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OEDCA holds second meeting for Flea Market vendors
On October19, 2022, the City of San José’s Office of Economic Development & Cultural Affairs (OEDCA) held an informational meeting with the Berryessa Flea Market vendors to provide an update on the next steps in the future development of the Flea Market. This is the second meeting in the ongoing program.
At the first vendor meeting in February of this year, OEDCA and the Berryessa Vendors Association jointly presented to the vendors the steps the City planned to take to support the vendors who may be forced to vacate their business location in July 2024, if the property owners choose to exercise their option to close the Flea Market. The earliest the owners can announce closure is July 1, 2023, with closure effective one year later.
In 2021, San José City Council approved a series of measures designed to provide support to the vendors in this anticipated transition. Charged with implementing that support, OEDCA created a Flea Market team including staff specializing in community engagement, business support and equity issues. Please see the Flea Market Vendors web page for details and more background on the Council direction. (link)
Close to 200 vendors attended the recent October 19 meeting, which was held in the Community Room of the Berryessa Library. The meeting was presented in three languages, with simultaneous interpreters communicating directly with Spanish and Vietnamese speakers via wireless headsets.
Two consultant companies were introduced to the vendors – Estolano Advisors and Baird + Driskell. OEDCA conducted a competitive procurement process and hired the two agencies to provide expertise and manpower to supplement staff resources, and they are just initiating their work for the City and the vendors.
The consultants will have two main functions:
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Helping to recruit members and support the deliberations of a community- and vendor-based Advisory Group that will make crucial decisions about use of the $7 million that the City and the Flea Market operator funded to support vendor transition;
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Conducting studies on potential new sites and the various models for operating the Flea Market after the Berryessa site is no longer operational as such.
One of the purposes of the Oct. 19 meeting was to continue the City’s dialogue with the vendors, and to offer support and linkage to community-based organizations that can provide hands-on, linguistically appropriate business services to the vendors.
In addition, we wanted to provide a realistic view of the next 18 months, in light of continued fears that the vendors are in danger of imminent displacement. We did continue to hear these concerns, and hope that rapid engagement of the consulting teams on the ground at the Flea Market will convey the seriousness with which the City sees this situation. For updates on the Flea Market process, please continue to visit our website.