Santa Ana Breaks Ground for Jail : Crime: Officials laud the facility as critical to the city’s policing efforts. But some residents criticize its cost and fear the county and others will be shipping inmates in.

Donning hard hats and shoveling dirt, Santa Ana city officials ceremoniously launched construction of a $107-million jail and police administration building Monday, praising it as a key to crime fighting for the next 50 years.

“We have suffered from a ‘no room at the inn’ sign at the County Jail,” Mayor Daniel H. Young told a crowd of more than 50 city employees and other supporters who gathered for the small ceremony. “By not being able to take criminals into the County Jail for booking, we have faced tremendous limitations.”

The Santa Ana jail, which will be able to house 420 inmates sentenced for up to a year, will allow police to carry out sting operations with the assurance that cells will be ready and waiting, especially on Friday nights when the County Jail fills beyond capacity, Young said.

But the celebration of the facility, financed by the biggest bond issue ever sold by the city for a single project, comes amid growing criticism by some residents that it is far too costly and will send a message to the county that jails, and a possible expansion of the Central Jail in Santa Ana, are welcome in the downtown area. The city will not be able to resist county offers to pay for space at the new jail, they add.

“By building the city jail, you will have diminished any argument that you may have presented to the county to keep a jail out of a residential area,” said community activist and mayoral candidate John Raya.

“There are a lot of people in the community like myself who are going, ‘Wow, now (Santa Ana) has become like Motel 6 for prisoners. We’ll leave a light on for you.’ ”

Resident Ron Heike predicted: “The city’s not going to be able to afford that jail, and it’s just a matter of time before the county takes over that facility.”

The issue has been politically touchy, with the City Council taking a hard stance several years ago against county efforts to build a new jail in downtown Santa Ana.

“The whole thing is silly. I still have signs under my bed at home that say ‘Santa Ana has done its time!’ We’ve been fighting a jail in downtown Santa Ana for years,” Heike said. “Dan Young was even against putting a jail there.”

But this jail is different, Young said.

“For one thing, these are our own bad guys that we’re talking about putting in our jail. We’re not talking about bad guys from Fullerton, San Clemente or Mission Viejo,” Young said. “We’re taking our share of the responsibility.”

He added, however, that the city will consider renting space once its own needs are met.

“We do welcome their money,” he said.

The city would probably consider renting space to neighboring cities and the federal government, which will have a greater need for space once the new federal courthouse is constructed, before it would consider taking county prisoners, added Police Chief Paul M. Walters.

Santa Ana officials add that the new jail will save the city about $1.5 million a year in booking fees it now pays to the county.

The groundbreaking for the jail comes two weeks after the City Council approved an agreement to rent up to 14 beds a day in its 48-cell pre-arraignment facility to the U.S. Marshal Service for federal prisoners whose cases are pending. It also comes after the county transferred maximum-security prisoners to the Theo Lacy Branch Jail in Orange last month, highlighting the county’s overcrowding dilemma and enraging city officials in Orange.

The Santa Ana jail will be located on eight acres near the Municipal Stadium at Civic Center Drive and Shelton Street. The project includes a 236,000-square-foot administration building designed to accommodate expansion through the year 2050; a four-story jail for 420 inmates with a kitchen and laundry facility; a parking garage and a 900-foot tunnel linking the jail with the Orange County Intake/Release Center.

The council unanimously approved the financing for the project in March, hiking the utility tax from 5% to 6% to help finance it. But officials concede that won’t be enough.

While the utility tax increase will raise about $3.2 million a year, the 30-year debt service on the $107-million bond issuance will start at $5.5 million a year and climb to $8.5 million year within a decade, Finance Director Rod Coloma said.

Coloma said the city will have to dip into sales and property tax revenue to finance the debt. It remains unclear how much it will cost to operate the jail, but Young said it will come out of the general fund.

“In our mind, it’s just something we have to do,” he said.

Countered Raya: “Where does the money to operate the jail come from? The only place it comes from is by renting the rooms out to the highest paying customer.”