CCDC'S Sunset Date Over a Decade Away

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published August 25, 2008 at 12:42 PM PDT

This story was published more than 16 years ago.

Critics of San Diego citys downtown development corporations say its time to reconsider if they are still necessary. But CCDC still has more than a decade of work ahead, according to officials. KP

Critics of San Diego city’s downtown development corporations say it’s time to reconsider if they are still necessary. But CCDC still has more than a decade of work ahead, according to officials. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

San Diego city’s development corporations are intended to sunset after they reach a certain cap in spending.

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Critics have suggested both the center city and the south east development corporations should be dissolved early, following the resignation of both their presidents. Nancy Graham is accused of conflict of interest and Carolyn Smith of awarding herself generous personal bonuses at the expense of taxpayers.

But Jeff Graham, vice president of redevelopment for CCDC, says it will be a while till the downtown corporation uses up its limit of more than two and a half billion dollars in tax increment.

Graham: That cap is expected to be reached somewhere between 2022 and 2025, so there’s still quite a bit of redevelopment to happen downtown.

Graham says CCDC expects to triple its residential and commercial building space downtown by the year 2030.

The time span for development in the Horton Plaza redevelopment area will come to a close much sooner: in 2013.

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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.

CCDC'S Sunset Date Over a Decade Away

Critics of San Diego citys downtown development corporations say its time to reconsider if they are still necessary. But CCDC still has more than a decade of work ahead, according to officials. KP

Critics of San Diego citys downtown development corporations say its time to reconsider if they are still necessary. But CCDC still has more than a decade of work ahead, according to officials. KP