Controversy gains momentum over Navy's Broadway Complex

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published July 9, 2006 at 9:00 PM PDT

This story was published more than 18 years ago.

The controversy over the Manchester Groups's redevelopment proposals for the Navy Broadway Complex is gathering momentum. San Diego city Councilman Kevin Faulconer, who represents downtown, is expecte

The controversy over the Manchester Groups's redevelopment proposals for the Navy Broadway Complex is gathering momentum. San Diego city Councilman Kevin Faulconer, who represents downtown, is expected to step into the fray this week. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

Observers see the navy's waterfront site as an opportunity for an iconic design that could define San Diego's image. The city's development agency, the CCDC has begun to show signs of getting cold feet over the massive highrises in the building plan, but the mayor and council have so far taken a hands off approach.
Dianne Coombs of the citizens group, the Broadway Complex Coalition, says she'd would welcome more involvement from Councilmember Faulconer.

Coombs: "I and a few others feel that CCDC has been the tail that's' been wagging the dog for the last few years and that the city council has abdicated their responsibilities."

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Coombs says the coalition is circulating petitions to get the end of the year deadline extended, and plans a public design workshop for September. The Coalition wants more public open space on the 15 acres site. 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.