City Council deciding on relocating detox center

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published February 6, 2006 at 9:00 PM PST

This story was published more than 18 years ago.

A controversial decision to relocate a County Detox Center in Pacific Beach is before the San Diego city council this afternoon. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

City hall promises to be packed this afternoon with people up in arms about a proposal to move a drug and alcohol treatment center from downtown to Pacific Beach.

The non- profit group, Volunteers for America, has spent the last year looking for a new home for its Treatment and Detox Centers, which handle thousands of people from around the County.
New City Councilman Kevin Faulconer has stepped in and negotiated a short extension of the group's downtown lease. He says the issue needs more public airing.

Become a KPBS sponsor

Faulconer: "It was run down the rails without a council member being in this district. I've come in and in the last week and a half tried to work with all sides. I want a solution that works, but I'm not supportive of it being rushed down and placed in Pacific Beach."

Faulconer says he's not opposed to finding another location for the Detox Center in his district, which includes downtown. He says one option is to negotiate a zone change in an industrial area. Alison St John, KPBS news.

Alison St John

twitter

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.