By Yahairah Aristy and Jeff Benesch | La Mesa-Foothills Democratic Club

Noted SDSU city planning professor (and photo essayist) Lawrence Herzog will headline the June 6 meeting of the La Mesa Foothills Democratic Club (LMFDC).

Herzog recently published a guest editorial in the Voice of San Diego titled “Trump’s Border Wall Is a Symbol — And Symbols Make Terrible Policy.” In it he writes:

“The money needed to fulfill the president’s campaign promise would be better spent on cross-border infrastructure that boosts trade and facilitates the economy. There is a $1 billion shortage of funds for the ports of entry alone. During Trump’s campaign for president in 2016, the battle cry of adoring crowds was, ‘Build that wall!’ The ‘wall’ is, in fact, a metaphor for shielding America from outside threats and uncertainty.”

Professor Herzog will expand on that topic and talk about how building a wall, and the continued xenophobic rhetoric and pressure from Trump on NAFTA, will adversely affect our many-billion dollar commercial and social compact with our numerous Latin American allies and trading partners.

Lawrence A. Herzog (Ph.D.) is Professor, Graduate Program in City Planning, School of Public Affairs, San Diego State University. He is also a consultant and writer specializing in planning, sustainable development and urban design in the United States, Mexico and Latin America.

Herzog has written or edited 10 books on urban planning, and global/cross-border development, including: “Shared Space: Rethinking the U.S.-Mexico Border Environment,” “From Aztec to High Tech: Architecture and Landscape Across the Mexico-U.S. Border,” “Global Crossroads: Planning and Infrastructure for the California- Baja California Border Region,” and “Planning the International Border Metropolis.”

We’ll also have the honor of our own vice president for political action, Chris Pearson, recap the primary results and give us the whys and wherefores about the winners and losers and who survived through to the November general election.

Several of our endorsed candidates will learn their fate by primary results alone, so this should make for a very interesting evening. If you don’t know Pearson, he has a fascinating background in local politics, and as a labor executive for many years. He started his professional career in San Diego in law practice and has worked closely with local politicians and labor groups, including the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council.

He is currently spearheading our club’s push to contact all 13,000 registered La Mesa Democrats to get out the vote in the upcoming primary election, working on behalf of our endorsed county-wide candidates Matt Strabone (County Clerk/Assessor/Recorder) Genevieve Jones-Wright (District Attorney), and David Myers (Sheriff).

LMFDC meets the first Wednesday of every month at the La Mesa Community Center, 4975 Memorial Drive in La Mesa starting at 6:30 p.m. For more information on club events and membership, visitlamesafoothillsdemocraticclub.com.

— Yahairah Aristy is president and Jeff Benesch is vice president for programming of the La Mesa Foothills Democratic Club. Reach them at [email protected].