S.D. Council Votes to Limit Mayor's Power

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published February 6, 2007 at 4:10 AM PST

This story was published more than 17 years ago.

The San Diego City Council has voted to require the mayor to get their approval before he makes any changes that could lead to substantial city services cuts. The move has angered the mayor who says h

The San Diego City Council has voted to require the mayor to get their approval before he makes any changes that could lead to substantial city services cuts. The move has angered the mayor who says he will take the issue to a referendum of the people. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.
The vote marks the first major showdown between the mayor and the city council , who are jockeying for position under the new strong mayor form of government.

Councilwoman Donna Frye made the motion. It prevents the mayor from making unilateral decisions after the budget is decided on anything that could result in Quote “material and substantial” service cuts.

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Frye: What would the be the point of going through a budget process - we go through this rigorous discussion - and then after we approve the appropriations ordinance and everybody says that was good, and then the next day the mayor’s office says that’s great but I can ignore it because I can do pretty much what I want..

The mayor’s office calls the council’s decision an affront to voters who elected the mayor to balance the city budget. He has vowed to veto the measure but the council could overturn his veto. 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.