Jump to content

Tijuana

Coordinates: 32°31′30″N 117°02′0″W / 32.52500°N 117.03333°W / 32.52500; -117.03333
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Goethicus (talk | contribs) at 14:31, 5 May 2011 (Removed reference to being the second-most visited city in the West because not supported by reference link). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

This article is about the city in Baja California. For the metropolitan area, see Tijuana metropolitan area. For other meanings of Tijuana, see Tijuana (disambiguation).
Tijuana
City
Ciudad de Tijuana
City of Tijuana
top, right to left - Downtown Tijuana, Tijuana Cultural Centre, Tijuana International Airport, UABC Tijuana
top, right to left - Downtown Tijuana, Tijuana Cultural Centre, Tijuana International Airport, UABC Tijuana
Coat of arms of Tijuana
Coat of arms
Nickname(s): 
TJ, Gateway to Mexico, A Heart Between Two Seas
Motto: 
The Homeland Starts Here
Country Mexico
State Baja California
MunicipalityTijuana
FoundedJuly 11, 1889
Government
 • TypeAyuntamiento
 • Municipal PresidentCarlos Bustamante Anchondo PRI
Area
 • City637 km2 (246 sq mi)
Elevation
20 m (65 ft)
Population
 (2010)
 • City1,300,983
 • Density2,212/km2 (5,730/sq mi)
 • Metro
1,784,034
 [1]
DemonymTijuanense
Time zoneUTC−8 (PST)
 • Summer (DST)UTC−7 (PDT)
Postal code
22000
Area code664
Websitehttp://www.tijuana.gob.mx
1 INEGI, Enciclopedia de los Municipios de México

Tijuana (/tiːəˈwɑːnə/ tee-ə-WAH-nə or /tiːˈwɑːnə/,[2][3] Spanish: [tiˈxwana]) is the largest city on the Baja California Peninsula, Mexico, and center of the Tijuana metropolitan area, part of the international San Diego–Tijuana. Tijuana exerts a strong regional influence on economics, education, culture, art, and politics. The surrounding metropolitan area has become a major industrial and dominant regional center in northwestern Mexico. Currently one of the fastest growing cities in Mexico, Tijuana maintains global city status.[4]

Located on the Mexican Baja Gold Coast in Baja California, Tijuana consists of nine boroughs. The city shares an approximately 15 mile (24 km) long border with it's sister city San Diego. The city is the 28th largest city in the Americas an westernmost in Mexico. Over fifty million people cross the border each year between Tijuana and San Diego, making it the busiest land-border crossing in the world.[5] According to the 2010 census, the Tijuana metropolitan area was the fifth-largest in Mexico, with a population of 1,784,034. The international metropolitan region was estimated to be just over five million in 2009 and approximately 5,105,769 in 2010,[6] making it the second largest metropolitan area in the Californias, 22nd largest metropolitan area in the Americas[7] and the largest bi-national conurbation that is shared between US and Mexico. It is estimated that the two border crossing stations in Tijuana account for 300,000 daily border crossings from Greater San Diego.

Tijuana traces it's modern history to the arrival of Spanish explorers in the 1500's mapping the coast of the Californias. As the American conquest of northern Mexico ended with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Tijuana's new international position on the border gave rise to a new economic and political structure. The city was founded in July 11, 1889 as urban development began. Dating back to the 1880's, the city has historically served as a tourist center.

Etymology

In early documents — primarily mission records (baptisms, marriages, deaths) — there are mentions of "La Tía Juana", "Tiguana" ,"Tiuana", "Teguana", "Tiwana", "Tijuan", "Ticuan", "Tijuana". It is believed by some that name comes from the Kumeyaay language of the aboriginal inhabitants. Some have claimed "Tijuana" originated from "Tiwan", meaning close to the sea. Others say this is not certain and that there is no such word in Kumayaay, and that the name comes from another location of similar appearance (and name) in the south of the peninsula, and the name was brought north by Spanish and Mexican soldiers and mule-drivers.

Another foundation myth is that in the beginning there was an old woman, "tía Juana" (aunt Jane), who provided travelers with good food and a place to rest. In spite of scholarly denunciation, this story is a myth that continues to be very popular with residents of the city. It has particular resonance amongst those who like to imagine the city as a place of hospitality.

In Spanish, the name is pronounced "tiˈxwana". In English, its name is probably the most misspronounced in geography, very often being presented incorrectly as the four syllables /tiːəˈwɑːnə/ and sometimes correctly as the three syllables /tiːˈwɑːnə/; the former matches a presumed but incorrect spelling "Tiajuana". It is commonly called "TJ" in California and "Tiyei" (matching the sound of the English initials "TJ") in Mexico. Mexicans from Tijuana typically refer to themselves as "Tijuanenses".

The nickname "Tijuas" is increasingly popular among residents and visitors alike.

Due to a recent increase in violence in the city, a new term is developing. The term "Yo Tijuaneo, ¿y tú?" translates to "I Tijuanate, and you?" This term comes from a new popular local verb "Tijuanear" meaning "to Tijuana" describing the cosmopolitan aspects of living in the city and frequently crossing the border. The term is becoming much more popular to help stop unfair and false criticisms of the city.

History

Early history

The Torre del Casino Agua Caliente built in the 1920's is a well known symbol of the city.
File:VIA corporativo Night.jpg
VIA building at night.

The land where the city of Tijuana would be built was originally inhabited by the Kumeyaay, a tribe of Yuman-speaking hunter-gatherers. Europeans arrived in 1542, when the explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo toured the coastline of the area, which was later mapped in 1602 by Sebastián Vizcaíno. In 1769, Juan Crespí documented more detailed information about the area that would be called the Valley of Tijuana. Junípero Serra founded the first mission of Alta California in nearby San Diego.

More settlement of the area took place near the end of the mission era when José María de Echeandía, governor of the Baja California and Alta California, awarded a large land grant to Santiago Argüello in 1829. This large cattle ranch, Rancho Tía Juana ("Aunt Jane Ranch"), covered 100 km2 (40 sq mi).

19th century

In 1848, as a result of the Mexican-American War with the United States, Mexico lost all of Alta California. The majority of the 1,000 Hispanic families living in Alta California stayed there, though some moved south to remain inside Mexico.

Because of this Tijuana gained a different purpose on the international border. The area had been populated by ranchers, but Tijuana developed a new social economic structure. These were farming and livestock grazing, plus as a transit area for prospectors.[8]

Urban settlement began in 1889, when descendants of Santiago Argüello and Augustín Olvera entered an agreement to begin developing the city of Tijuana. The date of the agreement, July 11, 1889, is recognized as the founding of the city.[9]

Tijuana saw its future in tourism from the beginning. From the late 19th century to the first few decades of the 20th century, the city attracted large numbers of Californians coming for trade and entertainment. The California land boom of the 1880s led to the first big wave of tourists, who were called "excursionists" and came looking for echoes of the famous novel "Ramona" by Helen Hunt Jackson.

Tijuana during the Mexican Revolution & 20th century

In 1911, during the Mexican Revolution, revolutionaries claiming loyalty to Ricardo Flores Magón took over the city for shortly over a month. Federal troops then arrived. Assisted by local loyal militia known as the "defensores de Tijuana", they routed the rebels, who fled north and were promptly arrested by the United States Army. This event is a source of local controversy, and the "rebels" are almost universally reviled in Tijuana as "filibusteros" (mercenaries).

The Panama-California Exposition of 1915 brought many visitors to the nearby California city of San Diego. Tijuana attracted these tourists with a Feria Típica Mexicana - Typical Mexican Fair. This included curio shops, regional food, thermal baths, horse racing and boxing.

The first professional race track opened in January 1916, just south of the border gate. It was almost immediately destroyed by the great "Hatfield rainmaker" flood of 1916. Rebuilt in the general area, it ran horse races until the new Agua Caliente track opened in 1929, several miles south and across the river on higher ground.

Caesar's Hotel on Avenida Revolución

Legal drinking and gambling attracted U.S nationals in the 1920s during Prohibition. The Avenida Revolución area became the city's tourist center, with casinos and the Hotel Caesar's, birthplace of the Caesar Salad.

In 1928, the Agua Caliente Touristic Complex was opened, including hotel, spa, dog-track, private airport, golf course and gambling casino. A year later, the new Agua Caliente Racetrack joined the complex. During the eight years it operated, the Agua Caliente hotel, casino and spa achieved a near mythical status, with Hollywood stars and gangsters flying in and playing. Rita Hayworth was discovered there. Musical nightclub productions were broadcast over the radio. A singer known as "la Faraona" got shot in a love-triangle and gave birth to the myth of a beautiful lady ghost.

Remnants of the Agua Caliente casino can be seen in the outdoor swimming pool and the "minarete" (actually a former incinerator chimney) nearby the southern end of Avenida Sanchez Taboada, on the grounds of what is now the Lazaro Cardenas educational complex.

In 1935, President Cárdenas decreed an end to gambling and casinos in Baja California, and the Agua Caliente complex faltered, then closed. In 1939, it was reopened as a Junior High School (now, Preparatoria Lázaro Cárdenas). The buildings themselves were torn down in the 1970s and replaced by modern scholastic architecture.

In 1925, the city attempted to shed its negative image of hedonism and lawlessness created by American mob empresarios by renaming itself Zaragoza, but its name soon reverted to Tijuana.

With increased tourism and the large number of Mexican citizens relocating to Tijuana, the city's population grew from 21,971 to 65,364 between 1940 and 1950.

With the decline of nightlife and tourism in the 1950s, the city restructured its tourist industry, by promoting a more family-oriented scene. Tijuana developed a greater variety of attractions and activities to offer its visitors.

In 1994, PRI presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio was assassinated in Tijuana while making an appearance in the plaza of Lomas Taurinas, a neighborhood nestled in a valley near Centro. The shooter was caught and imprisoned, but doubts remain about who the mastermind might have been.

Geography

View of the San Diego-Tijuana metropolitan area, with Tijuana in the foreground.

Tijuana is noted for its rough terrain, which includes many canyons, steep hills, and mesas. Among noted canyons in Tijuana are Canyon K and Canyon Johnson. Large Tijuana hills include Cerro Colorado and Cerro de las Abejas in the eastern part of the city.

Tijuana River

The Tijuana River (Río Tijuana) is an intermittent river, 195 km (121 mi) 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 8 km (5 mi) 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. Because downtown Tijuana was built at the bottom of the river valley, it is subject to flooding from drain-off from the rest of the city in two rainy months of the year (typically December and January). During this time, east-bound portions of the Via Rapida (east-west highway) may be blocked off by the Tijuana Police due to hazardous conditions.

Climate

Tijuana's climate is semi-arid (Köppen climate classification BSh),[10] with about 235 mm (9.25 in) of annual precipitation. It shows characteristics of the Dry-Summer Subtropical Mediterranean climate (Csa) found to the immediate north, with most of the annual precipitation falling in the winter (between November and March).[11]

Climate data for Tijuana
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) 20.6
(69.1) 		21.0
(69.8) 		20.5
(68.9) 		21.6
(70.9) 		23.6
(74.5) 		24.7
(76.5) 		25.5
(77.9) 		26.0
(78.8) 		26.5
(79.7) 		25.4
(77.7) 		23.2
(73.8) 		20.7
(69.3) 		23.9
(75.0)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) 7.4
(45.3) 		8.4
(47.1) 		9.6
(49.3) 		10.7
(51.3) 		13.4
(56.1) 		15.3
(59.5) 		17.1
(62.8) 		17.9
(64.2) 		17.0
(62.6) 		13.1
(55.6) 		9.8
(49.6) 		6.9
(44.4) 		12.2
(54.0)
Average rainfall mm (inches) 43.1
(1.70) 		42.7
(1.68) 		61.5
(2.42) 		19.5
(0.77) 		3.2
(0.13) 		0.7
(0.03) 		0.5
(0.02) 		0.4
(0.02) 		5.4
(0.21) 		9.4
(0.37) 		32.3
(1.27) 		36.2
(1.43) 		254.9
(10.04)
Average rainy days (≥ 0.1 mm) 5.9 5.4 8.1 3.8 1.1 0.6 0.5 0.3 1.1 2.7 3.8 4.4 37.7
Source: SMN [12]

Cityscape

File:Tijuanacity.jpg
Panorama of Tijuana

Boroughs

Main article: Municipality of Tijuana § Boroughs

Tijuana is divided into nine administrative boroughs which are in turn divided into neighborhoods. These boroughs offer administrative services such as urban planning, civil registry, inspection, verification, public works and community development and are served by a Municipal Delegate. The boroughs are Centenario, Centro, Cerro Colorado, La Mesa, Mesa de Otay, Playas de Tijuana, La Presa, San Antonio de los Buenos, and Sánchez Taboada.

Districts

The Zona Río is the city's Financial District. This area is located at a strategic point north of the city, 1 km (0.62 mi) from the border line of the United States and Mexico. It is close to Downtown and the Abelardo L. Rodriguez Airport. This district has many hotels, restaurants, buildings, malls, condominiums and hospitals, with wide avenues.

Culture and contemporary life

Although poverty is widespread throughout the city, a very affluent and prominent society has developed in Tijuana. Gentrification is evident throughout certain districts. The Club Campestre de Tijuana (Tijuana Country Club) has many affluent members and a famous golf course. A large sized Rotary Club is also located in Tijuana. The Grand Hotel Tijuana and many luxurious restaurants have been developed along Bulevar Agua Caliente (often called "El Bulevar" by locals) and in the Zona Rio. Around the country club and Agua Caliente, many developments of wealthy and luxurious gated communities have filled the hillsides, most of which have views similar to Mount Soledad in San Diego or areas of Orange County.

File:Hipodromoaguacaliente.jpg
Agua Caliente Racetrack

Tijuana's most prestigious entertainment center is the Club Campestre de Tijuana golf club, but the Agua Caliente Racetrack would be the most notable that is open to the general public. Parque Morelos has a small zoo and park space; Parque de la Amistad has a small pond, and a running and dirt-bike track. Parque Teniente Guerrero is a park located downtown with a public library and weekend entertainment by clowns. El Foro was an attraction for being a jai alai venue, but now is commonly used as a concert venue.

Many foreigners travel to Tijuana to drink and dance, buy prescription drugs, illegal drugs (especially in and around dance clubs), purchase bootleg brand-name clothing, timepieces, and other personal accessories found globally, as well as manufactured and hand-crafted local curiosities. Locals and regular tourists avoid hassles by visiting the clubs at Plaza Fiesta or other areas of the Zona Río without the crowds, heavy marketing, and occasional tourist misbehavior or outright lawbreaking common on the Revolución strip. However, Avenida Revolución has been known for its proliferation of nightclub shows, primarily catering to casual tourists. While still an entertaining town with an enjoyable atmosphere, locals and tourists alike would agree that it has lost its "anything goes" mentality which it had once acquired, a mindset that was dangerous to tourists, locals, and the tourism industry as a whole.

Tijuana is also known as the birthplace of the "Tijuana Special," which is a classic Tex-Mex dish consisting of enchiladas, rice and refried beans. This dish was popularized by Tippy's, an American Tex-Mex restaurant.[citation needed]

Tijuana Cultural Center

The Tijuana Cultural Center (CECUT) opened on October 20, 1982 with the goals of strengthening Tijuana's image, and to advertise cultural tourism from the US. The building was constructed by the architects Pedro Ramírez Vázquez and Manuel Rosen Morrison. The CECUT first opened as part of the National Fund for Social Activities then in 1983 it was part of the Ministry of Tourism. Later that year CECUT was joined into the Ministry of Public Education. Finally, in 1986 the CECUT gained its own independence, and was able to plan its own budget. In 1988 they changed their actions guiding themselves towards a comprehensive national cultural policy.[13]

It is composed of lecture rooms, video rooms, a library, an exhibition hall, the Museum of the Californias, a futuristic planetary movie theater that displays IMAX films, 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 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 of a school, a theater, and a public library. Dance, painting, music, plastic arts, photography and languages are taught there. The city also has the Instituto Municipal de Arte y Cultura (Municipal Institute of Art and Culture), the Tijuana Wax Museum, and the Museo El Trompo (The Trompo Museum).

Art

Skyscrapers and Minaret

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. Strange New World, an exhibition of Tijuana's current art scene, is being curated by the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego and is traveling across the USA in 2006 and 2007.[14] Art collectives like Bulbo and film production like Palenque Filmaciones explore the use of film like the award winning Tijuana Makes Me Happy, media like television bulbo TV and print "bulbo PRESS", to show different realities of Tijuana out of Mexico. In 2004, Tijuana earned international acclaim for an art exhibition displayed on the cement banks of the Tijuana River and along the Mexico/U.S. border fence in Otay Mesa.

Graffiti is widespread in Tijuana. It can range from free-hand writing in spray can and marker form, often carrying social or sexual commentary in English or Spanish, pictures in wheatpaste and stencils, consisting of stenciled renderings of personalities crucial to Hispanic culture from past and present eras, such as television news announcers or stars, but also extending to images of artists like Salvador Dalí. Graffiti in Tijuana may seem at first to consist largely of simplistic tags and thus not as technically evolved, colorful, or accepted in the mainstream as the "pieces" of graffiti scenes of the United States, Europe, or Japan, but large, colorful graffiti murals adorn walls from both native Tijuanense artists as well as visiting graffiti writers, especially from California. The Tijuanense art pieces show as much prowess and skill as those made by their more renowned U.S. counterparts, although illicit graffiti is strongly discouraged by the Tijuana government, as in other major metropolitan areas.

Music

The City Auditorium of Tijuana.

Tijuana is home of the Nortec, a fusion of Norteñas or typical northern-Mexican music and electronic music, such as the music of The Nortec Collective and other electronic music artists whom have placed Tijuana in the international eye of specialized magazines and forums in recent years. Additionally, Tijuana also enjoys a large base of support in many other musical scenes, such as Mexican hip hop, hardcore, punk, black metal, Tijuana Brass and house music. Famous musical acts from Tijuana include the world known singer Julieta Venegas, hip-hop band Tijuana Rap, and bands like Delux.

Musical clubs along the Avenida Revolución area and others often cater to a diverse range of tastes by offering nightly variations on musical fare, such as New Wave music one night, and punk rock bands on the next. Interestingly, some metal bands from Europe whose members cannot perform in the United States due to prior felony convictions in their own countries will play music festivals in Tijuana so as to attract fans from both Mexico and the United States.

Shopping

Avenida Revolución has many open bars, pharmacies, and curio shops that attract many tourists.

Tijuana possesses a diversity of shopping malls including Plaza Río, Plaza Mundo Divertido, Plaza Monarca, Plaza Carrousel, Centro Comercial Playas/Plaza Coronado,and Galerias Hipodromo. Plaza Río is the largest mall and is located just a few minutes away from the U.S. border between Paseo de los Heroes and the Tijuana River. The mall hosts a Cinépolis and a Cinépolis VIP movie theater, a Sanborns restaurant and a variety of shops, including the large department store Sears. Plaza Mundo Divertido is off of Tijuana's main east-west highway with arcades and rides for the whole family. Plaza Monarca is on a north-south artery known as "Gato Bronco" and is anchored by the movie theater Cinépolis and grocery store chain Soriana (formerly a Gigante Supermarket). Plaza Carrousel, so named because the mall contains a children's merry-go-round, is minutes from the Cinco y Diez retail hub centered around a former five and dime store. The beach community of Playas de Tijuana saw a burst of construction in 2004, which yielded the Plaza Coronado complex next to the existing Comercial Mexicana-anchored Centro Comercial Playas.

Tijuana also enjoys notoriety among Americans and other nationals for its red-light district Zona Norte (referred to as La Coahuila after one of the main streets in it) which boasts a large number of legal street prostitutes as well as, in parts, a selection of strip clubs offering at least one establishment per block. The strip clubs are typically full-contact, meaning the dancers will allow patrons to fondle them. The dancers in most clubs also sell their sexual services, which are pricier ($US 72 in early-2007)[citation needed] than those of the street prostitutes.

People filling up prescriptions for drugs classified in the US as Schedule II or Schedule III have found it more difficult to locate such medications, and the purchase of pseudoephedrine also has become restricted by Tijuana pharmacies, as it is in the United States. For a prescription to be filled in Tijuana and brought legally to the United States, any drug covered by the US Controlled Substances Act would require a prescription from the United States for re-import. Americans are allowed to import up to a 90 day supply of non-controlled medications for personal use back to the USA from Mexico and other countries.

Sports

Club Sport Founded League Venue
Club Tijuana Soccer 2006 Liga de Ascenso Estadio Caliente
Tijuana Galgos Basketball 2005 Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional Auditorio Municipal "Fausto Gutierrez Moreno-CASAS GEO"
Tijuana Dragons Basketball 2003 American Basketball Association Auditorio Municipal "Fausto Gutierrez Moreno-CASAS GEO"
Tijuana Cimarrones Baseball 2005 (Called "Toros" in 2004) Golden Baseball League Estadio de Beisbol Calimax
Tijuana Zonkeys Basketball 2010 Circuito de Baloncesto de La Costa Del Pacifico (CIBACOPA) Auditorio Municipal "Fausto Gutierrez Moreno-CASAS GEO"

The city is home to two professional basketball teams. The Tijuana Dragons play in the American Basketball Association against teams from the United States. The team is composed mostly of U.S. players. Their season takes place during the winter months. The Galgos de Tijuana (Tijuana Greyhounds) play in the LNBP (Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional). The team is composed mostly of players from Mexico. Both teams play in the Municipal Auditorium.

The city has a strong tradition of soccer. It currently plays host to Club Tijuana of the Liga de Ascenso, the second tier of Mexican football, who play their matches at the Estadio Caliente, a new 33,000 seat stadium. The team`s mascot is the Xoloitzcuintle, a famous Mexican hairless dog.

Economy

Manufacturing

Industrial park (maquiladoras)

Due to Tijuana's proximity to Southern California and the US border and its large, skilled, diverse and relatively inexpensive workforce, it is an attractive city for foreign companies to establish extensive industrial parks composed of assembly plants that are called maquiladoras, even more so than other cities in the US-Mexican border zone, taking advantage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to export products. At its peak, in 2001 Tijuana had roughly 820 of these 'maquiladoras' (today the number is closer to 550).[15] Foreign and domestic companies employ thousands of employees in these plants, usually in assembly related labor. Such jobs are demanding but typically offer above average (although not high paying) salaries for Mexico, with most maqiladoras jobs beginning at 100 Mexican pesos per day (about $7.94 in US dollars), significantly above the Mexican minimum wage of 57.46 Mexican pesos (about 4.56 US dollars). Companies that have set up maquiladoras in Tijuana include Lanix, Bravia, Hyundai, Sony, Vortec, BMW, Vizio, Toyota, Dell, Samsung, Kodak, Matsushita/Panasonic, Bimbo, GE, Nabisco, Ford, Microsoft, Cemex, Zonda, Philips, Pioneer, Airbus, Plantronics, Siemens, Jaguar, Pall Medical, Tara, Sanyo, Volkswagen and vimay. Many of the maquiladoras are located in the Otay Mesa and Florido sections of Tijuana.

Service industry

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. One example is Telvista, a Texas-based telemarketing company which maintains three call centers along Blvd. Agua Caliente. The nominal GDP per capita of the city is above the national average at about $35,000 per year, third only to Cancún and Mexico City (source: INEGI). This makes Tijuana a popular city for migrant workers as well as college graduates from other parts of Mexico as well as other countries to the south.

Tourism

Playas de Tijuana; A popular Tijuanense beach resort

Tijuana also relies on tourism for a major part of its revenue. About 300,000 visitors cross by foot or car from the San Ysidro point of entry in the United States every day. Restaurants and taco stands, pharmacies, 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. Mexico's drinking age of 18 (vs. 21 in the United States) make it a common weekend destination for many high school and college aged Southern Californians who tend to stay within the Avenida Revolución. Tijuana is also home to several pharmacies marketed toward visitors from the United States. These pharmacies sell some 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. In addition Tijuana has a legal "red-light" district known as the Zona Norte which also adds significant revenue to its economy. 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.

Economic research and development

Economic development has its central business district at Zona Río, which with the corridor along Blvd. Agua Caliente (the extension of Avenida Revolución) contains the majority of the higher-end office space in the city. 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.

Demographics

Tijuana has a diverse population which includes migrants from other parts of Mexico, as well as immigrants from all over the world. The city is home to one of Mexico's largest Asian populations, mostly made up of Chinese immigrants, and to a lesser extent Koreans and Japanese. Tijuana is also home to a large and rapidly growing population of United States citizens, mostly from Southern California, who have moved to the city to avoid the higher cost of living in their home country while still being able to work in San Diego. Many Latinos from outside Mexico hoping to enter the United States have made Tijuana their home, especially people from Central America, but also from Andean nations. A large transitory population exists in Tijuana due to border aspirations or deportations.

The majority of Tijuana's population is made of migrants from other regions of Mexico especially Sinaloa, Michoacán, Jalisco, Oaxaca and the Federal District. Because of the diversity in Mexico and the influx of immigrants from almost every region in the country there are no accurate estimates on ethnicity or race of the current population.

Tijuana today is one of the fastest growing cities in Mexico with an average of 80,000 people moving to Tijuana yearly, along with construction of 26,000 new homes a year. Many of the unregulated substandard sprawl take place in the hills of ever expanding Tijuana, leaving the downtown and beach areas for the affluent. Due to this heavy influx of immigrants the city of Tijuana has become home for over 700 maquiladora factories employing the majority of the working class people in the north of the country.

There is a high poverty level in Tijuana, as it is a haven for people from poorer parts of the country and other nations who seek an escape from extreme poverty. Tijuana provides the possibility of employment as well as higher education and the dream of crossing the border. Tijuana and Baja California state in general have much stronger economies and higher incomes than Mexican border cities across from Texas.

Infrastructure

Utilities

Comisión Estatal de Servicios Públicos Tijuana, (State Commission of Public Services Tijuana) better known as CESPT, is Tijuana's water supplier.

As with all of Mexico, Tijuana's electricity is supplied by Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE).

The International Boundary Wastewater Treatment Plant (IWTP) was developed as a joint project of the USA and Mexico in the mid 1980s following substantial environmental studies;[16] the plant currently treats 25 million gallons per day (mgd) 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 25 mgd, based on a monthly average (permit conditions) although the IWTP can treat sustained flows up to 45mgd daily and peaks of 70 for a short period. The diverter is regularly sending approximately six to eight mgd daily to the IWTP. The plant is currently being upgraded to include secondary treatment.

Communications

Land lines in Tijuana are provided by Telnor, other companies include Axtel and Alestra. Popular cell phone carriers include Movistar, Telcel, Iusacell, Unefon, Nextel as well as Nextel USA provides coverage in the city and the rest of the state for american users.[17] Nextel is popular among businessmen, students, and professionals. The first cellular call in Mexico was made in Tijuana in 1989. The area code of the town is 664.

Japanese credit plants

The 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.

Crime

Tijuana's crime problems are often due to drug trafficking and human trafficking rings which smuggle drugs and people into California. 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.[18] In the first four months of 2005, there were 151 homicides and in 2004, there were 355 homicides. (Although many Americans see Tijuana as dangerous city, there are actually more murders in cites like Chicago, which had 435 homicides in 2010, 428 in 2009 and 509 in 2008) According to Francisco Castro Trenti, an administrator of the homicide investigation teams in Tijuana, Rosarito Beach and Tecate, at least 20% of Tijuana's homicides were related to organized crime groups in the city.[19]

In recent years, gun battles between rival drug cartels or between cartels and the police have erupted in public. In April 2008 police found 1,500 shell casings on various public streets after one such episode that left 13 suspected drug traffickers dead.[20] In 2009 the municipality experienced 556 murders, mostly as a result of the escalating drug violence that has gripped the city.[21] The main reason for the upsurge of violence is due to president Felipe Calderón cracking down on drug cartels.

Many auto theft crimes that occur in Southern California end in Tijuana. The proximity of Tijuana to the U.S. border allows thieves to get them across the border for resale or parts. [citation needed]

Education

Tijuana is home to many private Elementary Schools, Junior High Schools and High Schools as well as nationally high ranked colleges and universities. Notable primary and secondary schools include Instituto México.

Tijuana maintains multiple higher education institutions. These include the Tijuana campuses of the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California (UABC), Universidad Iberoamericana (UIA-Tijuana}, CETYS Universidad, Universidad Xochicalco.

Transportation

Tijuana International Airport

Air

The General Abelardo L. Rodríguez International Airport is the city's airport, with eleven airlines serving destinations across the nation and Asia. It is one of the busiest airports in Mexico. Aeroméxico introduced intercontinental air travel between Tijuana and two major cities in Asia, Tokyo in 2007 and Shanghai in 2008. With several private road lines, U.S. and selected Canadian destinations can be reached via the busy San Diego International Airport, located about 35 kilometers (22 mi) north of the international border.

Public transportation

Mexico is served by a network of bus transportation, reaching virtually all parts of the country. The city's main bus station is in its eastern area. There is also a small terminal downtown which serves a few Mexican bus lines and U.S.-based Greyhound Lines and Crucero USA. Another bus station is near the border, with frequent services to Ensenada, and other Mexican states, like Sinaloa, Sonora, and Jalisco, to major cities like Mazatlán, Culiacán, Hermosillo, and Guadalajara.

Local public transportation in Tijuana is run by semiprivate companies, and has one of the most complex, or perhaps unorganized networks.

Major bus lines:

  • Azul y Blanco de Magallanes (Blue & White)
    • Transporte Efectivo Express de Tijuana (TEEXTI; modernizing system that was intended to phase out the other lines, partially introduced, now ceased and merged with Azul y Blanco)
  • Verde y Crema (Green & Beige)
  • Transportes Urbanos y Suburbanos S.A. de C.V.
  • Sociedad de Transportes Urbanos y Suburbanos Tijuana S.A. de C.V.
  • U.N.T.I.M.A

Major taxi lines:

  • Taxis libres (Spanish for Free Taxis, meaning that they have no route)
  • Taxis Economicos (yellow cabs)
  • Taxis Diamante (similar to Buenos Aires black & yellow cabs)
  • Fixed-route taxis

Other:

  • Calafias (short bus-like vans, common in the eastern part of the city or lower class city areas; several owner companies exist)

There are as many bus lines (the companies) and routes as fixed-route taxi ones or calafias, and new routes for buses, taxis or calafias are frequently created, due to high demand of public transportation. Public transportation service is cheap, with bus tickets at $8.00 Mexican Peso (about $0.75 U.S. dollar) the maximum; fixed-route taxis are somewhat more expensive, depending on the taxi route, reaching $15.00 Mexican Peso. Bus, taxi and calafia lines and routes are distinguised one from another by their vehicles colors.

All means of transportation within the city accept both Mexican Peso and U.S. dollar as payment currencies, but no other foreign currencies.

Major bus (also served by some fixed-route taxi lines) routes by destinations include the following:

  • Mirador-Miramar-Soler-Centro-Plaza Rio-Otay-Aeropuerto (reaches Tijuana International Airport)
  • Altamira-Villa-Centro-Plaza Rio-20 de Noviembre-Otay Modulos (reaches Zona Rio and the UABC Tijuana campus)
  • Playas 2-Soler-Centro-Linea-Palacio-Hospital-Buena Vista-Central Camionera (reaches Playas de Tijuana, the city bus station area, the Tijuana-San Ysidro border, the Municipal Palace, and the city's General Hospital)
  • Centro-Linea-Palacio-Postal-Otay-UABC-Corredor 2000 (reaches the Tijuana-San Ysidro border, the Municipal Palace, the UABC Tijuana campus and new Corredor 2000)

Most bus, fixed-route taxi and calafia routes reach Centro, with the rest based on 5 y 10 and Modulos, and most of them reach or reach nearly Plaza Rio (at Zona Rio) and Otay areas.

In 2006, Tijuana underwent a major overhaul of its existing system of guayines, or shared fixed-route station wagons, forcing the replacement of the guayines with new models of vans, serving as fixed-route taxis. Major transit hubs include Centro (Downtown Tijuana), Otay, Soler, and the Cinco y Diez avenues.

From the U.S. side, San Ysidro is the southern terminus of San Diego's municipal bus and trolley systems, providing public transportation to and from the Mexican border with Tijuana. The newly-rebuilt San Ysidro trolley station is located directly next to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility.

Roads

Tijuana is home to the world's busiest border crossing with about 300,000 people crossing the border between San Diego and Tijuana every day. Queues take anywhere from a few minutes to an hour or more to cross to the United States, on non-US holidays, with wait of a few hours on US national holidays or some Mexican holidays. Expect street vendors during the wait. However, after clearing customs and immigration formalities, Interstate 5 is a major 8-10 lane freeway from San Ysidro to downtown San Diego, Los Angeles, and north to the Canadian border. Interstate 805 branches off from I-5 just north of the border, and takes a more easterly route which bypasses downtown San Diego, rejoining with I-5 in the northern part of the city. From the Otay Mesa border crossing, Otay Mesa Road takes drivers west to connect with both I-805 and I-5.

Two important Mexican federal highways end in Tijuana, one of them is Federal Highway 1, which runs south through the Baja California peninsula, ending in Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur. From Tijuana to Ensenada, most travelers take Highway 1-D (scenic road), a four-lane, limited access toll road that runs by the coast starting at Playas de Tijuana. Mexican Federal Highway 2 runs east for 1,000 kilometers near the international border, currently as far as Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua.

Sister cities

Tijuana is twinned with:

Notable people

Fictional

See also

References

Notes
  1. ^ Link to 2010 Mexican Census Info INEGI: Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática.
  2. ^ Tijuana, entry in the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed., 2000. Transcribed into IPA.
  3. ^ Tijuana. Dictionary.com. Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition. HarperCollins Publishers. (accessed: August 09, 2010).
  4. ^ GaWC. "The World According to GaWC". Retrieved 2011-02-26.
  5. ^ Massive traffic cripples Tijuana border crossing.
  6. ^ World Gazetteer – San Diego-Tijuana
  7. ^ World Gazetteer – Metropolitan Areas of America
  8. ^ Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas http://www.tijuana.gob.mx/ciudad/CiudadHistoriaMinima.asp
  9. ^ As determined at the second Symposium of History, 1975.
  10. ^ M. Kottek (2006). "World Map of the Köppen-Geiger climate classification updated". Meteorol. Z. 15: 259–263. doi:10.1127/0941-2948/2006/0130. Retrieved April 22, 2009. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ http://redalyc.uaemex.mx/redalyc/pdf/568/56842328.pdf
  12. ^ "SERVICIO METEOROLÓGICO NACIONAL: NORMALES CLIMATOLÓGICAS 1971-2000". Mexican National Meteorological Service. Retrieved 2010-06-26.
  13. ^ Historia http://www.cecut.gob.mx/acerca.php
  14. ^ Pagel, David Pagel (2007-01-30). "ART REVIEW Tijuana's scrappy, do-it-yourself spirit Ingenuity seizes the day as a traveling exhibition brings a vibrant creative scene across the border". Los Angeles Times. p. E-1.
  15. ^ Algunos datos de la industria maquiladora de exportación
  16. ^ C.Michael Hogan, Marc Papineau et al., {1985} Preliminary Assessment of Environmental Effects of Sewage on San Diego Beaches (EIS). Prepared by Earth Metrics Inc. for the U.S. EPA, Region IX.
  17. ^ Sprint Baja Services on Sprint.com
  18. ^ Kidnap fears causing some to leave Tijuana on SignOnSanDiego.com
  19. ^ Days are grueling and grisly for Tijuana's homicide cops on SignOnSanDiego.com
  20. ^ 13 dead in Tijuana shootouts on CNN.com
  21. ^ "Denuncias Registradas Ante Agencias del Ministerio Publico del Fuero Comun" (PDF) (in Spanish). Portal de Transparencia del Gobierno del Estado de Baja California. Retrieved 2011-02-20.
  22. ^ . Sister Cities International http://sister-cities.org/directory/IntllistingsResults.cfm. Retrieved May 1, 2011. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help); Text "Mexican Sister Cities" ignored (help)
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tijuana.

32°31′30″N 117°02′0″W / 32.52500°N 117.03333°W / 32.52500; -117.03333

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tijuana&oldid=427586911"