A High Price for History

Despite significant pressure on the Los Angeles County budget that could force the closure of medical clinics in poor neighborhoods, Sheriff Lee Baca is pushing for a plan to invest more than $50 million in the dilapidated Hall of Justice, where he would like to relocate.

“There are practical reasons and aesthetic reasons,” he said. “The sheriff of the largest county in the U.S. needs to be in close proximity with the county Board of Supervisors, City Hall and the chief of police.”

Then there is the tug of history.

Today in shambles, the Hall of Justice, at Temple Street and Broadway, used to be the hub of Los Angeles County’s huge and fabled justice system. It was home to the Sheriff’s Department, courts and the coroner’s office.

The top five floors were reserved for jails, and those cells were home to the infamous and tragic: Charles Manson spent time there, as did Robert Mitchum, who was arrested for marijuana possession in the 1940s. After Marilyn Monroe’s death in 1962, her body was taken to the building for the autopsy.

The 1994 Northridge earthquake brought that history to a close, however. Darkened and empty, the building is a sad relic. Gold chandeliers still hang above molded bronze staircases, but behind them the walls are marked with gang graffiti.

Beige telephones sit off their cradles on the dusty floor as paint flakes from the ceiling. Upstairs, a 1994 calendar yellows, along with a poster reminding occupants to beware of earthquakes.

The estimated cost of fixing the ornate, 14-story building is $100 million, though much of that cost would be covered by federal earthquake repair money and some of it would be made up in savings on office leases elsewhere. After those issues are taken into account, county officials estimate that they could have to pay $2.5 million a year over the next 25 years to fund the renovation.

This month, the supervisors unanimously voted to accept bids from private developers.

At the same time, the Board of Supervisors is facing an estimated $500-million deficit in the health department over the next five years. The shortfall led to the elimination of 153 positions last month, and by April, some public health centers could be closed as part of an overall plan for major cutbacks.

In comparison to the rest of the state, which is also suffering from a health care crisis, Los Angeles County services are under particularly severe attack. Medical practices are careening toward bankruptcy, emergency rooms are scrambling for funding and hospitals face a constant shortage of nurses.

Faced with tough budget choices, the supervisors are cautious about committing to the Hall of Justice renovation. Most say they will approve the renovation only if it costs less than the $3 million the county currently spends on leased office space for departments that could be moved into a renovated Hall of Justice.

Spokesmen for Supervisor Gloria Molina, in whose district the dilapidated building sits, say Molina won’t give her approval if it cuts into funds that could be spent on the health department.

“There’s a lot we can do with $2.5 million a year,” said Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky. “It’s not negligible when we could use it to increase money for home care workers who are struggling on their wages.”

Baca fiercely argues that any link between the two issues is “irrelevant.”

“Health services is sucking up discretionary general fund dollars that should really be applied to save this abandoned building,” he said, challenging those who say “the poor health department will suffer” because of the project to make themselves known.

Just eight years ago, the Board of Supervisors agreed to spend $30.7 million on a modern building for the Sheriff’s Department.

The late Sheriff Sherman Block pushed to move the department and its 500-member staff to Monterey Park in 1991. In an interview at the time, Block expressed regret about the move but said the department needed more modern quarters.

Block also said the move would reduce traffic congestion in the Civic Center, while placing the sheriff’s command personnel closer to a neighborhood served by the sheriff.

The Board of Supervisors eventually voted to buy a 12.5-acre site in Monterey Park because it was just a few miles from downtown and was close to a number of county facilities.

But in 1998 Baca took over for Block, who died just before the election. Since then, the new sheriff has often expressed his love of history and desire to protect Los Angeles’ various historical monuments. Baca stresses, however, that his drive to restore the building is more practical than sentimental.

The most pressing reason to move ahead with the project now, Baca said, is because the Federal Emergency Management Agency agreed to pay up to $18 million for damage caused by the earthquake--an offer that runs out in 2006.

In the meantime, costs for the project appear to be mounting. Last week, Molina proposed making part of the building a museum of justice, which could add to the overall bill for the project.

Nevertheless, Baca remains convinced there is enough support for the renovation and argues that it would benefit the county government and the long-troubled Civic Center area of downtown.

“I’ve just asked for this building not to be a continued part of the trashiness downtown,” he said. “I see this as a county effort, not something just to satisfy the sheriff. All Angelenos should be 100% behind the restoration of this building.”