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-Editorial
Calexico city officials, local business owners, and community members gathered to mark the beginning of an important cleanup initiative on 3rd Street in downtown Calexico. The event signaled the start of efforts to revitalize a key commercial district that has faced significant challenges in recent years.
The focus of the celebration was the cleanup of a building that has long been a source of concern for the community. The site, once home to the Calexico Elks Lodge, was destroyed by fire in January 2020, which also led to the destruction of neighboring structures. The adjacent property, formerly occupied by Fiesta Restaurant, became a place for illegal activities, including drug use and homelessness, as it remained untouched due to legal disputes and lack of action by the city.
Since the early hours of Aug. 9, a local construction company from El Centro, Pink Hats, was seen removing trash and debris from the site.
The cleanup initiative comes as a result of the efforts by Calexico business consultant Maritza Hurtado. Her work to represent her clients became complicated due to the lack of cooperation from the previous city administration.
However, the recent change in city leadership after the April 16 recall against two council members ushered in a new era of collaboration. Councilman Victor Legaspi played a role in restarting discussions with both the property owners and the city. Under this new leadership, there has been a notable change towards addressing the longstanding issues that have hindered progress.
The cleanup project is now seen as a beacon of hope for restoring downtown Calexico to its former glory. The press conference also served as an opportunity for various city commissioners to talk about their work. The common theme of the event was to work in unity and make Calexico a thriving city again with the help of the citizens and the talent that lives here.
“These burned buildings are being cleaned up to start bringing new businesses,” said Blanca Morales, President of the Calexico Business Improvement District.
Calexico Mayor Camilo Garcia said that this was a group effort and said this would bring development again to this area. Mayor Garcia reminded that the transportation center will be built across the street where Rite Aid used to be.
“Shouting doesn’t lead to results; actions do,” Garcia said. “The community is driving this effort, and as long as we stay focused and proactive, things will get done.”
BID Commissioner Robert Gronich also celebrated the occasion but asked property owners to help and support the city in bringing more economic development.
“We need the property owners to care about downtown Calexico not just next month’s rent, we need property owners to care five, ten, twenty years down the road. Many absentee landlords don’t invest in downtown. We need to get them involved and help us bring businesses,” Gronich said.
Despite the good news of this cleanup, the transient population is still a security problem for the area. Morales said that she would be meeting with behavioral health soon and noted that the closure of the Catholic Charities shelter made it harder for these men to have a place to sleep.
“One of the things we have in healthcare is street medicine so we are working with Healthnet to be a street medicine provider so we can go out there and provide healthcare to these homeless and drug addicts through behavioral health so the county will be a big part of that,” Morales said.
