Oceanside residents gather to stop gang violence

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published January 26, 2006 at 9:00 PM PST

This story was published more than 18 years ago.

The city of Oceanside held a meeting last night to mobilize community groups against gang violence. Oceanside has at least 12 gangs with more than a thousand documented members. KPBS reporter Alison

The city of Oceanside held a meeting last night to mobilize community groups against gang violence. Oceanside has at least 12 gangs with more than a thousand documented members. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

The gang prevention gathering was prompted by a political tug of war over whether federal and state funding should be funneled through a relatively new faith- based group or through community groups that have worked in the city for years. Concha Hernandez Green, whose son was killed in gang violence, said neighborhood partnerships that existed in the mid 90s need to be revived.

Hernandez Green: "We're out there at 10:30 at night trying to help them with what's going on with the violence, so this is what we need people from the community to come together again, I guess we fell asleep for a while because it was safe, but to come together again and take our neighborhoods back."

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The city council agreed to solicit funding for a collaboration yet to be forged between groups working to fight gang violence in several Oceanside neighborhoods. 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.