San Fernando : Courthouse Tops Residents’ Concerns

Given a chance to chat informally with their elected officials, about 60 San Fernando residents spent an evening airing their concerns about the city--from abandoned dirt piles to why the quake-damaged San Fernando Courthouse is taking so long to repair.

One woman complained to the public works director that city workers had left dirt in her yard and driveway. Another told the mayor about a park restroom that lacked running water and toilet paper. A man asked the police chief if something could be done to keep his home from being papered with advertising leaflets.

But most of the questions and comments at the town hall meeting Wednesday focused on the San Fernando Courthouse, which remains closed 19 months after it was damaged by the Northridge earthquake.

“We have the insurance money,” resident Ross McFarland said. “Use it and put the city back together.”

Stephen Sharr, who is overseeing the courthouse project for Los Angeles County, told residents and merchants that county officials are still haggling with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and a conglomerate of 30 insurance carriers over who will pay the estimated $14 million to repair the 12-year-old building.

“It’s a very, very frustrating experience for us to try to get the money from the insurance company,” Sharr said.

When those discussions are finally completed it should take about a month and a half to obtain bids from repair firms and another five months to complete the work, Sharr said. Merchants are eager for the return of the courthouse that housed the north Valley branches of Superior and Municipal Court.

The owner of a dry-cleaning shop near the courthouse said his sales are down by about one-third. His regular customers--attorneys, uniformed law enforcement officers and even the judges--are no longer using his business.

“It’s getting down to where it really hurts,” he said. “You’re talking about our daily livelihood. Let’s get it done.”