About John Menier

John Menier specializes in visual and performing arts documentaries that focus on the creative process and its participants. Noteworthy productions include:

Trampling Out the Vintage, an historical/biographical documentary about John Steinbeck and The Grapes of Wrath.

San Diego Opera Spotlight and San Diego OperaTalk!, two long-running series co-produced with San Diego Opera.

Tan Dun’s Ghost Opera and John Adams: A Precise Process, both co-produced with La Jolla Music Society’s SummerFest.

Necessary Theatre, a thirteen-part series of interviews with noted Chicano/Chicana theatre artists.

What Creativity Means, a five-part series which brings together middle school students and world music artists.

Orchestra Nova: Celebrations, a documentary exploring the creative evolution of San Diego’s premiere chamber music ensemble.

Two Emmy-winning collaborations with Malashock Dance, The Soul of Saturday Night and Love & Murder.

La Jolla Symphony & Chorus: Philip Glass/Cello Concerto, also awarded a regional Emmy.

Additionally, John’s work has garnered numerous Telly and Aurora awards for excellence in broadcasting. He holds a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Oklahoma, has worked as a freelance media professional in Los Angeles and several Midwestern markets, and has taught college courses in film and video production.

Recent and Ongoing Productions

La Jolla Music Society

Orchestra Nova: Celebrations

San Diego Opera Artists’ Roundtable

San Diego Opera Spotlight

San Diego OperaTalk!


Contact John Menier: jmenier@ucsd.edu

Los Laureles Canyon: Behind-the-Scenes Photos

A view of the homes that line the hillsides of Los Laureles Canyon. Photo by Shannon Bradley A young boy retrieves a ball that landed in the “aguas negras” (black waters) during a soccer game. Photo by Matt Alioto Carmen Garcia Cruz and her family outside their home in Colonia San Bernardo Photo by Harry […]


A view of the homes that line the hillsides of Los Laureles Canyon.
Photo by Shannon Bradley


A young boy retrieves a ball that landed in the “aguas negras”
(black waters) during a soccer game.
Photo by Matt Alioto


Carmen Garcia Cruz and her family outside their home in
Colonia San Bernardo
Photo by Harry R. Caruso III


UCSD’s Keith Pezzoli discusses the problems facing
Los Laureles Canyon residents.
Photo by Harry R. Caruso III


Oscar Romo (front right) instructs UCSD student volunteers on
how to build pervious pavers – a key element that will help
prevent erosion in the canyon.
Photo by Harry R Caruso III


The volunteers pack gravel into molds to create pavers that will be
used on the main roads of Los Laureles Canyon.
Photo by Matt Alioto


Local children test out the new pavers.
Photo by Matt Alioto


UCSD-TV’s Harry R Caruso III teaching a Colonia San Bernardo
resident the finer points of shooting video.
Photo by Shannon Bradley


UCSD-TV videographer Matt Alioto and field producer
Rachel Bradley on a break in Los Laureles Canyon.
Photo by Shannon Bradley


The UCSD-TV crew after a day of shooting in Los Laureles Canyon.
(left to right: Willie Williams, Harry R Caruso III, Rachel Bradley,
Laura Castañeda, Matt Alioto, Shannon Bradley)
Photo by Oscar Romo


Oscar Romo shows the fine sediment that has flowed down the
canyon into the Tijuana Estuary, killing the plants that wildlife
need to survive.
Photo by Matt Alioto


Microbiologist Meritxell Riquelme and her research team being
videotaped by Matt Alioto at CICESE in Ensenada.
Photo by Shannon Bradley


Executive producer Shannon Bradley and producer Laura Castañeda
on set in the UCSD-TV studio to shoot the opening sequence of
”Los Laureles Canyon: Research in Action.”
Photo by Rachel Bradley

Los Laureles Canyon: Featured Participants

Keith Pezzoli Urban Studies and Planning, UC San Diego Keith Pezzoli researches and writes on regional ecology, sustainability science, environmental health, cities, and globalization. He has a Ph.D. in urban and regional planning from the University of California, Los Angeles. As a faculty member in UCSD’s Urban Studies and Planning Program, Pezzoli directs an annual, six-month […]

Keith Pezzoli
Urban Studies and Planning, UC San Diego

Keith Pezzoli researches and writes on regional ecology, sustainability science, environmental health, cities, and globalization. He has a Ph.D. in urban and regional planning from the University of California, Los Angeles.

As a faculty member in UCSD’s Urban Studies and Planning Program, Pezzoli directs an annual, six-month field research practicum for 60-75 undergraduate seniors. He also teaches courses on sustainable development, planning theory and the urban world system. Also at UCSD, Pezzoli leads the Superfund Research Program’s Community Outreach Core and Research Translation Core.

Off campus, Pezzoli directs The Global Action Research Center (ARC), a not-for-profit organization that develops and supports grassroots-based research and projects focused on creating sustainable and healthy communities. The Global ARC builds university-community partnerships, tools, databases, web infrastructure and integrative networks that enable people to work together, locally and globally, on projects aimed at eradicating root causes of poverty, environmental degradation and conflict. The Global ARC includes a mix of educators, researchers, scientists, professionals, and community activists, all of whom are dedicated to critical study, social learning, and creative problem-solving for sustainable development–especially where concerns about the built environment, water, ecosystem integrity, and human health intersect.


Oscar Romo
Watershed Coordinator
Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Oscar Romo was recently named the Watershed Coordinator for the Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve in Imperial Beach, California, after having served as its Coastal Training Program Coordinator. He is also a Lecturer on sustainable development for the Urban Studies and Planning Program at UC San Diego.

A former United Nations diplomat, Romo is a Delegate to the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development and is Co-chair of the U.S. International Boundary and Water Commission Citizens Forum, the U.S. EPA Border 2012 Water Task Force, and the Tijuana River Recovery Team Binational Task Force.

In April 2007, Romo was recognized as one of the “Environmentalists of the Year” by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and in 2009, he received the “Visionary Award” for Smart Growth Planning from the San Diego/Tijuana chapter of the Urban Land Institute.

In Mexico, Romo is a member of the Border Environment Cooperation Commission, Baja California Task Force; the City of Tijuana Urban Planning and Ecology Sub-Committee; and is the projects coordinator for Los Laureles Watershed Council.

Romo got his academic credentials in Architecture from La Salle University in Mexico, and Urban Studies and Social Housing from the Complutense University and the National Institute for Social Housing in Spain.

Los Laureles Canyon: Learn More About the Producers

Host and Executive Producer, Shannon Bradley
Shannon Bradley is responsible for developing, producing, and selecting the Public Affairs programs for UCSD-TV.
Shannon has also produced several acclaimed documentaries on land use and urban planning, including Building Consensus: Quarry Falls (2009), The Making of Place: Solana Beach (2007), San Diego Canyonlands (2006), Designing for the Future (2003), and the […]

Host and Executive Producer, Shannon Bradley

Shannon Bradley is responsible for developing, producing, and selecting the Public Affairs programs for UCSD-TV.

Shannon has also produced several acclaimed documentaries on land use and urban planning, including Building Consensus: Quarry Falls (2009), The Making of Place: Solana Beach (2007), San Diego Canyonlands (2006), Designing for the Future (2003), and the six-part series, Path to Paradise (1998-2000).

Shannon is also the host and executive producer of State of Minds, a quarterly magazine program featuring stories from throughout the UC system for UCTV, the nationwide satellite channel for the University of California.

Before joining UCSD in 1993, Shannon covered national politics in Washington for nine years, the last five for PBS’ The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour. She also wrote for the Washington City Paper; Roll Call, the Capitol Hill newspaper; and WUSA, the CBS television affiliate. She has a B.A. in Communication and Sociology from UCSD and a Masters degree in Journalism and Public Affairs from The American University in Washington, DC. Shannon also taught the News Media Workshop, an upper division journalism class for the Department of Communication at UCSD from 1993-1999 and is now co-teaching the Eleanor Roosevelt College Freshman Honors Seminar with ERC Provost Alan Houston.


Producer and Host, Laura Castañeda

Laura Castañeda is the owner of Press Pass International and an Emmy Award-winning journalist and professional writer with more than 20 years experience in television, radio, and print media. Laura also chairs the Radio and Television Department at San Diego City College and has served as host, moderator, and consultant to various media projects. In 2006, Laura teamed up with Shannon Bradley at UCSD-TV to produce The Devil’s Breath, a documentary about border crossers who were trapped in San Diego’s back country during the October 2007 wildfires.

In 2004, Laura launched Stories de la Frontera, a bilingual, bicultural, human-interest magazine program that currently airs on PBS affiliates in several U.S. cities.

Prior to her solo career, Laura reported for Cox Channel 4’s San Diego Insider, KGTV, the ABC affiliate in San Diego; and KGUN-TV, the ABC station in Tucson, Arizona. She began her television news career in 1987 as a production assistant at WLS-TV in Chicago, her hometown.

Laura is an alumnus of the University of Illinois-Urbana with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and a minor in Sociology.

Los Laureles Canyon: Research in Action Premieres Fall 2009

In collaboration with Keith Pezzoli, at UCSD’s Urban Studies and Planning program and others, Shannon is producing on a documentary about watershed planning and sustainable development in Los Laureles, a canyon that starts high in Tijuana, crosses the U.S.-Mexican border and ends at the Tijuana River Estuary in Imperial Beach, California. Some 65,000 people live in Los Laureles, and because of inadequate infrastructure, much of their waste flows unrestricted down the canyon into the estuary, threatening the wildlife that depend on its pristine wetlands for survival.

The UCSD-TV crew in Los Laureles Canyon. From left to right: Willie Wiliams,
Harry Caruso, Rachel Bradley, Laura Castañeda, Matt Alioto, Shannon Bradley

Notice Laura Castañeda in the group? We’re delighted to have her back with us on this project after her compelling and courageous documentary, The Devil’s Breath: Border Crossers caught in San Diego’s Wildfires (2008)