booths in the parking lot to stay in business.

“This is about the livelihoods of people,” Alatorre said. “They have a right to live.”

Residents of the area were outraged that the council was reopening the issue eight months after the council voted against changing the zoning.

The neighbors have fought for years to have the illegal outdoor vending shut down, charging that it brings problems to the area, including drug dealing, litter, noise and traffic.

“I cannot understand in my wildest dreams why this issue is up here again,” said resident Diana Tarango. “It has not been a good neighbor. It has violation after violation.”

Molina was accompanied to the council meeting by a sheriff’s deputy carrying a box full of some of the illegal pharmaceuticals seized from vendors at El Mercado recently.

A previous raid last October yielded $1 million worth of illegal medicines from merchants on the property, Molina told the council.

“Just because Richard Alatorre is still trying to carry water for some of the people you know he carries water for, there is no reason to deny these folks a quality of life,” Molina told the council.