Judge threatens to block opening of new Duval courthouse Read more at Jackson

[coredumped]

http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2012-04-20/story/judge-threatens-block-opening-new-duval-courthouse

After waiting more than a decade for a new courthouse to be finished, Duval County's chief judge may delay opening the $350 million building because of a dispute about furniture.
Chief Circuit Judge Donald Moran told the Times-Union editorial board Friday that parts of the 800,000 square-foot building will be "non-functioning" without more furniture for dozens of hearing rooms.
And he said he won't accept the building, due to open next month, unless that changes.
"We have a move scheduled. If I don't have functional hearing rooms, it's my intention not to move into that courthouse on a timely basis," Moran said.
He has some leverage.
Florida's constitution says no building can be used to house trials unless the chief judge approves it as a courthouse.
Moran, who has been chief judge for 19 years, said his choice isn't about ego or opulence but whether the building will have enough tables, chairs and other basics to be serve the public.
"If you want to tear the columns off the building, I don't have anything to say about it. You can paint the building pink," Moran said. "But functionality, durability, security, I have to have some say-so about it. So that's the standstill we're at."
There's really not a shortage, said Ronnie Belton, the city's chief financial officer, who is overseeing city efforts to control costs on the building.
City employees have combed through furniture in the 300,000-square-foot existing courthouse on Bay Street and checked how much could be used in the new building.
"We think it's there," Belton said, adding he's confident they'll fill out the hearing rooms once they're moved to the new site west of Hemming Plaza.
But Circuit Judge Mallory Cooper said most of the old furniture was already committed to other spots in the building to offset spending cuts in those areas.
The city could save about $730,000 if it didn't buy anything more.
But Moran said he's just not confident of the city's estimates -- and isn't ready to take Belton's word.
"As they say in Texas, he's all hat and no cattle," Moran said.
The city has a legal duty to equip public areas of the courthouse, such as hearing rooms, city General Counsel Cindy Laquidara said. Private rooms such as judges' chambers are furnished at the state's expense.
Moran said the city had already provided for furnishings for other parts of the building, but he and Belton have been at odds about what's needed on the seventh floor, where there are 37 hearing rooms.
A lot of the old courthouse furnishing are already spoken for, he said. The judge said he could fill just three rooms with what he has available, some of it about 50 years old but in decent shape.
"Courtrooms are important," Moran said, "[but] we use hearing rooms more ... regularly than courtrooms. ... That's where all the work is done."
Belton had earlier planned to get used furniture from federal courthouses in Mississippi or South Florida through the General Services Administration. He said someone else bought up the Mississippi furniture and that he stopped shopping for courthouses to raid after concluding the city had more inventory than he had realized.
Moran said he expects to discuss his concerns Monday at a meeting of a City Council committee overseeing courthouse construction.

[Jason]

If the issue is over furniture, don't they have furniture in the old building?  Why not move it over to fill the gap? Yeah, it may not be as purdy but they should be able to make it work fer a bit! 

[Captain Zissou]

I love how many problems Moran has caused.  I wish he would have won the fight with the mayor over the design of the courthouse.  He was in favor of the Cannon design I believe.

[coredumped]

If the issue is over furniture, don't they have furniture in the old building?  Why not move it over to fill the gap? Yeah, it may not be as purdy but they should be able to make it work fer a bit! 

From the article:

But Circuit Judge Mallory Cooper said most of the old furniture was already committed to other spots in the building to offset spending cuts in those areas.

Which I feel is BS

[AbelH]

If the issue is over furniture, don't they have furniture in the old building?  Why not move it over to fill the gap? Yeah, it may not be as purdy but they should be able to make it work fer a bit! 

Much larger facility, for starters. Also have to factor in the life span of furniture in the current building. Wonder if any of our commenters who have care to share thoughts on the condition of existing furniture.

[simms3]

Obviously a small fraction of the furniture from a 350,000 SF building cannot outfit an entire 800,000 SF building, but furniture had to have been in the budget from the get-go.  We are probably talking about a small portion of needed furniture that falls outside of the original budget/old courthouse furniture.

To witness this judge yet again play his position of power, public interest be damned, is torturous.  This man is arrogant and is holding his power over everyone else.  The taxpayers have spent a near fortune on this building and have witnessed a process that has delayed this building's opening for YEARS, partly due to this judge already, and here he goes again.  I hope there is major public outrage.  Anything is better than the cramped and moldy old courthouse.  So outfit 700,000 SF of space in the new courthouse and wait for a budget to allow the remaining fraction to be supplied with furniture.  There would still be 200% the usable courtroom space as the city currently has, even with only 7/8 the new courthouse up and running with furniture.

Why does a chief judge have power over all the other elected officials - who are actually beholden to the colelctive will of the people or they don't have a job?  Why does a judge have any power such as this?  He already has power to send a man to death or to be incarcerated for life or to fine a company millions, which may lead to many people losing jobs?  He already has the ultimate power in his hand!

[mtraininjax]

Yeah, it may not be as purdy but they should be able to make it work fer a bit! 

Have any of you been to the existing courthouse? been up to see a judge and his chambers? Some of the furnishings in this building have been there many years. They have absorbed the contaminants from the air system there in the old building, the problems associated with fabrics, you bring all that with you in a new space.

Why bring in old when we're talking about a flea on an elephant in cost? This is a game of chicken the mayor cannot afford to face. He will cave, because Moran has been waiting for this thing for 3 mayors, Brown is outgunned and out matched and with what happened with Corey yesterday, he will be fighting fires from many sides.

My advice Alvin, settle with Judge Moran and move on to battle with Angela over her issues. It will be the least of your worries.

[Dog Walker]

Next they will have to put up a giant gold and ivory statue of Judge Moran at the back of the Acropolis replica that is the main entrance of the new courthouse.

[ChriswUfGator]

I don't get it. This is the boondoggle of all boondoggles. $400mm wasted and down the drain already, and now we're going to save money by refusing to put furniture in it? Wtf? Seriously. But somehow Corey still gets her stupid ponte vecchio?

The time to save money on this was in not building the stupid thing in the first place, but now that the monstrosity is done, may as well stick furniture in it. The old courthouse is muuuuuuch smaller, anybody with common sense knows there can't possibly be enough in there to furnish more than a small percentage of the new one.

FWIW look at what Moran's complaining about, it isn't to get gold plated toilet seats. 37 conference rooms and he only has a dozen tables to put in them. What're they supposed to do? Everybody sit Indian style on the floor?

[Tacachale]

The judges are right. We need to make sure this thing at least functions, and it can't without furnishings. It's not the judges' fault this design is a such a waste, it was the mayor, we can't try to cut corners by making it less functional.

[Dapperdan]

Lets just get this thing done. What a huge embarrassment this thing is. What did we get for $500 Million? That building design looks terrible.

[ben says]

Yeah, it may not be as purdy but they should be able to make it work fer a bit! 

Have any of you been to the existing courthouse? been up to see a judge and his chambers? Some of the furnishings in this building have been there many years. They have absorbed the contaminants from the air system there in the old building, the problems associated with fabrics, you bring all that with you in a new space.

Why bring in old when we're talking about a flea on an elephant in cost? This is a game of chicken the mayor cannot afford to face. He will cave, because Moran has been waiting for this thing for 3 mayors, Brown is outgunned and out matched and with what happened with Corey yesterday, he will be fighting fires from many sides.

My advice Alvin, settle with Judge Moran and move on to battle with Angela over her issues. It will be the least of your worries.

Last time I was in chambers, I got gum stuck to the back of my shirt. I couldn't make this shit up if I tried. Just the thought of quibbling over furniture, when the building is already sitting there, is mind boggling. Moran has a point. WTF are they going to do with nowhere to sit???

[Dog Walker]

I think a lot of the controversy is not about whether there is a need for furniture, but how expensive the chosen furniture is.

$5,000 for a desk?  $400 for a wooden side chair?  Don't know where I've heard the figures or even if this is true.

[Tacachale]

^The "$5,000 desk" thing is hyperbole from the Mayor repeated by Ron Littlepage as if it were true. The issue is about the need for furniture in the hearing rooms; the judges already agreed to reduce the cost of the furniture, but now the may is coming back and claiming no furniture is needed at all.

[ChriswUfGator]

Agreed. It's all political hogwash. The issue isn't a $5,000 desk (which never existed in the first place) the issue is they don't want to give them the furniture period. I guess it's some kind of high-stakes gamble that the state will wind up stepping in to pick up the tab.

But the whole argument over how we're not going to give you enough furniture to furnish the building is absurd. You have X number of whatever particular type of room in the new building, and you'll need X times however many tables and chairs for each room, this isn't rocket science. The old courthouse is like 1/3'rd of the size of the new one, common sense tells you that reusing the old stuff won't be sufficient because there won't be enough of it. This whole thing is just asinine. If you want to save money, kill the ponte vecchio instead of arguing over how 12 tables are supposed to fill 37 rooms.