San Diego Moving Forward on North Embarcadero Visionary Plan

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published February 5, 2007 at 6:33 AM PST

This story was published more than 17 years ago.

A week after former State Senator Steve Peace unveiled an ambitious vision for San Diego's waterfront, the city of San Diego may take action on its own. Its North Embarcadero Visionary Plan has been i

A week after former State Senator Steve Peace unveiled an ambitious vision for San Diego's waterfront, the city of San Diego may take action on its own. Its North Embarcadero Visionary Plan has been in the works for ten years. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

The city council will vote on a new Joint Powers Authority with the Port District -- a step toward actually building the first phase of the North Embarcadero Visionary Plan. Alexandra Elias of the Center City Development Corporation says the plan does not conflict with the ambitious vision presented last week by Steve Peace and Supervisor Ron Roberts.

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Elias: When I saw the presentation, I thought of North Embarcadero on steroids. There's nothing in North Embarcadero that precludes that vision in the future and I think, we're one step in the right direction.

Elias says the first phase of the North Embarcadero Plan would put plazas and green space along a 125 foot wide strip next to the water's edge. Two-million-dollars is already earmarked towards the $20 million dollar price tab. Peace's vision calls for four times more open space, but has no clear plan yet for how to pay for it. 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.