Sanders in Washington to discuss binational economic issues

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published May 21, 2006 at 9:00 PM PDT

This story was published more than 18 years ago.

San Diego's mayor is in Washington DC this morning. It is his third trip to the nation's capital this year to lobby for San Diego's interests. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

Mayor Jerry Sanders has three items on his agenda, two of them are familiar. He will lobby for federal homeland security dollars for San Diego, and push for preservation of the Mount Soleded Cross. His third goal is to convince federal officials of the importance of massive improvements and expansion at the border ports of entry.

Sanders: "This will be the first time the mayor of San Diego has led a delegation to Washington to discuss important binational economic development issues and to be joined by the Governor of Baja California."

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Baja's Governor, plus Baja's Secretaries of Tourism and Education will accompany the mayor to DC. UCSD faculty are also in the delegation, to push for a world class research and manufacturing Center on the border. 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.