TIJUANA.- Federal Representative Juan Manuel Gastelum and San Diego's District Eight City Councilmember David Alvarez met yesterday to agree on strategies that will facilitate solutions to various binational problems. The meeting took place at Caesar's Restaurant in downtown Tijuana, where, in addition to discussing work matters, they enjoyed the famous trademark salad invented in Tijuana, and kicked off an alliance that is expected to bring great results for both sides of the border.
Tijuana and San Diego have many shared problems and it is essential that they work together and that all levels of government determine how this region's strengths can be maximized. Drawing on many years experience of the two on both sides of the border, this was the perfect time to strike up a partnership.
Rep. Gastelum states that the reason to join forces comes down to the fact that San Diego and Tijuana are essentially seen as a single region, even though there are territorial limits, this is still the perception that both sides have. "We will start working together closely, as long-distance collaboration doesn't work. I think that David is a perfect partner
to achieve thsese goals... with the experience and achievements he has had, what can stop us? Here in Mexico, we public servants have to give it a shot... just tell me what we have to do".
David Alvarez stated that ever since the federal representive visited San Diego to get to know the panorama because of his interest in binational toopics, he had lamented that they had not had a chance to repeat this until now. "I know that this is of great interest to him, and it is mutual... there are people that say things that sound really great but in the end it comes down to sitting down and working, discussing strategies that can be implemented on both sides to make it a reality, it is just a matter of figuring out what the next step is. We already know about the large projects like the San Ysidro Port of Entry, the transnational railway, the Otay Mesa II Port of Entry, the binational airport bridge, all of these are topics that we continue to push and we can continue to do so for new problems that may arise," said Alvarez.
Topics of concerns shared by residents of both Tijuana and San Diego include the demands for minimum wage increases to a level more in line with the rising costs of living.
"The problem revolves around the desire to live better", said Gastelum. He explained that it is imperitive for people to earn wages equivalent to their work, in a fair way. "It is not about telling the business owner to pay more without setting an amount", said Gastelum. David Alvarez added the fact that the United States has the same problem, where salaries are not increasing at the same rate as costs of living, everything is getting more expensive and salaries are not not equitable with that.
"What we are trying to do is to raise the salary to a level so that people can afford basic expenses like rent, not for luxuries. One of the things that we have analyzed is the practice of those that work in San Diego but live in Tijuana because the cost of living is less, almost 65 thousand people cross the border to work in the U.S. each day, because they can't afford the rent; if we were to raise wages
we might cut down on border crossers and reduce wait times at international borders", said the councilmemember. Both agreed that with a fair salary, quality of life and family life would improve, and would allow people to spend more time at home with their children, among many other benefits.
In the near future, both public leaders will announce the results of this collaboration.
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