Council Today to Consider City Budget, Including Aguirre's Staff

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published May 7, 2007 at 11:02 AM PDT

This story was published more than 17 years ago.

The San Diego city council will consider the proposed budget for the mayor's office and the city attorney this afternoon. City Attorney Mike Aguirre is expected to push for more staff for his office.

The San Diego city council will consider the proposed budget for the mayor's office and the city attorney this afternoon. City Attorney Mike Aguirre is expected to push for more staff for his office. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

Aguirre has successfully lobbied the council in past years to expand his budget. This year he has asked for an additional 25 full time positions for his office, though the mayor has not included that request in his 2008 budget proposal.

Become a KPBS sponsor

Today's meeting is likely to give the city council a chance to assess the city attorney's performance over the past year.

According to Aguirre's annual report, his office has saved the city millions in settlements, backed proposition A, which kept the Mount Soledad cross where it is, and helped reach a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Aguirre downplays his defeat in the pension suit in which he hoped to roll back hundreds of millions of dollars in promised pension benefits. He points out the judge denied the suit because of previous decisions taken by the city council which were legally impossible to undo.

Aguirre, the city council, and the mayor have been frequently at odds over the past year , and it remains to be seen whether the council will grant him his wish for the extra staff, which would cost the city $3.4 million.

Alison St John, KPBS News.

Alison St John

twitter

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.