Former Mayoral Candidate Chides Sanders For 'Lethargic Approach'

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published September 12, 2007 at 12:21 PM PDT

This story was published more than 16 years ago.

San Diego businessman Steve Francis released a report on Wednesday suggesting the city of San Diego could save up to $200 million a year if it outsourced city services to the private sector. Francis,

San Diego businessman Steve Francis released a report on Wednesday suggesting the city of San Diego could save up to $200 million a year if it outsourced city services to the private sector. Francis, who lost to Jerry Sanders in the mayor's race in 2005, accused Sanders of being too slow to implement managed competition at the city. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

It might sound like a nerdy economic report, but it could be the opening salvo of campaigning for next year's mayor's race. Speaking by the fountain outside city hall, Francis said the city is still in a financial crisis and Mayor Sanders should have started outsourcing city jobs already to cut expenses.

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Francis : The administration has taken a very lethargic approach to solving the city's problems.

Sanders has announced a time line which will hand over certain city services to private contractors by the summer of 2009 -- after giving city employees a chance to compete for the contract.

Sanders : As a management team, we've approached this in a thoughtful and deliberate way because it’s intended to have a lasting impact on the city.

Francis has not yet declared whether he will run for mayor next year. His personally-funded think tank, the Institute for Policy Research, regularly produces reports analyzing city issues from the business perspective.

Alison St John KPBS News.

Alison St John

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Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.