Panel Proposed to Solve Court Overload

San Diego Councilman John Hartley called Thursday for creation of a joint city-county committee to search for a solution to San Diego County’s overloaded court and jail system.

Hartley unveiled plans for the committee during a press conference in one of the court’s makeshift office spaces in the basement of the Hotel San Diego. Hartley was joined by Municipal Court Presiding Judge Mac Amos, San Diego Bar Assn. President Virginia Nelson and the past president of the bar association, Craig Higgs.

The joint committee was first suggested in March by Superior Court Presiding Judge Judith McConnell. At the time, McConnell urged the creation of a committee that would include representatives of city and county agencies involved in the criminal and civil justice systems.

As proposed by Hartley, the committee would include representatives of the City Council, the Board of Supervisors, the Superior and Municipal courts, the district attorney, the city police, county Sheriff’s Department and the bar association.

“This task force will bring together the critical elements of the criminal justice task system to plan the right complex,” Hartley said. The committee would review ways to finance construction of a new jail and courts facility in San Diego’s downtown area.

Hartley, who is seeking City Council approval to create the committee, maintained that the group could be up and running within a month.

Hartley has directed City Manager John Lockwood to prepare a report on the economic value of maintaining a downtown court and jail complex. Estimates suggest that the criminal and civil justice systems account for about 40% of downtown San Diego’s economy, Hartley said.

After the meeting, Amos described the proposed committee as necessary if the city and county are to find solutions to a “growing crisis.” At some point, Amos said, the county, which is responsible for courts and jails, will need to work with the city because “there are things that only the city can do” to help finance a new facility.

In some ways, a court and jail solution “will definitely have an impact on the city,” Amos said. “When we start looking at all the alternatives, it will be important to be able to talk with the city.”

“Let’s face it, the city has a valuable piece of property sitting on Broadway,” Amos said. “They have an interest” in how the court and jail crisis is solved, Amos said.

The committee, if formed, would likely combine its efforts with the county’s attempt to solve the crisis in the courts and jails, Hartley said.

The city is awaiting a County Board of Supervisors study that would look at creative financing methods that might be used to offset the cost of building a new jail and court facility. Supervisors are expected to authorize the study, which would be conducted by the Irvine-based Williams Kuebelbeck & Associates consulting firm, next month.

Proposition A, a half-cent sales tax approved by county voters in 1988 to raise $1.6 billion for new jails and courts, is tied up in a court battle that both proponents and opponents expect to reach the state Supreme Court.