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Stakeholders Design Summit Planned for Friendship Park
By Ann Jarmusch
September/October 2022
Just weeks before Friendship Park’s 51st anniversary in August 2022, Friends of Friendship Park leaders met with Customs and Border Protection staff, and were granted an unprecedented concession unheard of among thousands of opponents of the ongoing border wall construction between the U.S and Mexico.
CBP agreed to a “temporary pause” in the planned construction of two 30-foot-tall steel bollard-style walls along the San Diego-Tijuana border to supplement a hodgepodge of steel barriers intended to keep undocumented migrants out of California. The Friends had requested a halt; the government didn’t specify the pause’s duration. CBP said it is using the time to gather public input on the fences’ design and effects on Friendship Park, which has been closed to the public since February 2020. The pause began in August, but what’s next?
The Friends’ John Fanestil said official details are scarce, but his group isn’t waiting for CBP San Diego Sector to get organized for public input. The Friends are holding a Stakeholder Design Summit on September 9 and 10. Everyone, including CBP personnel, is invited, and preservationists, environmentalists, human rights advocates, and neighbors from Tijuana and San Diego are expected. To learn more, go to www.friendshippark.org.
 You can barely see the 1850s marble obelisk that officially marks the border, now that it’s fenced in. For a ghostly glimpse, look at the light house; the distant obelisk is below it at 1 o’clock. |
 Friendship Park’s closure to the public since February 2020 and persistent drought have devastated the park’s greenery. What’s more, federal construction crews bulldozed a thriving binational native garden. It is slowly being replanted by Friends of Friendship Park volunteers. Photos by Sandé Lollis |
For decades, families and friends unable to cross the border legally have met across Friendship Park solid walls and mesh fences for reunions or farewells, and to celebrate graduates, brides, and babies. As the border has become increasingly fortified, face-to-face meetings are no longer possible, so communication is now via cell phones. Even the 1850s marble obelisk that marks the U.S.-Mexico border’s western end is corralled behind steel fencing.
The Friends of Friendship Park are also exploring ways to preserve and protect the park and its historical, archaeological, and cultural elements, including centuries old trails, ranches, and a binational native garden. Nominating the park for the National Register of Historic Places, a National Monument, and/or a UNESCO World Heritage Site are possibilities. Read more: Friends of Friendship Park Consider National Historic Landmark Status.
A July 2022 letter from Congressman Juan Vargas (and 15 of his Congressional colleagues) to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas boosted the Friends’ advocacy. Vargas wrote Mayorkas, “I strongly urge you to cease all remediation projects at Friendship Park that would affect public access and diminish the original intent of this location. I urge you to involve community stakeholders to generate a comprehensive and site-specific design that will enable Friendship Park to continue serving this binational region as it was intended.”
Then the Friends coordinated dozens of similar letters to Mayorkas, President Biden, and other officials from regional organizations, community and faith leaders, and individuals. Governor Gavin Newsom and Senators Dianne Feinstein and Alex Padilla have since added their support, helping to underscore the Friends' message that Friendship Park is an important California resource.
SOHO's letter highlights the park’s threatened, if not already destroyed, sensitive coastal habitat, traces of historic expeditions, and "binational" trails made by the Kumeyaay, who observe no international borders.
A short Friends of Friendship Park video shows the encroachment of border walls over time on visitors and concludes with simulated footage illustrating how the 30-foot walls would impact the park. Watch "Wondering what 30-foot-walls would look like at Friendship Park?"
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