For decades, South San Diego County residents have known the Tijuana River as a noxious source of cross-border sewage pollution.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This week, business owners in Imperial Beach added a new dimension to the river\u2019s troubled reputation. They called it an economic Grim Reaper.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Following a back-channel request from Imperial Beach Mayor Mitch McKay, top-ranking officials from the U.S. Small Business Administration on Tuesday met with a roundtable of local business owners to hear first-hand about the economic toll taken by years of unchecked sewage discharges in one of San Diego County\u2019s most densely populated regions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Business owners took full advantage of the opportunity to share their woes. They told of vanishing tourists, lost customers, decimated revenues and near-empty sidewalks along what should be a vibrant Southern California beachfront.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cImperial Beach has reputational damage across the country,\u201d said Mike Hess, owner of Mike Hess Brewing, a San Diego brewing company with a location in Imperial Beach. \u201cPeople are not coming to town. That\u2019s our problem.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The federal officials, including Deputy Administrator William Briggs and two local representatives from the agency\u2019s San Diego field office (in fact, the office\u2019s only two remaining employees after President Donald Trump\u2019s Department of Government Efficiency gutted the local staff), did not come bearing promises.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They said they would convey business owners\u2019 concerns to officials in Washington, D.C. and hoped to return with proposals from a federal administration more attuned to corporate needs than environmental issues.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m here to listen to the concerns and come back with solutions,\u201d Briggs said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The spotlight on businesses marks a new phase in South County\u2019s ongoing battle with one of America\u2019s worst environmental problems.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For years, activists have focused on the environmental and public health consequences of the Tijuana River\u2019s year-round flow of untreated sewage and industrial waste from Mexico.\u00a0<\/p>\n
With a Republican administration now in power in Washington \u2013 and with Republicans and conservative-leaning independents now in the majority on the Imperial Beach City Council \u2013 economic concerns are moving to the forefront.\u00a0<\/p>\n
San Diego County Supervisor and former Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre rose to prominence leading a coalition of environmentalists and researchers in a successful effort to wring hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funds to boost local sewage treatment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, she led fellow County Supervisors in commissioning a comprehensive economic study that will seek to document the regionwide monetary cost of closed beaches, diminished tourism, stagnating real estate values and the \u201creputational damage\u201d described by local business owners.\u00a0<\/p>\n
McKay said he requested the meeting with federal business officials because he felt local businesses simply can\u2019t wait for the years-away resolution of the river\u2019s myriad environmental problems.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the wake of this environmental crisis is an economic crisis,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s a clear opportunity to align with this [federal] administration\u2019s priorities.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Business owners at the roundtable said they are barely hanging on.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are losing 200 to 300 customers a day,\u201d said Harunder Singh, owner of two 7-Eleven franchises in Imperial Beach. \u201cWe are struggling now. We need to get the customers back and visitors back in.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Realtor Sandi Crosby, who also leads the Imperial Beach Chamber of Commerce, said property values in the city have declined by more than 10 percent in recent years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople who bought here before 2020, those people do not exist here anymore,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen I offer Imperial Beach as an affordable beach property, [homebuyers] say, \u2018Absolutely not.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Other business owners, including a hair stylist on Seacoast Drive and the owner of Katy\u2019s Caf\u00e9, a local beachside institution, described similar challenges.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIn 2020, [word spread] that Imperial Beach was the most polluted beach in America,\u201d said Katy\u2019s owner P. J. McCandless. \u201cOur business plummeted\u2026It\u2019s hard to break even.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hess said the river\u2019s economic damage is felt far beyond San Diego. He said he recently tried to open a new location in San Pedro in Los Angeles County.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we went to the banks for a loan, they all said no because our Imperial Beach business is declining,\u201d he said. \u201cWe would have employed 100 people in L.A. Now I have to extricate myself from the lease.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Luci Montgomery of the SBA.\u2019s San Diego field office said agency officials are evaluating the possibility of offering local businesses the kinds of low-interest or forgivable loans typically offered following disasters, such as floods or wildfires.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One wrinkle, she said, is that such loans, known as Economic Injury Disaster Loans, \u201care not set up for ongoing disasters. Disasters usually end.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not even clear loans would help businesses facing ongoing losses, Montgomery said. Businesses might benefit more from help expanding their customer base beyond beach tourism.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Imperial Beach city officials have focused recent economic development efforts on broadening options for visitors and residents. They are upgrading key business corridors and promoting assets, such as public art and a new beachfront splash pad, that don\u2019t require open beaches.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Following the roundtable, officials made the obligatory pilgrimage to what in recent months has become perhaps the most photographed spot on the Tijuana River: A notorious pollution \u201chotspot\u201d where sewage-laden currents spew out of a culvert and send noxious fumes into the air.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Briggs, the SBA. deputy administrator, stared long and hard at the foamy torrent. The air smelled like a clogged toilet. The shoreline around the river was black.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He turned away appearing troubled. Only after much coaxing from a reporter did he betray a hint of emotion.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI can see why people are concerned,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n