Tijuana (Spanish [ti'xwana], English usually [ˌtiːəˈwɑnə]), is the largest city in the Mexican state of Baja California and the seat of the municipality of Tijuana. As of February 20, 2007 the current mayor is businessman Kurt Honold Morales who replaced Jorge Hank Rhon of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).
Tijuana is the westernmost city in Latin America as well as the third northernmost (Tecate and Mexicali are slightly farther north). The city is situated on the U.S.-Mexico border adjacent to San Diego County, California, United States to the north.
The city's motto is 'Aqu Empieza La Patria'. The Mexican government's English translation is 'Gateway to Mexico,' though the motto's literal English translation is 'The Homeland Starts Here.'
Origin of nameThere is some difference of opinion on this question. Historians have investigated the origins of the name of the city of Tijuana. It was the name of a ranch in the area, one version being spelled: 'Ta Juana'. It is believed by some that name comes from the Yuman Indian language from the early inhabitants. In other documents there are mentions of 'La Tia Juana', 'Tiguana', 'Tiuana', 'Teguana', 'Tiwana', 'Tijuan', 'Ticuan', 'Tijuana'. Based on the Yuman language, historians have come to recognize Tijuana originating from 'Tiwan', meaning close to the sea. Others say this is not certain, that the name comes from another location in the south of the peninsula.
Nonetheless, most English-speaking Americans pronounce the name of the city Tia wanna, though it is commonly called 'TJ' in Southern California.
GeographyTijuana is at . This US-Mexico border city just south of San Diego, California. The adjacent city and formerly part of Tijuana is Playas de Rosarito. Because of the vast area and diverse population from all continents, Tijuana's population counts are contested, and the locals often vastly exaggerate. However, including Tecate, greater Tijuana is home to some 1.6 million people as of census 2005. If one were to consider San Diego-Tijuana as one metropolitan area, as some demographers do, the population swells to nearly 4.5 million.
CultureThe Tijuana Cultural Center (CECUT) is comprised of a theater, lecture rooms, video rooms, a library, exhibition hall, Museum of the Californias, a futuristic planetary movie theater, and a restaurant. Since 1992, the CECUT has hosted the Orchestra of Baja California (OBC), it headquarters the Center of Scenic Arts of the Northwest (CAEN) and the Hispanic-American Center for Guitar (CHG). Since 2001, the CECUT receives an about a million visitors per year, making it Baja California's most important cultural center. Another important culture center is La Casa de la Cultura, comprising a school, theater, and public library. Dance, painting, music, plastic arts, photography and language are taught there. The city also has Instituto Municipal de Arte y Cultura (Municipal Institute of Art and Culture), the Tijuana Wax Museum, and the Museo El Trompo (The Trompo Museum).
Tijuana also has a very active and independent artist community whose internationally recognized work has earned Tijuana the title of 'one of the most important new cultural meccas', according to Newsweek. An anthology of Tijuana's art scene, as part of the Strange New World exhibition, is being curated by the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego and will travel extensively across the USA in 2006. Art collectives like bulbo explores the use of media like television bulbo tv [1] and print 'bulbo PRESS', to show different realities of Tijuana out of Mxico. The music of The Nortec Collective and other electronic music artists, such as Murcof, have placed Tijuana in the international eye of specialized magazines and forums in recent years.
EntertainmentTijuana's most prestigious entertainment center is the Club Campestre de Tijuana, but the Hipodromo dog racing track would be the most notable that is open to the general public. Parque Morelos has a small zoo and and parkspace; El Parque de la Amistad has a small pond, and a running and dirt-bike track. Parque Teniente Guerrero is a small park located downtown with a public library and weekend entertainment by clowns.
The most popular tourist attraction is Avenida Revolucin. Many foreigners travel there to drink, buy prescription drugs, bootleg brand-name clothing and accessories, and Mexican curiosities. However, there are plenty of other night clubs that do not have the touristic hassle over at Plaza Fiesta, across from the Plaza Rio Mall. Locals are more likely to drink and party there without the sleaziness found on the Revolucin strip.
Avenida Revolucin is also famous for its nearby red-light district La Coahuila (also known casually as Zona Norte) which boasts a large number of street prostitutes, being tolerated in this portion of the city, as well as a selection of strip clubs. The strip clubs are typically full-contact, in which the dancers will allow patrons to fondle them. The dancers also solicit their services which typically tend to be more pricey than those of the street prostitutes. About 1,200 prostitutes from all over Mexico work in La Coahuila street, making it a sex tourist destination that ranks in popularity with Amsterdam and Bangkok, according to Melissa Farley, a researcher with Prostitution Research and Education, a San Francisco-based nonprofit organization.
Tijuana possesses a diversity of shopping malls, the most visited being Plaza Rio, located just a few minutes away from the US border. The mall hosts a variety of shops, which sell a wide array of things, ranging from cheap Mexican curiosities to expensive imports.
SportsThere are also two professional basketball teams. The Dragones de Tijuana play in the American Basketball Association against teams from the US. The team is comprised mostly of American players. Their season is during the winter months. The Galgos de Tijuana (Greyhounds) de Tijuana play in the LNBP (Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional) during the summer months. The team is comprised mostly of players from Mexico. Both teams play in the Auditorio Municipal.
Former super featherweight boxing champion Erik Morales calls Tijuana his home.
CrimeTijuana has always been notorious for its crime and it is still a problem today. This is due to the fact that it is a drug trafficking and sex trafficking center which smuggles drugs and people into California. Kidnapping is a serious problem in Tijuana and as a result, people have immigrated to the southern suburbs of San Diego in the US to escape this problem. Unfortunately, the crime has also immigrated and people associated with drug cartels are living in various communities throughout San Diego In 2004, nine kidnapping cases were reported to authorities in Baja California. However, that number is believed to be low because many cases are not reported to police. [2] Many of the people kidnapped are foreign tourists and businessmen who are held for ransom. [3]
As mentioned earlier, drug cartels have made Tijuana a hotbed of crime and the situation is getting worse. [4] As a result, homicides are another problem plaguing Tijuana. In the first four months of 2005, there were 151 homicides and in 2004, there were 355 homicides. 20% of Tijuana's homicides were related to organized crime groups in the city.[5]
Also as mentioned earlier, prostitution while legal in Tijuana is still a serious problem. Many of these prostitutes were unwilling and tricked into prostitution in hopes of finding a better life. It has been reported that some of these prostitutes are as young as 8 years old. Many of these prostitutes are forced into this career and if they quit their lives as well as the lives of loved ones might be in jeopardy. After awhile many of these prostitutes are smuggled into the United States to do the same thing. [6]
Many people believe that Tijuana is so crime ridden is because of the police force's inability to handle crime as well as the corruption of its police force. Many accuse Tijuana's police of being loyal to the drug cartels there.[7] As a result, the federal government has stepped in to stop the drug trade there by targeting the crooked cops there. [8]
EducationTijuana is home to several primary schools as well as many colleges and universities.
Due to Tijuana's proximity to Southern California and the US border and its large, inexpensive, skilled and diverse workforce it is an attractive city for foreign companies to establish extensive industrial parks comprised of 'assembly plants' or maquiladoras, even more so than other cities in the US-Mexican border zone, taking advantage of NAFTA to export products. At its peak, in 2001 Tijuana had roughly 820 of these 'maquiladoras' (today the number is closer to 550).
Companies that have setup 'maquiladoras' in Tijuana include Sony, Toyota, Samsung, Kodak, Matsushita/Panasonic, Nabisco, Philips, Pioneer, Plantronics, Pall Medical, Tara and Sanyo.
Binational economic development along the US-Mexico border is key to the development of Tijuana going forward. Multiple regional (San Diego-US/Tijuana-MX) think-tanks exist on both sides of the border that promote such regional collaboration and innovation.
Foreign and domestic companies employ thousands of employees in these plants, usually in assembly related labor. Such jobs are demanding but offer high pay for Mexico. The nominal GDP per capita of the city is above the national average at about $9000 per year, third only to Cancn and Mexico City (source: INEGI). This makes Tijuana a popular city for poor migrant workers from other parts of Mexico as well as other countries to the south.
In addition there are also some high-tech firms and telemarketing companies making their way into the city drawing skilled people with technical trades and college degrees to Tijuana.
Tijuana also relies on tourism as a major revenue. Many visitors cross by foot or car from the San Ysidro point of entry in the United States every day. Restaurants, taco stands, bars and dance clubs are part of the draw for the city's tourists. Many shops and stalls selling Mexican crafts and souvenirs are also located in walking distance from the border.
The city's drinking age of 18 (vs. United States' 21) make it a common weekend destination for many high school and college aged Southern Californians who tend to stay within the touristy Revoluccion Blvd. area.
Tijuana is also home to several pharmacies marketed toward visitors from the United States. These pharmacies sell pharmaceutical drugs without prescriptions and at much lower costs than pharmacies in the US. Many medications still require a Mexican doctor's prescription though several accessible doctor offices are located near the border as well.
Tijuana is also home to many businesses selling products and services at a much cheaper rate than in the United States. Such businesses as auto detailing, medical services, dentistry and plastic surgery are heavily marketed and located near the city's border with the US.
In addition Tijuana has a legal 'red-light' district known as the Zona Norte which also adds significant revenue to its economy as well as the drug and sex trafficing that occurs there.
Infrastructure SewerThe IWTP plant currently treats 25mgd directly pumped across the border from the central collection point in Mexico (Pump Station #1). When there is any flow in the river, the river diverter kicks in and diverts up to about 12-13 mgd to the IWTP. The totals from either must not exceed 25mgd, based on a monthly average (permit conditions) although the IWTP can treat sustained flows up to 45mgd daily and peaks of 70 or so for a short period. The diverter is regularly sending about 6-8 mgd daily to the IWTP.
Japanese Credit PlantsThe plants (a total of 4-5 decentralized units in all) have been planned for some time as part of the 'Tijuana/Rosarito Potable Water and Wastewater Master Plan'. This plan was required as part of Public Law 106-457 (Nov.7-2000) which was written to allow the Bajagua project to move forward. The master plan was a binational collaborative effort by EPA and CESPT and addressed those cities' needs for the next 20 years.
The plants are intended to treat approximately 5 mgd each, to tertiary levels and provide the reclaimed water to the surrounding areas for agriculture, industry etc.
There are several issues that they are facing: no infrastructure to convey the reclaimed water to customers and inadequate groundwater recharge infrastructure.
The Tijuana River (Spanish: Ro Tijuana) is an intermittent river, 120 mi (195 km) long, on the Pacific coast of northern Baja California in Mexico and southern California in the United States. It drains an arid area along the U.S.–Mexico border, flowing through Mexico for most its course then crossing the border for its lower 5 mi (8 km) to empty into the ocean in an estuary on the southwesternmost corner of the United States. Its lower reaches provide the last undeveloped coast wetlands in San Diego County amidst a highly urbanized environment at the southern city limits of Imperial Beach. The river has been the subject of great controversy in recent decades regarding pollution, flood control, and U.S. border protection.
Water Storm Drain Electrical TransportationTijuana is well-served by bus, road, and air transportation links to all of Mexico, and to the United States via two heavily traveled border crossings.
Air TravelThe General Abelardo L. Rodrguez International Airport is the city's airport, with eleven airlines serving destinations across the nation. As of November 16, 2006, Aeromxico has introduced twice-weekly international service to Tokyo, Japan. U.S. and select Canadian destinations can be reached from the busy San Diego International Airport, located about 35 kilometers north of the international border.
Bus TravelMexico is served by a network of bus transportation, reaching virtually all parts of the country. The city has a main Central de Autobuses, in the eastern part of the city. There is also a small terminal downtown which serves a few Mexican bus lines and US-based Greyhound Lines and Crucero USA. Another small depot is near the border, with frequent service to Ensenada.
RoadTijuana is home to the world's busiest border crossing and queues to enter the U.S. can literally be hours long. However, after clearing customs and immigration formalities, Interstate 5 is a major 8-10 lane freeway to downtown San Diego, Los Angeles, and north to the Canadian border. Interstate 805 takes a more easterly route north and rejoins I-5 in the northern part of San Diego.
Two important Mexican federal highways terminate in Tijuana. Mexican Federal Highway 1 runs south through the Baja California peninsula, terminating in Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur. From Tijuana to Ensenada, most travelers take Highway 1-D , a four-lane, limited access toll road. Mexican Federal Highway 2 runs east for several hundred kilometers near the international border, currently as far as Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua.
TriviaMexican politician, Luis Donaldo Colosio was murdered here on March 23, 1994.
The famous battle between the Tijuana Cartel and their rival, Chihuahua-based Jurez Cartel was portrayed in the 2000 Hollywood movie Traffic.
Tijuana's International Airport (General Abelardo L. Rodrguez International Airport) is known for the tight approaches airplanes have to carry out, flying just over a fence before landing.
Caesar Salad was invented in Tijuana in 1924 by an Italian chef named Caesar Cardini.
About 300,000 people cross the border between San Diego and Tijuana every day.
Despite general perceptions about the economy, there are various products that are actually more expensive in Tijuana than in the United States. Among these are: designer clothing and perfumes, prepackaged snack foods, burnable CDs, and other common products.
Tijuana in Pop Culture2005 Don Winslow Novel, The Power of the Dog
1996 Edward Bunker novel, Dog Eat Dog
Gorillaz bassist Murdoc Niccals spent 18 months in Tijuana's local prison.
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