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![TMCNet: Courtrooms aren't to everyone's liking: Lehigh County president judge says furnishings are cheap. Others defend functionality [The Morning Call, Allentown, Pa.]](http://images.tmcnet.com/siteart/invisible.gif)
Courtrooms aren't to everyone's liking: Lehigh County president judge says furnishings are cheap. Others defend functionality [The Morning Call, Allentown, Pa.]
(Morning Call (Allentown, PA) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Sep. 21--In a trial this month in one of Lehigh County's new courtrooms, prosecutors were preparing to show dramatic video of a homicide caught on tape when a defense attorney requested a private conference at the judge's bench, but still within earshot of the jury box.
Before the discussion began, a court assistant reached her arm around the judge's bench and tapped a button -- suddenly unleashing a subtle barrage of "white noise" that the average listener would interpret as something between radio static and a loud air conditioner.
The attorneys spoke emphatically, but not a word could be heard by anyone outside the conference before the judge.
The courtroom's new sound system, designed to keep sensitive conversations private, is just one of the many upgrades at the courthouse through a $62 million renovation project -- an undertaking that is not only changing how the courthouse looks, but also how it operates.
Not everyone is happy about it.
Lehigh County President Judge William H. Platt called the white noise feature in courthouse "unnecessary," and blasted the overall renovation project.
"[The courtrooms are] terrible," said Platt, who presides over a courtroom in the old courthouse. "They're too small, the lighting is not good, the furnishing is cheap. Taxpayers would be better served if they did nothing."
Some of the courthouse changes are obvious: a brand-new all-glass facade that offers panoramic views of Allentown, four new courtrooms on the second and fourth floors, and colossal 8-by-10-foot video screens in the courtrooms. Other changes, such as the white noise button and courtroom cameras, are more subtle. There is also a whole set of behind-the-scenes changes designed to make the courthouse safer and more efficient.
Platt said the county cut too many corners when building the new courtrooms, and they lack the type of quality seen in his marble-walled courtroom, which features a 40-foot cathedral ceiling, brass fixtures and oak and cherry furnishings.
He believes the new courtroom furniture -- which is made of flax board surrounded by a thin walnut veneer -- will wear out quickly and need to be replaced before long, ultimately costing taxpayers more.
"The taxpayers will be the victim of this project," Platt said.
Platt said the walls are made with plasterboard and if a struggle ensues with a defendant, "they'll go right through the wall."
But Lehigh County Executive Don Cunningham insists the new courtrooms are made of quality materials and saved taxpayers money.
He said his plan for the renovations shaved more than $20 million off the original estimated $83 million cost by reducing the expansion from eight floors to two and by axing plans that were too extravagant, including two-story courtrooms. He said that was all done with taxpayers in mind and "the things that are most important to visitors -- safety and comfortability."
"The difference the judge and I have is what level of extravagance will the new courtrooms have," Cunningham said. "Our goal wasn't to build a country club with the finest mahogany wood. Our goal was to build functional courtrooms. You don't need brass and mahogany in order to have justice served."
Glenn Solt, director of capital projects for Lehigh County, said courtrooms like Platt's -- built around 1865 -- or even ones originally built in the new courthouse, come with huge price tags compared with when they were constructed. He noted that the new county courthouse and City Hall in Allentown were both built for a combined $12 million in 1964. Just the outside work on the current courthouse project cost $7.5 million.
Cunningham said Platt is nitpicking.
"If somebody put a new Cadillac in the driveway, are you going to complain that it doesn't have the right leather interior or will you be happy that you have a new Cadillac?" asked Cunningham. "It seems like what [Platt is] complaining about is the leather in the Cadillac."
Judge Robert L. Steinberg is reserving judgment on his new courtroom, but said the white noise feature seems worthwhile.
"We'll see how annoying it is for the jurors," Steinberg said.
"I thought it would have been nice to have music during the sidebars, maybe Led Zeppelin," Steinberg joked. "Maybe, 'I Fought the Law and the Law Won,' although the defense might object to that."
The large screens in the new courtrooms allow everyone in the courtroom to see photos and videos shown by attorneys. Videos in the traditional courtrooms had been played on television sets and laptop computer screens facing only jurors, who sometimes still had to struggle to get a good view.
The new audio systems also include wireless clip-on microphones for attorneys so their voices can be heard even as they stroll throughout the courtroom. Hearing every word of testimony in some courtrooms -- especially Platt's -- is nearly impossible.
There also are cameras in the front of the new courtrooms that are monitored by the sheriff's office. Cameras in the back of the courtrooms are being installed. Judges and their secretaries have video phones that show who is at the door.
Another addition, which seems to have everyone's approval, are the four holding cells between the new courtrooms. They were built along with interview rooms in which lawyers can speak with prisoners through a glass wall. There are also separate elevators for judges and prisoners -- they used to take the same one, though mostly at different times. And the elevators bypass the hallways, meaning prisoners don't have to walk by courthouse visitors.
Platt called those features "an improvement."
"It's just so much safer," Solt said.
An addition to the front of the courthouse has added 60,000 square feet to the building, nearly doubling courtroom capacity. Asbestos will be removed and leaks, which have sprung up since the courthouse was constructed in 1964, are being fixed. Altogether with the addition, there will be 13 county courtrooms, counting the two in the old courthouse and a central courtroom on the first floor of the newer courthouse.
"The whole thing is we'll have a lot more space than before," Solt said. "We've done what I think is a cost-efficient plan ? $60 million doesn't go far anymore."
Solt said the project is on budget and construction, which began in September 2007, should be completed by the end of March. Cunningham said the courthouse's new lobby should open next month.
kevin.amerman@mcall.com
610-820-6510
To see more of The Morning Call, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.mcall.com.
Copyright (c) 2009, The Morning Call, Allentown, Pa.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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