The residents of the Coronado Shores filed into the beach club on Feb. 8 to hear an update from Mayor Richard Bailey and Councilmember John Duncan on issues affecting Coronado and their own community within the Shores.
Duncan updated residents on the movement at the International Wastewater Treatment Plant in South Bay (SBIWTP) and on the Mexican troops taking over the treatment plant in Tijuana while Bailey filled the crowd in on how the U.S. Navy helped the city fulfill their housing allocation.
Duncan started the event, which was advertised as a town hall meeting for residents of the Coronado Shores and was open to the public, with an update on the Tijuana sewage crisis. He mentioned the work he and Bailey have been doing with Washington, D.C., and that the Mexican government broke ground at Punta Bandera, a nonworking wastewater treatment plant just south of Tijuana.
Politically, across the state, even in other parts of the country and certainly in Congress, there is a massive amount of pressure.
Councilmember John Duncan
“Honestly, I will say the pressure that’s been brought on the Mexican government from Coronado, Imperial Beach, others, there is a turning point right now,” Duncan said. “Politically, across the state, even in other parts of the country and certainly in Congress, there is a massive amount of pressure.”
Duncan discussed the SBIWTP, updating that they just received $300 million from the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) in 2020, and it has now been transferred from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC).
This allowed the IBWC to go out to bid for a design-build contract.
“That is actually happening. They’re receiving bids right now,” Duncan said. He went on to question what would happen halfway through the build when the IBWC runs out of funding.
“You’re just going to not be able to keep building. And in fact, that might even cause the plant to break down because this plant breaks down when they cannot maintain it,” Duncan said.
In order to try and secure funding, Duncan and Bailey are working to get veteran Navy SEALs in Congress such as Congressman Dan Crenshaw to help advocate for this issue as Crenshaw trained at North Island and understood the unsafe conditions border patrol officers and various military groups have faced while training.
The Jan 22. storm
Bailey spoke next, discussing the recent storm and affordable housing allocations.
The mayor explained that the Parker Pump Station, which is currently going through a rebuild, was flooding and the electrical units were in danger of being shorted. As a result, some homes and businesses in Coronado suffered flood damage.
Bailey invited those who had experienced loss to file a claim with the city, but contended that Coronado was not liable because the city did not act in a negligible way.
“We don’t work for the city. We work for all of you on your behalf,” Bailey said. “The city’s infrastructure acted as it was intended to act.”
Housing allocation
He continued, updating the room on the housing allocation.
Bailey said that the city and the U.S. Navy were able to work together during the course of 2023 in planning to count several hundred housing units on North Island that are to be built toward their housing requirement of 912 units.
“We really pulled the rabbit out of the hat,” Bailey said. “Had it not been for the Navy’s partnership on this, I don’t think we would have been able to successfully complete a housing element with minimal impact to the village area.”
November elections
Bailey also talked about a couple topics that would be on the ballot this November, including SANDAG’s future projects and Proposition 47, which touches on the topics of homelessness and drug use.
According to Bailey, SANDAG spends approximately 55% of all transportation dollars on public transit.
However, less than 2% of the population actually utilize public transit, Bailey said.
And funding the transportation dollars will require multiple sales tax increases, something Bailey suggested may not be supported by Coronado constituents.
“I’m not going to use my time here to tell you how I really feel about it, but I think you can read between the lines,” Bailey said.
