S.D. Mayor to Present State of the City Tonight

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published January 11, 2007 at 7:08 AM PST

This story was published more than 17 years ago.

San Diego mayor Jerry Sanders will deliver his second state of the city address tonight. He has had a year to start sorting out the worst financial crisis the city has ever faced. KPBS reporter Aliso

San Diego mayor Jerry Sanders will deliver his second state of the city address tonight. He has had a year to start sorting out the worst financial crisis the city has ever faced. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

Last year Sanders pledged to take on his own shoulders the burden of the past sins of the city.

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Sanders: No matter what the problems may be how they were caused or who caused them, I now take responsibility for them and am willing to be held accountable for each of them.

The city of San Diego was facing a crisis of confidence in its leadership. The former Mayor had resigned, state and federal regulators were investigating financial decisions , and the city’s credit rating was pulled.

Now, a year later, the city still has a billion dollar pension deficit, the 2003 audits are still not complete and the city is still not back in the bond market. Sanders is likely to cite some successes like the managed competition initiative, but major problems loom. Will the mayor stop the dangerous exodus of police and firemen from the cash strapped city, and will he convince residents to pay more to fix the crumbling water and sewer pipes? It’s too soon for a gleaming new vision, but the city does need to see light at the end of the tunnel. 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.