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Gloria and Whitburn Differ on Development

By Alison St John / Reporter,  KPBS Public Broadcasting
Published September 16, 2008 at 12:47 PM PDT
This story was published more than 15 years ago.

The two candidates for San Diego’s 3rd District city council seat are both Democrats, but they have different views on what to do about the city’s development corporations. Steven Whitburn and Todd

Gloria and Whitburn Differ on Development

The two candidates for San Diego’s 3rd District  city council seat are both Democrats, but they have different views on what to do about the city’s development corporations.

Steven Whitburn and Todd Gloria are vying to take over the seat currently held by Toni Atkins, who is termed out.

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KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

Two of San Diego’s development corporations are in  trouble, one for fraud and one for conflicts of interest.

Candidate Steven Whitburn supports a grand jury report that suggests city staff could do the job of redevelopment themselves.

Whitburn:  We should dissolve both of these corporations, we should bring these redevelopment efforts back under the city’s auspices to provide better oversight and more control over taxpayer dollars.

But Todd Gloria says he’s confident reforms in the works will fix the problems at the development corporations.

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Gloria : I think there is a way for this model to work and I’m hopeful that the reforms that are going to come out of this will be thoughtful ones, and not knee jerk reactions to what appears to be an oversight problem, not a structural problem. 

Neither of  the city's two development corporations operate in District 3, which stretches from Hillcrest to Kensington. But Whitburn and Gloria would have to deal with development issues if they win the council seat.  District 3  faces pressure for in-fill development that would create higher density neighborhoods.

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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