… National City’s Triple-Term Mayor Wants to Abolish Term Limits, and Eastlake Has 80 Percent Increase In Car Burglaries
By Barbara Zaragoza
Supervisor Greg Cox secured another term during the primary elections this week. He was unopposed.
You may remember my interview with him when he explained, among other visions regarding Parks and Recreation, that he would like to see a campground created within Border Field State Park. This week, however, a letter was released from U.S. Border Patrol that said it would not be an ideal location for a campsite because the Imperial Beach Border Patrol station apprehended more than 5,300 people during fiscal year 2015 alone.
“Over 3,200 of these apprehensions occurred within the immediate vicinity of the proposed campsites. Twenty-five percent of those apprehended had prior criminal convictions in the United States and some of the illegal crossers were documented gang members,” the letter says. Marty Graham, who termed the area an “active crime scene” has the full report at The San Diego Reader.
Although the campground may be a sticking point, the 1,800-acre Tijuana River Valley Regional Park (owned by the county and located adjacent to Border Field State Park along the border) already includes a butterfly garden, a community garden and a sports facility, among other amenities. What’s more, on Saturday, June 11, Supervisor Cox will celebrate the grand opening of a newly restored and unified 22.5 mile trail system for hikers, mountain bikers and equestrians. The Dairy Mart Pond Overlook will also open tomorrow — a 1,200-square-foot wooden deck that allows visitors a better scenic view of the indigenous flora and fauna, including hundreds of birds that stop here along the Pacific Flyway.
Chula Vista, Imperial Beach & National City
National City
- Councilmember Mona Rios wrote to SDFP advocating for terms limits. As Mayor Ron Morrison comes towards the end of his third consecutive term in office, he wants to place a measure on the November 2016 ballot repealing them.
Imperial Beach
- The Imperial Beach Eagle & Times reported that Executive Director Gary Gallegos of SANDAG gave a presentation to the Imperial Beach City Council on the half cent sales tax measure proposed for the ballot in November.
- The month of June was declared Immigrant Heritage Month in the City of Imperial Beach.
Chula Vista
- Council member Patricia Aguilar summed up the primary elections for Chula Vista writing on her Facebook page: “Southwest Chula Vista residents were the first Chula Vista residents to vote under the City’s newly-formed system of council districts. Four people ran in the June 7th primary election to represent southwest Chula Vista, which is Council District 4. The result of that election is that former councilmember Rudy Ramirez and retired firefighter Mike Diaz will face each other in a runoff election this November.”
- Third Avenue in downtown Chula Vista is being paved next week. It’s part of the year-long beautification program of old Chula Vista, which will include brick paver crosswalks, wider sidewalks, new landscaping and decorative lighting.
- The lawsuit against the city filed by Ethics Commissioner Chris Shilling has been dismissed. Shilling sued after Steve Miesen was appointed to the City Council in what he claimed was Brown Act violations and open meeting laws. The City has agreed to change its policies in the future. The San Diego Union Tribune has the details.
At The Border
Chula Vista’s eastern expansion and Otay Mesa’s expansion rely heavily on future binational relations with Mexico in order to stimulate the South Bay economy. Fortunately, this week’s news shows growth occurring in all the right directions:
- Andrew Selee, the executive vice president of the Wilson Center wrote in The Washington Post that the influx of immigrants has been at an all-time low, while large amounts of products and investments are flowing North. Read the full story here.
- The Times of San Diego reported that a railway between Campo and Imperial County will connect factories in Tijuana to U.S. rail facilities. 40 miles of the line will extend into Mexico. The railroad should help ease congestion and pollution while increasing commerce.
- The Otay Mesa Chamber of Commerce reported that in May, five manufacturing companies located in Tijuana were recognized by The Great Place to Work Institute in the 500-5000 category. At the top of the list is Plantronics as the “Best place to Work in Mexico”. A US-based manufacturer of wearable technology, Plantronics has been named as the “Best Place to Work” in Mexico for six years in a row.
- San Diego Red reports that the number of San Diegans moving to Tijuna continues to grow, not only for lower rent, but due to the food & culture.
- For those of you who like soccer, there might be a few other reasons to move to Tijuana in the near future. Mexico played Chile to a sold-out Qualcomm Stadium on June 1st and won 1-0. Brooke Binkowski in her Border Report at VOSD added the following photo from the game that depicted some political sentiments there.
Global Wellness Day
It’s Global Wellness Day in Imperial Beach tomorrow, Saturday, June 11th from 9am-2pm. With a surfing mayor, Serge Dedina, Imperial Beach is increasingly creating a community dedicated to wellness all around. Celebrating with 100 other countries, the free event includes fitness classes, wellness deomonstraions, yoga, guided mediation, Tai Chi, nutritionists, health screenings, healthy eats and cooking demonstrations, arts, kids activities and more. See here for more information.
Barbara, where is the trailhead for the newly restored and unified 22.5 mile trail system for hikers, mountain bikers and equestrians. A google map would help.
Also I crossed the border recently for the first time with my SENTRI pass. The border wait was 5 minutes!! People without one were waiting 2 hours. It makes all the difference in the world. Perhaps future columns could include restaurants and other points of interest in Tijuana. I go to the dentist down there, but look forward to other activities. The border wait was always the hang-up for doing more.
Thanks for your informative column.
Also the opening up of the rail link to Mexico is great news! Maybe eventually that will include passenger service as well!!
Thanks for your delightful comments, John! :)
A few things:
–Unfortunately, there are only so many hours in a day, and “North of the Fence” covers information predominantly about the actual border and things NORTH of the border — something that has been sorely lacking in our media. So I can’t really do Tijuana very much. However, if you want some excellent information on places to see and great eateries in Tijuana, I highly recommend going on one of Derrik Chin’s very affordable Turista Libre tours: http://www.turistalibre.com
–The trails being referred to exist at the Tijuana River Valley Regional Park. You can google to find it, but I also have an entire article about it at South Bay Compass with a map: http://southbaycompass.com/the-tijuana-river-valley-regional-park/
–Border advocates welcome the idea of public transportation going back and forth between the border, not just vehicles. It’s not a novel idea. In 1959, a man wanted to build The International Skyride going from San Ysidro to Tijuana. The project failed due to the building of the freeway. In the 1970’s another company wanted to build a monorail going from San Diego to Tijuana. That too never came to fruition.
With the opening of a new Otay Mesa POE, the bridge into the Tijuana International Airport, the upcoming Virginia Ave Pedestrian Crossing, and this train, perhaps a public transportation line will also come to fruition one day.