From Judge Antonio Riojas’ third-floor office on East Alameda Street, he can see it looming to the northwest — the new Pima County Consolidated Justice Court.
He should be in there.
Riojas is the presiding judge of Tucson Municipal Court and has worked in that aging concrete habitat for two decades. City and county staff labored together for a decade on the new courthouse, sensibly planning it to house both of the area’s busy courts for traffic violations and misdemeanor crimes: Tucson Municipal Court and Pima County Justice of the Peace Court.
Then their deal fell apart in late 2012. The fact that Riojas is still working in the city’s converted parking lot/office building with its six-story, open-air atrium highlights some of the local shortcomings that hold us back around here.
- A major county building had a big cost overrun.
- City and county officials came into conflict.
- City officials chose short-term problem solving.
Despite my invitation, Riojas declined to complain about being stuck in the building where concrete poles in the strangely angled courtrooms leave some seats with obstructed views.
Two blocks away, Doug Kooi was not similarly restrained. He was effusive.
“I’ve been going to meetings on this since like 1997, so it’s amazing it’s here,” he said, looking out over the view to the north — the railroad tracks, the warehouses, the northwest side and the Catalinas and Tortolitas beyond. “The scale is epic.”
The contrast with the county’s old digs is head-spinning. First, the Justice Court offices were spread across various downtown buildings, which meant people were often sent walking blocks for the correct office. Second, the courts and associated offices were cramped, confusing and uncomfortable.
“For the first time, we have enough seats,” Kooi said, pointing to the rows of chairs in the spacious and well-lit area where clerks help customers. “It was just awful how badly we treated our citizens.”
“We had no creature comforts for the public,” he added.
Back around the corner at City Court, there still are few creature comforts. The atrium is open to the elements, so last Friday the rain poured in, and in the summer the heat is stifling. Spring and fall are nice, Riojas noted.
“The hole in the center is kind of a pain,” he said.
Whom do we blame for Riojas, his fellow employees and thousands of Tucson residents having to continue enduring that monstrosity?
The easiest place to put the blame is on the dead. They’ll have a hard time defending themselves. Archaeological investigations of the new courthouse site turned up a cemetery with almost 1,400 sets of remains, which had to be moved. That boosted archaeological costs from $1 million to $18 million.
But there were other areas of extra cost, too — the original bond was for $76 million and the final cost is $143 million, including a huge parking lot that is expected to pay for itself. The county asked the city to split the overrun proportional to how much of the building each government occupied. The county even offered to loan the city its $21 million share.
City officials objected that paying more would amount to double-taxation for Tucson residents, who already pay county taxes. The argument didn’t make a lot of sense since the city chooses to run its own court and keep the fines. In the end the city made a lesser offer the county refused.
“The basic feeling of the mayor and council is that it’s not right to pay for $22 million in overruns, and to also pay for a lease every year,” city spokeswoman Lane Mandle explained Tuesday.
Yes, it would have cost the city millions each year — $4 million or $5 million by the city’s estimates, out of a tight budget, but one that totals $1.25 billion or so. The City Council was able to fix a $33 million budget deficit for this fiscal year, so it probably could have found a way to make the court payments work, too.
That point came home in February last year, after the courthouse deal was dead, when the city received a report it had contracted earlier on the needs of the existing city court building. Swaim Associates concluded that the building needs — coincidentally — about $21 million of work in the next 15 years. The city is making the first $3.6 million in urgent fixes now.
Yes, it is a smaller amount than the city would have paid to be part of the new courthouse as planned, but of course that’s good money after bad. It’s to fix a structure that is doomed over the long run.
Instead of including the city courts, county officials rejiggered plans and are putting other significant county offices there — the treasurer, assessor, recorder and constables. That should give local citizens ample reasons to visit the new courthouse, enjoy it, and reflect on the missed opportunity.
It’s a beautiful public building that’s not as useful as it should be and has a back story that reflects badly on us, or at least our leadership.
