Border initiative: The Incubator for Civic Imagination

By Adina Moloman

Source: San Diego Red

Representatives of civic groups from California and from south of the border, Baja California, are coming with a new idea of creating a so-called  “Incubator for Civic Imagination”.

This concept will begin to take form soon and is inspired by different experiences that have been taking place in many South American and European cities where municipalities have reconnected public policy, social justice and civic imagination. It is a new model of regional development where mayor Filner and his administration are prepared to learn from others through
 best practice. The central proposal is a joint bid for the 2024 Olympic Games in San Diego and Tijuana.

The San Diego mayor concept is about exploring the best regional ideas and practices, focusing on creating courses in the community, government transparency, citizen forums, reading groups, technology labs, the improvement of public spaces, dining options, and councils for faster border crossing times, among others.

The san Diego mayor is insisting on the reality that exists at California-Baja California border which are long border waits for crossing from south to north, delays that are causing serious economic losses at both sides at the border. At the same time his office is also putting pressure on Congress to pass a comprehensive immigration reform based on immigrants civil rights.

This initiative involves a new type of collective effort where the municipal and federal governments are seeking a new form of progressive politics to produce a different type of regional inclusion. According to other experiences these kind of initiatives are supported by large corporations, social networks, including the
 informal systems, where all together are rethinking the regional integration, by negotiating at a formal and informal level.

For the case of San Diego- Tijuana region many of the transactions, exchanges and negotiations will take place across institutions and with the public to make these projects happen. Project leaders from Corporations manufacturing in Mexico and others from the US will count with the support from all the governmental levels: the local San Diego government, the state government, federal government, and also from non-governmental organizations and academic institutions, in addition to more aid from the private sector.