Blurred Borders - International Community Foundation

cross-border transportation of hazardous materials needs to be addressed binationally,
given its potential environmental and safety ramifications.
� Border-related security issues (organized crime, drug-trafficking, arms-trafficking, humantrafficking,
drug use, sex tourism) need greater public attention and civic action as these
factors negatively impact public safety and undermine commerce, trade and tourism.
How the region collectively responds to its inherent strengths and weaknesses will be largely
predicated on how effective its civic and political leaders are in making the conceptual leap to
work and think across borders.
Without question, given the San Diego-Tijuana region’s geographic uniqueness and socioeconomic
contrasts, much can be learned about how residents in this binational region jointly
respond to the emerging challenges that we face. As William K. Reilly, the former
Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, noted, “around the world today
some of the most dynamic and innovative changes are occurring in ‘edge’ or ‘fringe’ cities such
as San Diego and Tijuana.” 49 In this context, the lessons learned in San Diego/Tijuana may well
have important reverberations on communities across North America.
49 William K. Reilly, remarks at the ICF Gala, San Diego, Ca. May 2, 2003.
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