we saw that...

coughlin-saunders leak deal reached

the $8.2 million [6.07 eur] dollar coughlin-saunders performing arts center is one of those swanky buildings that the city of alexandria would have on hand as the place for the "blue-bloods" to gather and listen to the symphony, sip wine and pontificate about what the poor people are up to. it brings to mind the first-class dinner scene from titanic where rose explains to jack that the men are retiring to smoke cigars, drink brandy and play at being "masters of the universe." sorta like the titanic, coughlin-saunders almost immediately after its 2004 debut sprung a leak. several actually.

we wont bore you with all the details but a local politically connected construction firm ratcliff construction company, inc., built the coughlin-saunders performing arts center; one curiosity we found from perusing ratcliff's website is that they do not refer to coughlin-saunders anywhere on it. not under current projects, office buildings, healthcare, industrial, special projects or educational. we checked a few ratcliffconstructors.com entries from several years back in archive.org's wayback machine and didnt see coughlin-saunders mentioned there either.

anyway, last year the city commissioned a company quick & associates to inspect couglin-saunders to find out why it leaks. the local newspaper, the alexandria daily town talk:

requested a copy of the Quick & Associates report in August, but the city refused, citing an exception to Louisiana public records laws that officials claim gives them the right to withhold public information that could be subject to pending litigation. ~ see firm agrees to repair leaks at arts center from the town talk.com.

click here to download 3 page .pdf memorandum from the town talk's website
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