San Diegans asked to join Miramar airport debate

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published June 7, 2006 at 9:00 PM PDT

This story was published more than 18 years ago.

Now that the San Diego Regional Airport Authority has settled on joint use of Miramar as the best bet for the international airport of the future, the public debate begins in earnest. KPBS reporter Al

Now that the San Diego Regional Airport Authority has settled on joint use of Miramar as the best bet for the international airport of the future, the public debate begins in earnest. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

It's a divisive subject and one that hits at the heart of how San Diegans see the region evolving. The business community is divided over whether the region needs a new international airport and if so, whether that should involve asking the military to move over and share space for it.

The Chamber of Commerce will hold its own internal meetings over the next two months before taking a position on the issue. Many business leaders believe the region's growth will suffer dramatically within a decade if air travel is restricted by Lindbergh Field's capacity.

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Others believe the economic benefits of having a major military presence in town is too valuable to jeopardize. Meanwhile the marines insist joint use is not feasible.

Over the next six months San Diegans will be asked to weigh the pros and cons of the debate and make a decision some observers say is the most important choice affecting the city's future. The public forums begin this week. 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.