S.D. Council President Offers Mayor Budget Compromise

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published March 1, 2007 at 1:13 PM PST

This story was published more than 17 years ago.

San Diego City Council President Scott Peters has come up with a compromise to try to resolve the power struggle between the mayor and council over who has control of the budget. The terms of the comp

San Diego City Council President Scott Peters has come up with a compromise to try to resolve the power struggle between the mayor and council over who has control of the budget. The terms of the compromise will radically affect how cuts are made to city services. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

The problem was highlighted when the mayor cut a swimming program in Barrio Logan without telling the council. Council President Scott Peters hopes the compromise will resolve the deadlock reached last month when the council, led by Councilwoman Donna Frye, voted to strip the mayor of his ability to make a move without council approval. Peters said better communication is the key.

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Peters : The mayor’s not on city council any more. We used to see the mayor every week. Now it’s different -- the communication has to take more effort.

The compromise basically says that if the mayor makes cuts to programs that amount to more than 10 percent of the budget -- or $4 million -- he has to run it by the council for approval. Anything less than that, all Sanders has to do is send the council a memo.

Sanders : I’m willing to make sure that they don’t get surprised and I think that’s what the bottom line on this is.

It remains to be seen if the full council will sign off on the proposal next Monday.

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.