WEEDING OUT A NEW TIJUANA

Cleanup: Leaders Of This Border Town Know It Will Take Years To Spruce Up
Its Seedy Image, And Vendors Selling Marijuana Pipes Are The First To Go.

TIJUANA, Mexico -- This is not a whispering kind of town.

Vendors along Avenida Revolucion, the border town's main drag, spend much
of their days advertising their wares, which range from Viagra to 85-cent
draft beers, at the top of their lungs amid a confusing mix of shouted
Spanish and English.

But there is one thing that causes the vendors to lower their voices these
days.

"You want a pipe? For marijuana?" whispers Cesar Fernandez as he leads a
visitor to a glass display case in the back of the La Flor store. The case
held only three small pipes. "Not many left," Fernandez sighed. "I'll give
you a discount."

The reason for the dearth of pipes is the city government's effort to
revitalize Tijuana, especially Avenida Revolucion. Instead of having a
reputation as place where Americans go to get drunk, find a cheap dentist,
or buy drugs, legal or otherwise, city officials want it to be known as a
Mexican equivalent of San Diego's gas lamp district, a trendy mix of Banana
Republics, bars and restaurants.

City officials have cracked down on the pipes by targeting unlicensed
vendors and invoking a little-known law that prohibits the sale of items
that contribute to bad morals. Vendors must stop selling pipes, a former
staple of the stores on Avenida Revolucion, by Sept. 12, government
officials announced.

Although the new city government, which came into office in December, says
the changes are necessary, they acknowledge that transformation of the city
won't be easy. Not only are some vendors balking at the ban, but the city's
image as a tequila-soaked, corrupt party town may be too deep to shake.

"People have this image of Tijuana as a place to get drunk and party, and
that's a big problem. ... Getting rid of pipes won't make a big difference,
but we need to make any difference we can at this point," said Ricardo
Gonzalez Cruz, a city official who represents the area surrounding Avenida
Revolution.

Tijuana, a 1.2 million-inhabitant city across the border from San Diego,
has long been known as a fun-loving town. Tijuana was once a sleepy farming
commune but grew rapidly during Prohibition, when bars and casinos began
springing up, attracting stars such as Charlie Chaplin and gangsters such
as Al Capone.

Even though gambling was outlawed in 1935, Tijuana continued to grow and
began to take on a more ominous tone. The Arellano Felix drug gang has its
roots in the city and eventually became known as the Tijuana cartel, much
to the dismay of elected officials.

City Police Chief Carlos Otal Namur and 40 other officials were arrested by
Mexican federal officials and accused to conspiring with drug dealers in
April. Although Namur was later released, he resigned his post in June
because of political pressure.

At least Namur was alive to tell the tale. One of his predecessors, Alfredo
de la Torre, died in 2000 after gunmen pumped nearly 100 rounds into his
Chevy Suburban.

The city's image is so bad it sometimes seems cursed. This past September,
the area was assigned a new area code: 666. Fearing the digit's devilish
connotations, city leaders successfully lobbied to change it to 664.

Tijuana supporters note that the city makes nearly 8 million televisions a
year, supports a growing middle class, and attracts 3.5 million visitors
annually. "The image lags behind the reality," said Van R. Whiting, senior
fellow with the Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies at the University of
California, San Diego.

But Tequila's seedy side is evident on Avenida Revolucion. Stores offer
T-shirts with the slogan: "One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor!"
Clubs with names such as "Animale" feature "XX" signs, which officially
stands for Dos Equis beer but is also shorthand for the action inside.
Vendors offer tourists a chance to take a picture with white donkeys
painted to look like zebras.

Mayor Jesus Gonzalez, who took office on Dec. 1, has made cleaning up
Tijuana's reputation a priority.

A recently formed "Image Committee," composed of politicians, business
people and concerned citizens, has discussed ideas for revitalizing the
area, including the construction of public housing to supplant the shacks
that ring the town and additional landscaping. There has been talk of
putting up posters of famous Tijuanans, such as Rita Hayworth, then known
as Margarita Carmen Dolores Cansino, who began her career by dancing in her
parents' nightclub.

City officials have begun targeting unlicensed vendors who sell trinkets to
tourists, confiscating their merchandise and moving them to other parts of
the city. The goods of nearly 50 vendors have been seized during the past
two months, said Gerry Ramirez, a city spokesman.

To replace the swarms of vendors, the city has installed 36 permanent
stalls near Avenida Revolucion for licensed vendors. City officials
acknowledge that the vendors have set up shop in other parts of the city,
but say that it is important to clear Avendia Revolucion.

"We need to eliminate unlicensed vendors," said Gerry Ramirez, a city
spokesman. "The [unlicensed] vendors were killing the regular businesses."

While many licensed vendors are happy to see the street vendors go, most
want to keep selling pipes. "So many people come in here asking for pipes,
it seems strange to stop selling all of a sudden," said Cesar Ramirez, who
works in the Hotel Lafayette gift shop, where the supply has dwindled to a
scant 10 onyx pipes.

But others said they either hadn't heard of the ban or said that inspectors
are unlikely to enforce it.

But city officials are keen on eliminating the pipes. While some vendors
say the pipes are artistic carvings used merely for smoking tobacco,
Gonzalez Cruz scoffs at the notion. The pipes are small, generally less
than two inches, and often come in decorative forms such as turtles or rodents.

"Who smokes tobacco out of a turtle?" Gonzalez Cruz asked.