New Orleans Inspector General Ed Michel is urging the Cantrell administration to hit the owners of the derelict Plaza Tower skyscraper with fines of up to a million dollars.
Michel says the years of inactivity by the building's owner as the 45-story structure fell into disrepair over the years add up to $1,007,750 in fines, and the city would also be within its rights to demand the owner pay up to $198,700 for the cost of periodically closing streets around Howard and Loyola avenues to protect passers-by from falling debris.
Click here to read the seven-page letter.
The city has resisted fining the owner, saying it would hamper attempts to sell the building to a developer who could put the building back into commerce.
The New Orleans Division of Code Enforcement is scheduled to a hold a hearing Tuesday, ordered by the New Orleans City Council, on the costs of closing streets and use of other city resources in relation to the building's disrepair.
