On February 23, 2022, the Office of Economic Development & Cultural Affairs (OEDCA) joined the Berryessa Flea Market Vendors Association to host an open, multi-lingual meeting and resource fair for vendors at the Flea Market.

Attended by about 150 vendors, the open-air meeting was an important milestone in the City’s work related to the San Jose Flea Market, which is located on 60 acres of privately held land slated for redevelopment.

Background

On June 29, 2021, the City Council approved the San Jose Flea Market Southside Rezoning. A major focus of the Council discussion was the vendor community: how to support them while allowing transit-oriented development adjacent to San Jose’s only BART station to proceed. The new zoning allows more development than previously planned on the approximately 60-acre site, and could include up to 3,450 residential units and up to 3,400,000 square feet for commercial uses. The new zoning also requires parks and open space and five acres dedicated to an urban market. For the full description of the rezoning and related documents, check the Planning Division project page.

When approving the rezoning, the City Council directed staff to work with and support the Flea Market vendors, as plans to redevelop the site advance. This included payment by the property owner of $500,000 for staff to set up a Flea Market Advisory Group and Vendor Transition Fund, as well as to complete an economic assessment of the existing market to inform future work. In the future, the property owner is required to contribute an additional $4.5 million to the Fund, and the City has earmarked another $2.5 million for the Fund, for a total of $7 million.
OEDCA has the responsibility for ensuring a vibrant local economy and lifestyle, and since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, has been almost exclusively focused on supporting the owners of small businesses who have been hard-hit. We are responsible for ensuring the City is fully involved in supporting the Flea Market vendors through and beyond the development process initiated by the property owners of the Flea Market. The goal is to help the vendors sustain their businesses into the future and support development of the next version of the Flea Market.

See the City of San Jose Flea Market page for more details.

The Meeting

At the February 23 meeting, OEDCA Director Nanci Klein introduced the OEDCA staff member and interpretation teams, along with an impressive line-up of community-based organizations that are able to provide no- or low-cost support and information on loans, grants, business and legal services and more to Flea Market vendors.

OEDCA has been working since September, 2021 with representatives from the Berryessa Flea Market Vendors Association, Catalyze SV, the Latino Business Foundation, Working Partnerships and SJSU Dept. of Urban and Regional Planning to build toward the Advisory Group that will guide disbursement of the $7 million Vendor Transition Fund.

The meeting was an in-person event to accommodate the vendors, and included live, simultaneous interpretation service in Spanish and Vietnamese. The presentation can be viewed and downloaded. (link)

Our goals for the meeting were to provide information and updates on the City’s approach to providing help to vendors, explain the next steps, and solicit vendors’ involvement in the process. We also wanted to help connect vendors to community-based technical assistance providers that the City has partnered with since the beginning of the pandemic, to help small and micro-businesses.

The technical assistance organizations that set up tables and met with vendors at the event were:

• Prosperity Lab: Provides business training and assistance to underserved, women-owned, immigrant-owned businesses
• Latino Business Foundation: Helps small businesses survive and thrive through training and coaching programs
• Small Business Administration (SBA): A federal agency that provides counseling, capital, and contracting expertise for small business.
• Elevate Community Center: Specializes in financial education and legal services for small businesses
• Small Business Development Center/Hispanic Chamber of Commerce: Provides expertise in funding small businesses and offers startup business loans.
• TMC Community Capital: Specializes in low-interest loans focusing on women-owned, low-income and under-resourced
• LUNA (Latinos United for a New America): community-based organization that works to uplift and advocate for East San Jose communities.
• SOMOS Mayfair: community-based organization that works to uplift East San Jose communities through leadership development, advocacy, and education

Presenters at the meeting included Roberto Gonzalez and Mariana Mejia of the Berryessa Flea Market Vendors Association, and OEDCA’s Blage Zelalich, Lori Severino and Adolfo Ruelas. Also covered in the presentation was an overview of the OEDCA work underway now, creating building-blocks for long-term solutions:

• Economic and Cultural Impact Study: show the value of the market to the economy and community, to help attract investors and other partners.
• Development Feasibility: look at the costs and infrastructure required in a future market, and potential revenue required to make a project “pencil out.”
• Alternative Site Assessment: analyze the pros and cons of other potential market locations.
• Public Market Models: explore potential business models – including operations, ownership, design, etc.

After the presentations, staff conducted small-group meetings in Spanish, English and Vietnamese, to be able to answer questions and get feedback from vendors.

The biggest concerns expressed by the vendors included uncertainty about their short-term futures as cost of doing business at the Flea Market increases, and the long-term issues of the current property being developed.

Next Steps for OEDCA Flea Market team

The focus of work in 2022 is on ongoing support of the vendors and setting up the Advisory Group, as shown in the following chart.  OEDCA will also seek consultant assistance with conducting the long-term studies listed above.

 Breakout Groups at the Feb. 23 Meeting

Upper left: Spanish-speaking group #1, led by Adolfo Ruelas

Upper right: Spanish-speaking group #2, co-led by Roberto Gonzalez an Sal Alvarez

Lower left: Vietnamese-speaking group, led by Nguyen Pham

Lower right: English-speaking group, co-led by Nathan Donato-Weinstein and Emily Lipoma

 In order to provide easy access to vendors OEDCA has set up the following resources, including online links and QR codes: