California is full of problems that its leaders are unable to fix, starting with the very related high cost of housing and high levels of homelessness. But what should drive San Diegans bonkers is that on one of the region’s biggest problems — the sewage nightmare shutting beaches, sickening people and causing a steadily spreading stench in the South Bay — elected officials know exactly how to solve it. They could do so by quickly upgrading deficient infrastructure in Tijuana and, to a much lesser extent, on the U.S. side of the border. They just won’t act. Instead, we see a slow-motion federal response that could, in five years time, yield major progress.
That’s ridiculous. This is not a daunting technological challenge. If this emergency was treated like, you know, an emergency, the upgrades could be done in months. It shouldn’t be a funding challenge. The Mexican and U.S. governments should be able to immediately provide $1 billion or $2 billion to fix our massive quality of life problem. But U.S. leaders never read the riot act to Mexican authorities about how unforgivable it is for raw Tijuana sewage to foul our shores. Nor, for the most part, will elected leaders demand better from those in power in America. The recent report that water laced with untreated sewage fouling our coast hit a record of 44 billion gallons in 2023 underscores how incredible it is that neither President Joe Biden or Gov. Gavin Newsom will declare a state of emergency.
Where is San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria’s outrage? Where is Chula Vista Mayor John McCann’s? Why can’t they join the mayor of the hardest-hit city — Imperial Beach’s Paloma Aguirre — in demanding change? Why do any elected officials accept the Dianne Feinstein mantra that those who expect the federal government to act quickly don’t understand how government works?
As the editorial board wrote in 2019, we understand this. We just don’t accept it. If only this view were far more widespread.
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