See Also: Blackwater Worldwide Blackwater Otay Blackwater Potrero Blackwater In Moyock Blackwater North

Blackwater Otay

On Otay Mesa, only a block or so from the international border, Blackwater has set up shop in an industrial park. (Otay is pronounced "Oh-Tie")

View Larger Dynamic Map

The building is at 7685 Siempre Viva Rd, San Diego, CA 92154. Please note that only a few blocks away (two to three) is the international border, and Tijuana International Airport. The two doors south of the facility is the U.S. Border Patrol, Otay Station.

Big Picture context of the Blackwater Otay secret facility.:

From April 2003 San Diego Metro Magazine: "Oncor International reports that a 61,599 sqft shell industrial building in the new six building Britannia Corporate Center project in Otay Mesa has been sold for 3.6 million. to Home Tex Packaging Corp. The new owner plans to relocate it's textile distribution center here."

http://hometexcorp.com/ It's a textile company, apparently they specialize in towels. Seems innocent enough, until you scroll down a little, and see that they own several towel factories in... Pakistan. More amazing research on this company: Home Tex

Press Conference and Rally -- 25 Apr 2008

Our rally to put pressure on Blackwater to pull the plug on this project too! We won on their first ridiculous project in Potrero We can do the same here!

Ray Lutz explains the situation on Democracy Now! with Amy Goodman:

• Front of the building with deceptive "HomeTex" sign.:
  

• Another shot of the frontage of the building:
  

• Back of the building has 20 truck bays. The last two bays have large blowers, two in and four out.:
  

• BW-Otay-Back2-600x450.jpg:
  

Those blowers are connected to a freestanding structure inside the building, which I assume is a pre-fab shooting gallery of some sort. At the other end of the building is a simulated building "shoot house" like the ones they were planning for Potrero, I assume.

According to Anne Krueger, Union Tribune reporter, Blackwater VP Brian Bonfiglio has admitted these facts and will be giving her a tour of the facility.

Was there any public review of these plans? Is the air expelled from the shoot house laced with gun powder and other pollutants? Do we care about the air, or is it okay to pollute as long as it is near the border?

It is interesting that the INPUT blowers seem to have no filtration. Apparently, if their neighbor backs up a semi truck to the inputs, the blowers would happily suck in the truck exhaust and the shooters would either go unconscious or at least start to miss their targets. I'm sure that this sort of ventilation equipment is normally found on the rooftops of the buildings and not sitting out in the parking area. With all the animosity Blackwater seems to generate in the public, they'll need to put that ventilation equipment behind locks gates, at least.

Project Filings

• website: http://www.sandiego.gov/development-services
• PARCEL: 667-060-3500
• Development 3951 by Southwest Law Enforcement
• Architect: Arcadis, 128 South Tryon St., Charlotte, NC 28202 http://www.arcadis-us.com
• Raven Development Group -- A subsidiary of Blackwater: http://www.blackwaterusa.com/raven/

Project	Date	Description
138862	06 Sep 2007	Building permit for interior tenant improvement. Work: 44.0 lineal feet of new partition in existing office space. OWNER: Safchild Investments, LLC, 1925 Century Park East, #1950, Los Angeles, CA 90067 (Partition mainly to cover entrances of restroom doors and to change conference room, apparently to increase size of training room.
140766	01 Oct 2007	Mechanical Permit with plans. Scope of work to include: Install 2 new A/C units, 6 exhaust fans. Electrical under separate permit. Raven Development / Southwest Law Enforcement Training Enterprises. Plans detail interior shooting range with laminar flow ventilation equipment. Plans show input and discharge to roof and not to loading dock, as was built. There is no mention of "shooting range" except control panel has lights "Safe to Shoot", "Do Not Shoot" and switch "Range ventilation on/off". The various approval blocks do not include any approvals for a shooting range or the use of firearms in the facility.
150059	07 Feb 2008	Add modular training unit inside existing warehouse for extg Southwest Law Enforcement Facility Plans for this project have been "lost" by the development department of the City of San Diego.

Files were not available as they were in office of Afsaneh Ahmadi. To make an appointment, call 619-557-7998. I also saw this number: 619-446-5406.

I note that the project at this facility was started shortly after we announced our huge rally in Potrero, on October 7th. They pulled permits exactly one month prior to our Rally. Apparently, the rally in Potrero was enough to spook Blackwater into seeking an secret "Plan B". They added the modular training unit a month before they finally pulled the Potrero project. This was at the same time that Brian Bonfiglio was the most adamant about continuing the Potrero project. In other words, don't believe it when they say that public action has no impact!

Recent Articles and Media:

This is the most recently published 20 articles, most recent first.

• Blackwater inquiry sought -- Tanya Mannes^?, Union Tribune, 2008-05-06
• Southern California Residents Gear Up for New Fight to Stop Secretive Expansion by Military Firm Blackwater -- Amy Goodman, Raymond Lutz, Bob Filner, Democracy Now, 2008-05-02
• Shooting range owner cuts ties to Blackwater -- Anne Krueger, Union Tribune, 2008-04-29
• Blackwater permit faces challenge - Public not informed, San Diego officials say -- Tanya Mannes^?, Union Tribune, 2008-04-26
• Blackwater-Otay Press Conference (Filner) -- Raymond Lutz, Citizens Oversight, 2008-04-25
• Southbay Leaders: Otay Blackwater Presence Will Complicate Border Relations -- Amy Isackson, Kpbs News, 2008-04-25
• Officials will challenge Blackwater over indoor facility -- Tanya Mannes^?, Union Tribune, 2008-04-25
• Filner Protests Blackwater Development in South County -- Bob Filner, Bob Filner, 2008-04-24 See Also Blackwater Otay
• Blackwater revives mission -- Security contractor plans training center -- Anne Krueger, Union Tribune, 2008-04-23
• Blackwater sets sights on indoor facility in Otay Mesa -- Anne Krueger, Union Tribune, 2008-04-22
• Blackwater USA Resurrects Plans to Open Training Center in San Diego County -- Ana Tintocalis, Kpbs News, 2008-04-22
• Blackwater Finds New Home In South Bay -- , NBCSan Diego^?, 2008-04-22
• Contractors take on expanded role in drug war -- Katherine Mc Intire Peters^?, Government Executive^?, 2007-09-12 Confirms that Blackwater is in counter-narcoterrorism business.

• All Blackwater News Media - This page contains all the news media about Blackwater that has been submitted to the site. Some media that is very important was recently submitted to the site but has an earlier publication date... You can find it here.

• Submit Media - Add News Media of any kind here.

Take Action

• Donate To Stop Blackwater - Please help us with a small contribution to defray our expenses to fight the invasion of our country.
• Help Friends of Raymond Lutz win assembly seat in this area. - We wholeheartedly endorse Raymond in his campaign to a seat in the California State Assembly so he can sponsor legislation to make Paramilitary training illegal!