Mayor Sanders commits to negotiations

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published February 27, 2006 at 9:00 PM PST

This story was published more than 18 years ago.

San Diego mayor Jerry Sanders is juggling pressures from taxpayer advocates on one side and labor unions on the other. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

Mayor Sanders told city council he needs more time to draft ballot initiatives for the November Ballot. The measures, which would allow the city to outsource more city services and require voter approval of future pension increases, are strongly opposed by city employees.

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Sanders says he's committed to negotiating the issues, even though unions are digging in their heels.

Sanders: "Some of them have said they're not available, we've offered 7 days a week 24 hours a day. We'll continue to offer that through the next few weeks trying to reach agreements."

Unions may sue the city if it moves ahead without negotiating in good faith. But angry supporters of the measures say unions are stalling. Sanders encourages them start collecting signatures next week to meet a deadline to get it on the November ballot.

Sanders: "You know if private citizens want to move initiatives to the ballot, then private citizens have that opportunity."

Sanders says he hopes signature gathering will prove unnecessary, once the city council decides in four weeks, whether to put the measures on the ballot. 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.