Grand Jury Says Hurry Up on Hall of Justice

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — Two weeks ago stories started running saying that work on the Hall of Justice might finally get underway. Finally. Twelve years after the building was redtagged following the 1994 Northridge earthquake. Today the Metropolitan News-Enterprise runs a story saying that a Grand Jury has told the County it better get moving fast, or it’ll lose $12 million in federal FEMA funds granted way back in the aftermath of the quake.

What I found interesting in the short story, though, is this little bit:

The structure, at 211 West Temple Street in the downtown Los Angeles Civic Center, housed courtrooms, jails, and the Sheriff’s Office until it was “red-tagged” and boarded up following the earthquake. A reinspection in 1998 showed that the closing of the building was in error–that the damage was merely cosmetic.

I’m pretty sure I’m never heard that 1998 bit before. The red-tag situation of the building has always seemed odd to me, though, since daily there are lots of lights on inside. It’s never been the deadzone you’d expect from a red-tagged structure.