Column: Communications to the Clerk
Correspondence sent to the Ann Arbor City Clerk gets stamped and filed as a official communication on the city's website.
As we’ve reported previously here at The Chronicle, one of the cost-saving measures that’s been proposed in connection with the city’s budget for fiscal year 2010 is to eliminate publication of the city council agenda in the local newspaper. The move would save $15,000 per year. I imagine there are some citizens who rely on the newspaper publication of the council agenda to stay informed on civic matters, but would speculate that it’s not many – probably not enough to lobby successfully for its continued publication in the twice-weekly print edition of AnnArbor.com, which is to replace The Ann Arbor News.
One advantage of the city’s online publication of the council agenda is that it includes as attachments all the communications to the city clerk, whether they’re from boards and commission within the city, neighborhood associations, private citizens, or even anonymous sources.
Part of my preparation to cover council meetings is to skim through those communications. For the May 4 meeting next Monday, the following item caught my eye: Illegal Restaurant & Chickens.
The letter outlines a variety of potential code violations associated with the Selma Cafe, located on Soule Stret, which is a residential property owned by Jeff McCabe and Lisa Gottlieb. Here’s partly how they describe the Selma Cafe:
a hub, a center, a heart of the many ongoing efforts to improve our lives through community building and free access to affordable, healthy foods and efforts to foster right-livelihood in vocations with meaning and purpose
The Selma Cafe serves breakfast on Friday mornings, made with ingredients that are locally grown and sourced, and prepared by chefs from local area restaurants on a rotating basis. There’s a suggested donation of $10-15 for the meal. A recent breakfast drew 123 people over the course of the period from 6:30–10 a.m.
I’ve opted to write this piece as a column, in the first person, categorized as “opinion,” because on April 10, my wife, Mary, and I ate breakfast at the Selma Cafe when Max Sussman was the rotating chef. Even though it’s not my main intent here to argue a position or express a particular opinion, I think it’s a clearer way to indicate to readers what my perspective is. For one thing, it helps explain why the “illegal restaurant & chickens” communication label in the list of attachments on the council agenda caught my eye – when it might not have caught someone else’s eye.
On the morning when we ate Max’s mushroom crepes and hippie hash, the chickens kept on the property were in a pen on the side of the house. One of them had ambitions to escape but was quickly thwarted.
The chickens are identified in the anonymous letter as constituting a violation of the city’s relatively new backyard chicken ordinance, because they’re also allowed into a pen in front of the house. McCabe and Gottlieb don’t currently have a backyard chicken permit, as required under the ordinance.
The letter addressed to the city clerk, as well as to the county health department and the principal of Eberwhite Elementary (located one house away from McCabe and Gottlieb’s home), was submitted anonymously “due to potential retribution for whistle blowing.”
So what’s the city doing about it? When there’s an apparent open flouting of its ordinances (as with front-yard chickens), it’s the job of city staff to take appropriate action. I wondered what action the city might have undertaken, because I think it’s hard to argue that an appropriate action would be to ignore it.
So yesterday, I inquired with the city via email and the question was passed along to Kristen Larcom, senior assistant city attorney, who wrote back: “The City has taken action by requesting the owners to comply with City ordinances.” Later in the day – by pure chance – I ran into city attorney Stephen Postema, and asked him if he was tracking the situation. He confirmed that his office was working with McCabe and Gottlieb to help get them into compliance with the chicken ordinance, and that McCabe and Gottlieb had been cooperative in that effort.
I would note that some time has now elapsed in the time since McCabe described in a blog post how he had not intended to apply for a chicken permit. In an email sent yesterday, Gottlieb confirmed that they were applying for a permit in order to comply with the ordinance and that they’d moved the hens from the front yard into the back yard.
As for the contention in the letter that the Selma Cafe is, in fact, a restaurant subject to all appropriate licensing requirements, I have not yet been able to learn anything definitive about what the criteria are that would make it a restaurant. If I invite 10 friends over for dinner one time, I’m certain I haven’t created a restaurant. If I invite them over every Friday night, I’m still almost certain that’s not a restaurant. If those 10 friends start giving me a few $20 bills to help defray my costs, I’d argue that it’s not a restaurant, because I’m not requiring them to pay for the meal – it’s something they do because they want to. What if I now expand the offer to any friend of those 10 friends or anybody who wants to eat the meal? I don’t know.
If I were to call the event “Dave’s Diner,” it would probably not help me make my case that it’s not a restaurant. But surely the difference between “Dave’s Diner” and “Dave’s Dinner Club” is not the crucial one that defines it as a restaurant.
In any case, I would weigh in for the same kind of approach to the restaurant question as seems to have been taken for the chicken question. Namely, you don’t begin by issuing fines, citations and tickets, but rather with working with citizens to figure out what needs to be done – if anything – to adapt their current practice to conform to code.
Previous mentions in The Chronicle of the Selma Cafe:
Okay, I know I’m biased here, as I go to the SELMA Cafe and try to help out as best I can (usually by blogging about it on their website).
I wondered when and if the “restaurant” thing would come up. I had presumed–silly me!–that what you suggested would happen: a letter might be sent and then folks would try to work things out. Maybe everyone wouldn’t “go home happy”, but at least it would be sort like a mediation and not litigation. (I know litigation hasn’t happened yet, but still). I think that this illustrates a larger problem in society–sue/fine/get “The Man” involved first, ask questions later.
I understand that the lawyers have to do what they have to do (hell, I used to practice law) but I’d also like to know what the game changer is that makes something into a restaurant. Is it the involvement of money? SELMA just asks for donations…it’s not like there’s a register and bills! There is also a way-out-of-my-price-ranger dinner club that I’ve heard about…is that a restaurant? I’m not being snarky…I would like to show outdoor movies on my garage this summer and have beer and with my luck, someone will say it’s a pub and I WILL get snarky and end up on the news.
Please note correction — it’s “Kristen” Larcom.
Thanks, Joan, fixed.
“A recent breakfast drew 123 people over the course of the period from 6:30–10 a.m.”
This cracks me up. If I invited 100 people over to my house, solicited customers I didn’t know on the web, charged admission (eh donation) and ran the operation in a residential neighborhood, I would be cited by the city so quickly it would make your head spin. Is it zoned for a comercial business? Chickens without a permit? Let me open a storefront operation without the required city licenses and see how many minutes I’d remain in business.
See, this is what happens when you cut the police staff. Lol.
It is one thing to unknowingly break a law or ordinance, but they are purposely doing this and to what end? If they were serious about their establishment they would set it up properly. They brought this upon themselves.
People can argue that the restaurant is a dinner club, but the chickens in the front yard is basically a jab at the city.
Do they pay state sales tax? Federal business tax? All the volunteers have food safety training and TB tests? Do the neighbors love hundreds of folks parking on Soule? Were there any local political types at these gatherings? Any who voted on the chicken law?
It will be interesting to see how the city treats this business operation in a residential neighborhood.
“In any case, I would weigh in for the same kind of approach to the restaurant question as seems to have been taken for the chicken question. Namely, you don’t begin by issuing fines, citations and tickets, but rather with working with citizens to figure out what needs to be done – if anything – to adapt their current practice to conform to code.”
Hopefully no one will be getting special treatment because of their local social or political ties. But I’m guessing if you polled local restaurant owners, this same sense of cooperation with local businesses isn’t the norm.
“Namely, you don’t begin by issuing fines, citations and tickets, but rather with working with citizens to figure out what needs to be done – if anything – to adapt their current practice to conform to code.”
The city is not issuing the fines first, this establishment is completely ignoring ordinances that they KNOW exists; they are not be targeted. They are actually sort of taunting the city and are not victims.
I also agree with everything Alan says in post6.
Living in a small city like Ann Arbor is great. Why? Because of the sense of community that you can develop here. Jeff and Lisa are offering up their home and good spirits weekly- not to make a buck, but to help raise awareness and funds for LOCAL organizations. I wish more people in our town would try a little bit harder to connect with one another.
i understand the city’s concern. but also the citizens’ concerns. selma is a great place doing great things. why doesns’t the city focus more on on the UM kids having big parties with 123 guests on their lawn and charging $5 admission to support the cost of the kegs.
Comment from Lisa Gottlieb:
There seems to be some confusion around what we are doing in our home. Here is some background and current information that may help put this issue in perspective.
I’ve lived in Ann Arbor for more than 30 years, and Jeff for a long time too. We love to cook and share food with a large community of friends and neighbors. For years our family has routinely had dinner parties where large groups of friends and aquaintances come over, cook together and share a meal. We have a large kitchen and dining room and have parties for various family and friend’s events. Food and community are a big part of our lives.
We realized that we could take our love for cooking and sharing food and use it to support the local food and farm community by hosting casual fundraising dinners for our friends, neighbors and community.
We feel strongly that shoppinng and eating locally, planting gardens, and being mindful of sustainable agricultural practices have great value for the physical and financial health of our city. The fund raising parties we hosted are the same kind of events that many people attend all over our city when they have a cause that they want to support–people show up, eat, have fun, and support good works.
repastspresentandfuture.org was created to put a name to our efforts, and we have had a few parties that were held in our home to support our causes. After one of our fundraising parties a few months ago, we decided to use up the rest of our supplies by celebrating Jeff’s birthday, and we threw a big breakfast party at our home. We asked some friends to come over to make waffles and fry up some eggs, bacon and toast, help us serve, and clean up afterwards. Folks who came made donations towards the cost of the food and the rest went to our fundraising efforts. This is the origin of Selma “cafe”–not a real cafe–but a Friday morning party where we and our friends cooked and shared food. It was so much fun we decided to keep it going.
We are not a restaurant or any kind of “food establishment.” We are a family that likes to cook, eat and socialize while paying attention to important community issues. Everyone involved comes because they love what we are doing. They want to start their Friday off with friends and a good breakfast while supporting local food initiatives.
The money seems to be an issue for some of you. Every bit of the donations that come in go to pay the local farmers, dairys, orchards, flour mills and local businesses that supply us, and what is left over goes completely to fundraising efforts. No money is used for anything else, including the cost to us of offering our kitchen, equipment, utilities and home. No one who helps gets paid for anything. It is all volunteer and people volunteer because it is a fun morning with great food, and they believe the cause is worthwhile. Financial information is on our website, with total transparency if you want more specifics.
There was mention of traffic and parking. Many people who come to our house ride their bikes or walk because they live nearby. Because Eberwhite School is two doors down, Soule Blvd. consistently has a high volume of traffic and parking numerous times per day–in the morning, at lunch time, after school, and again after work when parents come to pick up their children from child care. School buses, taxis, childcare vans, and many, many parents who drive their children to and from school routinely fill the street,both driving and parking.
I have lately addressed the questions and concerns of the city and county and cleared up the confusion that the anonymous letter generated.
Finally, I am pleased to share that our hens are now in compliance with the backyard chicken ordinance and are living happily in our backyard. Come on by sometime and enjoy their antics.
I’m not sure that they would agree, but I see Lisa and Jeff in the proud tradition of the American revolutionaries who, 250 years ago, noticed that we had some laws in this country that didn’t make sense and that the country was running in a way that was in fact, in direct opposition to the health, liberty and happiness of the American people. And, like Lisa and Jeff, those revolutionaries felt such a deep commitment to this place and to a future that might be possible that they decided to risk going against the status quo .
Fast forward to the present and over the years we (former revolutionaries) have put in place a lot of laws, regulations and city ordinances around what is ok and not ok for people to do with food, with growing food, making food, and selling food. Mostly having to do with benefiting corporations growing or selling food on an industrial scale so that it will be “cheap.” And at the present moment, we have, as a country, never been fatter, sicker, more depressed or deeper in debt. It seems like maybe something isn’t working and maybe cheap isn’t really just about money.
I’m pretty sure that Jeff and Lisa are not running a restaurant, because I’ve never left a restaurant after a wonderful meal with great conversation among people I didn’t know, and gotten a hug and been handed a bag of freshly picked greens on the way out to ride my bike home. And as for the chickens, I don’t see why it’s ok for my neighbor’s dog to take a dump in my yard, bark all night and snap at people passing by, but somehow I’d have to get the permission of all 5 of my neighbors, including an apartment house that backs up to my yard to be able to have a chicken.
I’d like to applaud Lisa and Jeff for the courage, the energy, and the generosity that they’ve shown the rest of us sheeple about what it takes and what the consequences are for stepping even a little bit outside the boundaries of what we currently accept as the status quo.
I want a world with SELMA. I want a city that supports its Project Grow community garden project. I want a city that supports the new Westside Farmer’s Market. Unfortunately, that’s not the city I live in. The city of Ann Arbor has taken a stand against each of those important facets of our food community and the ability of our community to feed itself.
I take phenomena of SELMA as a call to join together and start working on the world as it should be and the community that we want.
This would be a far different place if there weren’t people brave enough to draw our attention to what’s wrong and go beyond that to show a path to a different future. Thank you Lisa and Jeff!
“a lot of laws, regulations and city ordinances around what is ok and not ok for people to do with food”
I highly recommend Daniel Quinn’s Ishmael books for an important, insightful perspective on what happened when “civilization” began such practices.
I like your vision, Kim. I think you’re overstating just what the city is and what it has taken a stand on, though. Test your thoughts against reality. (If you need help, go to http://www.thework.com.)
Most city codes have been implemented due to a need. Restaurant codes and ordinances exist to protect our health. When there are no regulations, people tend to cut corners and the result can be food borne illnesses.
Now, I am sure that the Lisa’s heart may be in the right place, however when you cook for such a large group of people that risk is higher for food borne illness than when you cook for your own family. More people get food poisoning at Thanksgiving than any other day of the year. Mostly due to cooking such a large meal in the presence of turkey that has a high salmonella content. There is a lot of cross-contamination.
What protections is the Selma Café implementing so that people do not get sick? Accidents do happen. Keep in mind that many of the small cafes in Ann Arbor probably do not serve 100 people for a single meal at one sitting yet they have to abide by the laws.
I know many are stating that this is not a restaurant, but I think of a restaurant as the following.
If most guests are strangers and not friends….
If anyone can drop in without being invited….
If people leave money in exchange for the food….
If it has a name (Selma’s Café)…….
If it has set hours (every Friday-fundraisers don’t have set hours)….
If it is advertised open to the public….
Then it is restaurant.
I like our health laws and do not want to see people “rise” up to overthrow them. The health laws have a purpose.
All of my questions remain unanswered:
“Do they pay state sales tax? Federal business tax? All the volunteers have food safety training and TB tests? Do the neighbors love hundreds of folks parking on Soule? Were there any local political types at these gatherings? Any who voted on the chicken law?
It will be interesting to see how the city treats this business operation in a residential neighborhood.”
But since the restaurant is still posting/advertising on their webpage and open to the public, it looks like either the laws are being flaunted or the city/county isn’t directly enforcing the same regulations other businesses in the city/county have to follow.
To call this ‘revolutionary’ and comparing quiche baking to the Amreicans around in 1776 reminds me of how out of touch from reality some A2-ites can get at time.
I think Kim Bayer is quite brilliant and other fine minds would agree with her:
Link to Utne Reader