Sanders plans to reorganize city's government

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published August 3, 2006 at 9:00 PM PDT

This story was published more than 18 years ago.

San Diego mayor Jerry Sanders is centralizing and reorganizing the city government, which he says was highly inefficient. The mayor says a better organization needs to be in place before he can downsi

San Diego mayor Jerry Sanders is centralizing and reorganizing the city government, which he says was highly inefficient. The mayor says a better organization needs to be in place before he can downsize government. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

Sanders promised during his campaign for mayor last year to cut costs by downsizing government. Now he says before major streamlining and reengineering can happen, he's put in place a more centralized organizational structure.

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Sanders: "So don't be surprised if I don't announce cost savings today some of the organizations that we inherited that we felt they had to be reorganized before they could be reengineered."

The mayor says all city employees will be fingerprinted and have background checks. They will wear ID cards that allow them access to city offices and facilities. He also announced a new press policy that allows only department heads and members of the press office to speak to the media on policy issues. 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.