Sewage spillers, for instance, no longer will get off with a small-town hand slap. Council members no longer fear a mayor's public wrath when they disagree. This border city becomes a test model across the United States through the outreach of higher education leaders. Like San Diego State University's president, Steve Weber, Dynes carves out whole days to visit communities of all ages and colors in North, East and South San Diego. He tells pupils that UCSD admission is open to diligent San Diego students of any color, and to junior-year transfers from San Diego community colleges.
Dynes carries along proof.
Introducing him at a community breakfast last week in Southwestern College's cafeteria was Francisco Estrada, a 1998 UCSD graduate, now aide to Rep. Bob Filner. Later the physicist Dynes sat on a tiny chair in a third-grade classroom at San Ysidro's Smythe School, which is 90 percent Latino, building with Legos and explaining what college is and how pupils could go. Gallego heads City, Mesa and Miramar, with 100,000 students, one of the nation's largest districts. Sam Marasco, a man passionate about this border as an icon, has defied all odds brought in Mexico City and Washington over six years and will break ground at noon April 6, west of the San Ysidro border crossing, for the International Gateway of the Americas. In a slough of despond, it bids to become a colorful and lively gateway for which shoppers quickly will find some more colloquial name.