The Vinniepalooza Music Fest comes to Deano’s pub on Saturday June 22 and will serve to raise awareness of the current pollution issue affecting both Imperial Beach and the Tijuana River Valley. Vince Meehan is the founder of Strike A Chord, a coalition of local musicians and bands that volunteer their time to help various San Diego non-profits and foundations. Stike A Chord will be hosting the Vinniepalooza event in support of San Diego Coastkeeper, a local 501(c)3 non-profit organization who is currently addressing our South Bay sewage issue.
“We are very in tune with the local foundations, and San Diego Coastkeeper has a mission that I think everybody can get behind,” noted Meehan. “We’ll be directing our attendees to their website via QR codes where people can sign up to donate, volunteer, or become a member – whatever they feel comfortable with.”
The show will feature three of San Diego’s top original bands. Starting the show will be The Vaquitos, a blues-based rock/pop band. Then, it’s Revelation 69, a local rock band with a very Hollywood attitude and look. Finishing the show will be the Discount Cadavers, a group that has a very late 70s CBGBs vibe. Meehan says the core focus will be to help heal our South Bay, but that this event will also serve as a celebration of San Diego’s diverse and vibrant original music scene.
“You know, when I was younger, there were a lot of festival-style concerts that were really a celebration of whatever genre was represented,” Meehan said. “And a lot of them were a potpourri of various styles and I really liked those. That’s why I came up with the Vinniepalooza concept. I really want to celebrate our local musicians and help a great cause at the same time. Why not? To me, it’s a win-win situation.
Phillip Musegaas is the Executive Director of San Diego Coastkeeper and his group is currently filing a lawsuit against the federal government over their role in the pollution crisis affecting the South Bay. He says a major source of the sewage pollution stems from the South Bay Treatment Plant located just on the other side of the border from Tijuana.
“So we – San Diego Coastkeeper and another group, The Coastal Environmental Rights Foundation – filed a lawsuit against the federal government relating to their operation of a sewage treatment plant on the border with Mexico. It’s called the South Bay Treatment Plant, operated by a federal agency and that plant has been a big part of the whole sewage pollution crisis along the U.S./Mexico border,” Musegaas said. “That plant has a federal permit that governs how it needs to treat sewage pollution, what it can discharge into the ocean after its treated, and they have been violating that permit and the limits in that permit on pollution for at least five years – and probably longer.”
Musegaas says the plant was built in the 90s as part of NAFTA in a treaty that was agreed upon by both Mexico and the United States to treat raw sewage coming from Tijuana.
“We went back and looked at five years of their records, we looked at their own data that they collected that was showing that they were discharging high levels of pollution into the ocean and we based our lawsuit on that. We are very experienced in bringing lawsuits like this, this is what we do. It’s part of our work and so we brought this lawsuit in federal court against the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC) and our goal is simple. Our goal is to get them to stop the pollution, come back into compliance with their permit, repair the sewage treatment plant – the South Bay plant – and get it running properly so that we don’t have raw sewage and chemicals getting dumped into our ocean and affecting how people can use the beach in San Diego, and affecting what people might be exposed to when they’re out in the water – that has to stop.
Musegaas says a lack of funding from the federal government has caused the facility to fall into a state of disrepair. Pumps are broken and treatment pools are clogged with sediment and trash. So the water that is released into the ocean via a three-mile underwater pipe is contaminated with both sewage and chemicals. The lawsuit aims to force the treatment center to upgrade the facility so that it complies with the original treaty as well as stop polluting the South Bay beaches, which have been affected for over 800 days. The ironic part that most people are not aware of is that a huge part of the sewage situation stems from the U.S. Government who operates the plant. And even though the raw sewage originates in Mexico, the U.S. agreed to treat it, but is not living up to its obligation to do so.
“A federal judge can issue a court order that sets a very strict schedule for doing the repairs, for complying with the law and reducing the pollution discharges, Musegaas explained. “I think both countries have a role in it, to say it’s all Mexico’s fault is just not accurate. There’s much more that we can be doing on our side of the border to treat the sewage. To meet our treaty obligations – the agreements that we made with Mexico – we are not living up to those. And so, I don’t think we should be criticizing Mexico, we should live up to our own agreements while figuring out what Mexico is or is not doing and figure out where we need to come up and do solutions. People can disagree with the idea that we agreed to treat Tijuana’s sewage, but that agreement was made – we agreed to it – and I think that until there is a new agreement, which I don’t see that happening – but that’s the agreement we agreed to and we should honor those agreements.
Vinniepalooza will not only feature live music, but also raffle giveaways and a few surprises. Meehan says the event starts at 7:30 and the giveaways start immediately so it pays to get there early. “The event is free to get in so it’s open to everybody even if you can’t afford to donate towards the cause. But guests are highly encouraged to log into San Diego Coastkeeper’s site to help support them in any way possible. It’s a way to become part of the solution!”
Vinniepalooza
Saturday June 22 7:30pm
Deano’s Pub
5286 Baltimore Dr. La Mesa
