City officials broke ground Friday on a library in San Ysidro, following more than two decades of discussion and planning.
Councilman David Alvarez, who represents San Ysidro, spearheaded fundraising efforts for the library, which is expected to open in 2019, the mayor said.
Alvarez said building a new library was one of his top priorities upon being elected.
“I was proud to work with the community to secure the site and funding for this long-awaited project,” he said.
The City Council Monday rejected a plan to conduct a special election for this fall that potentially would have included Mayor Kevin Faulconer's plan to expand the San Diego Convention Center. "This isn't ready to come forward, it just really isn't," Councilman David Alvarez said about the convention center proposal. "Shovels can't be ready, and cranes can't be ready, because the land doesn't belong to the city."
Read MoreCommunity members have complained for decades about San Ysidro's infrastructure. Old and inadequate streets and the absence of sidewalks and pedestrian pathways were mentioned in the community plan when it was revised in 1990. Since taking office in early December, Councilman Alvarez says most of the calls he’s received from San Ysidro residents have concerned infrastructure. “This is supposed to be the international gateway— America’s front door —but look around at the sidewalks and the streets,” he says. “No one really feels like it’s a gateway. How could they?”
Read MoreCommunity leaders pursuing a Chicano Park museum took a key step forward this week when San Diego officials agreed to lease an empty building in the park to them for 20 years so they can begin fundraising for renovations. Alvarez said previous success by community leaders in creating the park and turning it into something special are a strong indication that they will successfully make the museum happen. “The community built this park,” he said. “So we know that the museum and cultural center will be built.”
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