South County Report: Imperial Beach Looks to Grow Beyond Sewage Crisis

Sandi Crosby, president of the Imperial Beach Chamber of Commerce, says she wishes people knew what she knows about her beloved hometown. 

“If people haven’t come down here, I would encourage them not to let negative connotations from the past affect them,” Crosby said in a recent interview with Voice of San Diego. 

By “negative connotations,” Crosby meant the ongoing Tijuana River sewage crisis that has closed city beaches and dominated local headlines for what, to city residents, feels like forever. 

Crosby said local “businesses took a heavy hit” from relentless news coverage of the crisis. But she said there’s much more to Imperial Beach than closed beaches and a sewage-clogged river. 

“The sewage crisis was literally the only thing people heard about the city for years,” Crosby said. But “the people who are here are some of the most open and welcoming, and just the feeling you get with I.B. is you immediately feel like a local in a small town.” 

Crosby is one of a growing number of residents and community leaders seeking to put what they say are their city’s many positive attributes back in the spotlight. 

With a newly reconfigured City Council pledging a business-friendly attitude, new leadership at the Chamber of Commerce (Crosby took over in July) and a series of city improvement projects gradually coming to fruition, leaders and business owners said they are looking to put the city’s recent economic challenges behind them. 

“I want to keep the sewage crisis as a focal point for action, but at the same time we understand that the economic engine is tied to that,” said recently appointed Mayor Mitch McKay. “There is a perception [about Imperial Beach] and we can change it in a couple of ways. One is to get active solutions for the sewage but at the same time look for ways to create some new economic opportunities.” 

Both of Imperial Beach’s previous two mayors entered politics as environmental activists and devoted much of their time in office to solving the city’s No. 1 environmental problem. 

Serge Dedina, who led the city from 2014 to 2022 and now heads a Del Mar-based environmental organization, spearheaded a city lawsuit that helped to force long-delayed fixes at a federally managed cross-border sewage treatment plant. 

Dedina’s successor, Paloma Aguirre, who now represents South San Diego County on the County Board of Supervisors, sought to highlight the sewage crisis’ public health impacts and lobby federal lawmakers to resolve the sewage problem once and for all. 

Crosby said the mayors’ activism was essential and brought results. But she said the relentless focus on the sewage problem had the unfortunate side effect of tarnishing Imperial Beach’s regional reputation. 

“When you take such a firm stance on something, you have to solve for the other side of that,” Crosby said. 

Crosby said she has begun encouraging local businesses to focus their marketing on community attributes that go beyond the often-shuttered beachfront. 

“Over the last year, it’s been a huge focus for us to make sure that people are finding and being offered things to do in the area that don’t involve the ocean,” she said. 

The Chamber recently staged a walking tour of two main business corridors – Seacoast Drive and Palm Avenue – with 52 local businesses and restaurants showing off their wares. Crosby said roughly 260 people attended the event. 

Though several prominent local businesses have closed in recent years, Crosby said others have opened, including Scotty Burgers, a homegrown burger and barbecue restaurant that started as a side operation in a local bar and recently opened its own location at the former site of the Coronado Brewing Company. 

Online reviewers have called Scotty’s burgers “orgasmic,” and Crosby said the restaurant has been busy even on days when the beach is closed. 

City Manager Tyler Foltz said a range of current city initiatives aims to add to the economic development momentum. 

Foltz listed a range of projects in various stages of completion, many initiated when Aguirre was mayor. Projects include an overhaul of the 13th Street business corridor, streetscape improvements along Palm Avenue, parks and a pedestrian walkway along the Bayshore Bike Path, a renovated recreation center and a new splash pad at the foot of the city pier constructed in partnership with the Port of San Diego. 

“Economic development is not always related to businesses,” Foltz said. “It’s about investment in the community so everyone grows. When you invest in your own facilities and improve the quality of life, that benefits everyone.” 

Crosby said she now meets with Foltz once a month to discuss business issues. And she said she has noticed an uptick in City Councilmembers attending local business openings. 

“There’s been a lot of effort,” she said. “The current Council…is definitely a business-focused group.” 

Crosby said she moved to Imperial Beach 20 years ago when she married a man born and raised in the city. 

“I fell in love with it and never wanted to leave,” she said. “It’s where some of the best people I know exist. And I hope I see it continue to thrive and grow.” 

In Other News 

inewsource, one of our partner news organizations, has been doing an excellent job covering an ongoing scandal over sexual abuse allegations in the San Ysidro School District. This is an important community story, and I encourage you to check it out. 

Chula Vista City Councilmembers are beefing again, this time over parks. The latest squabble on the increasingly fractious Council involves whether city officials and a local homebuilder followed proper procedures in naming a new park in Otay Ranch in honor of Filipino veterans. The dispute follows another recent spat over the city’s policy governing Council proclamations. The tensions come as the city gears up for a mayoral race next year and councilmembers ponder their long-term political futures. 

In other Chula Vista news, I recently wrote about a brewing proposal to limit city cooperation with federal immigration authorities. Read about it here. 

And be sure to check out the cool Dia de Los Muertos displays in store windows at the Chula Vista Center shopping mall. A developer specializing in Latino communities recently purchased the mall and will stage a Dia de Los Muertos event featuring music, face-painting and a community altar on Nov. 2. 

Last but not least, this week’s award for most inventive protest goes to the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment. The statewide community organizing group on Thursday evening was slated to advocate for rent control in National City by demonstrating in front of City Hall in Halloween costumes and staging a mock recreation of a scene in The Wizard of Oz in which Dorothy and her friends beg a puppet of Mayor Ron Morrison for lower rents only to discover the puppet is being controlled by a corporate landlord. Toto, we’re definitely not in Kansas anymore. 

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