One important element of the region’s income disparity to consider is that labor costs, and the overall cost of living, is much lower in San Diego, but Tijuana remains among the most expensive cities to live in Mexico. Many California companies and residents have taken advantage of this disparity with several Southern California businesses having set up maquiladoras or in-bond assembly/manufacturing facilities in Tijuana over the last three decades21; workers with jobs in San Diego can much more easily afford a house in Tijuana; and many San Diego County residents take advantage of lower cost prescription drugs and medical services in Tijuana.

There are competitive advantages stemming from other unique characteristics of the region as well. Its proximity to the Greater Los Angeles Metropolitan Area, the port city of Ensenada and tourism-oriented Rosarito, have provided the region with a significant volume of trade and tourism, and prompted the region’s visionary leaders to study the transportation potential of the port of Ensenada (and, for rail transportation, Tecate). The region also enjoys a vibrant arts culture that has contributed to Tijuana being recently recognized by Newsweek as one of the eight top emerging arts capitals of the world.22

These advantages, however, have had some negative impacts on the region, or have remained under-developed. The maquiladora-led growth and the development of the energy sector on the border, albeit having some positive economic effects, has presented environmental challenges to the region. The development of factories on the border has brought with it rapid population growth, increase in hazardous and solid wastes, unplanned housing developments, and environmental degradation. Residents neighboring potential or actual sites of power plants suffer from, or fear, poor air quality and possible safety hazards. A greater integration of the economies of Baja California and San Diego has been hampered by the heightened security concerns in the United States after September 11th, 2001. In fact, a number of cross-border cultural exchanges have been disrupted or discontinued due to stricter homeland security measures.

There are challenges that are becoming more complex, difficult and costly to effectively solve as the binational region’s population grows. The skyrocketing housing prices, urban sprawl and subsequent loss of natural and sensitive habitats, school over-crowding, use of scarce water resources, and transportation are some of the problems that need urgent attention from both sides of the border, and that can only be effectively solved by greater binational collaboration.

In some instances, San Diego has more experience than Tijuana in addressing the issues of mutual concern. For example, in fighting uncontrolled urban sprawl and protecting the natural environment critical for the region’s endangered species, San Diego has taken steps that Tijuana is yet to seriously consider. San Diego has also engaged in long-term planning for transportation and smart growth under the leadership of the SANDAG. Tijuana, and Baja California as a whole, can benefit from knowledge-sharing with San Diego planning agencies and NGOs to address these issues.

In other instances, it is San Diego that needs, and can benefit from, greater collaboration from Baja California. For example, Tijuana has taken recent steps to offer educational outreach to indigenous migrant students that San Diego’s educational professionals could learn from. As San Diego’s Latino population grows, it has become increasingly clear that it has a shortage of culturally competent services for this growing population, especially in the areas of education, health and human services. This is reinforced by the fact that according to the 2000 US Census, nearly 22% of San Diego County’s population speaks Spanish at home with over half (approximately 10.5% of all residents) reporting that they speak English "less than well."

A survey undertaken by ICF of 12 leading migrant serving non profit agencies across San Diego County has revealed the need for more culturally and linguistically competent staff and a desire for greater collaboration with counter-part agencies in Mexico if additional funding were available. In particular, ICF found that while most migrant serving agencies have a core group of linguistically competent Spanish speaking staff, the demands placed on these agencies has pushed many to rely on volunteers whose language skills can vary tremendously. Also, not all staff or volunteers have the cultural competencies to address the unique needs of the growing numbers of migrants with indigenous cultures (Mixteco, Otomi, etc) who, at times, do not even speak Spanish as their native language. Here, Baja California area non-profits as well as those from Mexican migrant sending communities such as Oaxaca, Guerrero, Jalisco or Michoacan are potential ideal partners in the provision of culturally competent care, outreach and support to Mexican migrants in San Diego County and beyond. Many San Diego area non profits surveyed expressed an interest in such collaboration but funding remains an issue.

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