Proposition B Meets Heavy Opposition

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published October 16, 2008 at 2:09 PM PDT

This story was published more than 15 years ago.

Proposition B, the plan to build a Stadium or Convention Center expansion on top of San Diegos Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal, is meeting heavy opposition.KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

(Photo: John Garimendi, Lietuenant Governor and State Lands Commissioner, speaking with members of the longshoremens’ union who oppose Proposition B. Alison St John/KPBS )

Proposition B, the plan to build a Stadium or Convention Center expansion on top of San Diego’s Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal, is meeting heavy opposition. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

Developer Frank Gallagher says his vision would not jeopardize the cargo operations on the marine terminal below. On the contrary, he says.

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Gallagher: Our whole intent here is to modernize this terminal and to make it more competitive with the other west coast terminals.

But Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi, a State Lands Commissioner, says the terminal is on public tidelands, which are dedicated to marine activities. He questions Gallagher’s motives.

Garamendi : He is playing politician. I can understand why he’d say what he’s saying because he wants to promote the project, but the fact of the matter is, he’s not telling the truth.

Garamendi says building a deck over the docks would compromise cargo activities.

Earlier this week, the Secretary of the Navy also spoke against the plan, saying it could prevent the military from shipping heavy equipment from the terminal.

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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.

Proposition B Meets Heavy Opposition

Proposition B, the plan to build a Stadium or Convention Center expansion on top of San Diegos Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal, is meeting heavy opposition.KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

Proposition B, the plan to build a Stadium or Convention Center expansion on top of San Diegos Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal, is meeting heavy opposition.KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.