Complaint filed to stop
swap meet takeover

Star-Bulletin staff

An Aloha Flea Market vendor is seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent the Stadium Authority from taking over the swap meet Oct. 1.

In a complaint filed yesterday in Circuit Court, Thanh Cong Tran, owner of a T-shirt business at the Aloha Stadium flea market for 16 years, claimed that the Stadium Authority does not have administrative rules yet in place to be able to take over the swap meet.

The authority voted in May and again earlier this month not to extend the contract that Aloha Flea Market and its President Edward Medeiros have held for the past 20 years.

The contract expires Sept. 30, and the state has issued a request for proposals for an operator to market, coordinate and manage the swap meet for a portion of the gross revenues.

Without any rules and regulations, the authority, stadium manager Edwin Hayashi and the contractor who is awarded the contract will develop and enforce decisions that will affect vendors and buyers in an arbitrary and capricious manner, the complaint said.