By Barbara Zaragoza / South Bay Compass
San Ysidro Rising
- Violet Ri, a transgender teenager at San Ysidro High School, was nominated for Homecoming Queen last week. Although she didn’t win, San Diego Gay & Lesbian News praised the high school’s staff for promoting a safe environment and not discriminating, for example, against which restroom Ri uses. Violet Ri is also at the top of her class and plans to get a Master’s in education.
Chula Vista
- For history enthusiasts, The Chula Vista Star News is now searchable on-line from 1930-1989. The public library has been digitizing their collection, which was completed this week.
- HomeFed Corporation said they no longer want to be the developer of Chula Vista’s new University and Innovation District, according to the Chula Vista Star News. City officials believe that HomeFed’s decision came because they felt they wouldn’t get a return on their investment.
Imperial Beach
- The iconic Imperial Beach Pier might be getting a revamp in the future. The Tin Fish currently resides at the end of the pier, but the Port of San Diego is seeking proposals to redevelop the restaurant space for the sake of attracting more customers.
- Vincent Farnsworth at the San Diego Reader gave more insight into the fall of Ed Kravitz’s I.B. Local News, which vanished from IB newspaper racks due to lack of revenue. Kravtiz had police telling him to stop following around the Eagle & Times delivery driver. He also had filed a criminal complaint against the rival newspaper, alleging that the Eagle & Times was taking his newspapers from various locations and throwing them in the trash. Then Kravitz accused the executive board member of the IB Chamber of Commerce of organizing an advertising boycott of his paper.
- Imperial Beach continues to upgrade Palm Avenue and has approved the final map of the Breakwater Town Center. The ground breaking could be 90 days away.
The Border
- The editors at the San Diego Union Tribune wrote that they were troubled by U.S. Border Patrol’s decision against requiring agents to wear body cameras. They wrote, “a disturbing number of officers don’t always deal with the public in a consistent, professional fashion.” Wearing body cameras might encourage better behavior.
- Several hundred people demonstrated in front of the court house last Monday, protesting the U.S. Department of Justice’s decision to clear federal agents involved in the death of Anastasio Hernandez Rojas just west of the San Ysidro Port of Entry in 2010.
- The Times of San Diego also reported that U.S. Border Patrol arrested a 22-year-old Mexican national and a 32-year-old U.S. citizen near the U.S.-Mexico line in San Ysidro last weekend after agents found 45 pounds of methamphetamine hidden in their vehicles. The street value of the narcotic would have been about $448,000.
Events
- The Front Art Gallery in San Ysidro will feature an episode of Bordertown tonight, November 13th at 7pm. The new animated television series, which will air on Fox in January, is a remake of the MEXtasy exhibition, which displayed a collection of racist artifacts from American mass culture, among other things.
- You may also remember my lowrider series. Now, Vista Library is holding a lowrider event on Saturday, November 11th at 1pm. They’ll have a “make your own lowrider stencil art piece” and show the movie Everything Comes From The Streets.
Barbara Zaragoza is a freelance writer who covers the South Bay, San Diego. She recently published a photographic history of San Ysidro and the Tijuana River Valley and also writes about arts, culture & activism at SouthBayCompass.com. Barbara is a multiple award winner of the Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego chapter, 2016 Journalism Awards.
