The Chula Vista Star News reported that a string of medical marijuana dispensaries operating in the city of Chula Vista are facing legal action to permanently cease their operations. Deputy City Attorney Megan McClurg said dispensary owners in Chula Vista do not have a business license to operate and if they applied for one they would be denied. [Read more…]
On Wednesday, February 17th a groundbreaking ceremony marked the construction of the South Bay Rapid project, a $113 million, 21-mile bus route from the Otay Mesa Port of Entry to downtown San Diego. Mayor Mary Salas said it would connect eastern Chula Vista with downtown San Diego.
The biggest question yet unanswered: Will residents switch from their car to public transportation? [Read more…]
Two South Bay school districts might feel the financial pain if the Chargers move up North, according to The Star News. The Sweetwater Union High School District estimates that their schools have received close to $500,000 in funding from the San Diego Chargers, including for facilities and wellness programs. The Chula Vista Elementary School also says their contributions from the Chargers might go away if they leave up North. [Read more…]
Is there an onslaught of American immigrants coming to Mexico? The story isn’t new. For decades Americans have been moving to Tijuana where the rent is cheaper. For local Tijuanese, this means Americans drive up their housing prices and create housing shortages.
How many Americans live in Tijuana, and in Mexico at large? The number is unknown. Guesstimates run the gamut from 5,000 to 500,000 Americans (in Tijuana alone). That’s a pretty big spread. Why don’t we know? [Read more…]
Black Lives Matter came to the border last weekend when three African-American men crossing back into the United States were subjected to a frightening experience of being suspected as terrorists. Watch their video. It appears that the major networks didn’t pick up the story, so these citizen activists took to Facebook. Why were they flagged by Border Patrol as terrorists? Apparently, one man was actively involved in the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement and Border Patrol computers flagged him for it.
Inside are links:
– Female immigrant detainees allege they were unlawfully strip searched in a California detention center.
– Turns out, even O’Malley knows that net migration from Mexico was zero last year. Here are some numbers.
– And here’s an interesting video about an American citizen who lived in Mexico and crossed the San Ysidro Port of Entry everyday to attend school. [Read more…]
Two newsworthy pieces for our South Bay community:
Fourteen months ago, President Obama ordered a program that would allow illegal immigrants who are the parents of citizens or of lawful permanent residents to apply for DAPA, where they could avoid deportation and receive work permits. The program was called Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents, or DAPA. The New York Times reported this week that the Supreme Court will consider a legal challenge to President Obama’s immigration rules.
Because we’re a minority-majority region with over 50% of the population Hispanic, a large Asian–mostly Filipino–community, AND around half of us are women. [Read more…]
Actor and director Sean Penn secretly interviewed drug lord Joaquin Guzman Loera (aka ‘El Chapo’) before his recent capture. Penn’s interview was published in Rolling Stone. El Chapo, having a value of perhaps $1 billion and boasting that he was one of the first to build underground smuggling tunnels …. here we go again, San Diego. One more story about the 1% of people who cross the fence with illegal services & goods.
How many Rolling Stone articles would it take to interview the 99% of people impeded from crossing the fence everyday with their legal goods & services–with items like avocados and flat screen televisions? How many stories could we read about law-abiding citizens impeded by too much security and costing our economy over $7 billion in losses per year? [Read more…]
By Barbara Zaragoza / South Bay Compass
Chula Vista’s Seven Mile Casino continued to be in the news this week. Wendy Fry reported that the Card Room tried to open their doors again, citing that they had over 300 employees who were out of work and out of paychecks right before the holiday season.
Borderland Beat continued to unravel the web of illegal activity that spanned much further than Chula Vista. A San Diego indictment named 25 conspirators who were involved in sex trafficking, bookmaking, and money laundering. Jeffery Broadt (not of Seven Mile Casino) was a primary defendant in the case.
[Read more…]
The Skybridge opened on Wednesday, which crosses from San Diego into the Tijuana International Airport. The bridge requires a toll, a passport and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol inspection. The skybridge was built with investor money that included Chicago billionaire Sam Zell who is also known as the chairman of Equity LifeStyle Properties, the largest mobile-home landlord.
Will this be the beginning of more bridges in U.S.-Mexico relations? In 1959 entrepreneur Allen Parkinson set out to create an international skyride that would cross from San Ysidro into Tijuana, relieving congestion and becoming a tourist attraction at the same time. Plans were foiled by construction of the I-5 freeway. During the 1970s a monorail was planned between San Diego and Tijuana, but the project that also went nowhere. [Read more…]
With the horror of the San Bernadino events and PBS reporting that 355 mass shootings took place across the United States in 2015, the South Bay this week also faced its share of disturbing violence and mayhem:
KPBS reported that meth seizures are up at the border since 2009. The drug is now being produced in Mexican “super labs,” staffed by university-educated chemists and supplied by manufacturers based in Asia. This trend is occurring during a time when less and less marijuana is being grown in Mexico due to its legalization in the U.S. The Imperial Beach Patch showed the terrible destruction meth can cause on a young adult. [Read more…]
Water Rate Hikes
On Tuesday, November 17, members of the San Diegans for Fair Water Rates Coalition rallied at the San Diego Civic Concourse Plaza asking the SD City Council to vote against the recycled water unitary rate proposal. They lost. The City Council approved a five-year, 40 percent increase to the price of city drinking water overall and then also approved the recycled water rate with a vote of 7-2, Alvarez and Kersey voting against it.
Imperial Beach
Vince Farnsworth at the San Diego Reader reported three dead dolphins washed up on the shores of Imperial Beach in the past month. Investigations are underway to determine whether their deaths were due to Navy sonar exercises. According to Earthjustice, there are only 323 bottlenose dolphins known to live in California coastal waters. [Read more…]
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. [Read more…]
