Otay Mesa to be New South Bay Job Center
For too long there has been an imbalance of jobs in our county, requiring South Bay residents to commute for an hour or more in rush hour traffic to Kearny Mesa or Sorrento Valley.
I am a strong supporter of responsibly developing Otay Mesa to become a new jobs center for the South Bay.
This would allow people to have an option to work at quality jobs closer to home. I have fought for investments in infrastructure on Otay Mesa to attract more private companies to locate here, and these efforts are bearing fruit.
Otay Mesa Port of Entry and La Media Road
Otay Mesa is home to the second busiest land port of entry in the country. It facilitates billions and billions of dollars in trade each year through its port of entry.
In the past ten years, truck traffic in Otay Mesa has increased significantly.
- In 2009, the value of total trade via trucks that moved through the Otay Mesa Port of Entry totaled $28.2 billion dollars.
- In 2019, the value of total trade via truck totaled close to $48 billion dollars. That’s a $20 billion dollar increase in the last ten years.
But some of the infrastructure on the US side of the border is lacking. For instance, for years now La Media Road, a main route to the border, has been woefully inadequate. As a result, trucks lined up on the road idling for very long periods of time waiting to cross the border.
Because of my efforts, the City of San Diego received $22.7 million dollars in grant funding for the La Media Road project, a critical trade corridor that is currently a two-lane agricultural road. This project is scheduled to start construction in July 2022.
Continued Improvement to Otay Mesa
I also continue to work on projects that I began as a staff member for my predecessor Councilmember David Alvarez.
In 2017, I worked to put the State’s first Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District (EIFD) before voters in Otay Mesa, and they approved it overwhelmingly. This allows the city to accumulate funding to finance historically undeveloped infrastructure in Otay Mesa. This means tax increment allocated in Otay Mesa stays in Otay Mesa instead of going to the General Fund.
In addition, Brown Field Municipal Airport is a designated port of entry (POE) that has been historically underutilized.
The City of San Diego selected Metropolitan Airpark (MAP) to build and operate a $1 Billion development project estimated to create 8,000 temporary jobs and 4,000 permanent jobs over the estimated 20-year build-out.
