McALLEN — The McAllen city commissioners received fierce feedback from members of the public who took issue with proposed restrictions on pop up markets that are currently under consideration.
Organizers of pop up markets and small business owners who participate in those markets pushed back on the proposed restrictions during a city workshop held Monday during which Assistant City Manager Michelle Rivera delivered a presentation on those proposals.
Rivera explained that a city ordinance prohibits outdoor sales of new or used merchandise with a few exceptions. The city, though, has allowed permits for pop up markets by processing them through a special permit process for amusements. However, Rivera said pop ups really didn’t fit that category.
Additionally, she said the city had recently received complaints about the markets, particularly those held in areas that border residential areas.
As a result, the city came up with proposed restrictions for those pop up markets:
> limiting pop up markets to no more than four times per year per address and requiring a $100 permit fee from the organizer.
> restricting them from using existing parking for vendor space and, if held in a plaza, they must have consent from 75% of the owners or tenants.
> setting a time limit of 9 p.m. and limiting them to C-3, a general commercial zone, or a more intense zone.
Among the strongly contested proposals on Monday was the proposed $100 fee that would be charged to the organizers of each pop up market.
A local vendor who only identified herself as Janelle told the city commissioners it was too high.
“If we have markets as often as once a month per address per year, with a permit fee of about half of what you’re asking, you would essentially receive more money that way rather than collecting a $100 permit fee for every four markets out of the year,” Janelle said.
Rivera, the assistant city manager, told the city commissioners that the $100 fee would just be charged to the organizer who would then turn around and charge their own fee to the vendors. She estimated that organizers charged between $75 and $100 to each vendor to participate in the market.
However, the organizers and vendors, including Janelle, vehemently denied that claim, stating organizers charged as low as $20 and some charged no more than $60.
“Not many of us have ever paid a $75 fee to be a vendor,” Janelle said. “I don’t know where (Rivera) got that from, I would love to hear proof, but most all of us have never paid that high of a vendor fee.”
After the meeting, City Manager Roel “Roy” Rodriguez defended those figures.
“We don’t make this stuff up,” Rodriguez said. “We got that figure from somebody.”
However, he said the proposed $100 permit fee for the organizers was just a first recommendation.
“If the commission feels $100 is too high and $50 is more appropriate or $25 or whatever, then so be it,” Rodriguez said. “But we have to remember that it’s a service that the city of McAllen is providing and so just like every other service that we provide, you have to pay for that service.”
Referring back to Rivera’s presentation, he noted that the permits for pop up markets have to be reviewed by at least six city departments for code enforcement, traffic, and safety among other reasons.
“So $25 is not going to go very far,” Rodriguez said.
Janelle also questioned why the city would want to limit markets to only four times per year per address.
“Is there any way we can somehow compromise on an idea that benefits both the city and us, (the) small business community?” she asked city commissioners.
She proposed having a brick-and-mortar store or establishment in the city that would be a dedicated space to host pop up markets as frequently as once a month.
That suggestion was viewed favorably by Mayor Javier Villalobos who said the city wants to reach a middle ground so those who participate in pop up markets and those who have submitted complaints about them can be happy.
“One of the things I did like was ‘well, why don’t we find different areas where they can go set up?’” he said, referring to Janelle’s suggestion. “They may be parks, they may be different things.”
While other vendors spoke about their individual experience in how pop up markets had helped their small business, one speaker touched on the pop up market community as a whole and the role they played in the city.
Madeleine Croll, a McAllen citizen, criticized the city for wanting to charge organizers an exorbitant fee to people who were just trying to “secure their livelihoods.”
She pointed out that the majority of the people who sold merchandise at pop up markets were working class people of color, and often identified as queer.
“But nonetheless, they do contribute substantially to the economy, to the political culture, to the unique individuality of ‘City of Palms’ here — that, itself, is what is the marketable commodity of this city,” Croll said.
Rodriguez, the city manager, said the input from the vendors was great engagement by the community and said the purpose of the workshops was to vet such proposals before a decision is made by the city commission.
He emphasized, though, that the goal of the proposed regulations was to help pop up markets, not hurt them.
“I think what got lost in the translation here is the fact that we’re trying to help them,” Rodriguez said. “The city of McAllen is trying to help those vendors because the current ordinance prohibits it, and so we have administratively decided, ‘let’s give it some time to take information to the commission and make some decisions.’”
“But let’s be clear,” Rodriguez added, “it is prohibited, and so today was our first attempt to try to help in order for these vendors, (who) are very important to us, to continue to do business.”
The workshop was just the beginning of the process of looking into the establishment of these regulations and Rodriguez said he expects the issue to be discussed again soon.
“We barely just started looking at it and seeing what we need to do,” Villalobos said, echoing Rodriguez’s comments. “Nothing has been decided, nothing will be decided until we find, and what we want is, a happy medium for everybody.”
