Feuds and controversies continue to affect the fate of 430 families’ income at the San Jose Flea Market because of city plans to replace the zone for new residential building projects beginning construction around 2024.
Cayetano Araujo Hernandez, a 65-year-old flea market vendor, said he and his wife, Carmen Vidales, run a flea market storefront “Cayetano Produce” on Berryessa Road as their only revenue source.
Araujo Hernandez said since the announcement of the 2024 project that will displace the vendors, the Bumb family has ceased advertising for customers to visit the flea market.
The Bumb family claimed ownership of the space after founder and owner George Bumb Sr. died in 2000.
“Our regular customers stopped coming in thinking that the flea market was already closed,” Araujo Hernandez said in Spanish. “But we still have time to be here and fight for our spaces. I believe we have until 2024 to leave, that is when they plan to begin their project.”
The Bumb family implemented a new one-time deposit that allows vendors to hold a space if they want to continue using spaces monthly. The deposit will be fully reimbursed once the vendors decide to leave the premises undamaged and clean, according to a Friday San Jose Spotlight article.
In a June 29 San Jose City Council meeting, the Bumb family received approval with an 11-0 vote to begin planning for a new residential building on the current 65-acre terrain of Berryessa Flea Market, according to a July 1 article by The Registry.
Alongside Araujo Hernandez, several other long-time vendors say it’s been difficult to maintain their spaces even though the flea market is still open.
“The owners have not given us options or said anything about helping us relocate,” Oscar Pacheco said in Spanish.
Oscar Pacheco said while it would be difficult for his family members to relocate their shops, it's even harder for them to keep up with new payments for both stands inside the flea market.
“I am worried about this because many people live off of this. This is their income,” Celia Pacheco, Oscar Pacheco’s mother, said in Spanish. “And now they want to secure our stay by charging a deposit.”
The first set of payments will run from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31 and restart again with a six-month contract starting Jan. 1, 2022 and ending June 30, 2022, according to the Flea Market Vendor Guide.
Vendor Juan Francisco Ruiz said several vendors including himself agree that the commercial apartments replacing the flea market won’t be accessible to the East San Jose residents near Berryessa.
Francisco Ruiz said most families in the area are low income and won’t be able to afford a one-bedroom apartment for $2,700 per month.
He said he finds the Bumb family’s decisions about the flea market “emotional” as he’s been a vendor there for more than 22 years.
“Thanks to this business, I have been able to raise my two daughters,” Francisco Ruiz said in Spanish. “I am a single father and work this business over the weekends as I also work as a welder during the week.”
Robert Gonzales, Berryessa Flea Market Vendors Association president, said the group has been fighting for vendors’ rights through protests and hunger strikes since June when city council delayed its meeting for plan proposals.
The Berryessa Flea Market Vendors Association is an organization focused on highlighting vendors’ voices and creating awareness about the displacement of vendor families for new construction projects, according to its website.
Gonzales is also a vendor at Los Reyes Dulceria in San Jose and works alongside his father, who established the store 30 years ago.
“Our mission has been working with the office of economic development by having monthly meetings with them,” Gonzales said. “And also start working with the Flea Market Advisory Board, that is our main goal.”
Gonzales said the flea market owners haven't considered what the vendors need and how the proposed changes will affect them.
Erik Shoennauer, Bumb family land consultant and representative, said the 61.5 acre land parcel will be used for the construction of a new project and only 5 acres will be dedicated to the Berryessa Flea Market Vendor relocation, according to a Monday San Jose Spotlight article.
“We need to find alternatives for relocation,” Gonzales said. “Since the five acres that they promise will not be enough to accommodate all of the vendors here.”
He said the vendor association has 180 active members out of the 430 registered vendors but all of them are entitled to a seat on the board.
“The Bumb family will continue to impose changes and regulations to gradually make vendors leave on their own,” Gonzales said. “Eventually the vendors get tired and when transition happens, instead of having the 430 plus vendors, we will be left with an insignificant amount of people.”
The San Jose Flea Market still has a few years before the new projects begin in 2024. Vendors will be given a one-year notice by July 1, 2023 as they’re relocated or asked to leave the grounds, according to the Monday San Jose Spotlight article.
Many vendors say they’re still digesting the news with uncertainty and sadness as they begin thinking about their future income strategies.
