Harley Riders Donate Backpacks & Supplies

ROSARITO BEACH, BAJA CALIFORNIA , MEXICO ---More than 250 motorcyclists from the U.S. donated backpacks and other items for 300 Rosarito school children at this weekend’s annual Harley Charity Run.

As well as the school supplies, bicycles and toys were among the items donated, said Leticia Gonzalez, director of DIF, the city’s family social services agency, who helped coordinate the event.

Ride organizers Martin and Sonia Resendez said the concept was developed years ago when during a motorcycle tour to the area they learned of the needs of some of the city children. Since, the city and charity run have become part of their lives.

“We are very grateful for the donation from the Harley riders,” said Rosarito Mayor Hugo Torres. “The goodwill from U.S. citizens, both those who visit and those who now live here, is deeply appreciated.”

This year a convoy of motorcyclists and vehicles carrying donations rode from Otay Mesa to Rosarito with a special escort. The Harley Run also included a celebration at the popular club Papas & Beers.

Mexican Dispatch: A Quiet Beach Town, Kept That Way by "Tourist" Police

New America Media/PBS NewsHour, News Report, Jose Luis Sierra, Posted: Sep 16, 2010

ROSARITO BEACH, Mexico—Walking or driving down boulevard Benito Juarez, the main street of Rosarito Beach, gives no hints of the struggles this tourist community has been fighting for the past four years.

As the sun sinks over the Pacific Ocean, neon lights advertise hotel rooms at competitive prices. Restaurants from French, Japanese, or local cuisine that offers rabbit, snake, quail, goat or deer meat— as well as the typical hamburger or Mexican menus—entice customers with margarita specials. Bars and discos compete for customers with loud music. If you care to ask, locals will advise you about the best choices.

If things get a little out of hand, "tourist police" will show up and make an effort to help you feel safe.

The town has a population of about 130,000 residents—14,000 of them U.S. citizens living here permanently. It gained fame in the 1920s for being a favorite spot for Hollywood legends like Frank Sinatra and Marilyn Monroe, and now is advertised as the closest place south of the U.S.-Mexico border where tourists can enjoy the good life at affordable prices.

But locals say things have changed, as they recall the period of 2006-2008, when a violent crime was reported on an average every two hours.

Tourism, with a little more than 1 million visitors a year and the main staple of the local economy, has gone down more than 50 percent. Hotels, restaurants and just about every business related to the service industry faced the choice of closing or reducing staff and scaling down operations.

But the final blow came with the burst of the local real estate market bubble, a little more than three years ago.

Nobody saw it coming, after years of brisk sales of condos and villas along Rosarito Beach. There was a splashy announcement that billionaire Donald Trump would lend his name to a lavish coastal condo-hotel project, 10 miles south of the border on the outskirts of the town. Developers took Trump's move as a sign of confidence and began a frenetic pace of construction.

Thousands of U.S. retirees flocked to the area by the busload in search of an opportunity to own beachfront property at prices impossible to find north of the border. As side benefits, they saw the opportunities of a much lower cost of living, low property taxes, and the option of renting out their property when not in use.

"We originally built out our office space to support 30 to 60 agents. And currently we are running around 10, six. So that's basically what the marketing is supporting right now," said David Biondolillo, a real estate agent in charge of a five tower luxury condos by the beach, with prices ranging from the low $200,000 to $460,000.

Happy to get by, and with most of his 600 units already sold, Biondolillo is one of the lucky few. He said that more than 200 projects with permits already approved had to be shut down for lack of financing. That includes the project to which Trump had lent his name. It now resembles an empty pit.

For now, just as in the United States, a new market is emerging. Buyers are beginning to scout for foreclosure properties, or properties that are being offered for 30-40 percent under their original price, as developers scramble to recoup whatever they can from their investments. Still, perception plays a key role in this strategy.

"True, we had a problem with police corruption and crime four years ago, and that's one of the reasons I ran for mayor," said Hugo Torres, just a few months from finishing his second stint in that post. Torres is also owner of the Rosarito Beach Hotel.

"People ask me constantly if Rosarito is safe. My answer is always yes. It is as safe as any other city in the world. It is a matter of common sense. If you deal with drugs or are involved in any type criminal activity, you will never be safe, no matter where you are," said the 74-year-old mayor.

Tijuana at 30 miles per hour

By Sandra Dibble, UNION-TRIBUNE

August 30, 2010

Sandra Dibble holds a cup of clamato juice, a popular treat in Baja California, on Sunday in Rosarito Beach

This was a difficult assignment: In the space of just a few hours, give my new editor, Hieu Tran Phan, a tour of Tijuana. On one quiet Sunday afternoon, what could I possibly show him? Tijuana has about two million people, hundreds of neighborhoods, vast contrasts. After 16 years of reporting here, driving across Tijuana still fills me with a sense of wonder, and more than anything I wanted him to get a sense of the city’s rich texture and variety.


We started at Colonia Federal, a tiny neighborhood just southwest of the San Ysidro border crossing, cruising past the house where drug smugglers once dug a tunnel. Now a binational group has taken over, converting it into an arts center, La Casa del Tunel. We headed east into Colonia Libertad, to the top of a steep hill that offers a breathtaking view of the border. Then down into the Zona Rio, past the giant pastel globe and deep red cube that make up the Tijuana Cultural Center, past the Via Corporativo, a new office building that is Baja California’s first certified green structure.

Zooming down the Via Rapida, a highway that crosses the city, we headed toward El Cerro Colorado, Tijuana’s tallest hill and the gateway to eastern Tijuana, where the city has been growing rapidly in recent years. We drove and drove, past the huge boxlike factory buildings that make up El Florido Industrial Park. Past tens of thousands of tiny houses that make up the newer housing developments.

In El Nino, we stopped for tacos and ran into a church group from San Clemente whose members had come to build houses. We pressed on, toward Tecate, into Valle de las Palmas, where authorities are planning a satellite city with more than one million residents.

We drove down Boulevard 2000, and in no time found ourselves in Rosarito Beach, taking in the waves of the Pacific Ocean. Then back into Tijuana, to Colonia Chapultepec, whose large hillside mansions reminded Hieu (he was raised in Vietnam and Orange County) of the hills of Laguna Beach.

A day after our tour, Hieu says he was struck by the city’s contrasts and the determination of its residents to make the most of their circumstances, wherever they may find themselves

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