Judges May Order County to Provide More Court Space

Superior Court judges, pressing for new courtrooms in downtown San Diego, may be forced to order county supervisors to provide them with more space, Presiding Judge Michael I. Greer said Thursday.

On Monday, the court’s 12-member executive committee will meet to take up Greer’s recommendation that the court proceed under a little-known state law allowing judges to order a county board to provide “suitable rooms” and court equipment, Greer said.

The cost of providing those facilities must be borne by the county general fund, the law says.

“This thing’s never been dealt with before,” Greer said. “We may unfortunately be out in front in San Diego County.”

If the committee approves the idea, it would then be put to the entire 69-member Superior Court bench for a vote, likely within a week, Greer said. If a majority of the full court also approves, the judges would form an advisory committee and hire a lawyer to more fully research the state law giving them the authority to order court facilities.

San Diego judges have known about the law for some time, but Monday’s meeting will mark the first time the court has formally considered invoking it, Greer said.

“We’ve had the trump card for a long time,” Greer said. “We’ve never, ever played that trump card, and I hope we don’t have to play it now. But we’re in a crisis.”

Greer’s concern centers on nine new courtrooms planned for downtown.

The county staff has recommended that the nine be placed at the former El Cortez Hotel Convention Center, at Beech Street and 8th Avenue.

The city of San Diego has agreed to put up $3 million in redevelopment funds for courtroom construction, and earlier this week the City Council voted to recommend that the courtrooms be placed in the former Walker-Scott department store at 5th Avenue and Broadway. Rehabilitation of that site would do more to further overall downtown revitalization, the staff of the Centre City Development Corp. contends.

The city declined to release the $3 million to the county, pending next Tuesday’s county supervisors’ meeting, at which the board may discuss the two sites.

The failure to release the money turned courtroom planning into an “emergency situation,” prompting consideration of the state law, Greer said.