Going to the Government Center? Expect some changes after the flood

In these troubled times, we rely on the literature that has sustained us through the ages:

William Butler Yeats once wrote, “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and I took a wrong turn and my wife yelled at me for not stopping to ask directions back where the roads diverged, and ….”

Wait, that’s Robert Frost.

“Things fall apart,” wrote Yeats. “The centre cannot hold. Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, the blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere, the ceremony of innocence is drowned.”

Things fell apart last week at the Columbus Government Center, where a 2½ inch pipe on the 12th floor atop the tower loosed upon the world below around 12,000 gallons of water an hour, first pouring into a central inmate elevator, where it sounded like a waterfall.

This went undiscovered for a while, like three hours, because it happened about 2:30 a.m., which is unfortunate. What’s fortunate is it didn’t happen during court, so I didn’t wind up running back to the newsroom yelling “Two inmates just drowned in a Government Center elevator!”

It was raining so hard in one courtroom that someone playing Gene Kelly could have danced in and sung “Singing in the Rain,” were the wet electronics not so treacherous.

Come Monday, people won’t be going to those top floors, and they won’t entering through the ground floor of the tower, like they used to. Workers ripping out wet furnishings upstairs will need that access. Those crews also will have exclusive use of two elevators.

The public’s new entrance will be through the east wing off Second Avenue.

Columbus Council in a judicial emergency has designated two sites as optional courtrooms: The City Services Center off Macon Road and the Iron Works Trade and Convention Center downtown.

But so far no court proceedings are set in either. The city is, however, going to reuse the old council chambers on the Government Center’s plaza level, which still is sectioned off on the west end.

There Judge Ron Mullins will hear domestic cases at 9:30 a.m. Monday and temporary protective orders at 1:30 p.m.

At 9 a.m. Monday, Municipal Court will hold preliminary hearings in Juvenile Court in the east wing.

In Judge Art Smith’s courtroom on the tower’s seventh floor, Judge Ben Land plans to hold a trial, so jurors must report as summoned.

Mullins’ courtroom on the 10th floor was where someone could have sung “Singing in the Rain,” so on Thursday and Friday he will hear domestic cases in Judge Maureen Gottfried’s hearing room on the third floor.

Superior Court will have to use the Recorder’s Court building more than usual, so that will disrupt the Recorder’s Court routine. Because court space is limited and much in demand, regular users are advised to arrive early and be ready, because as soon as one court’s done, another starts.

The schedules are posted online at www.columbusga.gov/Courts/Schedules.

Parking around the Government Center is going to be limited, what with the mobile command centers, emergency vehicles and ServPro trucks and all, so … good luck with that.

You can park in one of the parking garages a block away, if you want. Just don’t try to park in the Government Center parking garage. You wouldn’t want to get stuck in there with all that foot traffic coming from the east wing to the tower.

Anyone with questions may call the city’s service line at 311 or 706-653-4000.

The workers who take those calls aren’t in the Government Center, so their workspace should be safe, if it can’t be converted to a courtroom.

This story was originally published June 24, 2018 at 12:09 PM with the headline "Going to the Government Center? Expect some changes after the flood."