Mayor Sanders begins restructure of government

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published January 3, 2006 at 9:00 PM PST

This story was published more than 18 years ago.

The city of San Diego's new strong mayor, Jerry Sanders, Tuesday announced a restructuring of city government. KPBS

The city of San Diego's new strong mayor, Jerry Sanders, Tuesday announced a restructuring of city government. KPBS reporter Alison St. John has more.

With a month at city hall under his belt, Mayor Sanders said he is becoming aware of just how badly broken city government is. He said no one can tell him how much the city has in outstanding contracts, how many unclassified managers are on payroll or how much the city is earning in rent from its properties.

SANDERS: "The existence of any one of these issues is inexcusable, the fact that they all exist is beyond believe, the sad part is I have no doubt there are many more issues like this that we are going to be coming across. They've come as a result of years of neglect."

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The mayor says he expects letters of resignation on his desk from all city managers - some he will accept, most he wont. But he says those who stay cannot assume they'll receive the same salary. He promised to have a more responsible budget ready by April 15th. 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.