Having our own courthouse with our own cases and our own juries is a good idea. It’s how it should be. We are the third largest city in L.A. County. We should not be using the San Fernando Valley’s courthouse for our city and valley felonies and Sylmar Juvenile for our city and valley juvenile adjudications and cases.
The travel alone for many people who have cases and our residents that get jury service is not fair. Plus we deserve our cases to be heard and decided by our jurors (our community members).
San Fernando Valley’s courthouse is four floors. Antelope Valley courthouse is four floors. Ours should also be four, NOT eight floors. In addition, the location is bad. Furthermore, it is a major safety issue to move ALL juvenile cases from the entire San Fernando Valley (Sylmar Juvenile) and some felony cases from other areas to Santa Clarita. That is just dangerous.
Our courthouse should service our community, our city and our valley. And, all of us must be involved in the process of where it is built and what the structure will look like, considering safety as the utmost guidepost.
Jonathan Hatami
Santa Clarita
