Correction: A past version of this story, along with the headline, incorrectly stated that the City of Coronado declared a state of emergency for the Tijuana sewage crisis. In a meeting on Sept. 3, the council passed a resolution that asserts the urgency in resolving the crisis, but does not officially declare a state of emergency.
Coronado City Council passed a resolution on cross border water quality on Sept. 3 that asserts the necessity to resolve the Tijuana sewage crisis, urging the federal and state governments to make the issue an “apex priority.”
Before the resolution was adopted, a few residents of Coronado asked city leaders to do more to protect local beaches from pollution by declaring a state of emergency.
Council members responded by stressing that the city has done everything within its power, and just declaring the cross-border water quality issue as an emergency might be more a symbolic gesture than a trigger for action.
According to Mayor Richard Bailey, a declaration of emergency is “a legal tool that allows cities to seek resources and, kind of, circumvent typical government bureaucracy to solve a problem specific to their jurisdiction, completely within their control in a more timely manner.”
That is what the City Council declared after the Jan. 22 storm that flooded parts of Coronado and allowed the city to build the Parker Pump Station bypass within a few days – something that normally would have taken months to do, City Manager Tina Friend said.
“The honest assessment of this is that [the Tijuana sewage crisis] doesn’t apply. It simply doesn’t,” Bailey explained. “If it did, we would have declared a state of emergency 25, 30 years ago.”
Coronado’s hands are tied
Recently, the California Legislature unanimously approved a resolution that urges President Joe Biden to fully fund rehabilitation projects and declare a state of emergency.
It’s the federal government who has control of this…it is an international issue.
City manager Tina Friend
Friend said the city does not have a direct role in solving the public health and recreation crisis caused by Tijuana’s sewage outfall.
“It’s the federal government who has control of this…it is an international issue,” Friend said.
A city staff report noted that an emergency declaration “would not provide additional flexibility or regulatory authority that will assist in the resolution of the crisis as the deficient sewage infrastructure is not locally controlled and must be funded and repaired by the U.S. and Mexican federal governments.”
Bailey said Coronado officials in 2017 knew this was an issue that was important to the community, so the council at the time started advocacy work in Washington, D.C.
“It was Coronado’s efforts that engaged directly with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) before any other agency, before any other city, the county, before anyone,” the mayor said.
He added that Coronado initially maintained a low profile, working with members of Congress and the EPA without calling press conferences.
The notion that Coronado has been burying its head in the sand could not be further from the truth.
Mayor Richard Bailey
“The notion that Coronado has been burying its head in the sand could not be further from the truth,” Bailey stated.
Council member John Duncan urged local hotels to become more active – specifically the Hotel Del Coronado.
According to Duncan, the majority owners of the Del, Blackstone Real Estate Advisors, has major lobbying power, and he is pushing to get company representatives active.
A symbolic gesture
Duncan said he does not think declaring a state of emergency will make a difference, but, the symbolism is important.
“I’m for the state of California declaring a state of emergency, and for the federal government,” he added.
Council member Carrie Anne Downey expressed frustration with any public sentiment that says Coronado officials have not been doing everything they can.
“The efforts aren’t just a picture, this is actual ‘How you get things done in government,’” Downey stressed. “You figure out who legally has the responsibility. You find out the agency that can actually make things happen. And then you get the money to make it happen.”
So, at this point, I’m so tired of wasting all our time arguing about why we don’t do this meaningless stunt. Let’s do it and be done with it. But then what are you going to come back and ask for?…We really don’t have the authority.
Council member Carrie Anne Downey
“So, at this point, I’m so tired of wasting all our time arguing about why we don’t do this meaningless stunt. Let’s do it and be done with it. But then what are you going to come back and ask for?…We really don’t have the authority,” she added.
Tanaka said that a declaration would not be a magic cure, but acknowledged that others could say Coronado doesn’t think the issue is an emergency if the city doesn’t actually declare one.
“We believe it’s an emergency, we think Gavin Newsom should accept that it’s an emergency, so we need to stop asking him to look at it that way if we’re not willing to do it ourselves,” Tanaka said.
At the end of the council’s deliberation, there was no motion to declare a state of emergency, but Council member Mike Donovan made a motion to approve the resolution on cross border water quality.
It passed with all five members voting ‘yes.’
The resolution states that the city finds the sewage crisis “imperative and a matter of extreme urgency.” It calls on the federal and state governments to make this issue a priority, and says that the city “finds that additional funding is needed from the federal government.”
“The benefits of having this document is that as council members are working with advocacy across the region — in Washington, D.C, down in Mexico — to have a clear statement from the City Council on this issue,” Friend said.
