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Feedback

March 18, 2002
To: Barbara Baker, Vice President Investor Relations, The Taubman Company
Subject: Public Opinion & Taubman

Dear Ms. Baker:

I just concluded a 3-hour perusal of the 'TaubmanSucks.com' website. An intriguing story. I learned of it via a newsletter which goes out to 3 or 4 hundred thousand subscribers on the internet. Ah, the power of web-based publishing!

We all know, though we may not admit it, that one tends to root for the underdog. Therefore, I read carefully and took the time to relate the issues documented by Mr. Mishkoff to what I know about websites, the internet, and networks in general. (Networks and the internet is my second career, so I feel this a wise investment of time. I can only hope that Mr. Mishkoff makes his site available as a downloadable PDF file. It's both a great story and a good teaching tool.)

I will not say that I'm disappointed in how your legal staff operates, because their attitude towards and disregard of the intent and spirit of the law is what most of us have come to expect from the legal system.

You know by now, I hope, that no matter what you or the legal system does, there is no way to completely erase a website from the internet. Further, the originator of any website could not be held liable for actions taken by others, and any attempt to do so would cause a backlash in public opinion.

I took the liberty of visiting your corporate website (http://www.taubman.com/), to investigate corporate goals and strategy, and downloaded the map showing where your shopping centers are located. As I hope you understand by now, you have placed those maps into general use by putting them onto your website for use by customers and investors. I intend to use them, by locating your sites and ensuring that I do not shop at any.

It is my hope that your website successfully incurs an enormous increase in 'hits' as people visit - for the same reason I did.

Taubman should not expect to profit from errors of judgement. Not from me, at any rate. Nor from those I come into contact with. Taubman portfolios appears to be a poor investment. I will offer my personal opinions and the reasons thereof to my extended family members and acquaintances world-wide. The investment decisions, and locations where they shop, will, of course, be their choice.

Interestingly enough, the phrase 'Taubman' has become, in my mind at least, synonymous with 'overbearing,' 'high-handed,' 'arrogant,' and so on. Your retained legal advisors responsible for this travesty, on the other hand, bring to mind 'willfully ignorant,' 'shady,' 'counter-productive,' and other pejorative phrases.

Where I invest my capital and where I spend my money is a decision I make. Those decisions are ultimately based on trust, and customer service. Your actions in the Mishkoff matter reflect a general disdain for your customers, in that you restricted the flow of information to them by attempting to shut down a community-service website. Your lawyers' misapplication of law and the dishonesty implied by their actions demonstrate that your firm is not to be trusted, either.

Just my opinion.

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