Mayors Summit promotes regional ties
CALEXICO — Continued expansion of collaborative opportunities within the Imperial, Mexicali and Yuma valleys, and Northern Sonora, Mexico, dominated discussion at the second annual Border Mayors Summit on Friday.
“The days of operating in silos are gone, unless we’re interested in not growing,” said Yuma Mayor Douglas Nicholls.
Nichols was among several officials hailing from the region who shared news of ongoing collaborative successes as well as pending projects whose purpose is to enhance the region’s economic activity.
Among the successes Nicholls cited during his presentation was a recent memorandum of understanding signed by 11 universities from Arizona and the Mexican states of Sonora and Baja California.
The MOU is aimed at establishing binational degree programs and classes, student exchanges and research.
Combined economic activity for the region encompassing where Arizona, California, Sonora and Baja California all meet totals about $20 billion annually, Nicholls said. Regional officials would be wise to improve the image of their respective locales and work collaboratively to try to entice certain industries to the area.
“We want to give them reasons to give us a look,” Nichols said. “As leaders, that’s our job.”
El Centro Councilman Efrain Silva also spoke about the need to work collectively to enhance the quality of life for the region’s communities.
Toward that end, the city has scheduled a public safety summit at Imperial Valley College on May 8 whose agenda has been crafted with the interests of regional partners in mind, Silva said.
A presentation about law enforcement efforts aimed at determining what constitutes driving under the influence of marijuana should be of particular interest to Mexicali officials who had inquired about the process, Silva said.
Similarly, Yuma officials had expressed an interest in finding out more about narcotics smugglers using youth to transport drugs across the border, a topic also to be covered during the summit, Silva said.
“We want to make sure this event has value and purpose for all of the cities joining us,” he said.
As part of the summit, attendees had taken a tour of the ongoing Calexico West Land Port of Entry expansion project.
Calexico officials also had touted their renewed focus on economic development within the city and the expectation that its results would be of benefit to the whole region.
“It’s important that we prioritize and see our progress as a region,” said Assistant City Manager Miguel Figueroa. “It’s not a simple task but it’s not impossible.”
The summit was held at San Diego State University-Imperial Valley, and provided history professor and Borderlands Institute Director Carlos Herrera an opportunity to advocate for further regional academic scholarship during his presentation.
He also shared his frustration that so much commentary about immigration and the so-called border wall is being shared by people who don’t seem to have the slightest knowledge about the history of the Southwest region and its longtime inhabitants.
“There’s a lot of continuity in history and this is what the Borderlands Institute is trying to promote and, I think, the rest of the world needs to hear,” Herrera said.