| Long Border Waits
|
Leads to increased air pollution; lost productivity and reduction
in economic prosperity for business in both San Diego and Tijuana. |
This issue remains unresolved and could get worse if US VISIT
Program is not effectively implemented at the San Diego/Tijuana
border. San Diego Regional Chamber; Otay Mesa Chamber and South
Bay EDC are getting actively involved in public advocacy on this
issue, however. |
Rising housing costs and scarcity of housing options in San Diego
push its residents further east, south and north in search of more
affordable housing. |
Longer commute, sometimes across the border; rising housing costs
in Tijuana as San Diegans move there as well; businesses move out
of the region. |
This issue remains unresolved. Shorter commute times at the border
could make Tijuana a more attractive alternative for many San Diegans
that can not otherwise afford to buy a home on the US side of the
border. Habitat for Humanity is also providing low cost housing options
to a growing number of San Diego area Mexican migrant families in
exchange for sweat
equity. |
| Urban Sprawl |
Unplanned development in Tijuana poses health and safety
risks to region's residents, and also threatens the fragile binational
ecosystem. Sprawl in San Diego has led to a loss of rural environment
and smaller tax revenues and thus deterioration of public infrastructure
in city centers. |
Some civic and government leaders have been working
to address this issue, including SANDAG, SDSU's Institute for Regional
studies of the Californias, and UCSD-based Regional Workbench Consortium.
Long-term planning, smart growth, sustainability and cross-border
collaboration guide these initiatives. Envision San Diego is now
being launched to explore similar issues in this binational region
and Citizens for Century Three (C3) and the Urban Land Institute's
San Diego-Tijuana Chapter are exploring ways to improve the level
of planning binationally. |
San Diego Regional Economic Development
Corporation, Regional Fact Sheet.
Ganster, et.al. (2003), "Sustainable Urban System Design for
the Greater San Diego-Tijuana Binational Metropolitan Region,"
p. 6. |