Hogjaw

The City will tell you that you need a building permit to build a shed or even a fence in your backyard, so I'm sure that a permit was issued to build that "warehouse." They obviously submitted stamped architectural and engineering drawings for approval (heavy sarcasm).

I bet that the warehouse building permit is filed right next to the permits pulled to remove the statues in the first place. You probably can't paint your front door in a New Orleans historic district without public hearings and approvals from the Historic District Landmark Committee (HDLC) or one of the City's seemingly endless chain of design/planning advisory committees, so I assume that these design specific public meetings were held to review the removal/demolition plans (heavy sarcasm).

Remember, the City promised that a private contractor, not City employees, would remove the statues and I'm certain that private contractors, even if working on a City project, are most definitely bound to the same permitting processes as everyone else.

I'm no operator or engineer, and I know just enough about heavy lifting and physics to get me in trouble, but any ordinary Joe contractor would have had this site shut down by now.
They have what look to be appropriate mats for the equipment, but the mats are sitting on freshly turned uncompacted soil, on an incline, and I swear that I see them shimming and leveling the mats with shipping pallets. What's going to happen when they boom that crane out 100' and hang 10,000 lbs (I'm guessing) on the end of it in windy conditions? It's not going to be very tolerant to even a minor shift or settling at the base when a pallet crushes or mat sinks.

Private contractors working on a City contract, P.O., etc. are most certainly subject to OSHA and permitting requirements. It's nearly impossible to get a demo or building permit for anything, anywhere in the City without going through one or more of the required neighborhood participation process (public notice; meetings & public comment), conservation district committee review/approval, historic district landmark committee review/approval, design advisory committee review/approval, etc. These can take months.

Unless the council ordinance approving the statue removal already excused some or all of permit requirements, they wouldn't be able to even print up a last minute permit as they don't have in hand the reviews and approvals needed to release a permit.

There are plenty of better mechanics than me on here, but I'd take a look at the fan clutch. They're cheap, usually easy to change, and I've found them to be the culprit on numerous occasions.

If overheating with the stuck thermostat really cooked it and that was the start of the problems, then you likely have bigger issues.