Youth Justice Center, Hotels in City’s Future

A new Juvenile Justice Center, updated police technology, and new resort hotels are in Garden Grove’s future, Mayor Bruce Broadwater said Thursday during his annual State of the City address.

In an effort to centralize prevention and counseling services for the city’s youth, a 10,000-square-foot Juvenile Justice Center will be completed this summer next to the Police Department, Broadwater said.

“The center will house a number of services that focus on the rapidly increasing youth population, including counseling, referral services and the Police Department’s gang suppression unit.”

City officials also hope that a juvenile court judge can be rotated into the facility so cases can be heard locally.

Broadwater told his audience at the Hyatt Alicante Hotel that the Police Department soon will receive a new communications system designed to link officers with dispatchers around the clock.

The system will record calls and link officers to other law enforcement agencies.

Deals with six hotels on Harbor Boulevard are being finalized, Broadwater said, and negotiations for a major entertainment complex near Chapman Avenue and Harbor Boulevard are underway.

Broadwater added that a large, single-family housing development is being considered for the southeast corner of Chapman Avenue and Euclid Street.

“Goodbye strawberry fields and provincialism. That’s not Garden Grove anymore,” Broadwater said.