A short Coronado City Council meeting on Sept. 19 covered updates from Mayor Richard Bailey and Councilwoman Carrie Anne Downey on the Tijuana sewage issue and there was a brief update about electrical charging vehicle spots in Coronado.
Bailey during the 40-minute meeting updated city officials on efforts to obtain additional funding for the Tijuana sewage issue, reiterating a call from California’s Congressional delegation for more federal funds.
“There is a supplemental funding bill that’s being negotiated right now in Congress. Over the past week, the governor’s office has actually taken a really strong lead in organizing local elected officials including myself, Mayor (Todd) Gloria and Supervisor Nora Vargas,” said Bailey, referring to the leaders of San Diego and the county.
Bailey also said that there have been regular meetings and calls with other members of Congress outside of the local delegation who are believed to be key in helping secure additional funding.
Downey on EENR Committee meeting
Councilmember Carrie Anne Downey added to this, giving remarks to her inter-agency meeting with the National League of Cities Energy, Environment and Natural Resources (EENR) Committee.
She said that group too has a draft resolution in place to “get the additional funds that are necessary.”
But, she added that the committee also recognizes that there are continuing obligations to maintain the international wastewater treatment plant on the border.
The remarks from Coronado officials come after a Sept. 13 San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board meeting with IBWC Commissioner Maria-Elena Giner who gave an update on the state of the IBWC’s international wastewater treatment plant in South Bay.
During that presentation, she said that nearly $1 billion was needed to adequately stop the millions of gallons of raw sewage flowing from Tijuana into the United States, a problem that has occurred for about 100 years.
Duncan praises community members
Councilmember John Duncan also commended the residents of Coronado, citing multiple different events in September that the community showed up to in support of the environmental crisis such as the Stop the Sewage rally on Sept. 1.
He said that was an “excellent coming together of Coronado and Imperial Beach on this extremely important issue.”
In a different matter, Duncan applauded the Cade’s Suicide Prevention Awareness 988 event on Sept. 16.
“I thought it was incredible and very moving. The community really turned out,” he said.
The council also voted unanimously to incorporate expedited permitting for the installation of electric vehicle charging stations in Coronado.
Councilmember Downey was in full support of this motion, but wanted to make sure the city of Coronado knew they needed to set an example.
“We need to start figuring out how many more charging stations we’re going to put up, both for our own use and the public use,” Downey said.
