San Diego's Homeland Security funds slashed

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published May 30, 2006 at 9:00 PM PDT

This story was published more than 18 years ago.

Federal Homeland Security money earmarked for the San Diego region will be cut almost in half next year. The Department of Homeland Security announced today it will allocate less than $8 million to Sa

Federal Homeland Security money earmarked for the San Diego region will be cut almost in half next year. The Department of Homeland Security announced today it will allocate less than $8 million to San Diego, down from $15 million. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

Mayor Jerry Sanders says the news is a disappointment but not a surprise. He says federal officials told him on his recent lobbying trip to Washington DC it was too late in the funding cycle to change San Diego's allocation.

Sanders: "We knew that we would not be able to have an effect this year, our goal is next year, our goal is to include the presence of military and to recognize the proximity and dangers of the border and hopefully this will get our region back on the primary funding list."

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San Diego will spend most of the money, on upgrading its regional communication system over the next two years, so emergency response agencies can all talk easily to other. Plans to distribute vaccines, conduct community emergency readiness training and safeguard essential utilities will have to find other funding or be put on hold. 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.