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Sanders seeks to revive ties to Tijuana

Mayor-elect to meet peer during business gathering
By Diane Lindquist
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
November 25, 2005

San Diego Mayor-elect Jerry Sanders plans to join his Tijuana counterpart, Mayor Jorge Hank Rhon, at a binational business awards event next week that some hope will revitalize cooperative leadership in the cross-border region.

"I think we need to have close ties to the other side of the border," Sanders said. "I want to make sure San Diego is having a relationship on the border like it should."

Hank, who marks his first year in office Thursday, said he is looking forward to working with Sanders on issues that affect both cities.
"I'm pretty sure we'll usher in a new era in cross-border relations," Hank said.

They plan to meet next Friday at the InterAmerican Business Awards, a luncheon and awards ceremony that the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce's Mexico Business Center and Tijuana's Economic Development Corp. are launching. The ceremony will be at the Pueblo Amigo Hotel and some of the 100 companies that operate on both sides of the San Diego-Tijuana border will be honored.

"Hopefully, it will mean we will work closer together, particularly on economic development issues that are important to both of us," said James Clark, the business center's executive director.
Relations between San Diego and Tijuana mayors have varied over the years, depending on the personalities in the offices.

While several city operations, including the police and fire departments, have maintained good working relationships, cooperation among mayors has been good in some instances and barely civil in others. Some regarded Sanders' predecessor, former Mayor Dick Murphy, as having the least interest in Tijuana.

"What's been lacking has been a visible leadership role that has come from the mayor of San Diego," said Paul Ganster, a San Diego State University professor who specializes in border issues.

He praised Sanders for meeting with Hank while preparing his administrative plan.

Ganster said an ideal binational agenda would focus on economic development, urban planning and land use, the Tijuana River watershed and efforts to reduce the effect of sediment on the estuary. He also said cooperation between fire and police departments, emergency response and security issues are critical.

"On the whole criminal justice area, Sanders ran a campaign on concerns of people about their individual security. And he's someone equipped to handle these issues," Ganster said.

Sanders said he intends to appoint a person in his office to spearhead issues dealing with the border and Tijuana.

Hank has assigned Alfonso Bustamante, a Tijuana businessman and an ex-government official, as his point man in San Diego with an office at the San Diego Association of Governments in downtown. It's uncertain how Sanders, San Diego's former police chief, will get along with Hank, who is a controversial figure dogged by questions about an alleged role in smuggling a rare white tiger into Mexico, the killing of a Tijuana journalist and U.S. allegations of money laundering.

"I think we're going to have a careful relationship," Sanders said.

Hank, who manages the Tijuana race track and off-track betting ventures, dismissed the characterizations, saying he is not the subject of law enforcement investigations on either side of the border.

Sanders said the two men have not met, but Hank said they have met twice, once last year after he took office.

"I have very high regard for him," he said.