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San Diego's Congressional Delegation Denounces Prop. A

By Alison St John / Reporter,  KPBS Public Broadcasting
Published October 19, 2006 at 12:05 PM PDT
This story was published more than 18 years ago.

In an unusual show of consensus, all five of San Diego’s congressional representatives held a press conference to oppose the Airport Initiative on the November ballot. Prop. A proposes that San Diego

San Diego's Congressional Delegation Denounces Prop. A

In an unusual show of consensus, all five of San Diego’s congressional representatives held a press conference to oppose the Airport Initiative on the November ballot. Prop. A proposes that San Diego officials work towards using part of MCAS Miramar for a commercial airport. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

The sight of San Diego’s normally bitterly opposed democratic and republican representatives gathered as a united front to oppose the Airport Initiative and prompted Congressman Brian Bilbray to observe. . .

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Bilbray: That is not bipartisan, that’s bipolar.

In spite of their differing positions on the war in Iraq, all five politicians said the military is too valuable to San Diego to consider using MCAS Miramar for a new commercial airport.

Congressman Duncan Hunter announced he’s written new legislation into the defense bill- signed this week - that prohibits the Secretary of the Navy from entering any such agreement .

Hunter: This ballgame is over, the President signed this bill. It is the law that we can’t use Miramar and will not use Miramar.

The Alliance in Support of Airport Progress in the 21st Century, a business coalition, came out in support of Prop. A this week. Dennis Burks of ASAP 21 says Hunter’s legislation is an effort to make an end run around democracy.

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Burks: How dare he try to thwart the people of San Diego by trying to block us from even having a decision on this.

Burks says the Secretary of the Navy doesn’t have authority currently to turn over Miramar, and the new law could be changed in the future if circumstances change.  

The language of Prop A, which is an advisory vote, specifies working towards a possible agreement by the year 2020. Alison St John , KPBS News.

Alison St John
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.
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