Bulletin
April 7, 2021
Happy Easter to everyone!
This time Easter has had a more significant impact in my family and community
life as covid vaccinations start to turn the tide and optimism begins to
percolate into our binational region, despite the much lower vaccination levels
in Tijuana and Baja as a whole.
Economic, social, and school
activity is picking up. The time is now to start making changes to our
partially closed border by working in earnest with agencies, governments, and
private enterprise. The clamor to open, present since Day One of restrictions
last year, has now become an absolutely necessary step forward. We must resume
cross-border activity.
*****
Our
next online Stakeholders Working Committee meeting will convene on Zoom
on May 6th from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. Please register in advance at: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZApdOGhqTgrHtR1JhqQziqnamiJOfvtq1jf.
Attendance is free and incurs no obligations. All our meetings are stimulating
and information-rich, with expert presenters.
After
registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about
joining the meeting.
*****
I have become convinced that
the substantial, creative measures required to “reinvent” our border—and
alleviate the problems that chronically hobble movement, causing huge losses—will
remain untried if the civic and private
sectors are not involved.
Options may entail attracting investors able to consider non-conventional
business opportunities in our region.
So I was grateful to have
learned of Mission Driven Finance (https://www.missiondrivenfinance.com/),
a San Diego-based impact investment firm dedicated to
building a financial system that ensures strong nonprofits and businesses
have affordable access to funding.
Their chief investment
officer, Louie Nguyen, a
knowledgeable and experienced finance professional, can create structures to
support opportunities that banks and venture capital firms typically regard with
too much skepticism.
*****
I want to thank the U.S.-Mexico
Foundation (https://www.usmexicofound.org/)
under the leadership of Enrique Perret for asking for our coalition’s support in penning a
letter to Roberta Jacobson, recently
named Coordinator for the Southern Border and a former U.S. ambassador to
Mexico. Our friends from the Borderplex
Alliance in El Paso (https://www.borderplexalliance.org/),
the Economic Development Association of
Ciudad Juárez (https://www.desarrolloeconomico.org/),
and the Tijuana Development Council
(https://cdt.org.mx)
signed the letter.
This was done in the context
of her March 23 meeting with Mexican foreign secretary Marcelo Ebrard to discuss cooperation on immigration issues.
The letter strongly
recommends to Ambassador Jacobson to gradually reopen our border starting with
SENTRI lane users as well as those who can prove they have been vaccinated for
Covid.
*****
Meeting with Mike Krenn,
CEO of Connect (https://connect.org /) improved my understanding
of the organization’s positive impact on startups in the life sciences and
information technology world. Connect
is focused on supporting entrepreneurs, investors, accelerators, incubators,
universities, government
agencies, and other key market
influencers in order to benefit great companies in San Diego.
In 2019, San Diego’s innovation economy companies
directly generated more than $63 billion
in sales, employed more than 164,000
workers, and provided over $21 billion
in payrolls. The direct economic contribution to San Diego’s economy is
over $33 billion, accounting for
more than 13 percent of the total
regional economy or gross domestic product.
So
what of Connect’s linkages to Mexico? How come they are able to find more
software developers in Poland, Roumania and India than in Mexico? This was a
question Mike and I discussed. We both concluded it is time to do something about
it. Some 10-15 years ago, Connect looked into starting a formal connection to
Baja California, but the initiative was short-lived.
There
is no question in my mind that Connect must find a way to start formal
communication with credible, reliable, and high-quality people and
organizations in Baja California. Our coalition
started this process last week.
*****
Kudos to MaeLin Levine for submitting the San
Diego-Tijuana bid for the 2024 World
Design Capital competition (https://wdo.org/programmes/wdc/).
It went down to the wire, but in the end MaeLin rallied her team and made it
happen.
Benefactors and
professionals on both sides of the border made this possible: Malin Burnham, Jeff Silberman, Michelle
Morris, Scott Robinson, Design Lab Creative, Katalina Silva, Bennett Peji,
Gaspar Orozco, Laura Araujo, and Flavio Olivieri, among others. This is the
first time in the history of the event that a binational effort has been mounted.
*****
I am proud to be part of the
Tijuana Innovadora Binational Advisory
Council led by Laura Araujo and chaired by two gentlemen who need no introductions:
Jose Galicot and Malin Burnham. Here I want to focus on
an important message that our friend Alan
Bersin delivered at the end-of-March session. Alan has filled many major
public leadership roles in Washington and the San Diego-Tijuana region.
There
is truly just a handful of people in leadership positions who understand the
many facets of the U.S.-Mexico border, and Alan is one of them. In his remarks,
he stated that there are two critical tasks we must tackle. The first one is
long-term: reinventing the ports of
entry. He says the Smart Border Coalition can lead here. For now, this task
has to be secondary to the task which of resuming cross-border activity "in its fullest."
This
kind of talk energizes the coalition. We have thus proposed a pilot project
with the local U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to lift restrictions to
non-essential travelers gradually and constructively. I will have more on this
soon.
Reinventing the ports
of entry
has been on the coalition’s agenda for some time. Reinvention is not just a
matter of advocacy with our congressional delegation or our state legislature.
It requires a full scope of activities, from finding adequate solutions or
attempts at solutions, to fine tuning them, to mentoring those wishing to bring
these to fruition, to creating a structure that can work beyond the trite “let
the government do it” or “get a grant for a study.”
Then
it is about convincing public and private entities to give credence to the
idea. Funding is also crucial, and this is the stage where most people decide
to discontinue the effort. We are working on a couple of initiatives at this
time, and it is my objective to present concrete options before by the end of
June.
*****
Miguel
Aguirre is on the move with Border
Fusion (https://www.borderfusion.global/about), a movement that “envisions the flourishing of
people-centered infrastructure and strategic cross-border, smart-growth
urbanism that will promote North America for competitive global impact.”
Miguel and his team want to “encourage a
better understanding of public spaces, public-private partnerships, and smart
growth planning.” Essentially, Aguirre believes that the spaces and areas
closest to our ports of entry should be destinations, not places one wants to
leave as soon as one leaves the port of entry.
It is clear that one of the first items
of business is managing long- and
short-haul transportation at San Ysidro. The current system is a far cry
from what border crossers deserve. The San Diego Metropolitan Transportation System (MTS) will soon be issuing the Intercity
Bus Facility Request for Proposal.
As a follow up to the Intercity Bus
Facility, can we imagine a modern, technology-inspired San Ysidro Intermodal Transportation
Center?
With equity and inclusion more than buzz
words, we are now at a critical juncture for these transportation changes to
happen. I think of most people who cross
the border today not as wealthy citizens but as modern day pioneers and transfronterizos whose travel schedules
and activities on either side are important to the success of our binational
region.
*****
Our coalition participated in the North American Strategy for Competitiveness (NASCO) meeting where
panelists focused on workforce development. Mexico has before it opportunities
for manufacturing re-shoring and more self-sufficient supply chains. However,
any evolution toward re-shoring necessitates a more highly skilled workforce.
Supply chain resilience will require the growth of a reliable and high-quality
supplier base. It is conceivable that
re-shoring will be extended to Central America.
*****
The March 26 SANDAG Borders Committee and
COBRO joint meeting heralded the most exciting news we’ve heard about
border planning and infrastructure in many months. Ray Traynor, executive
director, spoke about the final approval of the Calexico East Port of Entry widening
project and the grand opening of the 11-mile mid-coast trolley corridor after
the summer.
Jose Marquez of SANDAG made
remarks about the recently concluded Border Master Plan (https://calibajabmp.org). Our
coalition was particularly interested in the remarks, as I participated in the
visioning exercise for how ports, traffic, and intelligent transportation
technology might look in the next 10-20 years.
The plan outlines a total 183 port of entry and related transportation projects representing
an investment of approximately $13.5
billion that have been identified for the California-Baja California region
over the next 20 years.
The way that SANDAG is presenting the
plan is quite impressive. There is a sophisticated yet easy to understand
website that houses the report as well as past reports, and there is emphasis
on the plan’s overview, with clever and informative charts of vehicle,
pedestrian, and cargo traffic stats.
It was also very heartening to see that
SANDAG has taken stakeholder opinion increasingly more seriously, with sections
on “innovation,” “white papers,” and “proposed projects” that were the result
of workshops and consultations with citizens.
I’d also like to underline some of what Mario
Orso from Caltrans told us at this meeting regarding the
California-Mexico relationship for the new Otay Mesa East Port of Entry project.
For every dollar invested in the port, there are $10 of benefits to the region.
California Transportation Director David
Kim, SANDAG Executive Director Hasan Ikhrata, and Caltrans District 11
Director Gustavo Dallarda met with Secretary Arganis of Mexico’s Communications
and Transportation Ministry (SCT) and other high-level officials to agree
on a memorandum of understanding to be executed this month that will create a
critical path for the grand opening of the port in 2024.
*****
The Tijuana Development Council is getting closer to making the
long-sought system of recreational parks a reality. Luis Lutteroth and team are
working with the City of Tijuana to open 3-5 “microparks” each year and start
chipping away at increasing park area per capita, given the city’s title as
having the lowest park area per inhabitant in Mexico.
*****
CBP’s
Cargo Group met the last day of March, with a number of
newsworthy items to highlight. Otay Port Director Joe Misenhelter offered a rich account of stats.
CBP is adhering to extended hours at Otay until 9:00PM
for laden trucks and 9:30PM for empties. However, there is “not a significant”
amount of usage at these hours. It’s ironic that groups representing carriers
and exporters had wanted this extension, but are not taking advantage of it.
This is something that the Otay Mesa
Chamber of Commerce advocated strongly for last year and was able to get
authorized.
When comparing October 2020 to February 2021 to the
previous October through February period, truck volumes are up 6.4% including Tecate and 6.8% in Otay Mesa alone. Tecate Port of Entry hours are 6:00 AM
to 2:00 PM Monday through Friday and 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM on weekends.
The current Otay
Mesa Port modernization has been fully funded. A new pedestrian ramp will
come on line later this year; in February of 2022 we will see an access to the
new commercial annex building for permits such as SENTRI and FAST. And by the
summer of 2022 we will have 16 lanes for northbound cargo, a 60% improvement
from today! There will be two lanes for empty trucks rather than the single one
today. Recently, empty trucks comprised
19% of all cargo traffic. This tells me that wait times have not improved
overall.
It was good to see that Cesar Reyna Carrillo, new SAT
(Mexican Customs) administrator for Baja California, joined the meeting.
SAT trade operations are 4-5% greater that at this time last year. They are
working with CBP on a return lane for exports as well as changes to better
accommodate truck crossing.
*****
I will be doing an event with Pioneers 21 (www.pioneers21.org)
out of El Paso/Juarez to discuss El Tercer Pais: San Diego & Tijuana. Two
Countries. Two Cities. One Community. The book’s author, Michael Malone, will be joining us. Our
coalition will also have a role in the event. This is the first time that our
audience will be mostly non-San Diegan or -Tijuanan. I expect people from El
Paso, Juarez, the Laredos, and other border city pairs. I want to thank Carlos Martinez-Vela, Pioneers 21 Executive
Director, for offering this excellent opportunity.
This effort is part of our ongoing campaign to get the
word out for this great new book that for the first time tells the story of San
Diego-Tijuana relationship in an intimate way. We have given over 400 books to
key stakeholders in our border region, Washington, DC, Sacramento, and beyond
but still have hundreds more to send to strategically selected figures.
*****
I have been in
conversations with the Border Trade
Alliance to opine on a very timely initiative by Congressman Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) to create a Land Port of Entry Modernization Trust Fund
Act. The congressman is probably the most active federal legislator on the
entire U.S.-Mexico border. His sensitivity to the border has even pitted him
against some of the new administration’s changes in immigration policy.
If agreed to
and passed, the act will channel resources for the construction of ports of
entry, their expansion and improvement, the procurement of technology and
supporting infrastructure, the facilitation of major repairs, and the hiring of officers, agricultural
specialists, and professional staff all within CBP to support the agency’s trade
and revenue mission.
Thank you,
Gustavo De La Fuente
Executive Director
gdelafuente@smartbordercoalition.com
(619) 814-1386
