Act now to save downtown courts
There’s cruel irony in the notion that a state panel devoted to
issues of justice ignored what is just in its selection of a site
for San Benito County’s new superior court.
Act now to save downtown courts
There’s cruel irony in the notion that a state panel devoted to issues of justice ignored what is just in its selection of a site for San Benito County’s new superior court.
According to those close to local courts, there is much that does not ring true in the recommendation by the Administrative Office of the Courts to locate a new court complex north of Hollister and next to the county jail off Flynn Road.
The state panel was ordered to weigh heavily recommendations by a local advisory team composed of court and government officials. Their choice was clear – the Fourth Street site of the old Fremont School. The city of Hollister owns the property, and had promised to donate it for a court site in an example of inter-agency cooperation that deserves to be encouraged.
After receiving the Fremont site endorsement, the state came back with a hasty “overruled” and provided the shakiest of rationales: access to the jail and future access to unnamed government offices make the Flynn Road location the right spot.
Bunk.
There are no government offices being considered for the site, one now devoted to agriculture. There is no office space available nearby.
The decision brought swift opposition from the local Bar Association. The Hollister Downtown Association joined the opposition soon after. The state’s verdict ignores expressed support for a downtown site from the city of Hollister as well.
Selection of a courthouse site is far more than a symbolic exercise.
For more than a century, the legal community has clustered around the courthouse. It’s common to see attorneys and their staff walking to and from the court. The court staff, the county employees also working in the building, the potential jurors, litigants, witnesses and others doing business with the court bring much needed vitality to the downtown area.
They populate local shops and restaurants. As Hollister follows the national trend toward big box stores, the city redevelopment agency, chamber of commerce and downtown association have collaborated to help re-invent downtown. Local residents may never again buy work boots and farm implements downtown. But a successful downtown can draw people for dining, entertainment and specialty shopping.
The presence of the feet on the street that a government center lends downtown is nearly essential to its recovery and future growth.
Further, the Fremont School site is a rare opportunity for symbiosis. County offices in and around the existing courthouse are stuffed to capacity. The court’s move offers overdue relief from overcrowding while keeping office workers downtown. The court site is near other vacant property, and steps from the county’s only multi-story parking structure.
One obstacle the state cited is the need for a seismic survey at the Fremont site, a burden the panel said would add cost and time to the $30 million undertaking.
It’s not too late. The state has indicated that strong, coordinated local opposition might commute its ill-conceived, unjust sentence.
One place to start would be for the city redevelopment agency to consider taking on site survey work as soon as possible to remove the paper tiger obstacle cited by the state.
In the early 1960s, a powerful earthquake resulted in the condemnation of the historic Victorian county courthouse. Even then, generations ago, the state recognized the importance of a downtown site and the existing courthouse was erected around the bones of its precursor.
Has the state forgotten so much since then? Sound off to save our downtown courthouse.
