Economy

San Diego State Parks Threatened

By Alison St John / Reporter

Published August 18, 2009 at 10:54 AM PDT

This story was published more than 15 years ago.

San Diego has 14 state parks, any of which could be threatened with closure next month as a result of the state budget cuts. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

San Diego has 14 state parks, any of which could be threatened with closure next month as a result of the state budget cuts.

Three of San Diego’s state parks are among the top ten revenue generating parks in the state. Old Town, Carlsbad and San Onofre State Beach each raise more than $2 million a year. This puts them in a stronger position than parks like Palomar Mountain and Anza Borrego Desert Parks.

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Sheryl Watson of California State Parks says with a 10 percent budget cut, the department may have to close up to 100 of its 278 parks statewide.

"It will be a business decision." she says, "We would look at the cost to operate the park, as well as the revenue. Some parks are extremely popular but they are also expensive to operate. We’re working on a matrix to break down how much it costs to operate each of our parks."

Six of San Diego’s state parks are beaches. Watson says cuts will almost certainly mean fewer seasonal lifeguards will be hired next summer. She says the department has 50 full-time lifeguards and 600 who are trained but are hired seasonally.

The list of parks to be closed won’t be released till after Labor Day.

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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.