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Systems Contractor News Front page, con’t page 17 September, 1998
Retrofitting ‘City Hall’
Despite tight budgets, opportunities abound
By James Careless and David Keene
The price of democracy is eternal vigilance, says the old political maxim. And it is beginning to look as if the price of vigilance is an upgraded, integrated audio/video system.
It’s taken time, but America’s city halls and courthouses are starting to plug into the A/V revolution. All across the nation, municipal and court facilities are improving their systems. In addition to broadcast capabilities, sophisticated video projection, sound reinforcement, and integrated system technology are being installed in an effort to make it easier for government officials and the public to monitor presentations and city meetings, interact, and document vital events for legal and historical purposes.
Where is the money coming from, in an era when a “less is more” attitude toward government prevails? Not always from the public.
“A lot of municipalities are finding ways for cable franchise agreements to pay for it,” said Jim Thielemann of San Francisco, CA-based Ceitronics, whose company has just completed the A/V and systems integration, upgrade on San Francisco City Hall. Regardless of who pays the bill, the desire of city governments everywhere is to make it easier for John Q. Public to know what’s going on.
On the courthouse side, business is brisk. “Me court area is probably one of the most active areas in terms of public architecture in the United States right now, both at the federal and local level,” said Dan Smith, director of Dan Smith and Associates in Sacramento, CA. “What’s driving this is a ‘courthouse revival’ across America-the attempt to put justice back up on its traditional pedestal. Pushing this is a program at the federal level called ‘Design for Excellence,’ which is really a process of trying to bring the courthouse back to its predominance as an architectural element of society.”
In terms of audio/visual installation systems, what is pushing installations these days is the desire of both defense and prosecuting attorneys to drive their points home to the jury. “Where audio/visual technology is taking predominance in the courtroom,” Smith explained, “is in the ability to communicate in a visual sense what are the specific elements of the case,” Craig Park, vice president of integrated systems at Electronic Integrated Solutions(EIS) in Mountain View, CA, agrees. “What I’ve seen in the courts facilities is the acknowledgment that image-based evidence and often it’s computer models or computer simulations-is becoming more and more a part of normal court presentations,” he said.
Because of this trend, courthouses are installing their own AN equipment. However, this wasn’t always the case. In the past, the courts left it to the lawyers to bring in the equipment. However, “after O.J., the federal courts and the larger state courts that had the wherewithal-money-said, ‘we don’t ever want to do that again’,” Park said, “because with the tons of equipment brought into the courtroom to do all of that, it made a mockery of the hierarchical structure of the courts. Hence, from there, the question for courtroom architects and system integrators has become ‘is there a way for us to build this technology in reasonably cost effectively, and transparently to the workings of the Court?
Another element in today’s courtroom A/V landscape is the increased use of videoconferencing. The reason: it’s just plain cheaper, simpler, and safer to have experts, witnesses, and even prisoners testify from remote sites. “Today the courts can even do ‘video arrangement,’ which means that they don’t have to transport the prisoner,” said John E. Lanphere, senior project engineer at Ancha Electronics in Chicago, Instead, “the judge can arraign from his chambers to the security facility where the accused is. “Dan Smith added: “When it comes to posting where cases are being heard, the old fashioned method of typing on paper and sticking the message on a bulletin board leaves a lot to be desired.” That’s why Smith foresees such postings being displayed on monitors, just as aircraft arrivals and departures are now displayed in airports.
On the question of display devices in municipal and court facilities, there are two schools of thought. The first calls for multiple personal monitors to serve the mayor, councilors, and other officials in the courts; this would translate to judges, juries, and lawyers. The other believes in using a few-if possible only one-large-screen displays to do the job.
Park of EIS belongs to this second camp. He’s against installing multiple monitors in public venues because ‘Just like the monitor at my desk, as soon as my computing signal exceeds its ability to show it, I need to get a new monitor,” he said. That cycle tends to be 24 to 36 months, and the courts (and city governments) don’t have the funding sources to upgrade their display systems at that level, that often.
Also, Park added, “if you look at the arrangement of where the presenter stands facing the dais-whether that dais is a jungle or a mayor and councilors-where the audience is behind you, there typically is a place to present at 3 o’clock or 9 o’clock if the judge or mayor is 12 o’clock, that everybody has a reasonable view of.” In these cases, “a single source projector is a more cost-effective way of getting one large image up in a space that everyone can see rather than 20 distributed images.”
Beyond presentation technologies, other factors are contributing to a growing demand for integrated systems. The desire for security, for example, has never been higher as U.S. courthouses.
The federal General Services Administration, after the Oklahoma City bombing, decided to take a comprehensive look at security guidelines for federal buildings,” said New York architect Barbara Nadel. The new guidelines call for improved physical barriers to protect against car bombs and other external treats, she said.
However, there is a limit to how far security problems can be solved in this manner. Theoretically, it would be possible to barricade each entrance with machine guns and sandbags; however, this flies in the face of the philosophy of the American systems of justice and government, both of which are founded on the concept of public access.
Also, it costs a lot of money to build and man such facilities, and money doesn’t flow freely in the judicial system, the current building boom notwithstanding. The reason is that “there continues to be a strong sensitivity to being very watchful of the cost that are being spent,” said architect Connie Neeley, senior vice president at Gosseen Livingstone Associates Inc., of Wichita, KS. “The taxpayer on both the federal and local level is very conscious of making sure that there is Œfair expense’ that is being put into the design of these facilities;” in other words, that public officials aren’t breaking the bank.
Given these factors, one can see how passive security measures such as improved video monitoring can find a ready market, as government officials try to find unobtrusive and relatively inexpensive ways to protect both courthouses and civic buildings.
The bottom line: America’s politicians and judges have awakened to the possibilities of A/V. As long as the public money is there to keep improving their systems-and as long as cable TV keeps chipping in-this should remain a growth market.
Retrofitting ‘City Hall’
Despite tight budgets, opportunities abound
By James Careless and David Keene
The price of democracy is eternal vigilance, says the old political maxim. And it is beginning to look as if the price of vigilance is an upgraded, integrated audio/video system.
It’s taken time, but America’s city halls and courthouses are starting to plug into the A/V revolution. All across the nation, municipal and court facilities are improving their systems. In addition to broadcast capabilities, sophisticated video projection, sound reinforcement, and integrated system technology are being installed in an effort to make it easier for government officials and the public to monitor presentations and city meetings, interact, and document vital events for legal and historical purposes.
Where is the money coming from, in an era when a “less is more” attitude toward government prevails? Not always from the public.
“A lot of municipalities are finding ways for cable franchise agreements to pay for it,” said Jim Thielemann of San Francisco, CA-based Ceitronics, whose company has just completed the A/V and systems integration, upgrade on San Francisco City Hall. Regardless of who pays the bill, the desire of city governments everywhere is to make it easier for John Q. Public to know what’s going on.
On the courthouse side, business is brisk. “Me court area is probably one of the most active areas in terms of public architecture in the United States right now, both at the federal and local level,” said Dan Smith, director of Dan Smith and Associates in Sacramento, CA. “What’s driving this is a ‘courthouse revival’ across America-the attempt to put justice back up on its traditional pedestal. Pushing this is a program at the federal level called ‘Design for Excellence,’ which is really a process of trying to bring the courthouse back to its predominance as an architectural element of society.”
In terms of audio/visual installation systems, what is pushing installations these days is the desire of both defense and prosecuting attorneys to drive their points home to the jury. “Where audio/visual technology is taking predominance in the courtroom,” Smith explained, “is in the ability to communicate in a visual sense what are the specific elements of the case,” Craig Park, vice president of integrated systems at Electronic Integrated Solutions(EIS) in Mountain View, CA, agrees. “What I’ve seen in the courts facilities is the acknowledgment that image-based evidence and often it’s computer models or computer simulations-is becoming more and more a part of normal court presentations,” he said.
Because of this trend, courthouses are installing their own AN equipment. However, this wasn’t always the case. In the past, the courts left it to the lawyers to bring in the equipment. However, “after O.J., the federal courts and the larger state courts that had the wherewithal-money-said, ‘we don’t ever want to do that again’,” Park said, “because with the tons of equipment brought into the courtroom to do all of that, it made a mockery of the hierarchical structure of the courts. Hence, from there, the question for courtroom architects and system integrators has become ‘is there a way for us to build this technology in reasonably cost effectively, and transparently to the workings of the Court?
Another element in today’s courtroom A/V landscape is the increased use of videoconferencing. The reason: it’s just plain cheaper, simpler, and safer to have experts, witnesses, and even prisoners testify from remote sites. “Today the courts can even do ‘video arrangement,’ which means that they don’t have to transport the prisoner,” said John E. Lanphere, senior project engineer at Ancha Electronics in Chicago, Instead, “the judge can arraign from his chambers to the security facility where the accused is. “Dan Smith added: “When it comes to posting where cases are being heard, the old fashioned method of typing on paper and sticking the message on a bulletin board leaves a lot to be desired.” That’s why Smith foresees such postings being displayed on monitors, just as aircraft arrivals and departures are now displayed in airports.
On the question of display devices in municipal and court facilities, there are two schools of thought. The first calls for multiple personal monitors to serve the mayor, councilors, and other officials in the courts; this would translate to judges, juries, and lawyers. The other believes in using a few-if possible only one-large-screen displays to do the job.
Park of EIS belongs to this second camp. He’s against installing multiple monitors in public venues because ‘Just like the monitor at my desk, as soon as my computing signal exceeds its ability to show it, I need to get a new monitor,” he said. That cycle tends to be 24 to 36 months, and the courts (and city governments) don’t have the funding sources to upgrade their display systems at that level, that often.
Also, Park added, “if you look at the arrangement of where the presenter stands facing the dais-whether that dais is a jungle or a mayor and councilors-where the audience is behind you, there typically is a place to present at 3 o’clock or 9 o’clock if the judge or mayor is 12 o’clock, that everybody has a reasonable view of.” In these cases, “a single source projector is a more cost-effective way of getting one large image up in a space that everyone can see rather than 20 distributed images.”
Beyond presentation technologies, other factors are contributing to a growing demand for integrated systems. The desire for security, for example, has never been higher as U.S. courthouses.
The federal General Services Administration, after the Oklahoma City bombing, decided to take a comprehensive look at security guidelines for federal buildings,” said New York architect Barbara Nadel. The new guidelines call for improved physical barriers to protect against car bombs and other external treats, she said.
However, there is a limit to how far security problems can be solved in this manner. Theoretically, it would be possible to barricade each entrance with machine guns and sandbags; however, this flies in the face of the philosophy of the American systems of justice and government, both of which are founded on the concept of public access.
Also, it costs a lot of money to build and man such facilities, and money doesn’t flow freely in the judicial system, the current building boom notwithstanding. The reason is that “there continues to be a strong sensitivity to being very watchful of the cost that are being spent,” said architect Connie Neeley, senior vice president at Gosseen Livingstone Associates Inc., of Wichita, KS. “The taxpayer on both the federal and local level is very conscious of making sure that there is Œfair expense’ that is being put into the design of these facilities;” in other words, that public officials aren’t breaking the bank.
Given these factors, one can see how passive security measures such as improved video monitoring can find a ready market, as government officials try to find unobtrusive and relatively inexpensive ways to protect both courthouses and civic buildings.
The bottom line: America’s politicians and judges have awakened to the possibilities of A/V. As long as the public money is there to keep improving their systems-and as long as cable TV keeps chipping in-this should remain a growth market.
Other Feature Articles
Making San Francisco’s City Hall Smarter for the New Millennium, CEE News Special Report on DATACOM, page 14 July 1999
New Communications System to Boost Public Participation, F.W. Dodge California Construction Link, Institutional Construction Feb.99
San Francisco City Hall’s Seismic Salvation The $293 million restoration reaches the punch-list phase, F.W. Dodge California Construction Link Institutional Construction Feb.99
Timeline of History of San Francisco City Hall, F.W. Dodge California Construction Link Institutional Construction, page 16 Feb.99
Retooled City Hall Is Finally Ready To Open, San Francisco Chronicle Front Page January 1, 1999
A Treasury of City Hall Trivia, San Francisco Chronicle Bay Area Focus January 1, 1999
Light Years, San Francisco Examiner Magazine Page 7 January 3, 1999
Gold-Plated City Hall, San Francisco Examiner Front Page Dec. 30, 1998
S.F. Celebrates Floating City Hall, San Jose Mercury News Page 3b January 6, 1999
Ceitronics: wiring San Francisco for the 21st Century, San Jose and Silicon Valley Business Journal Page 14 January 15, 1999
Retrofitting “City Hall’, Systems Contractor News Front page, con’t page 17 September, 1998
City Hall by the Bay, Sound & Communications Front page, con’t page 18 February 18, 1999
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