Mayor Sanders, Baja Gov meet to improve border crossing time

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published August 15, 2006 at 9:00 PM PDT

This story was published more than 18 years ago.

San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders is in Mexicali this afternoon, visiting the Governor of Baja California. They are discussing a mutually important topic -- how to improve travel times across the border b

San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders is in Mexicali this afternoon, visiting the Governor of Baja California. They are discussing a mutually important topic -- how to improve travel times across the border between Tijuana and San Diego. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

Mayor Sanders accepted an invitation from Governor Eugenio Elorduy to visit the capitol of Baja, and follow up on talks begun earlier this year. The two leaders hope to lobby for funding to open a new Otay East border crossing.

A San Diego Association of Governments study suggests long border delays cost San Diego County and Baja more than $2.4 billion in lost productivity last year, and 32,000 jobs.

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At the Mexicali meeting, Baja's Secretary of Economic Development presented proposals for what is known as a silicon border, in other words a border where new technology allows for faster crossing and more security.

Sanders visit also aims to fulfill a promise to improve cross border relations. It included lunch with Governor Elorduy at the restaurant Mi Casa! 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.