Sample Letter

Crime On The Streets Of Hollywood—What YOU Can Do

In 1928, a local business organization, the Hollywood Exchange Club asked the Superior Court of Los Angeles for a local courthouse for Hollywood. It took the energy of one tireless activist, Erika Scarano and her Neighborhood Action Group (NAG) to finally bring the need for such a courthouse to the attention of the general public and local government. That request was finally fulfilled in 1986, fifty-eight years later and the first ever community courthouse opened on Hollywood Blvd.

It was 1982 and Erika was passionate collecting 4,000 petition signatures, giving presentations to the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, The Hollywood Coordinating Council, Hollywood Bar Association and many other smaller groups. She lobbied downtown getting the attention of Councilwoman Peggy Stevenson and Councilman Joel Wachs, as well as Ed Edelman, the head of the County Board of Supervisors.

Erika was dedicated to removing drug dealers and prostitutes from the streets of Hollywood. In those days, things were much worse than they are today. In the 80’s, criminals would get picked up by the Hollywood Police, booked at the local station and shipped downtown. That’s where they would enter the machine called the judicial system. The arresting officer would likely spend, at the very least, a full day downtown to appear and testify at the perpetrator’s hearing or trial. With the judges unaware of the history of the criminal in question, he or she would be released out the back door the next day with a slap on the wrist. A few bus rides later, the criminal would be back on the streets of Hollywood.

1982 saw the beginnings of a Hollywood secession movement. The organizers spoke loudly of the broken system saying, "Los Angeles is too big. City Hall doesn’t know what we are going through in Hollywood. Criminals get the revolving door treatment. L.A. doesn’t care about Hollywood!" Something had to be done, some demonstration from the City that could calm the growing discontent. 

Erika had a vision of a small town approach to criminal justice, where a few judges would hear all the criminal cases that came from arrests right here at home in Hollywood. If the same criminal appeared too often for the same offense, the sentences would get stiffer. This would make appearing before the judge a snap for officers. They could perform their police duties and be on call when they were needed to testify.

In addition, the opportunity for residents to participate in the judicial system would be available. Indeed, it is a citizen’s right and privilege to
oversee the way judges preside. Some neighborhoods have seniors groups that make it their business to attend court hearings to see how justice is administered and report on the strengths and weaknesses of the system.

After a tense few years, the dream became real as the ribbon was cut on the $6.6 million 35,000 square foot facility with three courtrooms and two detainment areas (lock-up).

As a result, crime rates reduced while prostitutes and drug dealers were made to dread being arrested in Hollywood. It was now impossible for them to disappear into the system, fall through the cracks and spin out of control through the revolving downtown judicial doors.

Fast forward to 2002 and the budget crisis. The shortfall in our state’s budget was causing the L.A. County Superior Court to lay people off and close courthouses. The Hollywood Courthouse was on death row. The Chamber of Commerce, Councilman Garcetti and Councilman LaBonge, as well as countless civic leaders and activists, pleaded with the Superior Court not to close the courthouse. Unfortunately, in October 2002, the Superior Court decided to sacrifice the lock-up portion of the courthouse with the understanding that it could possibly be reinstated once our state was in better financial shape.

The need for the courthouse to be back in full force is seen in the fact that drug dealers and prostitutes are starting to congregate on our streets again doing their businesses in full view of neighbors and police. It’s easy to become cynical and resigned when the same criminals the police arrest one night and shuttle downtown, are back on the streets within a few days.

We have fewer police now, yet we are once again sending them downtown to sit in courthouses waiting to testify instead of protecting us. Hollywood is a town that is trying to revitalize its community. What’s wrong with this picture?

The L.A. County Superior Court decided that the $600,000 it costs to run the Hollywood lock-up was money better spent elsewhere. Certainly this is a drop in the bucket when looking at the budget as a whole and considering the additional cost to the community?

Further, the Superior Court failed to look into creative solutions that could have kept the lock-up facility open. Surely they could have focused on everyone involved in the judicial system and tried to determine the true cost of operation and how to lower the $600,000 burden whether it be less overtime, less personnel, courtroom management, etc…

If we don’t raise our voices asking for the return of our Hollywood Courthouse’s lock-up, we could lose the courthouse all together in eight short years. The Hollywood Courthouse was built on property owned by the City of Los Angeles and rented back to the County on a 25-year lease-back plan. At the end of this 25-year period, the County can buy it back for $1. That would be in 2011.

So what goes on today inside the Hollywood Courthouse? Arrests that occur in Hollywood that do not require detainment, where the arrestee is released on bail or their own recognizance, will appear at the Hollywood Courthouse to be tried and sentenced.

Without the lock-up facility, suspects in custody or with outstanding warrants are sent downtown—away from the scene of the crime, the victims, the witnesses, and the police officers. Rather than facing judges and prosecutors who are familiar with the defendants’ recidivism, defendants get off easy downtown, at Hollywood’s expense.

Written in the program for the ribbon cutting ceremony, April 3, 1986, the then County Supervisor, Ed Edelman said, "For the first time, residents of the Hollywood Community will be able to witness arraignments and trials in their own neighborhood so they may see first-hand the workings of the criminal justice system. Also, for the first time, judges assigned to the Courthouse who are knowledgeable about the Hollywood area will be making decisions which affect individuals within that community."

We cannot overemphasize the importance of having our police working in Hollywood rather than wasting time downtown waiting for their case to appear, in addition to the time spent shuttling suspects to the downtown lock-up.

The situation can only get worse if these criminals are not tried and sentenced in Hollywood by the judges that see them often. Their punishment will never suit their crimes and the impact on this situation is an arrogant crook, a fearful citizenry and a weak and demoralized Hollywood police force.

If this issue falls off the radar screen of the Hollywood community, when the end of the 25-year period comes, Hollywood’s future will be sold back to the County for one dollar.

We need our officers in Hollywood, not in the courts downtown! We need our lock-up back!

You can help. Contact the Superior Court Judges and the County Board of Supervisors. Call them and/or write to them. Remind them why the Hollywood Courthouse exists. There is a sample letter on the Franklin-Hollywood Hills Community Council’s website www.FranklinHollywoodHills.org. Print it out. Send each letter with a fresh original signature. Do it today!

In the meantime, you can visit the courthouse any time you like at 5925 Hollywood Blvd. across from the old Rampage Hardware. For more information on the Hollywood Courthouse, please call Supervising City Attorney Julie San Juan at 213-485-7955.

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