Workers Hurry To Stabilize Mt. Soledad Slide Area Before Rains Come

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published November 26, 2007 at 9:41 AM PST

This story was published more than 17 years ago.

San Diego city crews are nearing completion of their work to stabilize the land slide area on Mount Soledad Mountain Road. They took the Thanksgiving weekend off, but this week they'll be working agai

San Diego city crews are nearing completion of their work to stabilize the land slide area on Mount Soledad Mountain Road. They took the Thanksgiving weekend off, but this week they'll be working against the clock to repair the slope before it rains again. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

City crews have installed 28 shear pins of steel and concrete in the slope below Soledad Mountain Road, to stabiles the area above the slide. They have another 9 pins to go. Geotechnical consultants have also drilled a 30 inch wide hole more than100 feet deep to collect data about what's going on underground.

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Spokeswoman Carol Drummond says city engineers have warned that if more rain falls, the ground could give way again, threatening homes below the slide area in Desert View Drive.

Drummond: Everywhere in the county people are probably hoping for rain because it's been so dry, but up on Mount Soledad Road we're really hoping it doesn't, because we feel that that might be a problem.

At least three of the red tagged homes and possibly four will have to be demolished to allow the slope to be re-graded next month. But Drummond says geologists are still gathering data to decide what to do after that to prevent further slides. 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.