Hello Walter,
We accompished our goal.  The Michigan Central Depot lives.  I will
make a transcript of the court proceedings and you may post it on the
internet for all who signed the petition.

When I get the documents from him I will post them on the blog.

Thanks everyone!

State Rep. Bill Rogers, R-Brighton, who heads a task force looking into whether the state should grant easements for the rail line along Interstate 96, U.S. 23 and I-94, said the system is within the realm of possibility — provided private funding exists to meet the $2 billion price tag.

Connie Murry Cole of Detroit-based Interstate Traveler Company LLC, the company that developed the plan for the high-speed line, said enough funding has been identified to at least build a prototype within a year, but the location has not been determined.

The “MagLev” rail line would incorporate hydrogen and solar technology, and magnetic forces would help propel train cars along stainless steel tubes that could serve as conduits for fiber optic cable, electrical lines and utilities like water and natural gas.

“If they truly can finance it, I don’t know why it couldn’t exist,” Rogers said. “I just don’t know if the money is there.”

About 75 people attended the hearing, most from investment companies that have bought a stake in the endeavor, or from industries that hope to spin off business if the project goes forward.

Michigan State University history professor James Anderson, an economic historian, said the plan has the potential to revolutionize transportation — if it gets off the ground. He testified in support of the plan.

“It’s going to provide increased transport speed, efficiency and safety,” Anderson said. “And we haven’t even begun to count its job creation potential.”

kbouffard@detnews.com (517) 371-3660

Find this article at: http://www.detnews.com/article/20090615/POLITICS02/906150410/Company-ready-to-build-high-speed-rail-prototype

A hard-copy of the petition, which now includes Michigan Senator Cameron Brown, was overnighted today and will be in the hands of Stanley Christmas tomorrow by noon.

You can join the cause by clicking here: Michigan Central Station Cause

Thanks to John for doing this.

The petition we’ve made possible here will be presented at the hearing and to the Detroit media.

I want to personally thank all that signed.

Keep your fingers crossed. I will know the outcome of the hearing on the 29th and will post back as soon as I know something.

Thanks again, everyone!

Walter Victor

The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources .

The Michigan Central Station or then known as Penn Central Station is record #157236 on the register.

Listing in the National Register of Historic Places provides formal recognition of a property’s historical, architectural, or archeological significance based on national standards used by every state. Two of the more important for our purposes to save the station are:

• Providing opportunities for specific preservation incentives, such as:
  > Federal preservation grants for planning and rehabilitation
  > Federal investment tax credits
  > Preservation easements to nonprofit organizations
  > International Building Code fire and life safety code alternatives
• Possible State tax benefit and grant opportunities.

What does this mean?  It means if the station were to be restored, some of the cost could be covered by a grant from the government.  Also, from what I read, Michigan could receive a tax-benefit for restoring it.

With the recent news of U.S. cities possibly being linked via high-speed rail, this could be of huge benefit.  Many tracks from many cities already run to the rear of the station, including one under the Detroit river to Canada.

To contact the National Register of Historic Places:

Phone: (202) 354-2211
Fax: (202) 371-6447

To contact the Michigan Department of History:

Phone: (517) 241-2236

Whitney Warren was a cousin of the Vanderbilts and spent ten years at the École des Beaux Arts. There he met fellow architecture student Emmanuel Louis Masqueray, who would, in 1897, join the Warren and Wetmore firm. He began practice in New York City in 1894.

Warren’s partner, Charles D. Wetmore, was a lawyer by training. Their society connections led to commissions for clubs, private estates, hotels and terminal buildings, including the New York Central office building, the Chelsea docks, the Ritz-Carlton, Biltmore, Commodore, and Ambassador Hotels. They were the preferred architects for Vanderbilt’s New York Central Railroad.

The firm’s most important work by far is the Grand Central Terminal in New York City, completed in 1913 in association with Reed and Stem. Warren and Wetmore were involved in a number of related hotels in the surrounding “Terminal City”.

Whitney Warren retired in 1931 but occasionally served as consultant. Warren took particular pride in his design of the reconstructed library at the Catholic University of Leuven, finished in 1928, which carried the controversial inscription Furore Teutonico Diruta: Dono Americano Restituta (“Destroyed by German fury, restored by American generosity”) on the facade. The library was largely destroyed by German forces again in 1940.

The architectural records of the firm are held by the Dept. of Drawings & Archives at the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University.

Among the firm’s other commissions were:

• The Racquet House at the Tuxedo Club, Tuxedo Park, New York, 1890-1900
• The New York Yacht Club, 1899
• 49 East 52nd Street, Vanderbilt guest house, New York City, 1908
• Union Station (Winnipeg), Manitoba, Canada, 1911
• Union Station, Houston, Texas 1911 (Now a part of Minute Maid Park)
• Aeolian Hall (New York), 1912
• The Helmsley Building, originally the New York Central Building, part of the Grand Central Terminal complex, 1913
• The unfinished Michigan Central Station, Detroit, Michigan, 1913, also with Reed and Stem
• The Texas Company (Texaco) Building, Houston, Texas, 1915
• 927 Fifth Avenue, New York City, a cooperative apartment house, 1917
• The Commodore Hotel, now the Grand Hyatt Hotel, part of “Terminal City”, 1920
• The New York Biltmore Hotel, also part of “Terminal City”
• The Crown Building, formerly the Heckscher Building, New York City, 1921
• The Providence Biltmore Hotel, Providence, Rhode Island, 1922
• The Mayflower Hotel, Washington, D.C., 1922, with Robert F. Beresford
• Steinway Hall on 57th Street, New York City, 1925
• Royal Hawaiian Hotel, Honolulu, Hawaii, 1927
• Asbury Park Convention Hall, 1923, and the adjoining Paramount Theatre, 1930
• The Chelsea Piers

Material from Wikipedia and all text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.

The Reed and Stem papers are held at the Northwest Architectural Archives in the Elmer L. Anderson Library at the University of Minnesota.

Major Commissions:

• Grand Central Terminal, New York, New York, 1913.
• King Street Station, Seattle, Washington, 1906.
• Livingston Depot, Livingston, Montana, 1902.
• Michigan Central Station, Detroit, Michigan, 1913.
• Tacoma Union Station, Tacoma, Washington, 1911.
• Wulling Hall (Medical Hall), University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1892.

Material from Wikipedia and all text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.