San Diego County Supervisor Nora Vargas and Jeff Light, former editor and publisher of The San Diego Union-Tribune, were inducted last week into the 2023 Tijuana Walk of Fame.
Along with eight other inductees, they were recognized as influential people who have excelled in their professional lives and whose work has impacted new generations. All 10 were honored during the 20th edition of the Paseo de la Fama, or Walk of Fame, which the nonprofit Tijuana Innovadora hosted at The Trompo Interactive Museum.
The Walk of Fame has more than 200 individuals in the fields of arts and culture, science, technology, sports, business and education. Jose Galicot Behar, president and founder of Tijuana Innovadora, launched the initiative in 2003 “to attract the world’s attention to the best of Tijuana, its people” and to strengthen a sense of pride in the city, according to the organization’s website.
The inductees of the 2023 Tijuana Walk of Fame
(Courtesy of Tijuana Innovadora )
Earlier this month when announcing this year’s inductees, Galicot Behar said Vargas’ story is an example of someone born in Tijuana who is leaving their mark nationally and internationally through their work, all while exuding pride in being from Mexico.
“She was born in Tijuana,” he said. “San Diego has 18 small cities. The leader of all those cities of San Diego (County) is Nora. She is the first in (the county’s) history and she feels Tijuanense.”
In January, Vargas became the first Latina chair of the county Board of Supervisors after having first joined the board in 2020 to represent District 1 in South San Diego. She has expressed pride in becoming the first fronteriza, or someone who embraces two cultures and languages, to serve the post. She has pushed for addressing binational issues and strengthening the relationships between the San Diego and Cali-Baja regions. In August, she successfully proposed the county create a chief of binational affairs officer and in 2021 she was recognized for leading binational vaccination programs that lifted non-essential travel restrictions so that thousands could get inoculated.
“For me, the only thing I want to do is improve the community,” she said in a video shared during the Walk of Fame ceremony. “I want to demonstrate to people and let them know that if a girl from Tijuana who didn’t speak English can go as far as I have gone, anybody can do it.”
Light, a veteran journalist whose newspaper career spans four decades, was recognized for leading The San Diego Union-Tribune in its continued coverage of the San Diego and Tijuana regions. He was the first journalist in American media to join the list of inductees.
He joined the paper in March 2010 as its top editor and in 2016 also became the publisher. Journalism at Risk, a short documentary that highlights the dangers of reporting in Mexico, earned an Excellence Award at the Documentaries Without Borders International Film Festival and was among the many stories and other works that received awards under his leadership.
“A journalist seeks the truth with no agenda other than accountability to the community,” he said, thanking the organization for “recognizing the importance of journalism and of recognizing the Union-Tribune as part of that.”
Both received a medal of recognition. Sandra Dibble, a 2017 Walk of Fame inductee who previously covered the border and Mexico for the Union-Tribune, presented him with the medal. Carlos Gonzalez Gutierrez, the consul general of Mexico in San Diego, provided Vargas with her medal.
Other inductees included Raul Arvizu, a mixed martial arts coach; Maria Eugenia Acevedo, founder of Certus Laboratorio; Pavlo Getman, conductor of the Mexicali and Tijuana Symphony Orchestra; Adela Navarro, a journalist; Jorge Ojeda, CEO of Grupo Aries; Roberto Hurtado, a musician; Sofia Marquez, a women’s rights activist; and El Trompo museum.
