Davis Resigns from Pension Board Over Odds with Mayor

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published February 7, 2007 at 7:59 AM PST

This story was published more than 17 years ago.

San Diego pension board member Peter Q Davis has resigned. Davis says he had differences with Mayor Jerry Sanders, who appointed him last year. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

San Diego pension board member Peter Q Davis has resigned. Davis says he had differences with Mayor Jerry Sanders, who appointed him last year. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

Davis, who is the former chair of the San Diego Port Commission, says his service on the city's troubled pension board convinced him the pension system is now back on the right track. The board has seen a steady stream of resignations and new appointments since investigations began three years ago into the city's massive pension deficit.

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According to Davis, the mayor has not shown enough confidence in the new board.

Davis: So he was putting himself and the board at odds unnecessarily.

For example, the mayor announced plans to pay down the pension deficit in 20 years. The board is likely to demand the city pay it down in 15. However, the pension system's actuary recently lowered the estimated deficit from $1.4 billion to $1 billion. That means the city could pay down the debt faster than Sanders originally planned . 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.