With $540,000 to kick-start the process of building a
much-needed, new San Benito County courthouse hanging in the
balance, local and state leaders came through in the clutch by
successfully lobbying for the funding’s inclusion in the recently
passed California budget.
With $540,000 to kick-start the process of building a much-needed, new San Benito County courthouse hanging in the balance, local and state leaders came through in the clutch by successfully lobbying for the funding’s inclusion in the recently passed California budget.
Those involved locally say it was truly a team effort in convincing state leaders to include the spending.
Just last month there was doubt whether the 2007-08 budget would include the first part of the $32 million project after a legislative committee yanked it from the list of expenditures.
While San Benito County may be a blip on the map for many California leaders, a state analysis showed the 45-year-old courthouse is, indeed, in more of a dire condition than in most other counties, confirming for outsiders concerns felt locally for many years.
With so much doubt surrounding the state’s willingness to include the start-up dollars in the current budget, the decision to do so marks a major accomplishment for local officials who fought for the funding. It shows how the democratic process is supposed to work and how many voices working together can trump the bureaucratic disadvantages of living in a small county.
So kudos goes out to a long list of individuals and organizations who fought on behalf of taxpayers in securing the money.
Those who played a lobbying role include County Administrative Officer Gil Solorio, Superior Court Judge Steven Sanders, Sheriff Curtis Hill, Sen. Jeff Denham, Assemblywoman Anna Caballero, the Board of Supervisors, the Hollister City Council, the local Bar Association, the Chamber of Commerce, the League of United Latin American Citizens and the Farm Bureau.
The broadness of voices feeling compelled to express the project’s urgency also underscores local officials understand how badly we need a new courthouse here.
Its potentially disastrous flaws are irreparable at the current location at the corner of Fifth and Monterey streets.
Simply put, it’s far too small at 12,000 square feet, while the new courthouse has been proposed for 35,000 square feet.
While working in cramped corners is a pain for anyone, it’s not just about comfort and providing the public with a facility that’s more than uninviting. It’s a serious safety issue, too.
A building of its size does not allow for appropriate levels of security. It’s downright disturbing, and scary, that there lacks room to perform any sort of security check on visitors as they enter the courthouse. We’ve all heard stories about what’s happened elsewhere, so it would be both ingenuous and foolish to think those types of tragedies can’t happen here.
