So who are those phantom judges Mayor Richard Daley lambasted last week for balking at plans to build a new courthouse on the West Side because the neighborhood is unsafe? Chief Judge Donald O’Connell of the Cook County Circuit Court said he has no idea. But Daley certainly must have picked up on some grumbling coming out of Traffic Court over the proposed move.
The mayor’s advice to the skeptics: “Let them resign. Get another job.” His irritation is warranted; the judges’ objections about safety are based on ignorance. But there’s a less drastic option for them than the one Daley offered: Just be reasonable.
Daley’s admonition followed an announcement that the city has a buyer for the city-owned Traffic Court building downtown. Friedman Properties is expected to purchase it for $10.2 million and turn it into apartments, shops, offices and parking. The County Board has agreed to build a new courthouse for the soon-to-be expelled traffic courts as well as for the domestic violence courts at 13th Street and Michigan Avenue, and the misdemeanor courts at 11th and State Streets.
Daley has proposed building the facility on city land in East Garfield Park near Homan Avenue and the Eisenhower Expressway, a move that would help revitalize that emerging community. But some county officials don’t like the idea. A couple weeks ago, County Commissioner Carl Hansen called for building a courthouse closer to the Loop.
“We are asking jurors and battered spouses to go into high-crime areas,” he said of the West Side plan. If Hansen is worried about battered spouses walking amid danger, he should check out the cramped corridors at the existing domestic violence courthouse. It’s not uncommon for victims to be confronted by their abusers there, or for judges and attorneys to rub shoulders with the accused in tight back hallways.
For years, county commissioners overlooked those conditions. Now, Hansen is concerned about building a new state-of-the-art facility that would be at least as safe–even if it is on the (gasp) West Side.
As much as judges and attorneys would love to see a new courthouse near the Loop–close to existing courtrooms and legal offices–it would be too expensive. One reason Traffic Court is getting evicted from its historic, River North quarters on LaSalle Street is that the property is more valuable as a private building that will generate tax revenue.
If the new courthouse must be built outside of downtown, it makes sense for it to serve as a catalyst for community revitalization. Its presence might just help create an environment that deters the very crimes these courts contend with, especially with the renovated Garfield Park Conservatory, new housing at Homan Square, and Bethany Hospital all nearby.
That’s hardly a scenario worth losing a job over. Doubting judges would do well to get with the program instead.
