Tuesday, August 14, 2007

The Metaphor Courthouse . . .

Behold the beauty within the Oneida County Courthouse, the latest renovation costing about $5 million, unveiled. A courtroom across the hall awaits a similar renovation. Ongoing renovations have cost about $40 million over the last 10 years.
County Executive Anthony Picente vowed a continuation of support for such historical preservations.

"The people assembled here come for justice, come for comfort, come to see their problems get solved," Picente said. "We in county government really need to take hold of buildings such as this and landmarks that we have."

State Supreme Court Justice Bernadette Romano credited Julian's "dogged diligence and demeanor and his just never-say-die attitude" for keeping the project on track. Julian noted Romano's role in choosing the courtroom's deep blue and gold-trim coloring.

"You should also know the architects allowed us to design the carpet," Romano said. "I mean, we literally picked every color, and every nuance in the carpet was designed from scratch."
Historical preservation is important, particularly in a city like Utica which is losing its architectural treasures at an alarming pace. The buildings, from Utica's properous era, would be irreplaceable today.

But there is a difference between preservation and renovation.

Renovation is renewal, but this region currently does not have the "juice" to do what it once did. The industry that financed our prosperous era is gone.

Most of us never see the inside of the courthouse. But we see and have to tolerate the exterior every day. The exterior of the courthouse looks like a dump and has looked that way for years.166_6632

The exterior mirrors our problems: job killing taxes, raw sewage spilling into the Mohawk, children being poisoned by lead.

The money is gone for most of us . . . . but not for those who hold court in the court house - our "power elite." They are inside -- and have surrounded themselves with opulence at our expense. They can look at their surroundings and pretend that they are as great as their forerunners who originally built this place, this city, this region.

They need to open the door, leave the courthouse and look around -- and see what they really created.

Preserve the building, but let the renovation wait until it has been earned: when this region is prosperous again.

[Update: For a more humorous take on this story check out the Snakepit.]

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

If Bernadette Arcuri... Ummm, I mean "Romano" was really concerned with the betterment of Oneida County Justice, she and her ilk there would correct the cosistant, neverending abuse of the Criminal Procedure Law they shred and destroy in their "path of least resistance" approach to Law.

Thats not a courthouse, that's a railroad station.

Each of those Judges has more dirty laundry than a good percentage of the "suspects" they treat like "food for the machine" to quote Thomas Wolfe.

If Mrs. Romano, or Mike Dwyer realised the level of disregard this community holds for them, they might realise that fancy carpet won't save them from their pasts, and make them "Honorable" by any stretch of the imagination.

These people are the worst offenders in a "government" that is as greedy and as Self-important as they come.

That courthouse may look fine now, but the carpets are being stained by presence of the sleazyest egos that could have found their way to those "un"Just walls.

The Criminal Law part of our local government is the worst of the bunch, How self-important must one be to go as far as 40 Million Dollars to make your work environment as cushy as can possibly be?

Just when I thought this crowd could not be more repulsive...

Utica-Post said...

http://uticahistory.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

http://uticahistory.blogspot.com/2007/08/county-courthouse-is-history-repeating.html