Group Seeks to Empower Tijuana Residents
 Pablo Jaime Sáinz - San Diego Union-Tribune
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February 05, 2010
| | People walked Monday past a billboard in Tijuana that says “Violence breeds violence, act with a conscience.” The sign is part of a campaign to energize residents. (David Maung/San Diego Union-Tribune) | |
In the ongoing wave of drug-related violence, it’s not unusual for killers to leave “narco-messages” next to the bodies of their victims and on signs draped from bridges.
Now, a collective movement in Tijuana wants to deliver a message of its own to the city’s residents: You have power.
Re-acciona Tijuana (Tijuana React), a group formed a few weeks ago by businesses on the social-networking site Facebook, is erecting signs across the city with phrases that seek to empower residents to improve their environs.
“We want to call attention to the responsibility each of us has,” said Gabriela Posada, director of Fotográfika, an advertising agency leading the campaign.
The other two companies involved are Grupo Vallas, another ad agency, and the printing firm PDP. The three companies are absorbing the expenses by doing most of the work themselves, although they had to pay about $1,000 to print the messages for the billboards.
In the first phase, they have placed 16 signs with 11 different messages across the city, including near the San Ysidro border crossing, the Rio Zone and the 20 de Noviembre neighborhood.
The phrases include “Contaminating Tijuana contaminates our heart,” “Violence breeds violence, act with a conscience,” and an offering from Tijuana author Rafa Saavedra, “Despite everything, Tijuana keeps moving.”
The group has put the phrases on blankets and tarps and plans to put them on stickers, glasses and other items.
Posada said the project was inspired by similar campaigns in other cities, including Buenos Aires, Argentina, Bogota, Colombia and Monterrey.
The group created a Facebook page that, as of this week, less than 15 days after being launched, has more than 2,000 members. The members have suggested phrases, places to locate the signs and volunteered to help with the promotion.
“It’s been incredible and heartening to see so many people who want to make a positive change,” Posada said. “There’s a big need to see a way out, as simple as that seems.”
She said one teacher wrote that all the children at her school would be asked to contribute a phrase or drawing to inspire a positive attitude about their city.
The project backs no particular political party or ideology, Posada said. “Ultimately, the brand is Tijuana,” she said. “And we’re all interested in rebuilding it, growing it, according to what each person does best.”
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