On Sun, 3 Jan 1999, Norm/Ilene Tyler wrote:

> Larry, I don't agree with you, although maybe I can't be so long-winded
> in saying why.  We often didn't agree on an application and its
> appropriateness, so this is no surprise.

That is not my impression at all.  You and I did have a few memorable
disagreements, but I thought in general you and I had similar views.

> Probably 50% (not your stated measely 1%) of the old bus station in Ann
> Arbor will be reconstructed on a new foundation that will allow for a
> full basement over the entire site.

Nothing like this has ever been presented to us or even discussed.  What
Martin wants to do is to have the facade (and now a "reconstructed"
facade, not even the original) in front of a completely new building.
There was some discussion of an interior lobby in the "spirit" of the bus
station's styling.

In terms of original materials and structure, I think 1% is a generous
estimate for what would remain.

> The original treatment has been
> long obliterated, which included not only the bus drive-through, but
> also the front-to-back waiting area and rear doors to the waiting
> buses.

That is untrue.  The original large waiting room has apparently been made
smaller with a partition.  Based on the published 1940 design and
photographs, the covered street or bus drive-through, including the east
facade, is almost completely unchanged -- hardly "obliterated".

> Only the front portion of the open station interior remains, and
> this can be reconstructed with the facade, and incorporated as the lobby
> of the new 10-story building.

Only the front portion of the original bus station interior is in current
use as a waiting room.  The rest of it is presumably still there behind
the partition.  But *all* of it would be destroyed and discarded under
this proposal except the front wall.

> This seems like a logical and
> complementary evolution of the building over time that justifies
> approval of the plan.

I am dumbfounded that you can say something like that about such a naked
facadism.

> It is also financially defensible and consistent
> with other downtown development plans for the city.

Actually, I predict that it will never be built.  The bus station will be
demolished, and the overly ambitious 10-story building and
"reconstruction" will fall victim to the next recession.  I guess that
means we'll end up with an undistinguished low-rise building with maybe a
plaque commemorating the vanished bus station.

> Perhaps I can attach a scan of the original and proposed plans...

Please do!

                               Larry Kestenbaum