Politics

Sobering Budget Hearing At The City

By Alison St John / Reporter

Published December 3, 2009 at 3:00 AM PST

This story was published more than 15 years ago.

San Diego City Council held the first of three hearings yesterday on the Mayor’s proposed budget cuts. In previous years, councilmembers objected vociferously to many of the mayor’s proposals and has reversed some of them.

This year, the severity of the $179 million deficit has led to a sober consideration of the options.

Murtaza Baxamusa of the Council on Policy Initiatives, a think tank for working families, was one of those who participated in the public hearing. He says the mood this year is different.

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“At this point people are so serious about it,” Baxamusa said. “There are no gimmicks, no pretense going on - these are real cuts to services. And it’s a pretty honest discussion, the mayor has laid it all out on the table.”

The mayor’s proposals would cut over $44 million from police and fire budgets. No sworn officers would lose their jobs, but dozens of civilians in the police department would, leaving officers to take over their duties.

The city council holds two more public hearings before making a decision on the budget Dec 14th. The spending plan covers the next 18 months, and hopes to reduce future cuts by tackling the shortfall immediately.

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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.