In case you haven’t noticed, the economy has been in a tailspin for the past three-plus years. People have lost their jobs, and their hope. Government has been on the verge of collapse. It is a time of austerity.
But not for everyone.
It turns out that the good folks at the United States District Court on Church Street in New Haven are doing quite well, thank you. Head on over to the courthouse today and ask someone to show you the new $800,000 fitness center being installed in the courthouse basement.
Odds are you won’t be permitted a viewing. That’s because the gym will be the private haunt of the court “family.” Judges, clerks and most courthouse employees can head downstairs to pump some iron or run in place. The rest of us are not welcome to do so.
All this at a time during which austerity has forced the court to cut back on the work hours of the Court Security Officers, the good people who make sure such things as bombs and guns don’t find their way into the building. The CSO’s have had the length of their workday reduced, yielding a day off without pay, in effect, every two weeks.
Call me a cynic, but that’s simply a case of misplaced priorities.