Politics

Two San Diego Cities Swear In New Council Members Today

By Alison St John / Reporter

Published July 6, 2010 at 3:00 AM PDT

This story was published more than 14 years ago.

The cities of Oceanside and Poway each hold swearing in ceremonies today to inaugurate new council members elected in June.

Both Oceanside and Poway had special elections to fill council seats. In both contested races the winner won by fewer than 200 votes.

In Oceanside, Democrat Chuck Lowery will replace Republican Rocky Chavez, who moved on to take a statewide office.

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Oceanside has historically had a very divided city council. Lowery says he won’t be voting with one block or the other. He says the biggest budget challenge ahead is how to pay for city employee pensions.

"A previous group of council members twelve years ago voted to do this completely outrageous, unsustainable, 'do any of you guys have a calculator?' agreement." Lowery said, "I don’t want to make decisions that are going to impact negatively people twelve years from now. Now we have to deal with it.”

Lowery said he hopes everyone will be prepared to give a little in labor negotiations with the city.

In Poway, businessman John Mullin will be sworn in to replace recalled city councilwoman Betty Rexford.

Poway also has a growing pension liability. But the city recently won a Taxpayers Association award for setting aside money in a pension stabilization fund.

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Both new council members will have less than six months to prove their worth. They will each have to campaign for a full four year term next November.

Politics

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.