OCC seeks swap meet funding

Lolita Harper

COSTA MESA -- Orange Coast College is in a race against time to garner

city approval for the return of a full-scale swap meet before more cuts

are made to community programs, school officials said Tuesday.

Orange Coast College officials have submitted an application to host

swap meets on both Saturday and Sunday and are now waiting for the city

to process its request. Don Lamm, Costa Mesa’s deputy city manager and

development services director, confirmed that the city received the

request and said he expects the issue to come before the Planning

Commission on July 22 or, at the latest, Aug. 12.

George Blanc, the administrative dean of economic development and

community education at OCC, oversees the swap meet and said revenue has

been scarce since it was cut in half nearly six weeks ago -- from full

weekend operation to Sundays only and from about 400 vendors each day to

only 275. College officials are consistently taking stock of available

revenue -- or lack of it -- and making the necessary cuts in such

community programs as performing arts, the small-business center and

summer youth programs, Blanc said.

“We have to solve this quickly,” Blanc said. “The longer this thing

lasts, the worse it is going to get.”

Blanc said the swap meet is losing about $30,000 a week in its

scaled-back form, resulting in the unfortunate cuts in the college’s

performing arts program. The budget to hire professional companies to

perform at the college has been cut by 45%, Blanc said, and that is just

the beginning. OCC stands to lose about $1.2 million per year with a

scaled-down version of the swap meet, he said.

About $60,000 to $70,000 in swap meet revenue funds student

productions through the fine arts division, Blanc said. If the swap meet

continues to operate with 275 vendors on Sundays only, fine arts students

will feel the budget belt tighten. Blanc said there is no alternate

funding source for fine arts given the state’s budget woes.

“This year is the worst year because the state can’t even balance its

budget and it has no way to support us,” Blanc said. “Down the road,

things could get pretty bumpy.”

Lamm said he understands the college’s financial dilemma but maintains

that the city must continue to look at the issue in a “land-use

perspective” -- meaning it is up to the city to determine what is the

best use for that site.

“The city is trying to help in every way we can right now,” Lamm said.

“They just need to hang in there on Sundays until we can get them back in

there on Saturdays -- if the Planning Commission approves it.”

City officials said they have been monitoring the progress of the

trimmed-down swap meet for the last six weeks in an effort to be fully

prepared when the issue comes before the Planning Commission.

Traffic congestion along Fairview Road -- which sparked the in-depth

investigation of the swap meet site that found it to be operating at

twice the size permitted by the city -- is one of the major elements city

officials are keeping an eye on.

Peter Naghavi, the city’s manager of transportation services, said the

city has taken it upon itself to conduct some isolated traffic studies at

many of the problem intersections along Fairview Road. Naghavi said he

has visited the site nearly every weekend to gather data.

“It is clear the traffic has reduced as a result of the cuts in the

swap meet,” Naghavi said.

While limiting the swap meet to one day of operation has succeeded in

reducing congestion on one of the city’s busiest streets, Lamm said he is

“upbeat” that the shopping venue will be able to return to its larger

scale without negatively affecting the city or surrounding residents. If

city and college officials continue to work together, there should be a

happy resolution, Lamm said.

“Everything is looking very favorable,” Lamm said.

Blanc said the city has been very cooperative but gets nervous when he

thinks about how long it usually takes an issue to move through a

bureaucracy.

“The city so far has been really good,” Blanc said. “We just hope they

can hurry up, but we understand they have to do their thing.”

* Lolita Harper covers Costa Mesa. She may be reached at (949)

574-4275 or by e-mail at o7 [email protected] .