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For many years, construction fencing has
surrounded the state Supreme Court's past and
future home at 400 Royal St. -- and it's not coming
down any time soon.
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Photo by Eileen Loh Harrist
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Hey Blake,
Why does it take years and years to
finish refurbishing one building in the middle of the French Quarter, which
will house judicial offices and maybe courts? The city and state, I would imagine,
have poured millions of dollars into this site. The citizens and visitors have
been inconvenienced. I am tired of navigating around this structure. It is a
never-ending project. You may have addressed this issue before, but I have not
seen any explanation for this farce of a black hole of a construction site.
Doug Nodurft
Dear Doug,
Most of us learned at our mothers' knees that "patience is a
virtue." And we certainly need a great deal of this virtue when it comes to
waiting for the completion of a building that will be home to the Louisiana
Supreme Court, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal, the Law Library of Louisiana,
an office for the state attorney general and a small museum.
The state Supreme Court's return to Royal Street has been planned
since 1980. The court had occupied the building from 1910 to 1958. In 1991,
designers predicted the courthouse renovation would take around $19 million,
but so far it has cost more than $34 million. When it's all over, the total
price tag will be a great deal more.
The latest snag in the project involves parking. This should
not be a great surprise to you or anyone who has driven around the block until
he is dizzy trying to find a place to put his Honda. What the court needs now
is parking for a staff of about 250, something that was just not a factor when
it originally took up residence there.
Negotiations are ongoing with a nearby parking lot to lease
spots for members of the staff. Of course, employees would not be expected to
pay for this themselves. So there appears to be some discussion as to who would
pay the annual estimated parking fee of $420,000.
Chief Justice Pascal Calogero Jr. has often explained that
the delay in completing the renovation can be blamed on such factors as financing
that has come in stages, changes in the administration, and the state's somewhat
vacillating commitment to the project.
So it looks as if we are going to have to continue to be virtuous
as well as tolerant, and sooner or later it will be finished. But I guess that
was what they said when the Great Pyramid of Giza was going up.
Hey Blake,
Who was the brave helicopter
pilot that rescued eight people from the roof of the Rault Center fire in 1972?
Maddy
Dear Maddy,
Actually, there were two pilots involved in
the rescue -- John Lockwood and Albert Carriger -- and they were both very brave
indeed.
On Wednesday afternoon, Nov. 29, 1972, chief
pilot John Lockwood of Offshore Helicopters in Houma, a former Royal Air Force
pilot, was on a routine business flight from Dulac to New Orleans transporting
an oil executive when he spotted the fire.
Likewise, Albert Carriger, owner of Carriger
Air Patrol, was on a business trip when he was radioed by the tower at the New
Orleans International Airport and asked to help with the rescue.
Lockwood was the first on the scene. Flying
over the building about 100 feet from the top, he saw eight men trapped. So
he dropped his passenger off and returned to help the stranded men. The heat
and smoke, as well as the antennae and air vents on top of the building, hampered
rescue operations.
Lockwood was able to take away three of the
men on the first trip and land them safely. Then he went back for a second run
and, amid flames lapping around the building, was able to depart with three
more men.
Carriger, hovering within inches of the roof,
rescued the last two trapped men just before the roof collapsed.
The fire that swept through the top three
floors of the 17-story Rault Center took the lives of six people, but eight
fortunate men lived to thank the pilots who saved them.
