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Public Safety

Roundtable: Three Progressives Talk Filner; Barrio Logan's New Plan; Dangers Of Assisted Living

By Alison St John / Reporter,  Pat Finn / Producer
Published September 20, 2013 at 7:58 AM PDT
This story was published more than 10 years ago.
Roundtable: Three Progressives Talk Filner; Barrio Logan’s New Plan; Dangers Of Assisted Living
Roundtable: Three Progressives Talk Filner; Barrio Logan's New Plan; Dangers Of Assisted Living
HOSTAlison St. JohnGUESTSDavid Rolland, San Diego CityBeat Sandhya Dirks, KPBS News Deborah Schoch, Center for Health Reporting, USC

Amita Sharma talks with Donna Frye, Marco Gonzalez and Corey Briggs

Monday, September 23

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The Amazing Adventures Of Frye, Briggs And Gonzalez

How and why three progressive San Diego leaders worked to get the city’s progressive mayor out of office could be a tale of intrigue, meticulous planning and double-dealing.

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Except it isn't.

The resignation of San Diego Mayor Bob Filner was driven by events, and the actions of former Council Member Donna Frye and attorneys Marco Gonzalez and Corey Briggs were largely reactive until near the end. All along the way the three agonized over what to do and when. CityBeat Editor David Rolland interviewed the trio for six hours.

Starting in February, Frye began hearing that Filner was hitting on women at events he attended as mayor. She resigned as director of open government on March 29, telling Filner's chief of staff that the allegations of sexual harassment had become too many and too serious to ignore.

When Irene McCormack Jackson quit in late June as Filner’s communications director, Frye suggested Gonzalez as her lawyer. Finally someone had come forward; They had proof that the accusations were true.

The trio agonized over whether to demand the resignation of the first progressive mayor San Diego had ever had, a man they had helped put in office. They sent letters to Filner and held the first of two press conferences to demand his resignation.

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Barrio Logan Gets New Plan

The San Diego City Council voted 5-4 this week to approve the update to the Barrio Logan Community Plan.

The plan includes a five-block-long commercial buffer zone which separates residential from industrial zones. Barrio Logan is home to much of San Diego's heavy industry, including shipbuilding.

The community plan was a contentious issue because of the mix of uses in the area: residential, commercial and industrial. The key issue was the buffer zone. The new plan calls for commercial use of the zone, but no houses or industry without new permits.

Some said the compromise will cost jobs because the permitting process to build industry in the buffer zone is onerous.

Seniors In Assisted Living Could Be At Risk

This investigative series which appeared in U-T San Diego reveals that hundreds of San Diego County seniors have suffered broken bones, sexual assault, bed sores and assorted other injuries in assisted living facilities.

At least 27 San Diego County seniors have died since 2008 from injuries and neglect suffered in assisted living facilities. (The figure is probably larger, as the California Department of Social Services, or CDSS, doesn't keep records of complaints.) Eighteen of these cases were ruled preventable.

The top fine for causing or hastening a resident’s death in assisted living is $150. (In a nursing home it's $100,000.) Facilities are inspected every five years by the CDSS. Most states inspect every year. The number of complaints is up 13 percent, but the number of penalties fell by 30 percent. CDSS does not make investigations or fines public.

As people live longer and get sicker, more of them are going into assisted living, partly because of nursing home scandals.

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Public Safety San DiegoSan Diego Government
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.
Pat Finn
Pat Finn previously served as a producer for KPBS Midday Edition and KPBS Evening Edition. Finn began her career in broadcasting at KTLA and KCET in Los Angeles. In 1979 she became KPBS’ Public Information Director, then Director of Advertising and Promotion, Program Director, and Director of Broadcasting. She oversaw the station’s local and national productions, including the one-hour documentary Los Romeros: The Royal Family of the Guitar, and Child Protective Services, a one-hour look inside the San Diego County agency responsible for the welfare of at risk children. Both programs also aired on public television stations nationwide. Finn has earned honors from the Society of Professional Journalists and the Pacific Southwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
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KPBS News: Public Safety Policy
KPBS has created a public safety coverage policy to guide decisions on what stories we prioritize, as well as whose narratives we need to include to tell complete stories that best serve our audiences. This policy was shaped through months of training with the Poynter Institute and feedback from the community. You can read the full policy here.
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