Politics

Burdick Wins a Seat On the Port Commission

By Alison St John / Reporter

Published June 8, 2009 at 3:04 PM PDT

This story was published more than 15 years ago.

San Diego City Council voted to appoint attorney Lee Burdick to the seat on the Port Commission vacated by Laurie Black. The 5-to-3 vote came after a two-and-a-half hour public hearing

San Diego City Council voted to appoint attorney Lee Burdick to the seat on the Port Commission vacated by Laurie Black. The 5-to-3 vote came after a two-and-a-half hour public hearing.

Burdick was nominated by Council President Ben Hueso, and represented a kind of “middle way” between nominees Bill Evans and Diane Takvorian. Evans is a businessman who advocated for more good jobs. Takvorian, who had overwhelming public support at the meeting, has a long record of environmental victories and labor advocacy.

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But Burdick has a less predictable approach to new developments on the bay, and whether the projects should guarantee jobs for union workers.

“I’d like to address an issue I know is on the minds of several councilmembers,” she said. “I am not against project labor agreements as a whole. I think it’s important that the candidate who is selected by you to serve has an open mind.”

Burdick will have a vote on pending projects like the North Embarcadero Visionary Plan, the Navy Broadway Complex, the new Broadway Pier and Chula Vista’s bay front.

She previously ran unsuccessfully for San Diego city attorney along with former city council president, Scott Peters. Peters was already appointed to the Port Commission by his peers on the council before he left office.

Burdick will be the only woman on the seven member board, which has representatives from five cities and manages San Diego Bay for the public trust.

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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.