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The Tijuana River Valley Community Garden

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By Barbara Zaragosa / South Bay Compass

The Tijuana River Valley (TRV) was once filled with vegetable farms, dairies and ranches. As a matter of fact, the famous horses Trigger and Seabiscuit were boarded here. Today, many ranches still pepper the TRV. You can take horse rides out to the beach or buy vegetables at Suzie’s farm stand on weekends. Along the road in this sleepy area the TRV Community Garden also rents plots to local residents.

The Tijuana River Valley Community Garden has a simple goal: to promote healthy and fresh grown produce in a diverse community environment.   [Read more…]

Mexico’s President Responds to Trump’s Racism …

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… South Bay Guide for California’s Primaries, and 308-Space Parking Structure Built In County’s Most Walkable City

There is less than a week until the California Primaries, South Bay. How will you vote? See inside for a useful guide on:

– Federal Candidates,

– California State & County Representatives,

– South Bay Local Elections,

– Candidates of Chula Vista’s District 4.   [Read more…]

Anti-Trump Protests Were Peaceful All Day, Until….

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Yesterday, Donald Trump visited San Diego’s Convention Center at 2pm and spoke for about an hour. Vendors outside sold Donald Trump souvenirs and supporters often wore red hats with the logo “Make America Great Again.”

From about 11am onward, anti-Trump protestors rallied within the Free Speech Zone, located across the street from the Convention Center next to the Trolley Station and across from the entrance to the Gaslamp District.   [Read more…]

Gardening Builds Community in the Tijuana River Valley

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By Barbara Zaragoza / South Bay Compass

The Tijuana River Valley (TRV) was once filled with vegetable farms, dairies and ranches. As a matter of fact, the famous horses Trigger and Seabiscuit were boarded here. Today, many ranches still pepper the TRV. You can take horse rides out to the beach or buy vegetables at Suzie’s farm stand on weekends. Along the road in this sleepy area, the Tijuana River Valley Community Garden also rents plots to local residents. It’s goal is simple: to promote healthy and fresh grown produce in a diverse community environment.

The community garden is extremely popular and the good news is that open land lies adjacent to the garden that could be used for further expansion. The bad news: expansion costs money and the RCD would need at least $50,000 to install the water system and fencing needed to create the new plots. So far, monies aren’t available for that.   [Read more…]

Bernie To Visit National City …

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… San Ysidro’s Alcohol Ban, and Chula Vista’s Novo Brazil Brewing Co. Takes Home Bronze

Bernie Sanders is coming to National City. He’s scheduled to speak Saturday, May 21, at Kimball Park. The event is free, open to the public and will be first-come, first-served. The Times of San Diego has an online RSVP form.

It’s not the first time a presidential candidate has visited National City. Mayor Ron Morrison wrote on his Facebook account: “Presidential Candidate Senator Bernie Sanders will be holding a public rally in National City’s Kimball Park this Saturday evening. In 1992 then Gov. Bill Clinton held a rally in Kimball Park and in 1968 Bobby Kennedy held a rally at South Bay Plaza. In the Center of it All!”   [Read more…]

Thousands of Tuna Crabs Invade Imperial Beach …

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… New Pedestrian Border Crossing Will Open In July and Chula Vista Mayor Proposes Sales Tax Increase

The Imperial Beach City Hall Facebook page posted pictures of the Tuna Crab invasion on Wednesday, May 11th. They alerted beach goers: “Overnight thousands of reddish-orange tuna crabs are washing ashore in Imperial Beach. This also happened last year in mid-June. Scientists say it may be caused by El Nino and the massive pool of warm water that developed last year in the Pacific. The crustaceans usually wash ashore during the El Nino years. Local birds have begun to eat the crabs. The remaining carcasses will remain on the shore until they decompose or are swept back into the water.” The Union Tribune also posted pictures.   [Read more…]

The Great Eastern Expansion: Where Is The Plaza?

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By Barbara Zaragoza

City staff and developers envision a city that will include professors, engineers, highly trained athletes and international tourists. There will be new boutique shops, gourmet restaurants and a transit system to bring even more people to visit this bustling downtown. An explosion of binational trade is anticipated, since the border is only 2 miles away and executives will be able to go across the Tijuana bridge directly in and out of the Tijuana International Airport.

While talking to city officials and developers, I have found their excitement to be authentic. The hotels are certainly something community members in eastern Chula Vista have been waiting for, along with abundant local jobs and public transportation. But I’m a writer, not a marketer, and I have to ask myself: is there something wrong with this picture?   [Read more…]

Door Between U.S. and Mexico Opened …

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… Russian National Dies In Otay Dentention Facility, and More Trouble For South Bay School Officials

Border Patrol allied with Border Angels–a non-profit organization that advocates for humane immigration reform–and opened the door at the U.S.-Mexican border in Friendship Park. This is the third time Border Patrol has allowed it.

Gabi Esparza was able to reunite with her mother for three minutes by the door. Esparza lives in the United States while her mother is waiting to enter the U.S. They hadn’t been face-to-face in nine years. (CNN Money)   [Read more…]

The Millenia Project: San Diego County’s New Downtown

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By Barbara Zaragoza

Last week, I spent a lot of time explaining the vast expansion taking place in eastern Chula Vista. Eleven villages total mean about 60,000 new residents will move into the area within the next twenty years. So far, villages 1, 5 and 7 are built out. Village 2 is underway. That leaves villages 3, 4, 8, 9 and 10 still under development.

According to the Otay Ranch General Development Plan, the idea of the village was to “provide a sense of community and social cohesion in a “small town” way, and reduce dependence on the automobile for local trips.” (pg. 10)

Today, I want to go over the heart of the development called “Millenia.” This will become the center piece of Otay Ranch plan, a new downtown with an office & retail district.   [Read more…]

Solar Panels, Possible Carpetbagging In Chula Vista and Border Wait Times

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Where Are San Ysidro’s Solar Panels?

By Barbara Zaragoza

The Union-Tribune reported that EcoBusiness Alliance said it would install solar panels at the San Ysidro School District by November-December 2015, but the company hasn’t started the work.

As the article explains, in 2008 EcoBusiness Alliance contracted to install rooftop panels at seven San Ysidro campuses for free. The agreement said that the company would then sell $18 million worth of power back to the San Ysidro schools over a 25-year period.

Once the 2008 contract was made, San Diego Superior Court public records show that EcoBusiness Alliance was distracted by two lawsuits.   [Read more…]

The Great Eastern Expansion Into Chula Vista

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Chula Vista Is Set To Have An Influx Of 60,000 Residents

By Barbara Zaragoza

For decades community groups such as Crossroads II have noted that the City of Chula Vista is nothing more than a bedroom community. They explain that developers came into the region, created a mass of housing, but didn’t provide residents with essential amenities, such as jobs, adequate big box stores such as Walmart, smaller retail shops, restaurants, parks or hotels. In Crossroads II’s 2016 Annual Report, they wrote, “Because of the lack of commercial development, Chula Vista is second from the bottom in terms of sales-tax revenues per resident in San Diego County.”

The Chula Vista City Council has attempted to change this bedroom community into a bustling city where local and international tourists come to shop, eat and play. They’ve done it by attracting developers to the open stretch of land located in eastern Chula Vista known as Otay Ranch. Now, within the next twenty years or so, Chula Vista anticipates more than 60,000 new residents will flood into the area, including university students, Olympic quality athletes and Google-type executives. Their goal is to transition eastern Chula Vista into becoming a dense urban environment that is state-of-the-art in technology and also environmentally sustainable.

Excited? Convinced?   [Read more…]

Three Cases Of Sexual Misconduct At IB’s Mar Vista High School …

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… California’s Longest Drug Smuggling Tunnel Is Found In Otay Mesa, and a Portable Shower Program For San Diego’s Homeless

Mar Vista High School had not one, not two, but three reported incidents of sexual relations with underage females by a walk-on assistant football coach, an ROTC instructor and a tutor. Mar Vista ranks No. 5 out of 10 at greatschools.org and has only 37 percent of graduates who are eligible for UC/CSU. It’s also known as one of the schools in the Sweetwater Union High School District (SUHSD) with a larger attendance of low-income students.

Are these students–whose parents rely heavily on staff and the district to safeguard their children while they put in hours at one or even two jobs– especially vulnerable and therefore targeted by unseemly types?

Disturbingly, in the review comments section of great schools.org, an anonymous parent posted on Sept. 1, 2013, “Terrible school. Students date some of the teachers right after graduation.”   [Read more…]

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