Poll in Favor of Court Site Is Called Flawed

Councilman Hal Bernson issued a news release Monday disputing the validity of a poll conducted for county officials that said 72% of west San Fernando Valley residents questioned favored a proposed courthouse in Chatsworth.

Bernson said that the poll was “dead wrong” and that the area’s residents do not want the proposed $37-million judicial complex at Winnetka Avenue and Plummer Street, which would have 18 courtrooms.

“You just cannot build an 18-courtroom structure next to a residential area,” said Bernson, who represents the Chatsworth and Northridge areas. Other sites in the West Valley would be more suitable, including one at Pierce College, Bernson said. Pierce College, which is not in his district, was the only alternative site Bernson identified in his news release.

The county spent $9,000 to poll about 400 West Valley residents about the proposal and found strong support for it, Deputy Court Administrator Robert Quist said last week.

However, I.A. (Bud) Lewis, who conducts the Los Angeles Times Poll, called the county survey unscientific. It was a “classic case of a loaded questionnaire,” the nationally known pollster said.