By William R. Levesque
“TAMPA — As much as anyone since the 1998 opening of the federal courthouse in downtown Tampa, Judge Elizabeth Kovachevich has endured the building’s endless parade of problems.
Things always seem to be broken, leaking or closed for repairs at her 17th-floor office and courtroom.
“Of the building’s landlord, the General Services Administration, Kovachevich bluntly said, “They don’t care.”
Interviews last week with Kovachevich and one of her law clerks provide a glimpse of the anger and frustration of those who work in the Sam M. Gibbons U.S. Courthouse. The building is now undergoing $39 million in repairs and upgrades — nearly half the $85 million it cost to build the place.
And they call into question the GSA’s insistence that mold and mildew problems have been eliminated.
Meanwhile, the general contractor that built the courthouse says it previously offered to work with the GSA to address repairs but was rebuffed by the agency.”