Norwalk Mayor Richard Moccia is offering a spirited effort to prevent the city's courthouse from closing as proposed by Governor Jodi Rell in her ongoing efforts to get the state in budget order.

Moccia says that while he fully understands the "difficult challenges" the Republican Governor is dealing with about the state budget, closing the courthouse creates a "tremendous burden" on all area residents and all local police because sending everyone to Stamford would create hours long delays due to traffic and travel time.

 The mayor also says police officers making so long a trip would create budget issues with overtime and possible safety issues as the nearby town of Weston has a limited number of officers at any given time. Moccia feels, most importantly, that the act of moving court business to Stamford without cutting payroll, creates a question as to where the savings are by closing Norwalk's Courthouse to begin with.