2 Federal Buildings Get Barricades : Security: Concrete structures at courthouse and office complex in Santa Ana are in response to bombing in Oklahoma.
Barricades started going up Tuesday around federal buildings at the Santa Ana Civic Center in response to the Oklahoma City bombing, eliminating parking spaces and bus stops on two downtown streets.
“Basically, we’re going to tighten security at all our court facilities,” said Arthur Banks, who supervised the U.S. marshal’s office in Santa Ana. “We are concerned about everybody who enters those buildings. The safety of the public and our judges is paramount.”
By late Tuesday, more than a dozen white barricades with yellow reflectors lined the street along two sides of the U.S. District Court at Santa Ana Boulevard and Flower Street. Barriers blocked a lane of traffic along Flower Street in front of the courthouse.
At the Federal Building a block away, a small parking area near the entrance had been cordoned off and a worker for the barrier-installation company said barricades were to be installed there too.
By 6 p.m. today, nearly 1,000 feet of concrete highway dividers are expected to be in place.
The barricades are being supplied by Trench Plate Rental of Downey at the standard large order discount, yard supervisor Brian Bills said. Each of the 10- and 20-foot sections will be about five feet apart, “so foot traffic can get through, but you can’t drive through,” Bills said. The barricades also will have reflectors.
“There’s always been a concern for security,” Banks said. Since the bombing, “a lot more people have become sensitive to our views,” he said.
Banks would not say how long the barricades would remain up or what the final price tag is expected to reach.
“I just wanted them in there,” he said. “When it comes to security, we really can’t look at dollars and cents.”
Members of the marshal’s office are responsible for security inside the federal buildings, while members of the Federal Protections Services, under the jurisdiction of the U.S. General Services Administration, patrol outside the facilities.
Banks said that the Oklahoma City bombing may cause officials to take another look at plans for the $128-million Ronald Reagan Federal Courthouse, scheduled to be completed some time before the year 2000.
Times staff writer Ken Ellingwood contributed to this report.
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