Stimulus Money Trickles Down

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published March 23, 2009 at 2:00 AM PDT

This story was published more than 15 years ago.

The federal stimulus money is beginning to trickle down to cities in San Diego County. KPBS reporter Alison St John discovered Chula Vista is holding workshops today to find out how residents think th

The federal stimulus money is beginning to trickle down to cities in San Diego County. KPBS reporter Alison St John discovered Chula Vista is holding workshops today to find out how residents think they should be spent.

Cities will have to compete for some of the funds flooding out of Washington, but some money is already assigned. Chula Vista Housing Manager Mandy Mills says she already knows the city will get more than $800,000 for homeless prevention.

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"Normally the money we get for homeless is for bricks and mortar, transitional housing," she says, " and that’s really for people who are already homeless. This is the first time that we’re getting money for homeless prevention."

Mills says the city is not required to get public input, but wants to hear how residents think the money should be spent.

Also, Chula Vista, like all cities, is faced with choices about what to apply for from the stimulus funds. police, fire, housing, planning and conservation departments will announce their plans to put in bids for the money.

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.