Obesity in San Diego County: A Winnable Battle
Obesity in San Diego County; A Winnable Battle.
B. Community:
San Diego County is located in the south eastern corner of California and lies geographically north of the Mexican Border and south of Orange and Riverside County. (Appendix 1, Fig 1.) It covers an area greater than the states of Rhode Island and Delaware combined, measuring 4,525.52 square miles.("San Diego County," 2010) In addition to San Diego City, the county comprises of 18 incorporated cities. It is has 193 square miles that are home to 18 Native American reservations. While not the largest in population or in acreage, San Diego has most reservations of any county in the country. The county has many diverse and unique district areas, (Appendix 1, Fig 2) which range from Oceanside in the north county, which is home to the Camp Pendleton Marine base, to San Ysidro at the southern end of the county that has the busiest international land border crossing in the world. (San Ysidro Intermodal Transportation Center Study) In the eastern part of the county, the climate is warmer and more rural with agricultural farming in Ramona and El Cajon, a community of 100,000 where quarter of the population is of Iraqi decent and has the second largest Iraqi population in America. (Iraqi American, 2014) The western part of the county is has large stretches of prime beach front property in Del Mar, La Jolla and Rancho Santa Fe, that has some boasts of some of the most expensive real estate in the country. San Diego has a semi –arid, Mediterranean climate with an average temperature of 72 degrees and 300 sunny days. There is little precipitation and in 2014 the governor of California declared a statewide drought emergency. (Governor Brown Declares Drought State of Emergency, 2014) The mild sunny climate along with numerous family orientated tourist attractions such as the world renowned San Diego Zoo, SeaWorld, LEGOLAND, Balboa park and 7o miles of pristine beaches make San Diego a year round visitor magnet
B. Community:
San Diego County is located in the south eastern corner of California and lies geographically north of the Mexican Border and south of Orange and Riverside County. (Appendix 1, Fig 1.) It covers an area greater than the states of Rhode Island and Delaware combined, measuring 4,525.52 square miles.("San Diego County," 2010) In addition to San Diego City, the county comprises of 18 incorporated cities. It is has 193 square miles that are home to 18 Native American reservations. While not the largest in population or in acreage, San Diego has most reservations of any county in the country. The county has many diverse and unique district areas, (Appendix 1, Fig 2) which range from Oceanside in the north county, which is home to the Camp Pendleton Marine base, to San Ysidro at the southern end of the county that has the busiest international land border crossing in the world. (San Ysidro Intermodal Transportation Center Study) In the eastern part of the county, the climate is warmer and more rural with agricultural farming in Ramona and El Cajon, a community of 100,000 where quarter of the population is of Iraqi decent and has the second largest Iraqi population in America. (Iraqi American, 2014) The western part of the county is has large stretches of prime beach front property in Del Mar, La Jolla and Rancho Santa Fe, that has some boasts of some of the most expensive real estate in the country. San Diego has a semi –arid, Mediterranean climate with an average temperature of 72 degrees and 300 sunny days. There is little precipitation and in 2014 the governor of California declared a statewide drought emergency. (Governor Brown Declares Drought State of Emergency, 2014) The mild sunny climate along with numerous family orientated tourist attractions such as the world renowned San Diego Zoo, SeaWorld, LEGOLAND, Balboa park and 7o miles of pristine beaches make San Diego a year round visitor magnet