Going To The Mattresses -- Part II

The decision by Youngstown's Municipal Court judges Monday to file a judgment entry ordering that the city pay for a new (or improved) court building is just the latest salvo in a battle of wits over the complex.

Since I have covered the Youngstown beat, the judges have been beating the drum loudly for better digs. A panel from the state Supreme Court compared the moldering, decaying and smallish court on the third floor of the city hall/police department complex on Boardman Street to something they found in the Ukraine after the breakup of the Soviet Union.

It is one of the more dinghier places I have ever been in and the lack of security is frightening.

But the facts are that the city does not have the money to build a new facility, even if they wanted to, and I suspect that they don't. In the grand scheme of things, tearing down vacant buildings and adding more cops are more important than finding a new, improved place for the court.

And that's fine. But the city better watch it. Although I think it is wrong headed and boorish, when judges sue, they always win. It doesn't matter the cause of the finances or any other aspect of the situation; one judge will always back up another judge. And that's just a fact of life.

So maybe the city should look at this order with more than a jaundiced eye and try to work something out. They can pay now; or pay a lot more later.