Politics

Port Debates Permit for Embarcadero Plan

By Alison St John / Reporter

Published July 6, 2009 at 9:00 AM PDT

This story was published more than 14 years ago.

The San Diego Port District will vote this week on whether to earmark millions of dollars to start the first phase of a plan to turn the Embarcadero into a world class waterfront. But critics say the plan has been modified to benefit the cruise ship industry. The Port holds a public hearing Tuesday afternoon.

The vision for the Embarcadero has been in the works for more than a decade. The Port has to grant a Coastal Development Permit before authorizing the money to begin.

But waterfront planning activist, Don Wood, says the plans have changed significantly in the last few years. A public plaza with fountains planned at the foot of Broadway will now be the entrance to a new cruise ship terminal.

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“What was supposed to be an open, public Embarcadero, is going to be a canyon between 200-500 foot buildings on Harbor Drive, and five to six-story cruise ships on the west side,” Wood says. “The Port made a promise to the public and is now completely reneging on that in order to benefit one special interest -- the cruise line.”

The cruise ship industry has expanded beyond most planners’ wildest dreams, bringing millions in new revenues to the city. Meanwhile, money for public parks is hard to come by.

The Port District estimates the first phase of the Embarcadero Plan for wider pedestrian walkways, formal gardens and restrooms, is $28 million. The District will earmark about $15 million, and the Center City Development Corporation will contribute more than $5 million.

The cruise ship terminal will cost $22 million, with Carnival Cruises kicking in over the half the money. The Port District still has not confirmed who will pay the rest.

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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.