Responses to this travesty are seemingly too little and too late. The much bigger issue here is even if the responses were not too late, they would still have been ignored and there isn't anything that any entity who may have the authority to prevent such an affront, would have done to prevent it in the first place because of fear of retaliation. Therein lies a great unacceptable issue. I used to always remind senior management that if the regulator doesn't abide by the established rules and procedures, it is very difficult to require such compliance from applicants. I worry about the ripple effect of this blatant disregard for laws, regulations, and procedures (not to mention the unthinkable disregard for history, culture, and architecture) and the effect that this might have on property owners and developers who might wish to undertake inappropriate work on historic properties in the future. Too many laws, norms, and accepted practices that define a cultured society are being trashed as a presumably intelligent safety net watches - helplessly. A very sad reflection of the time that we live. Expressing dissatisfaction in the current context is ineffective - 7 million people expressed dissatisfaction last weekend! This week, things are worst!!
Murray G. Miller, Assoc. AIA, MRAIC, MCIP, IHBC, INTBAU, MRTPI, CAHP, RPP, NOMA