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Economy

SD Groups Protest Fair Housing And Employment Office Closure

By Alison St John / Reporter,  Renee Villasenor
Published July 16, 2010 at 9:08 AM PDT
This story was published more than 14 years ago.
San Diego Assemblyman Marty Block speaks outside the California State Department Office in San Diego on Front Street.
Alison St John
San Diego Assemblyman Marty Block speaks outside the California State Department Office in San Diego on Front Street.
SD Groups Protest Fair Housing And Employment Office Closure
Local advocacy groups voiced their opposition to the state’s plan to close the Department of Fair Housing and Employment office in San Diego in November. The planned closure is part of proposed state budget cuts.

Local advocacy groups voiced their opposition to the state’s plan to close the Department of Fair Housing and Employment office in San Diego in November. The planned closure is part of proposed state budget cuts.

The department hears discrimination complaints concerning employment, housing and public accommodation. The San Diego office received 1,200 complaints last year alone. After the closure, Los Angeles will be the closest office to San Diego.

The group accused the state government of neglecting to consider that many San Diegans cannot easily access other offices. Assemblyman Marty Block says that the city often does not receive its fair share of state resources.

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"I'm tired of San Diego being a victim of the L.A.s and the San Franciscos and other parts of the state, who get our tax money and don't provide us with the services we need," Block said.

Peter Zschiesche is the director of the Employee Rights Center in San Diego. He says a phone call to Los Angeles is not the right way to handle discrimination complaints.

"These are emotional issues, they are not well said over a 1-800 telephone number or answering five questions in a website,” he said. "These are things that people want to be able to express in their own words to human beings and have some interaction and understand what's going on and what can I do."

The proposed state budget cuts include limiting damages to claims over $7,500 against employers. People seeking help can take complaints to the Federal Equal Opportunities Commission, but that agency only covers businesses with 15 employees or more.

Economy
Alison St John
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.
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