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Next CCDC President

By Alison St John / Reporter,  KPBS Public Broadcasting
Published August 25, 2008 at 2:00 AM PDT
This story was published more than 15 years ago.

The next President of the city of San Diego’s Downtown Development Corporation, CCDC, will preside over major projects like the North Embarcadero Bayfront, and possibly a new civic center. KPBS repo

Next CCDC President

The next President of the city of San Diego’s Downtown Development Corporation, CCDC, will preside over major projects like the North Embarcadero Bayfront developments, and possibly a new civic center. Former CCDC President Nancy Graham resigned, amid mounting evidence she profited financially from developers negotiating city contracts. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more on CCDC’s search for a successor.

CCDC hopes to have a new president in place by the end of the year. Board member Jennifer Le Sar is heading the search. But she isn’t as concerned about candidates’ ties to developers as she is about their leadership style.

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Le Sar: Do we pursue a very visionary person or just look for someone who is an excellent implementer?

City councilman elect Carl Demaio doesn’t want someone from out of town. Disgraced former CCDC president Nancy Graham was from West Palm Beach.

Demaio: CCDC should be looking locally to a local leader who we know, to restore public confidence in CCDC.

Critics would like to see the city’s two redevelopment corporations dissolved. The grand jury recommended the city reabsorb their functions.

Chuck Kaminski of the planning group, Partnerships for Livable Places, says even if the corporations survive the latest scandals, their days are numbered by state law.

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Kaminski: I think this individual, whoever comes in, has to be the last redevelopment director. CCDC does have to sunset. 

The mayor and council will consider next month how to do a better job of overseeing the development corporations, which manage millions of dollars of  public money.

Alison St John, KPBS news

Alison St John
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.
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