After Funds Fight, Ground Is Broken on U.S. Building in O.C.

In his high school years, U.S. District Judge Gary L. Taylor used to bring his girlfriends to the Broadway Theatre, on almost the exact site where ground was broken Thursday for his future office: Orange County’s first federal courthouse.

Though everyone from the mayor of Santa Ana to the chief judge of the U.S. District Court teases him about that fact, Taylor couldn’t be happier. It means he can put away the bucket he keeps next to his bench when the roof leaks in the temporary federal courthouse on Santa Ana Boulevard.

On Thursday, Taylor joined dignitaries from Orange County, San Francisco and Washington at the groundbreaking for the Ronald Reagan Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse. The 10-story, stone building planned for the corner of 5th and Ross streets will contain courtrooms for the U.S. District Court, Magistrate, Bankruptcy Court and Department of Justice support agencies. Until now, cases under their jurisdiction have been processed by a handful of judges in the temporary quarters or have been referred to Los Angeles County.

“This building is needed and long overdue, and it will rise here,” said Roger W. Johnson, chief of the federal General Services Administration and an Orange County businessman, who is credited with saving the project from Washington’s budget ax.

“It was an uphill battle. Getting things done on the basis of merit is not easily accomplished,” Johnson said, referring to two years of wrangling with Congress and budget reviewers from Vice President Al Gore’s performance review board. “We just kept convincing folks it was needed.”

Santa Ana Mayor Miguel A. Pulido Jr., emcee for the ceremony, said the builders managed to cut $45 million from the cost to bring it to $128 million.

“This shows you can make cuts and invest in an area so needed for the future,” Johnson said.