Santa Ana, U.S. Courthouse Mesh Nicely : * Among 3 Good Sites, County’s ‘Downtown’ Seems Best-Suited for Federal Facility

If there is any part of Orange County that can be considered our “downtown,” it is the Civic Center area of Santa Ana. The federal General Services Administration recognized that July 16 when it reversed itself and recommended downtown Santa Ana as the site for a new $80-million federal courthouse.

The county by any reasonable standard qualifies for a federal courthouse, and it has been seeking one for years. Officials in Washington were finally persuaded that one should be located here. The question then became where. Santa Ana seemed the logical site, but Irvine put in its bid, and an earlier GSA report recommended Laguna Niguel, where the federal government already owns land.

The House subcommittee on public buildings and grounds, which will soon make the final determination, is in the same position as a fortunate baseball manager with more than one All-Star first baseman to choose from. No matter what he does, he makes a good choice.

Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach), who sits on the subcommittee and in whose district the new courthouse will be situated, still has not made his final decision, but the subcommittee has passed an authorization to put the new courthouse in Santa Ana, so the courthouse will go to Santa Ana--unless the subcommittee changes its mind by Sept. 30.

A strong argument could be made for any of the three county locales. Indeed, such were. The overriding consideration must be which site best serves the public. Santa Ana has strong credentials. It has the support of federal court judges. And it offers a central location, is convenient to public transportation and already has a Civic Center complex with all the support facilities the federal court would need. There are also amenities there such as nearby restaurants and commercial areas.

What swung the GSA to the Santa Ana site over the others was the city’s offer to donate land for the court and parking spaces for its employees. The offer is a good deal for Washington and for Santa Ana.

A new federal courthouse will make the downtown Santa Ana area even more attractive, and it should become a magnet for even more law offices, businesses, restaurants--and money. The nearby South Coast Plaza area in Costa Mesa is recognized as a major retail center in the county. A new federal courthouse to go along with the other city, county and federal facilities would truly make downtown Santa Ana a major regional government center.