Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Do we still need a new courthouse?

Salem Traffic 2008-06-25 034

“It’s too big!”

“It’s too ugly!”

“Isn’t the old courthouse good enough?”

“Nathaniel Hawthorne didn’t go there, did he?”

“It’s not historic!”

“It’ll destroy our character!”

“It’ll snarl traffic!”

“Why does the state have to take that poor slip ramp?”

“Why can’t it be a small little courthouse?”

“Why can’t we study it some more?”

“Can’t the neighborhood groups be more involved?”

Just a few hours before I took the picture above, this happened:

SALEM, Mass. -- Police are searching for a prisoner who escaped at Salem Superior Court and is on the run.

Police said Miguel Angel Caraballo, 37, was shackled at the courthouse Wednesday morning. But at about 8:20 a.m. he somehow broke free from custody and ran into a waiting car just outside.

The prisoner escaped from the small parking lot in the rear of the court complex, seen at the top of the image above.  There is no enclosed sally port such as those at modern police stations (including Salem’s).

Still think we don’t need a new facility?  Either build it here, or build it somewhere else, but let’s not go through another ten years of debate.

Reports: Shackled Prisoner Escapes From Mass. Court - Boston News Story - WCVB Boston

Salem Gazette story.

Boston Herald

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