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The new Dublin courthouse opened for business this week, with its first cases heard on Tuesday.
The Alameda East County Hall of Justice — affectionately dubbed “ECHOJ” and located on a parcel of land bounded by Gleason Drive, Broder Boulevard, Arnold Road and Madigan Drive — has been a few decades in the making, and will help to consolidate courtrooms county-wide. In particular, it will replace the courtrooms in the leased Gale-Schenone Hall of Justice in Pleasanton.
Pleasanton courtrooms are currently located in a business park — not an ideal match, according to Chad Finke, court executive officer of the Alameda County Superior Court.
“For one thing, the building is not designed to be a courthouse, A,” he said. “It’s certainly not designed to a high-volume courthouse, B.” The building’s landlord and other tenants have also expressed concerns in the past about sharing the space with in-custody defendants.
The inadequacy of the leased hall, combined with population growth in the area, led to a perceived need for a new, stand-alone courthouse in this part of the county, Finke added.
The building is five stories high and connects to a two-story county building that houses offices for the District Attorney’s Office, Public Defender’s Office and Probation Department. The land was donated by Alameda County and was chosen in part because of its near proximity to Santa Rita Jail right down the road.
“Having the courthouse literally directly across the street from the jail, it’s going to be a tremendous cost-saving for us and probably the sheriff,” said Finke, citing transportation costs and traffic delays as defendants have to travel for arraignments. It’s also good for defendants, who won’t have to get “up at 3 in the morning and spend all these hours on a crowded bus coming to Oakland and going back.”
Residents of East County would benefit too, he said, by having “a new, modern building where they can deal with their traffic tickets.”
The construction was financed by the county, and cost a total of $147 million — $122 million for the courthouse portion and $25 million for the adjoining county building. The state and county superior court contributed to the project’s funding, with the state imparting about $110 million from various sources.
Funding and governmental processes lagged, though, said Finke, and so construction didn’t actually begin until September 2014.
County officials roughly estimate that the new courthouse will hear about 3,000 criminal cases and 54,000 traffic cases per year, according to Finke, though those numbers are subject to change.
This week, traffic cases were first held on Tuesday and criminal cases scheduled to begin on Wednesday. Clerk’s offices will close at 2:30 p.m., as is the case countywide, though court cases may continue after this time.
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The courthouse officially opened on Monday, though its first cases were heard on Tuesday. (Photo by Erika Alvero) -
The building is five stories high and cost a total of $147 million. Much of the project’s funding came from the state. (Photo by Erika Alvero) -
The new Dublin courthouse is located on a parcel of land bounded by Gleason Drive, Broder Boulevard, Arnold Road and Madigan Drive, across the street from the Santa Rita Jail. (Photo by Erika Alvero)
Now we just need to know if the judge is a registered democrat or republican before going to trial.
Saving on transportation costs is good and a lot easier and safer for the deputies, plus now the poor inmates can sleep in later and it leaves them more free time in their busy lives, no matter what the cost we should help to make those poor criminals daily lives more enjoyable.
I am looking forward to my next juror summons that has me reporting to the Dublin Court house and not the Oakland court house.
If defendant families and their attorneys have hardship traveling to Dublin, verses Oakland: Than this is a great opportunity for those people to educate their family members and their clients that crime does not pay.