Parking at the Pinellas County Criminal Justice Center has long overflowed out to distant parking areas and an auxiliary dirt parking lot adjacent to the jail guardhouse. At a meeting of the Pinellas Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers on Nov. 9th, 2011, Chief Judge Thomas McGrady announced to those lawyers in attendance that construction of a parking garage (1,200 spaces) has been approved for the county’s main criminal courthouse.
Completion of construction is currently estimated for the end of 2013, although this date was admittedly optimistic. More importantly, this is what you should know:
- The additional parking at the Criminal Justice Center will enable the planned closure of the two currently existing traffic court divisions located at 1800 66th Street North, St. Petersburg (South County Traffic Court) and 29582 U.S. 19 North, Clearwater (North County Traffic Court);
- The savings associated with the closure of these two traffic court divisions is said to more than justify the expense of building the parking garage;
- During construction of the parking garage, there will be an anticipated shortage of parking spaces at the Criminal Justice Center;
- To facilitate the public during construction, additional parking spaces will be available at the St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport overflow lot with tram service provided by the county;
- There are two new “traffic court” courtrooms proposed at the Pinellas County Criminal Justice Center. The first one is to be built where the current “judicial reception” space exists. The second one is slated to to be constructed on the second floor in some of the space currently occupied by the Clerk’s office.
Monday mornings at the Criminal justice Center are already crowded and hectic. Lines routinely form at the single entrance resulting in a customary fifteen to twenty minute wait for the public to pass through the metal detectors and security check personnel. Inclement weather often results in a frustrating and wet wait in line as lawyers, defendants and other members of the public stand in unsheltered areas awaiting entry into the building.
Our two Pinellas County Traffic Court divisions currently handle driving under the influence charges (DUI), criminal traffic offense and some traffic infractions. Characteristically, the traffic court judges handle a large volume of cases that help reduce the already crowded dockets and courtrooms at the 49th street Clearwater Criminal Justice facility.
Consolidating the two traffic court operations into the Criminal Justice center is certain to create further congestion and delays. Unlike many public buildings, visitors to the Criminal Justice Center typically all arrive at the same time. Court appearances are normally scheduled for either 8:30 AM or 1:30 PM. This is sure to result in backed up traffic at the 49th street traffic signal located at the bottom of the Bayside bridge. It is also likely to create bottleneck conditions for hundreds of motorists who are simultaneously attempting to enter and secure a parking space in the proposed multi-level garage. Consider also that the anticipated additional traffic will be originating from both North county and South county residents who will all converge at the same time at this single site.
It appears that the desire of county officials to save money through the elimination of the two traffic court divisions, will come at a big cost:
- Significant inconvenience to the public; and
- The inevitable termination of employment for those county employees whose jobs will become redundant.
Let’s face it…closing the two traffic court locations is simply a shifting of costs. The public will now be forced to bear the burden of driving from the outreaches of both ends of the county, where most residents reside and work, to an inconvenient and congested mid-county location comprised primarily of industrial and warehouse real estate.
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Related Links:
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Government Uses Criminal Laws to Save Money
What Judges & Lawyers Say About Us
Our DUI Defense Credentials
Sixth Judicial Circuit Official Website
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