S.D. Mayor Gets Earful from Citizens Over Proposed Cuts

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published November 13, 2008 at 7:19 AM PST

This story was published more than 16 years ago.

The San Diego City Council got an earful from citizens at a public hearing on the mayor's proposed mid-year budget cuts. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

The San Diego City Council got an earful from citizens at a public hearing on the mayor's proposed mid-year budget cuts. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

The mayor's plan would cut police and fire training academies, and close 7 libraries and 9 Rec Centers.

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Wilber Smith, chair of the Parks and Recreation Board was one of those who testified at the all day budget hearing.

Smith: These cuts are slowly dismantling one of the finest park and rec systems on the country. This system took decades to build.

Jim Boyston of Bay Park brought his daughter to address the council.

Boyston: Please don't close my library.

Some suggested other ways to close the $43 million mid year budget gap, such as work furloughs, reducing employee car allowance, or reallocating TOT money. Currently the plan includes no fee or tax increases.

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Erik Bruvald of the Institute for Policy Initiatives points out the budget gap is going to get worse.

Bruvald: with the city facing not just the deficit this year but twenty ten getting even worse, we've got to have a reality of where this cities going in terms of revenues and expenses.

The city's chief financial officer says in 2011, pensions fund payments could go up from 160 to 200 million a year or more, to cover current market losses.

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.