The courtroom, which will also serve as a public hearing room, seats 137 people, 80percentt more than in the old building.
The criticism and the admissions by the federal officials brought little relief to the more than two dozen parents, spouses and other relatives of those victims in the Sept. 11 attacks, who filled many of the hearing room seats, some holding photographs of lost loved ones.
Dr. Mark R. Prowatzke, the school's executive director, said that the new building would have indirect lighting, acoustics to accommodate students with partial hearing, and seats in the auditorium with an unimpeded view of the stage so that students have access to sign language and lip reading.
"At some theaters you can hear the seats creak, but luckily ours don't".
City Center's acoustics mean that musicians in the pit are best heard in seats upstairs, where I was for the afternoon performance, but downstairs at the evening (when the brass players were flawless) there was still no mistaking this excellent sound.
Every 30 seconds you could hear a seat going up".
Ever hear of seat belts and air bags?" Your rational mind tries to interject, "Well, back then, no, they hadn't ever heard of seat belts and air bags," but it's too late.
I hear someone seated near me whisper that it's making her want to cry, though she doesn't understand Spanish and thus doesn't know what he's saying.
Democrats argued that they were justified in going to such extraordinary lengths, in part because the Republicans had not given many of President Bill Clinton's judicial choices a hearing, effectively keeping seats vacant until a Republican was in the White House.
Passions have run so high that the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission has abandoned its 50-seat hearing room in the Municipal Building for a 913-seat hall at the Borough of Manhattan Community College at 199 Chambers Street.
