Today is the official dedication of the Thomas B. Stewart Office Building - the annex to the State Capitol that opened this session.
Above is the entrance to the building on 4th Avenue. Below, from 4th Avenue, is the Steward Building to the right and the Capitol to the left connected by the bridge or passage way. I don't think a name has been agreed on in actual usage yet.
Here's the passage way, looking from the Capitol to the new annex. The door at the end goes into the staff/public lounge. This is a very comfortable room which is used by people visiting the Capitol - citizens, lobbyists, bloggers - as well as staff. The staff have full kitchen that requires a key to get into.
The problem with buildings on hills, is that you can have more than one ground level floor - one in front and one in the back, and maybe even another on the side. This has caused some problems because the elevator is programmed for 1-4. Another part of the floor numbering is related to matching the 2nd floor of the new building to the 2nd floor of the Capitol because the bridge connects there. I've heard from different sources that originally, the 2nd floor in the Capitol was (and still is) called the 1st floor because it was the federal building and had a post office in it. The federal rules required post offices be on the first floor. And technically, there is a door to the street on the side, half way up the hill. So, the fifth floor of the Capitol is the 6th floor. The bottom floor is the ground floor.
In addition to the lounge, which I've used a lot, I spend a fair amount of time at committee hearings in the Beltz Committee Room.
The quickest way to get from the lounge to the Beltz
The quickest way to get from the lounge to the Beltz Committee room is this stairwell, which, as you can see, was not finished when the session started. It's been blocked for much of the time, but now has linoleum.
And below are my favorite art pieces in the building. These are in the lounge.
From the perspective of a member of the public who visited the capitol earlier this spring, this lounge does a lot to make the capitol more user-friendly for people who are visiting. It was a comfortable location to sit in, with plenty of space to work and wireless internet to boot. A great improvement!
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