Editor’s column
Friday there were two groundbreaking ceremonies for courthouse projects in Riverside County. I attended the 9 a.m. event in Indio for the new Juvenile and Family Courthouse.
Riverside Superior Court Presiding Judge John Monterosso opened the event by saying that public buildings should reflect our public values, and that an enduring trait of our American experiment is the tenet that everybody deserves their day in court.
He said, “Those who come here will see that this is a serious building where serious business takes place.”
County Supervisor V. Manuel Perez said this project takes the Coachella Valley from two courtrooms to five, to point out the increased access to justice this project will bring. Jagan Singh, representing the Judicial Council of California, said the court would provide safe, secure and equal access to justice for all people. The ceremony concluded with these words: “May those who come here seeking justice leave feeling like they had their day in court and were treated fairly.”
By the end of the event I had drawn a thread through my notes. Every speaker had used the phrase “access to justice.”
The new building will be a 53,255-square foot, five-courtroom juvenile and family facility with space for court administration, the court clerk, court security operations, holding and building support. There will be a secure sallyport for in-custody transport.
The current authorized budget for the project is $74.154 million, which will primarily come from SB 1407 and the state general fund. SB 1407, signed in 2008, created a revenue stream from court fees, penalties and assessments to finance courthouse construction and renovations.
This project was among the original 41 courthouses identified to be funded through SB 1407.
When SB 1407 was going before committees, the Rebuilding California Foundation said in its lobbying literature that California’s 450 courthouses were the busiest in the nation and suffering from decades of neglect.
“Senate President Don Perata, working in conjunction with the Judicial Council and State Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald George, has proposed Senate Bill 1407 to repair, renovate and rebuild courthouses where the need to improve security and public safety is most urgent. The legislation — based on the Judicial Council’s statewide, five-year capital outlay plan — provides funds over the next four years to rebuild and repair courthouses categorized as either immediately or critically in need of repair.”
RCF said, “In a rural Northern California town, criminal defendants are arraigned outdoors in a courthouse parking lot. In one Southern California courtroom, a judge hears cases in a converted restroom.” I can attest that during the groundbreaking, we were sitting in front of the court facility to be replaced, and there were literally parts of the building flapping in the breeze.
Written in 2008, the four-year plan had this project among the first funded, almost 15 years ago. “Second-year funding would finance new courthouses in: lndio (Juvenile and Family Courthouse – Desert Region)…. Third-year funding would finance new courthouses in…: Hemet (expansion – Riverside County).”
Judge Monterosso said by phone Jan. 18 that the delay was largely a result of the Great Recession, a consequence of which was the governor tapping into courthouse-bound funds for other things. He also explained that the nine-courtroom Menifee project – the other groundbreaking from Friday – replaces the Hemet project.
The new Indio courthouse is projected to open in the spring of 2024.
