Dead

This happened a week ago.   Somehow it is still news to me.

In an exclusive, Mayor Mitch Landrieu essentially admitted to The Louisiana Weekly that the effort to covert Big Charity into a new City Hall/Judicial “Civic Center” complex is dead. The decision by the Civil Court bench to oppose a redevelopment of the former Art Deco Hospital complex renders the proposed Civic Center without a critical funding source.

The Civil District Court judges have long argued that they do need a new courthouse — just not one inside Big Charity. They desire their own, separate facility on a vacant plot at Duncan Plaza.

When asked publicly by this newspaper at a Downtown Rotary Club event about Chief Judge Michael Bagneris’ proposal to build a stand alone CDC Courthouse, Mayor Landrieu looked out over the crowd of prominent business people and asked to raise their hands if they thought building the judges a new courthouse is a priority.

The room erupted in laughter with only one hand going up in the crowd of a hundred. “See — that’s not a priority,” the Mayor simply stated.

Now somebody please ask stuff to stop happening so I can finish writing about the football.