Border Trade Alliance

Border Trade Alliance, San Ysidro Smart Border Coalition, and Local Business Urge the California U.S. Senate Delegation to Direct GSA to Involve Local Stakeholders in Port Design

Washington D.C. July 7, 2009 - Border Trade Alliance (BTA) joined the San Ysidro Smart Border Coalition, represented by the leaders from the San Ysidro Chamber of Commerce and Casa Familiar, in Washington, to urge California Senators Feinstein and Boxer to ensure that local government and businesses are involved in the design and planning process for construction to existing and new land border ports of entry.

Local border stakeholders from the San Diego region and nationwide remain very concerned that the federal agency responsible for the design, construction, and maintenance of most U.S. land ports of entry, the General Service Administration’s (GSA), has “lost sight” of a number of previously negotiated project initiatives in the large-scale reconfiguration of the San Ysidro Port of Entry (SYPOE), the World’s busiest land border crossing.

Lack of community planning in incorporating community-supported pedestrian, parking and transit design elements, and accommodating existing businesses before beginning construction at San Ysidro or any other land ports of entry, means a failure to maximize efficiency and the benefit to economy - one of the primary goals of port development.

Whether through direct retail sales for border businesses or state and local tax revenue, border state economies like California are directly impacted by land ports.  Combined, the U.S. Dept. of Transportation Bureau of Transportation Statistics shows Southern California ports of entry processed 1,178,954 trucks, 28,308,158 personal vehicles, and 15,064,432 pedestrians in 2008 alone. According to a 2005 study on “The Economic Impact of the Mexico-California Relationship,” conducted by the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute, 177,000 California jobs were supported by state exports to Mexico with an additional 17,000 jobs generated as the result of Mexican tourism to the state.

“Local border communities are uniquely positioned to bring real-world working solutions and insights to port projects - they live with it everyday.” stated BTA President Maria Luisa O’Connell,  “They’re heavily invested in the success of new and upgraded land ports as it directly impacts their bottom lines and lives.” 

Additional concerns over GSA’s lack of cooperation with local stakeholders came when the agency recently eliminated it’s Land Port of Entry Division, prior to the appointment of new Administrator for the agency, effectively changing the personell structure through which communities previously collaborated with GSA.

Despite recent conference calls in which GSA Acting Administrator, Paul F. Prouty, and PBS GSA Recovery Executive, Bill Guerin assured BTA, San Ysidro Border Coallition, and Congressman Filner that they would actively work to address the current concerns with SYPOE reconfiguration and portfolio wide community collaboration through the “reorganization” of GSA, Congress must continue to ensure that U.S. land ports remain a priority in line with the $830 billion in annual economic activity they generate.

Last week, the BTA wrote lawmakers serving on the House and Senate Appropriations Committees to ask that as they begin to develop the FY10 Financial Services Appropriations legislation, which provides the annual funding for the General Services Administration (GSA), that they direct GSA to make funding ports infrastructure a priority, while increasing involvement from local communities and existing businesses at U.S. land ports in the planning process for new or upgraded infrastructure.

As the BTA and its broad group of members, including the San Ysidro Chamber and local businesses from Southern California, succeed in achieving additional federal investment in upgrading U.S. gateways to trade with our largest two export markets in Canada and Mexico, the trade advocacy group will continue to stress the importance of involving local border stakeholders in the federal planning process.

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