Glendale’s ball in court move

Ryan Carter

GLENDALE -- Building a new Glendale courthouse was among the

suggestions in a recent meeting between Los Angeles Superior Court and

Glendale officials.

It would be years away, but officials hope if a courthouse is built

here, it would end the need to transfer criminal cases from Glendale to

Burbank.

“We’re trying to see if the facility can be upgraded, modified or, I

suspect, even replaced,” said Judge Mary Thornton House, the area’s

supervising judge.

The possibility of a new courthouse to replace the one at 600 E.

Broadway is tantalizing to Glendale officials, who want a facility that

can house criminal and civil cases.

As it stands, felony criminal cases from Glendale and Burbank are

heard in Pasadena.

In the Jan. 2 meeting, talks included a possible study to determine if

a new courthouse should be built, Glendale City Manager Jim Starbird

said.

“We’re identifying short-term and long-term needs and we’re at the

very beginning stages of trying to understand those things,” Starbird

said.

In the meantime, the short-term goals have Glendale and Burbank

officials vexed.

A plan to move criminal cases from Glendale to Burbank and civil cases

from Burbank to Glendale is still pending.

“That’s unacceptable,” Burbank Mayor Bob Kramer said, concerned that

released detainees will create a criminal element on Burbank streets.

Glendale officials fear their cases heard in Burbank will strain Glendale

resources, like officers who would have to travel between the cities.

A state report last year called the Glendale courthouse -- which was

built in the 1950s -- “deficient,” prompting the plan to transfer cases

to Burbank. Glendale’s juror accommodations are inadequate and its lockup

facilities are obsolete, officials said.

House’s goal is for each city to have neighborhood courts, where

defendants from one city don’t have to travel to another city for trial.

Kramer agreed.

“If Glendale steps up to bat and builds a new courthouse and a more

secure facility, that would solve the problem,” he said.