San Diego Metropolitan - 20/20

Thousands of local citizens on both sides of U.S./Mexico border have worked tirelessly for many years to promote harmony between the countries and build bridges that transcend the physical barrier. Ours is a thoroughly unique region, binational, bicultural and bilingual, unlike any metropolitan area in the Americas, with allegiances to both Washington, D.C., and Mexico City. San Diego/Tijuana is a special region with special needs. These needs are sometimes obvious and sometimes elusive in health care, in border security, in transportation, affordable housing, education, in water quality and quantity and in the environment.

While second-nature to many, sometimes a special effort is necessary for our citizens to become truly bi-metropolitanos, active in Baja California and San Diego County. The 40 people being honored April 12 at the San Diego Convention Center in the inaugural Tijuana/San Diego 20/20 Regional Leader Awards ceremony, and in these very pages, are heroes for their activism in bridging the border, for weaving together two cultures, and for stimulating the kind of commerce and communication that create jobs and enhance the lives of the 5 million people who live near the border in the United States’ most southwesterly corner and Mexico’s most northwesterly. The San Diego Metropolitan, Uptown Examiner & Daily Business Report and the Frontera newspaper of Tijuana proudly present our first 20/20 Regional Leaders. To them, and to our sponsors, thank you. Muchisimas gracias.

Gary Shaw
Publisher