The City of San Francisco’s $800 million budget deficit is leaving many programs under the scalpel, and Portola neighborhood vendors are furious that the Alemany Flea Market may be one of them.

There is no easy way around SF City Hall’s current $800 million budget deficit. The reality is that cuts will have to be made and programs will be lost. But we’ve already seen various outcries over which cuts to programs are generating local anger. The elimination of city-employed community ambassadors seemed like this week’s outrage du jour, but now we have another.

KQED reports that the budget cuts might eliminate the Alemany Flea Market. This flea market is not to be confused with the larger Alemany Farmers’ Market which is every Saturday, while the Alemany Flea Market is every Sunday.

But the Alemany Flea Market does lose money, with the City Administrator’s Office saying in a statement to KQED that the market has been “operating at a deficit for some time.”


Still, the market’s operators are pushing back. “That flea market is 100 small business owners, and they in turn sell to another 100 small business owners,” flea market vendor Jon Rolston said in an Instagram video. “All those cool shops that people love to go to … where do you think that stuff is coming from? It’s coming from the flea market.”

And the vendors have a City Hall ally in the district’s supervisor Hillary Ronen.

“I fully support the Alemany Flea Market, and will oppose any attempt to eliminate it through any proposed cuts in the current budget or otherwise,” Ronen told KQED. “The flea market is a historical and cultural San Francisco landmark that plays an important role in the economic security of people who sell and buy at the weekly market, supporting small businesses and individuals in District 9 and Citywide.”

The pressure may be working. The City Administrator’s Office also added in their statement to KQED that they were “working with the Mayor’s Office to maintain funding, including long term solutions, for the flea market.”

Do you want to complain about this, or any of Mayor Breed’s other proposed budget cuts? You can, at this Monday’s June 24 Budget and Appropriations Committee meeting at 10 am, where they will be taking public comment.

Related: Supervisors Up In Arms Over Breed’s Massive Budget Cuts to Community Ambassador Program [SFist]

Image: Howard J. via Yelp