South County Report: EPA Visits Tijuana River

South County’s seemingly endless sewage crisis in the Tijuana River got some high-level federal attention on Tuesday. 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin spent the day touring the river and conferring with local leaders, following a high-level meeting with Mexican officials the previous evening during which Mexico’s environment secretary assured Zeldin that Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum “is fully committed to resolve this issue” once and for all. 

Flanked by local elected officials from both political parties at a Tuesday morning press conference in San Diego, Zeldin said Americans are “out of patience” with the sewage crisis. 

He emphasized the Trump Administration views Mexico as the primary source of the problem. 

Mexican officials “can’t view this as a U.S. problem just because it reaches U.S. soil,” Zeldin said of the sewage and garbage that routinely flow from Tijuana into the Tijuana River and ocean waters off the coast of Mexico and southern San Diego County. “They need to commit” to fixing the problem. 

It was a rare moment of bipartisan comity on a contentious issue. Democratic members of Congress at the press conference, including Reps. Mike Levin and Juan Vargas, praised Zeldin, and even President Donald Trump himself, for focusing attention on the sewage issue and promising swift action. 

“We have a lot of hope at the moment,” Vargas said. 

One notable absence from the lineup of local officials at the press conference was Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre, who has made the sewage crisis a signature issue during her tenure as an Imperial Beach leader. Aguirre joined Zeldin on a tour of the river earlier in the day but was not invited to the press conference. 

Aguirre, a Democrat, is in the midst of a close-fought race to occupy a vacant seat on the San Diego County Board of Supervisors. Her opponent in that race, Chula Vista Mayor John McCann, a Republican, was invited to the press conference and stood beside Zeldin as he delivered his remarks. 

McCann and Aguirre have cooperated previously to draw federal attention and funding to the crisis, traveling together to Washington D.C. last year as part of a delegation of local leaders lobbying federal officials. 

McCann, who participated in a roundtable discussion Tuesday with Zeldin and local leaders, praised Zeldin for bringing attention to the sewage issue and for vowing to hold Mexico accountable for fixing the problem. 

McCann said accountability south of the border would be one of his top priorities if elected Supervisor. 

“One hundred million gallons of raw sewage are flowing from Mexico to the U.S.” McCann said. “You can’t have your neighbor constantly drop trash in your front yard. Today we worked as a bipartisan group of officials to find solutions.” 

Zeldin said EPA officials are finalizing a comprehensive list of infrastructure fixes and other steps necessary to resolve the sewage crisis. He said the list will then be presented to Mexican officials. 

“Mexico either agrees [with the list] or not. And then we know whether Mexico will be a partner,” Zeldin said. “This is a situation that must be eliminated.” 

Leadership Shakeup in National City Hall 

Last week, I reported on the sudden ouster of National City’s city manager, Benjamin Martinez. The City Council showed Martinez the door in a hastily called closed session meeting on Friday. Councilmember Jose Rodriguez protested the decision by refusing to take his seat at the Council dais, instead joining the audience at the meeting and criticizing the proceedings at a press conference beforehand. 

Mayor Ron Morrison and other Councilmembers listed numerous management problems that led to Martinez’s ouster, including prominent personnel departures, botched licensing procedures, legal judgments against the city and protracted negotiations with the Port of San Diego over reimbursement for city services provided on Port property. 

As has become a regular feature of city politics over the last few months, a group of residents and business owners from a neighborhood near Sweetwater Road on the city’s southern border drew Friday’s proceedings into an ongoing dispute over a controversial development proposal near the residents’ homes. 

The residents – who appear to have gained a prominent ally in City Councilmember Jose Rodriquez, who joined them in making public comments at the meeting – accused Morrison and other Councilmembers of removing Martinez in an effort to squelch an investigation into allegations made by the Sweetwater residents that Morrison and his executive assistant assisted the developer of the disputed project in exchange for financial favors. 

Morrison has said repeatedly he did not help the developer and did not receive financial favors. He has pointed out that neither the residents nor their lawyer have provided proof of wrongdoing. 

On Tuesday, the Council met again to appoint a retired city administrator named Scott Huth as interim city manager until the city finds a permanent replacement for Martinez. 

Sweetwater residents attended the meeting and addressed the Council in public comments, urging Councilmembers to direct Huth to investigate the circumstances surrounding the Sweetwater development. 

“City Hall is falling apart,” one commenter said. 

Kids and Cool Cars 

It’s not all drama and controversy in South County. Just ask the roughly 4,000 kids and their families who flocked to Chula Vista Memorial Park on Saturday for the 22nd annual Day of the Child Community Fair. 

The fair, organized by the Chula Vista Community Collaborative, was a kid-focused extravaganza. There was a scavenger hunt organized by local middle school students, food, dancing, music, an exhibition of 130 classic cars and hot rods, and more than 100 booths at which local community service organizations provided information about food programs, dental services, day care and other resources benefiting local families. 

“It was beautiful,” said Jovita Arellano, family resource center coordinator for the Community Collaborative. 

Festivities started in the morning with a raucous Zumba class led by women from the Norman Senior Center, who pumped up the crowd with cumbia and hip-hop music and aerobic dance moves. 

Chula Vista Mayor John McCann welcomed participants and picked his favorite car – a 1962 Chevrolet Impala – from among the low riders, muscle cars, vintage cars and even low rider bicycles featured in the classic car exhibition, Arellano said. 

Characters from the PBS children’s program Blue’s Clues roamed around the park greeting kids. 

The Chula Vista Community Collaborative is a program run by the Chula Vista Elementary School District. It operates family resource centers on school campuses that connect families in need with resources, including clothing, food, health care and mental health counseling. 

The Collaborative works with the district’s new Community Schools initiative, which aims to transform school campuses into one-stop resource centers for families, helping them address challenges that can prevent children from attending or succeeding in school. 

“There were lots of families out there,” Arellano said of Saturday’s festivities. “The kids loved it.”