Cover of "When Your Song Breaks the Silence."

She left behind a novel. And her parents, Stan and Judith Jacobs of Ann Arbor, have published it, in ebook form, as a memorial to her.

“When Your Song Breaks the Silence” is an elegantly imagined life of Austrian composer Franz Schubert, distinguished by an articulate sensitivity and meticulous research. The completed novel’s existence was a surprise to her parents – its subject was not.

When her daughter was 11 years old, Judith Jacobs writes on the website she created for the book, “she wrote a story about the composer as a young child trying myopically – Natalie was also very near-sighted – to interact with his family and surroundings.” A graduate of Community High School, Natalie majored in English literature at the University of Michigan and was still working with the Schubert theme in the mid-1990s; when Stan and Judith traveled to Vienna in 1995 they made a point to visit the house where he died (in 1828, at age 31).

“A lilac bush was in full bloom in front of the building,” Jacobs says. They took a photograph.

A Body of Work Discovered

Natalie continued to write after embracing the more practical art of midwifery, for which she was finishing training in Portland, Oregon, when she died of viral myocarditis – an inflammation of the heart muscle – brought on by a case of flu.

After the Jacobses went to Portland to settle their daughter’s affairs, they gave Natalie’s computer to a friend of hers, who discovered on its hard drive a collection of Natalie’s writings. Among them was the novel.

From the opening chapter:

He is making what he hears into structures that he can understand: the sound of his mother’s voice, the tread of his father’s feet; the intricate melodies of words. Sounds beat down on him relentlessly, sometimes terrifying, sometimes soothing, but always present, even in the quietest room. He imagines he can hear the sounds that the grass in the courtyard makes as it grows. …

He comes to realize that sound is a language that he must learn in the same way that he must learn to read. These patterns mean something, they have secrets inside them. He is starting to understand. And meanwhile the patterns are everywhere: in the sounds of the priest giving Mass, in the sounds of his brother Ignaz practicing the piano, in the sounds of his mother’s murmured words of comfort after he wakes from a nightmare.

Shhh, Vögelein. Geh’ zu ruhe. Go to sleep, love.

I can’t.

It was clear to her, Judith Jacobs says, that the novel “had real possibilities.” A friend suggested she show it to Andrea Beauchamp, assistant director of the Hopwood Awards Program at UM. Beauchamp passed the manuscript along to writer and UM colleague Eileen Pollack (whose most recent book is the novel “Breaking and Entering”). First, though, she took the liberty of reading the manuscript herself; Beauchamp, Jacobs says, told her she “loved it, and cried at the end.”

“When Andrea and Judith first contacted me, I was reluctant to read the manuscript,” Pollack recalled in an e-mail. “I knew that Natalie was young when she died and that she had written the book on her own. In most such cases, the results are amateurish. If that turned out to be the case, how would I convey such a judgment to her parents without adding to their grief? On the other hand, as a parent, I could imagine what it would be like to be left with a child’s manuscript and want the work to reach a larger audience, to live on …. So you can understand how happy I was to discover that the novel was the work of a truly gifted writer.”

Pollack, says Jacobs, “really gave us confidence that we might be able to do something” with Natalie’s manuscript.

A Chapter Is Published

Her first step was to submit a chapter of the novel to about 30 literary magazines. Titled “An die Freude” (“To Joy”), it is Natalie’s retelling of the premiere of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 from the point of view of Schubert, who was in the audience in Vienna that May night in 1824. With Beethoven in view on stage, seated to one side of the orchestra, he absorbs the symphony’s opening measures:

Or had it begun? What was going on? There was just a pianissimo murmur of strings, open fifths, and Franz thought for a moment that there had been some sort of mistake and the orchestra was tuning again …. But then he realized what was happening. It was the primal moment, the chaos before creation, as the other instruments added descending cascades of open fifths, the simplest chords. Franz thought of God moving on the face of the waters, in darkness and silence. And then the music grew, expanded, exploded into a huge statement of the first theme that made him jump in his seat. Behold, the creation of the world!

From then on, he knew he was in the presence of something very wonderful, very new, altogether new. For in no other symphony had music remade the world. And the music around him rose and rose, blossoming into a million fantastic shapes, while he watched and listened, trying to understand even while the music transformed him into a vessel filled with sound, shaking with it …. He was drunk with it, and as it sang through his veins, he forgot it all: his failing body, his failing art, all gone, lost in this vast and wonderful ocean of sound.

He wished he could take it and pull it into himself, make the brilliance a part of himself. The idea of making something as wonderful as this was beyond his comprehension. How did the man do it? How could he possibly be holding this inside him? He looked so insignificant down there, hunched over his score, unaware of the glory all around him.

This is why he’s deaf, Franz thought. He’s been listening to God too much. The thought was absurd and would have made him smile had he not been grinning with elation already.

Many journals “ask for short stories or novel excerpts that can stand alone,” Jacobs found, “and this chapter filled the bill. … I was thinking in terms of finding an agent and a publisher and wanted to establish a track record to show that the work was publishable. There was also the wish to see something of hers in print in a decent magazine, of course, and publishing a chapter of the book might also bode well for publishing the whole thing.”

The Battered Suitcase, a print journal, accepted “An die Freude” by Natalie Jacobs and it appeared in the December 2010 issue. Now, Jacobs says, “people can read it online for all time. It’s too bad she wasn’t there to enjoy it.”

An Alternative: ePublishing

Meanwhile, Pollack had shown the manuscript to her literary agent. When she responded to Jacobs with “a lovely letter saying she liked it a great deal … but didn’t see what the market would be for it,” Jacobs began looking into alternatives.

She did some research into electronic publishing and found that it “looked very respectable.” But, “I had no idea how I would do it,” she says. And “in my online search for help in self-publishing, I learned that there seem to be as many books on the topic as there are actual self-published books.” “The Indie Author Guide: Self-Publishing Strategies Anyone Can Use,” by April L. Hamilton, would eventually become their “bible” for the project; Jacobs calls it “a very sensible, well-written guide – no hype.”

It was around that time that Stan Jacobs, an emeritus professor of atmospheric and oceanic science in the UM College of Engineering, was able to join more fully in the project. He’d read “An die Freude,” Judith says, “but that was really all.” It was three years before her husband could bring himself to read the entire novel: “It just made him too sad.”

Natalie Jacobs, whose novel "When Your Song Breaks the Silence" was published posthumously. (Photo courtesy of Stan and Judith Jacobs.)

Judith and Stan brought their individual strengths to editing Natalie’s manuscript. Judith was the copy editor; Stan did the fact checking. “It was astounding how much research she did,” Judith says. They checked several Schubert biographies – “it all tracked.” (And, as Pollack notes, “the portrait of Schubert and his contemporaries [is] utterly convincing without seeming too heavily researched.”)

Meanwhile, Stan Jacobs was formatting the manuscript for epublication.

“Judy wrote the description of the book required by the publisher and an afterword describing how it came into our possession,” Stan wrote in an email detailing the process. “She also wrote the front matter – the cover, the title page, the dedication page, and the copyright statement. I was responsible for casting the table of contents in the proper ebook form and for editing the manuscript to conform with ebook conventions.”

Sounding like the scientist he is, Stan advised that “provided that you read the publishers’ guidelines carefully, the process is straightforward.”

He prepared two versions of the manuscript for uploading, one for Amazon Kindle and one for Barnes & Noble’s Nook and other ebook readers. Then (after he “obsessively reread it another time to check for typos”), he used Calibre, the open-source ebook application, “to convert the file into the two most popular ebook formats, Mobi and EPub. I then checked the formatting using an Amazon Kindle and an iPod Touch for the Mobi and EPub versions, respectively.” After final checks of the book’s appearance and epublishing features, they sent it off to Amazon for Kindle and to Smashwords, the distributor for Nook and other ebook readers.

Even an ebook requires a cover. Judith Jacobs is an artist who makes digital fine-art prints. But she is not, she insists, “a graphic designer. So I tried to do something simple.” She researched cover designs at Barnes & Noble, collecting images of appealing book jackets. And she had an image of her own to work with: the photo taken in Vienna in 1995. “It looks the way the book sounds,” she says of the cover she created for her daughter’s book. “It suits both the style and the 19th-century subject matter.”

Natalie had not given her novel a name. “I felt very presumptuous, choosing a title for her book,” Judith Jacobs says, “but I thought Schubert would be OK.”

“When Your Song Breaks the Silence” is taken from the last stanza of “Der Einsame” (“The Hermit”), a poem by Karl Lappe put to music by Franz Schubert:

 Chirp on and on, dear cricket,

in my narrow and small hermitage.

I tolerate you gladly: you do not disturb me

when your song breaks the silence,

for then I am no longer so entirely alone.

The novel is available for Amazon Kindle. The Smashwords edition is now on the lists at Barnes and Noble Nook Store, Apple iTunes Store, Kobo, and soon to come at Sony.

About the writer: Domenica Trevor lives in Ann Arbor – her columns are published periodically in The Ann Arbor Chronicle. The Chronicle relies in part on regular voluntary subscriptions to support our columnists and other contributors. If you’re already supporting The Chronicle, please encourage your friends, neighbors and coworkers to do the same. Click this link for details: Subscribe to The Chronicle.

In the 1980s he was practicing labor law with a big firm in Washington, D.C., and writing in his spare time. The stock market was booming.

Steven Gillis, in his home office on Ann Arbor's east side. Gillis is founder of Dzanc Books as well as the nonprofit 826 Michigan, which are both based in Ann Arbor. His latest novel, "The Consequence of Skating," came out last week. (Photo by Mary Morgan)

“I started making some money and I got people to invest it for me – I’m smart enough to know I didn’t know how to invest it,” Gillis says.

“And I got lucky.”

As his writing started to take off, Gillis decided to practice law part time and devote more time to his fiction. A Detroit native and University of Michigan alum, he decided to move back to Michigan and settled in Ann Arbor. His first novel, “Walter Falls,” published by Brook Street Press in 2003, was well-received by critics and a finalist for a pair of literary awards. (Brook Street would publish his second novel, “The Weight of Nothing,” in 2005.) And he founded 826 Michigan, a nonprofit aimed at encouraging young people to develop their creative writing talents.

And then, in early 2005, he met up with Dan Wickett, who, like Gillis, was a regular at Shaman Drum Bookshop and at other local readings. And Gillis got lucky again.

Wickett was making a living as a quality control guy for the automotive industry while making a life with his family in Westland and writing book reviews for his literary website, Emerging Writers Network. As the site gathered what Wickett terms “a small following,” publishers started sending him books. (Which, Wickett notes, saved him a lot of money on books.)

“I’m a reader,” Wickett says. “And that’s what I was doing when I started doing the Emerging Writers Network – writing about writers I liked and why I liked them.” He also interviewed authors and publishers, and it was one of those interviews that caught Gillis’ attention.

“He sent me an e-mail,” Wickett says, “and said we should get together. We had dinner at Red Hawk before wandering over to Shaman Drum for a reading.”

Dan Wickett, executive director of Dzanc Books and founder of Emerging Writers Network. (Photo courtesy of Dan Wickett)

They hit it off. And what ultimately came from that meeting was Dzanc Books. (Pronounced Duh-ZAANCK, the name incorporates the first letter of each of their kids’ names. Gillis has two. Wickett has three.)

“As a writer myself,” Gillis says, “I knew there’re a lot of really good writers out there. And when I got lucky and made some money, and when I got lucky and my books started to publish, I wanted to do something for other writers.”

The financing for the nonprofit 501(c)3 came from Gillis. He prefers to keep the exact investment to himself, but acknowledges it was “a considerable sum.” And in just a few years, Dzanc has grown to take an important role in the literary publishing world.

Dzanc and its imprints – Black Lawrence Press, Other Voices, Keyhole and Starcherone – have published more than 40 books since 2007 and have another half-dozen on the way before the end of this year. Their lineup of titles is set through 2013. Periodicals under the Dzanc umbrella are Absinthe: New European Writing; Monkeybicycle, a print and online literary journal run by Dzanc’s art director, New Jerseyite Steven Seighman; and The Collagist, an online literary magazine edited by Ann Arborite Matt Bell.

“At Dzanc,” Gillis says, “if we find a book we like, how to market it never enters our head. We’ll figure out a way to get the readers we want. Other publishers have it backward: ‘This is really good, but how will we make money off it?’”

While interns are initial readers for most submissions, Wickett says that anything that Dzanc ends up publishing is read by both himself and Gillis. “If we both love it, then we’ll publish it,” he says. “If one of us can’t convince the other why it’s a great book, then it doesn’t make sense. If we can’t convince each other, we’re not going to convince anybody else in the world that it’s a good book.”

Bell, in addition to his duties at The Collagist and as editor of Dzanc’s Best of the Web anthology series, works with writers on the manuscripts Dzanc accepts for publication. Seighman does the covers for all the Dzanc publications (and he also set up Dzanc Books’ website – a marvel of clarity and organization).

“A Dzanc book has to be well-written,” Gillis says, “and brings a voice you haven’t heard before.”

More Than A Publishing House

But Dzanc has a parallel mission – community service – that distinguishes it in the publishing field.

“From day one,” Gillis says, “that was our plan: to be a publishing house that does a lot of good things.”

Says Wickett: “We both have that kind of attitude – that the more you can help others, the better. There’s that ideal of karma, and at least you feel a little better about what you’re doing on a daily basis.”

An example of that ethic is the annual Dzanc Prize, which gives $5,000 to an author who has a work in progress and a proposal for a year-long community service project – to pursue both.

“It was a good way to get a writer who was in the middle of a project to get some cash that might allow them to set some time aside, where the work they were doing would be this community-service kind of project that tends to spark some of the creative process as well,” Wickett says. “So instead of having to work 20 hours at Kinko’s or McDonald’s or something to earn that $5,000, they can be doing their project.”

Fittingly for a publishing house, the project should entail “some sort of literary community service,” he says. The prize is in its third year, and the projects have included a writing program for prison inmates in New England that produced an anthology of their work; a series of writing workshops for patients, their families and their caregivers at UM Hospitals’ Comprehensive Cancer Center; and a creative writing program operated in conjunction with English as a Second Language classes for Bhutan refugees in Pennsylvania. (Interested writers out there, note this: The deadline to apply for the 2011 prize is Nov. 1.)

There is also the Dzanc Writer in Residence Program, which places professional authors in public school classrooms for regular writing workshops. Locally, Thurston Elementary and Ann Arbor Open @ Mack are participating this school year.

College students get into the act, too. Dzanc’s internship program works with students from Eastern Michigan University and the Residential College at UM as well as Columbia College in Chicago, Illinois State University in Bloomington and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. And those are the formal relationships that offer credit hours. Students from other schools scattered around the country, Gillis says, contact Dzanc for a chance to do the work for love and experience.

There’s an international literary program in Portugal. And a program to encourage patronage of independent bookstores across the country. And a “write-a-thon” fundraiser. And an online mentorship program to link beginners looking for feedback on their writing with more seasoned scribes. All these projects are in various stages of execution.

How They Work: Swing Low, Sweet Overhead

Both Wickett and Gillis work at home. They don’t sleep much. They don’t waste time. Or money. And they hardly ever see each other. When Dzanc was on the drawing board, Wickett says Gillis told him, “‘what I don’t want to do is waste $1,000 a month on an office that you have to drive to.’”

“We’ve been officially partners since September 2006,” Wickett says, “and I would guess in that four years of time we have probably physically seen each other maybe 25 times. We’ve probably spoken on the phone five times.”

“It’s perfect for me,” says Gillis. “We have a great relationship. We see one another about once a month. … But by e-mail, we’re in touch 24/7. I don’t have to see his face; he doesn’t have to see mine.”

The mechanics of their working relationship reflect the new world of literary publishing.

“We know the whole medium is moving toward the Web,” Gillis says. “For readers and writers of literary fiction, most of us are online. Our world – we’re talking 5,000 to 10,000 people. If we sell 5,000 copies of a work of literary fiction, that’s a huge achievement. We can reach everybody we want to online and everybody that we want to reach is online.”

“We rarely meet our authors before their books are out – maybe at a convention,” Wickett says. “But a lot of the things we’re getting, we have no idea who the person is, we never met him – it’s all online.” (Dzanc’s first author, Roy Kesey, was living in Beijing when Dzanc published his novella “Nothing in the World.”)

“Authors are a solitary breed to begin with,” Gillis says. ” You don’t need to deal with the face-to-face. There’s no reason you can’t do that online, and that’s what we’re doing.”

Book cover of "The Consequence of Skating" by Steven Gillis.

Gillis’ latest, “The Consequence of Skating,” came out last week under the Black Lawrence imprint. (Gillis’ “Temporary People” was published by the same imprint in 2008.) Also coming up are “How to Predict the Weather,” by Aaron Burch; “Unclean Jobs for Women and Girls,” by Alissa Nutting; and, from the Keyhole Press imprint, “How They Were Found,” a collection of stories by Collagist editor Bell.

Gillis, 53, has the official titles of founder and publisher at Dzanc, but he calls himself “the man behind the curtain.”

“Dan and I are the perfect pair,” he says. “I’m pretty crazy and Dan balances me out. I throw the ideas on the wall and Dan tries to make them stick.”

Wickett is 44, and oversees the day-to-day aspects of Dzanc’s publishing and community service operations as executive director and publisher. He studied statistics at UM: “I was decent in math and it seemed like something to do.” By the time Gillis offered him the opportunity to make a change, he says, he “had come close to being completely burned out on quality control in the automotive industry. As bad a time as it was to jump into asking for money in publishing, it certainly wasn’t a bad time to get out of the car industry.”

Says Gillis: “The only way you get stuff done is to jump – and then figure it out as you’re in midair. If you stand back and think, ‘How am I going to do this?’ – nothing ever gets done. I mean, I could still be practicing law in D.C.”

About the writer: Domenica Trevor is a voracious reader who lives in Ann Arbor and also has a home office, where she sometimes gets lucky, too.

Panel from Jay Fosgitt's "Dead Duck." (Image links to higher resolution file)

Meet Dead Duck, the title character of Fosgitt’s debut graphic novel, and his sidekick, Zombie Chick. They work for the Grim Reaper (aka J. P. Yorick); their task is to haul the reluctant chosen over to the other side (aka Rigormortitropolis) by any means necessary.

Happily for us all, bringing in the dead has always been a rich lode for historical references, literary allusions and rude humor.

“Dead Duck” takes off on all three, with riffs on the Salem witch trials, Beatlemania, the Canadian health care system, the Crusades, Punch and Judy, the “Vagina Monologues,” Chaucer, SCTV’s Doug and Bob McKenzie (Fosgitt has great affection for the Great White North), Nazi porn and blaxpliotation flicks, just to skim the colorful surface.

“Dead Duck,” Fosgitt freely advises, is “not profane, but it’s certainly not for little kids.”

The book, published by Ape Entertainment, is due out next month – though Fosgitt is expecting a FedEx delivery of 200 copies to his home today, according to his blog. The weekly comic also has been appearing since February at Apecmx.com. That’s where you’ll find Fosgitt’s commentary on his inspirations for that week’s strip and the technical aspects of cartooning, as well as other observations. And you’ll find Fosgitt at Ann Arbor’s Vault of Midnight on Main Street from 5-8 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 2, where he’ll talk about “Dead Duck” and sign copies of his book.

How Dead Duck Was Born

In contrast to the over-the-top energy of his cartooning style, Fosgitt is soft-spoken – but nevertheless sure of what he wants to say. He grew up about 10 minutes west of Saginaw in Shields, which at the time was “breathing its last gasp as a farming community and was gradually changing into a suburb,” he recalls.

Jay Fosgitt in his Ann Arbor studio.(Photo by Mary Morgan.)

“Without the Internet and for the most part without cable, I was left to entertain myself for the bulk of the time and I think that served me well in what I do,” Fosgitt says. “I grew up around comic strips in the newspapers. I was in a fairly rural community so we didn’t have art museums or anything like that, but the Sunday funnies were always at hand and comic books were at the local 7-Eleven.”

As a kid, Fosgitt says, he read “mostly comics or books about comics,” but he developed a wider appreciation of literature, history and mythology at Delta College and then at Central Michigan University. Fosgitt also enrolled in traditional art classes that he says “only strengthened what I was able to do in my cartooning by learning perspective, life drawing, things like that.”

Dead Duck was hatched in 1989 by the then-15-year-old Fosgitt, who had discovered “Watchmen,” a mid-1980s comics series (reissued in 1995 as a graphic novel). “I was very influenced by it,” he says of the seminal “adult” comic, which dealt with nuclear war, vigilante justice and other dark and ambiguous themes. He was particularly fascinated by the character of Dr. Manhattan (for the uninitiated, Dr. M is blue, bald and way ripped). But at some point Donald Duck literally entered the picture, Fosgitt “mashed them together” and a blue duck was born.

Dead Duck then waddled into a back seat until 2005, when Fosgitt made a stab at a comic book called “The Herd,” featuring a team of animal superheroes. “I thought, ‘I’ve got Dead Duck lying around and I’m not doing anything with him, so I’ll put him in there. And I’ll give him a sidekick.’” Enter Zombie Chick.

“But it didn’t take me long,” Fosgitt says, “to learn that, no, he worked better on his own – he worked for Death.” And the cartoonist has been working full bore on finishing “Dead Duck” since early this year.

Comic Books Versus Graphic Novels

The format of the comic book is classic and cheap: newsprint pages, garish color, thin covers. The graphic novel is thicker, printed on expensive, glossy paper. Other than production values, though, what separates the two? Initially, Fosgitt says, it was content – as reflected in the Comics Code Authority.

Panel from Jay Fosgitt's "Dead Duck." (Image links to higher resolution file)

The comic book industry created the CCA in the early 1950s in response to the cultural panic du jour: horror comics. The self-censoring CCA seal of approval effectively wrung sex, gore and wit from the genre.

But it also gave American culture a great gift in Mad, when the comic book’s creators moved to evade CCA’s oversight by reclassifying the publication as a magazine – and forever after encouraging in its readers a similar respect for authority.

“In the old days,” Fosgitt says, “you had the Comics Code Authority and you were limited in the kinds of stories you could tell and the kind of language you could use and the visuals you could employ,” he says, “but in a graphic novel it wasn’t governed by the CCA and you could do very adult things.”

In the early ’80s, he says, Marvel Comics started publishing its own line of graphic novels and made the format “a regular thing.” And by the 1990s, Fosgitt says, the code had “dissipated” as cartoonists and publishers “finally got it into our heads that we can govern ourselves. … And we trust our audience to judge for themselves what is and isn’t appropriate for their families to read.”

A Community of Cartoonists

Fosgitt and his wife, Laura, met at CMU; they moved to Ann Arbor in July 2008 so she could work on a master’s degree in theater education at Eastern Michigan University. “Within weeks of moving here,” he says, “I became friends with a lot of other artists – a lot of cartoonists live in this area.” Dave Coverly, who creates the Speed Bump strip, helped usher Fosgitt into the National Cartoonists Society. “This town is ideal” for artists, Fosgitt says – while acknowledging the, um, challenges of Ann Arbor’s high cost of living. “This is my living,” he says, gesturing around the studio he’s set up in the second bedroom of the couple’s rental apartment. “It’s a lot of scraping by.”

Fosgitt and Ape Entertainment discovered each other in August 2007 when he brought his “Dead Duck” work to the annual Wizard World Chicago convention. “I rounded a corner and ran into Ape’s booth” and wound up showing the company rep the cartoons, he says. “They took it up and eventually we signed a contract.’’

Ape prints and ships the book; promotion is the author’s job, and it’s been what Fosgitt calls a “grassroots effort” to get the book out. He’s spent the better part of the past few months working the phone to line up pre-orders with comics sellers around the country, and says he’s found “receptive retailers.” Vault of Midnight, which is hosting the reading next week at their 219 S. Main St. store, not surprisingly has a big fan in Fosgitt. “They have such a wide and varied stock,” he says; “they cater to all sorts of comic fans.”

Next on the drawing board for Fosgitt is a follow-up to “Dead Duck,” he says. He’d also like to find a publisher for “Pillow Billy,” a children’s book he wrote and illustrated, but “my mind and heart are still very much with Dead Duck.”

More from an Interview with Jay Fosgitt

Early encouragement, and heartbreak: When Fosgitt was 10 he wrote a fan letter to Jim Henson. The creator of the Muppets wrote him back, a few more letters were exchanged. “He wanted me to come see him when I graduated from high school because he liked my artwork and wanted to talk to me about working for his company.” Henson died in 1990, when Fosgitt was a freshman. “That was devastating.”

Best education he got in cartooning: Working on the Delta Collegiate, “the first time I had ever been published as a cartoonist.”

On technique and technology: He shuns the Wacom tablets – “I like that feeling of pen to paper,” Fosgitt says – but for color he relies on Photoshop for a smooth, “magazine quality.”

His model for Dead Duck’s sidekick: Goldie Hawn, in her “Laugh In” days. “I love that show,” Fosgitt says, “I drew her with this little chicken beak, basically. It’s that simple.”

Encouraging words on “Dead Duck”: In May 2007 at the annual Motor City Comic Con in Novi, Fosgitt met cartoonist Sergio Aragones (perhaps best known for his “marginals” in Mad), who urged him to find a publisher.

How comic books rotted the minds and morals of postwar American youth: Check out “The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America,” by David Hajdu (in paperback by Picador).

Need even more of a Fosgitt fix? Check out his Dead Duck blog, The Duck Factory. From a recent post: “I got a call from my publishers at Ape a couple days ago, and good news abounds. They’ve packaged up 200 copies of Dead Duck, and they’re currently in transit to my humble digs here in Ann Arbor. And as the top paragraph suggests, I’m pacing around like an anxious daddy to be. Twenty years developing Dead Duck, five years developing Zombie Chick, three years working on the graphic novel, and two years working with Ape Entertainment, and it all boils down to five cardboard boxes filled with my creative brainchildren, to be delivered via Fed Ex stork to my doorstep on Tuesday, Nov. 24th.”

About the writer: Domenica Trevor is a voracious reader who lives in Ann Arbor. Her column typically is published on the last Saturday of the month – but The Chronicle is no slave to publishing schedules, clearly.

Sandi Smith (Ward 1) indicated early in the meeting that action on the Near North development would be postponed. A speaker during public commentary noted that a controversial resolution affecting the municipal airport had been yanked from the meeting’s agenda. And Mike Anglin (Ward 5) announced a delay in his intention to bring a resolution that would make publicly available numerous city council emails dating to the early 2000s. Council did not contemplate any resolutions in connection with the Argo Dam. [The Chronicle will report separately on the work session held immediately prior to the council meeting, which focused on Argo Dam.]

But as it turned out, on Tuesday night a lot happened: Ann Arbor’s city council began a transition – to what will perhaps be a different way of doing business and to a new set of leaders.

That transition was reflected overtly when the announcement came at the end of the meeting that Margie Teall (Ward 4) and Leigh Greden (Ward 3) were stepping down from the Budget and Labor Committee to be replaced by Mike Anglin (Ward 5) and Sabra Briere Ward (Ward 1).

But it was also reflected in the deliberative dynamic when a resolution on toy guns was considered, and ultimately postponed. Marcia Higgins (Ward 4) and Stephen Rapundalo (Ward 2) found themselves playing “outsiders” to Sabra Briere’s “insider” position with the city attorney’s office – a complete role reversal.

Later, Briere relayed a key message on the toy guns ordinance to her colleagues by email. That action became an example when council discussed new rules regarding electronic communication. The rules take a “thou shalt not” approach to the kinds of emails that councilmembers are supposed to exchange during council meetings.

In other business, council revised the ballot language of a charter amendment that it had approved at its previous meeting. The impact of that revision is not clear in light of county clerk deadlines, which have already passed.

Transitioning Council Leadership

At the end of the night, Mayor John Hieftje announced that Leigh Greden would be stepping down from the Budget and Labor Committee. Hieftje said he thought that Greden was looking forward to his departure from council. [Greden lost the August Democratic primary election in Ward 3 to Stephen Kunselman]. Hieftje followed that announcement with the news that Margie Teall (Ward 4) would also be stepping down from Budget and Labor. She found herself very well occupied with her other committee work, Hieftje said. Teall currently serves on the Administration Committee, the Community Events Funds Committee, and as one of two council representatives to the Environmental Commission. She also serves on the recently formed Senior Center Task Force.

Replacing Greden and Teall on Budget and Labor will be Sabra Briere (Ward 1) and Mike Anglin (Ward 5).

Their first meeting on the Budget and Labor committee will be on Sept. 14 starting at 5:30 p.m. at the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority board room [confirm time and date]. On the same evening, the city council has a joint working session with the Downtown Development Authority and the planning commission, which will be held at the Community Television Network studios starting at 7 p.m. City administrator Roger Fraser explained that the AATA, which is located directly across South Industrial Avenue from CTN, had offered the location for Budget and Labor. They’d need to go into closed session at some point, and the CTN studio was not suitable for that, Fraser explained.

Toy Guns

At its Aug. 6 meeting, the council had approved on first reading a revision to the city’s ordinances that would make it possible to take enforcement action on people who are carrying realistic look-alike toy guns. At that meeting there had been scant discussion from councilmembers, except a brief indication from Sabra Briere (Ward 1) that she had several questions she wished to get clarified before the revision came before council for its second reading.

Analysis

The ordinance change came at the request of the Ann Arbor Police Department. What was the rationale for the ordinance change? From the memo accompanying the ordinance change:

The current provisions of Chapter 115 of the Ann Arbor City Code covering weapons and explosives do not allow for any enforcement action on subjects carrying realistic, look-alike toy handguns unless some other crime has been committed. On several occasions, subjects have been in possession of these types of toy handguns in public, sometimes concealed. Because the subjects were not in violation of any law or ordinance, there was no crime or violation with which to charge them.

Because these look-alike weapons pose a real threat to the public, law enforcement, and those in possession on many levels, Ann Arbor Police Services believes our City Code needs to address this issue and ban the possession of such items in public places and limit the discharge of them.

The ordinance change intends to accomplish its goal in two ways. The first is to make precise the definition of “weapon.”

A suitable definition of “weapon,” coupled with the general prohibition on possession of weapons in any public place (and suitably defined exceptions) would allow AAPD to take enforcement actions on people carrying look-alike toy handguns.

Old language: (7) Weapon means any air pistol, air rifle, slingshot, crossbow, bow, firebomb, bomb, nun-chuk, or throwing star, but shall not include antique guns not in operating condition.

New language: (7) Weapon means any air pistol, air gun, air rifle, BB gun, any type of gun that is discharged by air, gas, or a spring, slingshot, crossbow, bow, firebomb, bomb, nun-chuk, or throwing star, but shall not include antique guns not in operating condition.

The revised definition of “weapon,” however, does not include a notion of a “look-alike gun.” So this part of the ordinance revision does not appear to accomplish its stated goal.

The second way the ordinance change attempts to accomplish its goal is to include look-alike toy guns – and a definition of what they are – in a section on how weapons are allowed to be discharged.

9:263. Discharge of weapons or firearms.

No person shall discharge any weapon or firearm within the city, with the following exceptions:

• in connection with a regularly scheduled educational, recreational, or training program under adequate supervision;
• in connection with the performance of lawful duties of law enforcement;
• in connection with the protection of person or property when confronted with deadly force;
• in connection with the discharge on private property of toy, look-alike, and imitation weapons and firearms, which have the appearance, shape, and/or configuration of a firearm. [emphasis added] This exception does not apply if the toy, look-alike, or imitation weapon or firearm is discharged toward an area within the public right-of-way or the projectile discharged enters into an area within the public right-of-way. This exception also does not apply to BB guns.

It’s not obvious what “configuration” adds to the definition of a look-alike firearm, nor is it clear why it merits the “and/or” conjunction. It’s possible that “appearance” and “shape” are meant to cover two-dimensions, but that “configuration” means that in order to qualify, the object needs to be more than a cardboard cutout.

Further, there’s an unfortunate syntactic consequence of embedding this definition of look-alike guns in a section about the discharge of real guns. This embedding appears to have the unintended consequence of allowing the discharge of a real firearm – if a toy firearm is discharged in connection with the discharge of that real firearm.

Public Commentary on Toy Guns

Two members of the public spoke during the hearing on toy guns.

Lou Glorie: Glorie described the ordinance as “over the top,” saying that the problems with “play weapons” did not rise to the level of criminal activity. She reminded councilmembers that it’s legal to carry a gun in Michigan.

Karen Sidney: Sidney wondered, “Who thinks this stuff up?” She expressed her concern that the ordinance could be used to target specific ethnic groups, and give rise to the firearm equivalent of “driving while black.” She suggested that the Ann Arbor police force would do better to focus on specific crime problems in Ann Arbor like drug dealing in Courthouse Square, break-ins on the west side, theft from downtown offices, and thefts from cars in parking structures.

Council Deliberations on Toy Guns

Right out the gate, Sabra Briere (Ward 1) moved to table the resolution, based on a request from the city attorney’s office. As she’d indicated at the council’s Aug. 6 meeting, she’d had concerns about the ordinance, and had followed up with questions to the city attorney’s office. She had received a reply on Thursday, Sept. 3, that included the request to table it, because the city attorney’s office was not ready to move it forward at this time.

Marcia Higgins (Ward 4) appeared annoyed to not have been in the communication loop, saying, “I wasn’t privy to those conversations.” She asked to what date the resolution would be postponed.

Stephen Rapundalo (Ward 2) seemed to echo Higgins’ annoyance, saying that the postponement was “news to [him].” He asked Abigail Elias, who was representing the city attorney’s office at the council table, to share the content of the communication with the rest of the city council.

Elias indicated that it was “not a change of heart” by either the city attorney’s office or the police department. Rather, it was a matter of cleaning up the language.

Rapundalo asked that in the future, such requests from the city attorney’s office [to postpone a resolution] be made of all councilmembers.

Higgins weighed in again, pointing out that this was the second reading of the proposed ordinance and that this was the second time recently when changes needed to be made at a second reading – she was prepared to vote and didn’t favor postponing.

Asked by Carsten Hohnke (Ward 5) what the concerns were in the language, and what had triggered a review, Elias replied that there had been questions about references to “toy guns” and specific kinds of toy guns – it was a matter of cleaning up the language.

Hohnke pressed Elias: “What prompted the review?” Elias: “Some questions were raised.”

For her part, Briere apologized for the fact that the communication had not been sent earlier. She said she’d had several communications with the city attorney’s office after the first reading and had not received a reply until the previous Thursday.

Higgins attempted to speak again, but Mayor John Hieftje did not allow her to take a third speaking turn, which would have required a suspension of council rules.

Sandi Smith (Ward 1) weighed in for postponement, saying that it was not a pressing issue to resolve.

Higgins’ Ward 4 colleague, Margie Teall, then moved to suspend the council rules on speaking turns to allow Higgins another turn. That motion passed unanimously.

Higgins said that instead of postponing the resolution, they should vote it down. Then, when it came back, it would be a fresh start, and there would not be a need to track what had changed and what had not.

Hieftje expressed his support for postponement.

Outcome: The motion to postpone consideration of the toy guns ordinance until the first meeting in October passed with dissent from Rapundalo and Higgins.

Mail

Council considered two resolution about mail – one related to the potential closing of the post office in the South University area, the other related to new council rules regarding email during council meetings.

South University Post Office

The council considered a resolution co-sponsored by Sabra Briere (Ward 1) and Christopher Taylor (Ward 3) calling on the United States Postal Service to take the South University location off its list of locations targeted for closure. Taylor and Briere both expressed the view that closing the post office would place a heavy burden on those with no motorized transport to get to a different location.

Briere said that they should be encouraging people to get on their feet and walk to the post office with small packages, not drive to the post office. The measure, she said, had support from Senators Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow, and as well as from Congressman John Dingell.

Outcome: The resolution opposing the closure of the South University post office was unanimously approved.

Council Rules on Electronic Mail

The council began its discussion of revisions to its own rules by suspending its rule on speaking turns. Marcia Higgins (Ward 4) read aloud Rule 8, which now addresses, among other things, electronic communications during meetings:

Electronic communication during Council meetings shall pertain only to City matters. During Council meetings, members shall not send electronic communication to persons other than City Staff; provided however, that members may send draft motions, resolutions, and amendments to all members. Members shall not respond to member-distributed draft language via electronic communication. All draft language sent by electronic communication during Council meetings shall be read into the record prior to discussion by Council.

Briere noted that even with the best of intentions, it’s difficult to adhere to the rules – citing her own email she’d sent to fellow councilmembers earlier, which relayed the communication she’d received from the city attorney’s office. [Under the new rules, such communication would presumably be prohibited, because it was not a motion, resolution, or amendment.] Briere said that there needed to be a middle ground between the need to share information in general versus during a council meeting.

Higgins suggested that the struggle with electronic communication was generation-based (after prompting a round of laughs when she first mis-spoke, saying “gender-based”). She said that you can’t have a rule for every instance.

Higgins went on to describe how the practice of being able to forward email automatically from an a2gov.org account to some other accounts should perhaps be revisited in light of the fact that council email accounts were now accessible via a web-based portal – they can be accessed anywhere.

For her part, Sandi Smith (Ward 1) said that she routinely forwarded email from her a2gov.org account to a different one to facilitate printing – was that what Higgins meant? Higgins clarified that she was only talking about auto-forwarding. Smith said she didn’t see how that related to the conduct issue addressed by the rule.

Christopher Taylor (Ward 3) seemed intrigued that auto-forwarding was even an option, and asked Higgins if she was suggesting an action item. She was not. Taylor then turned the council’s attention to the rules on how the council’s agenda was pushed out to the public, as well as the construction of the agenda. The idea was to eliminate the notion of a “newspaper deadline,” he said.

3B – Review of the Draft Agenda
The City Administrator shall submit the draft agenda and supporting materials to the members of the Council Administration Committee for review and comment 10 days prior to the next Council meeting. Such review and comment shall be made no later than 7 days prior to the next Council meeting. Once reviewed by the Council Administration Committee, no matter from staff shall be placed on the agenda. Council members may add items to the agenda at any time, but will use best efforts to do so prior to the Friday before the next Council meeting.

3F – Publication of Agenda
After review of the agenda under 3B, the agenda for all meetings of Council, including Work Sessions, shall be published by prominent link on the home page of the City’s Website, distributed electronically to each branch of the Ann Arbor District Libraries, and posted in the lobby of City Hall. The Clerk shall use best efforts to promptly disseminate amended agendas by the foregoing distribution channels.

If a councilmember places an item on the agenda after the Friday before the next council meeting, Taylor explained, the idea behind the language of “best efforts” was that the councilmember would “make some species of explanation” as to why it could not be added sooner.

Briere went to considerable lengths to make clear what the proposed rules changes were not about, because of what she said were expectations on the part of the public about what would come out of the rules changes. Rules did not address ethics, for example. Also, the rules did not address how council committees were selected, she stressed. “It’s about council meetings, not about council,” she said.

Higgins pointed out another rule that would help make the agenda understandable:

RULE 10 – Resolutions and Motions To Be Made In Writing
Every resolution and ordinance shall be in writing. Resolution titles shall, unless impractical or required by law, be twenty (20) words or less and describe in plain language the subject matter thereof.

Mayor John Hieftje suggested that an additional slot for communications from council be added immediately following public hearings. Councilmembers agreed to add the slot.

Outcome: The council adopted its revised set of rules on a unanimous vote.

Charter Amendment on Publication of Ordinances

At its last meeting, the council had passed a resolution placing on the November ballot a charter amendment that would change publication requirements for the city’s ordinances. Since that meeting, the state Attorney General’s office had made suggestions for changes in the ballot language that the council had approved, and Tony Derezinski (Ward 2) brought forward the revised versions for council approval.

The Chronicle published a column analyzing the charter amendment in detail, which gives the city council discretion to determine what is an appropriate form of publication for the city’s ordinances: “A Charter Change on Publishing.”

In that column we called attention to the fact that the phrasing “permitted by law” was inaccurately included in the ballot language for one of the amendments, likely due to a copy/paste error. Last week The Chronicle phoned the state Attorney General’s Office to offer our view that because of this error, the ballot language did not meet the standard for ballot language as set forth in the Home Rule City Act:

The purpose of the proposed charter amendment or question shall be designated on the ballot in not more than 100 words, exclusive of caption, that shall consist of a true and impartial statement of the purpose of the amendment or question in language that does not create prejudice for or against the amendment or question [emphasis added].

The AG likely would have make the recommendation for a change on its own. Here’s the contrast between the previously approved version and the version approved at Tuesday’s council meeting:

Old Version: Shall Sections 7.4(a) (1) and (2) of the Ann Arbor City Charter be amended to permit the current requirement of newspaper publication of City ordinances to be satisfied also by posting to the City website, any media permitted by law or determined appropriate to inform the general public by City Council? [emphasis added]

New Version: Shall Sections 7.4(a) (1) and (2) of the Ann Arbor City Charter be amended to permit the current requirement of newspaper publication of City ordinances to be satisfied also by posting to the City website, or by any media determined appropriate to inform the general public by City Council?

In council deliberations, Sandi Smith (Ward 1) asked why the Attorney General’s office had made a suggestion for revision, given that she’d been led to believe that it had already been approved by the Attorney General’s office. [City Attorney Stephen Postema had reported at the council's last meeting that the AG's office had vetted the proposal.]

Abigail Elias, speaking for the city attorney’s office, described the prior process as an “informal review” and that the suggestion now was to prevent an outcome on the formal review that would be either negative or else an opinion with comments.

Outcome: The council unanimously approved the wording changes to the ballot language.

What’s next? That’s not clear. According to deputy county clerk Matt Yankee, who handles elections for the Washtenaw County clerk’s office, the Aug. 25 deadline for submission of ballot language is set by the State of Michigan. In a phone conversation, he told The Chronicle that his office is already in the process of programming the ballots for November.

Chronicle conclusion: It’s not clear if the city of Ann Arbor can get the revised ballot language swapped out.

Near North

In her communications from council towards the beginning of the meeting, Sandi Smith (Ward 1) advised her colleagues that the Near North planned unit development had experienced a “meeting of the minds” and that action on the project was unlikely that evening. Still, she said, it would be important for councilmembers to ask any questions they had of the developer that evening. Mayor John Hieftje echoed the importance of getting questions answered that evening. The public hearing, he said, would be left open for the next meeting.

Several people spoke during the public hearing on Near North, which is an affordable housing project of around 40 units proposed for North Main Street. The nonprofit Avalon Housing and the developer Three Oaks are working on the project together.

Karen Sidney: In an apparent allusion to Lily Au’s speaking turn [see below], and a council chambers filled with residents and supporters of Camp Take Notice, Sidney noted that there’s a homeless epidemic. She expressed her hope that Avalon Housing could work out an acceptable solution to their differences with neighbors about the proposed development. However, she expressed concern about the $270,000 per unit it was going to cost to build the affordable units – that’s not cost effective, she said. She noted that the project was being financed with tax credits – that is, public money – and that public monies should not be used to cover the losses of a bad investment made by the developer [in purchasing the individual lots where the project is situated, at the height of the real estate market]. She suggested focusing on finding money to help with operating costs that Avalon needs to cover in order to finance its services. The $200,000 that the DDA allocates to bricks-and-mortar construction of affordable housing, she suggested, should be considered as possible funding for operating costs.

Tom Fitzsimmons: Fitzsimmons spoke representing the North Central Property Owners Association. He began by asking the council for a two-week postponement of the resolution before them approving the PUD rezoning and the site plan. He reported that the NCPOA had been working with the development team from Three Oaks, and that they’d made significant progress in addressing concerns about massing, height, setbacks, and the appropriate fit for retail in the space. He described the development team as having made “an honest effort,” to the point that “we no longer officially oppose this project.” But he noted that there were remaining concerns about the policy precedents that such a project might set. Tearing down eight houses to build 14 supportive housing units is poor public policy, he said. Further, the acquisition of multiple properties with the intent of building a project that was inconsistent with the master plan for the area was bad neighborhood policy.

Michael Brinkman: Brinkman said he was extremely opposed to building a giant PUD. “The end doesn’t justify the means,” he said. He accused Avalon executive director Michael Appel and the developers of using Avalon as a shield for the developer’s bad real estate investment. Alluding to a comment by Tony Derezinski (Ward 2) at a previous council meeting, Brinkman said there was not 90% agreement about the project. Instead, he said, it was about “minimizing the damage.” He characterized the description that Mayor John Hieftje had used in his communications from council to describe the importance of councilmembers getting their questions answered as a Freudian Slip – Hieftje had said that questions needed to be answered at that night’s meeting, so that council could go ahead and pass the project at its next meeting.

Jeff Jenkins: Jenkins told the council how he’d moved away from being next door to Miller Manor to where he now lives, right next to the Near North proposed project. He described how Miller Manor lacked a sense of community with the surrounding neighborhood. The extent of interactions with that housing project, he said, had been based on complaints from the project about noise caused by him. In contrast to noise issues that had been settled through interpersonal negotiation with his other neighbors, Miller Manor seemed like a “large, looming complaint that doesn’t have a face.” He liked living just outside of downtown, he said, and Near North brought downtown right to him.

Thomas Partridge: Partridge described himself as a progressive Christian Democrat who’d previously been a case worker for social services. He said he supported Near North as a “test of character” for the neighborhood and for the other residents of the city for their commitment to the principle of affordable housing.

Council Deliberations on Near North

At Stephen Rapundalo’s (Ward 2) behest, Bill Godfrey of Three Oaks gave the council a quick synopsis of what had happened since the first reading at council’s Aug. 6 meeting. Godfrey said the design team and the neighbors had worked on an alternative concept that included a work list with nine specific design changes, and that they had found common ground. Among the design changes were a reduction in massing, increased separation between the two buildings, reduction of building height to four stories or less, and a delay in the construction of the neighborhood market.

“We’re thrilled with this design,” Godfrey declared. The design changes meant that the project was left with 39 1-bedroom units with no 2-bedroom units, he said. In response to a question from Mike Anglin, Godfrey said that the $273,000 per unit in construction cost would need to be recalculated – it would be lower.

Sandi Smith (Ward 1) asked about the level of LEED certification. Damian Farrell, the project’s architect, described the building at “comfortably in gold,” based on preliminary worksheets. The outstanding questions concerned big-ticket items like geothermal systems.

Smith said the energy savings that would result from a building that was LEED certified would contribute to the ongoing affordability of the units. Michael Appel, executive director of Avalon, clarified that the reduced utility bills associated with the units would accrue to residents’ benefit. Why? Because credits awarded to cover utilities were geared to traditional utility bills – if the actual cost were less, the difference would go to the resident.

Smith also asked Appel to speak to how competitive the rents would be for the units, which had been described as around $675 per month without utilities. Appel cited the city’s needs assessment for affordable housing indicating the need for additional units in the area of the “rest of Ann Arbor,” which was neither downtown nor in student areas. The rents near downtown, he said, were higher than in other “rest of Ann Arbor” areas – part of the goal of affordable housing was to provide access to higher rent areas as well.

Christopher Taylor (Ward 3) asked Appel to address a concern about possible aggregation of affordable housing on that side of town. Appel acknowledged that such aggregation anywhere would be a concern, but that Avalon wouldn’t be doing the Near North project if they thought they would be contributing to that kind of problem. The project was 40 units, not 100 units, he said.

Outcome: Action on Near North – both the PUD and the site plan – was postponed until Sept. 21 by unanimous vote.

A2D2 Zoning

Two people spoke during the public commentary reserved time about the A2D2 rezoning proposal, which was passed on its first reading – it had been returned to first reading after having been previously passed.

John Etter: Etter introduced himself as the attorney for the Sloan Plaza Condominium Association. He spoke against the rezoning of the East Huron Street corridor as D1 (core downtown) under the A2D2 proposal, arguing that it should be zoned D2 instead. The arguments that he ticked through included: (i) D2 would function better as a transition to the historic neighborhoods abutting Huron, (ii) a D1 designation would disregard the recommendation of the Calthorpe report, (iii) a D1 designation ignored the University of Michigan activity affecting the corridor – construction of North Quad and expansion of the hospital, and (iv) a D1 designation is opposed by the Michigan Department of Transportation.

In his communications from council, Mayor John Hieftje sought to rebut Etter’s contention that MDOT opposed the rezoning of Huron Street as D1, pointing out that Etter had communicated with MDOT’s Brighton office, whereas the city of Ann Arbor had run the zoning by MDOT’s Lansing office – a higher level within MDOT.

Hugh Sonk: Sonk spoke to the character of Ann Arbor as including charming neighborhoods, and said that the design guidelines developed in connection with the A2D2 process were a good effort to reflect the unique and eclectic collection of downtown areas. However, he was disappointed that these design guidelines did not include a means of enforcement. As a Sloan Plaza resident, he said that the Huron Street area was more aligned with D2 zoning as opposed to D1. He asked for side setbacks to be included for Huron Street and suggested that there was no need to rush into adoption of the new zoning.

After brief introductory remarks in which Marcia Higgins – who served as the council’s representative on the A2D2 oversight committee – encouraged her colleagues to pass the rezoning package on its first reading, council did just that. The package had previously been approved on first reading, but was returned because of changes that were substantial enough to warrant an additional first reading. Those changes related in large part to changes in the D1-D2 boundary in the South University area.

Outcome: A2D2 was unanimously approved on first reading.

Historic Districts

The council handled two matters related to historic districts.

Historic District Study Committee

After previously approving the establishment of a historic district study committee for a two-block area south of William Street near downtown, the council appointed the committee’s membership, which Carsten Hohnke (Ward 5) read aloud: Ina Hanel-Gerdenich, Susan Wineberg, Sarah Shotwell, Patrick McCauley, Rebecca Lopez Kriss, Tom Whitaker, Kristi Gilbert.

Outcome: The council unanimously approved the membership of the committee.

Historic District Review Fees

Council considered a resolution to establish fees for historic district review. They’re considerably higher than they’d been previously, and higher than peer communities. One member of the public spoke to the issue during the public hearing.

Lou Glorie: Glorie said that the historic district review fees are “out of whack.” She further characterized the fees as hostile to historic preservation, because it was cost prohibitive to apply for permits.

Sabra Briere (Ward 1) expressed concern to Jayne Miller, director of community services for the city, that the fees were “really rather high.” Reacting to a description by Briere about what constituted a one-story addition and what did not, Christopher Taylor (Ward 3) asked Miller to clarify: Is the addition of a single story upon an existing story an addition that is “taller than a single story”? It’s a difference of $250.

10. Residential Additions: Taller than single story $500.00

11. Residential Additions: Single story $250.00

Miller said she was not sure.

Miller explained to councilmembers that part of the reason fees were higher in Ann Arbor was the higher number of historic districts – whereas communities with a lower number of requests could simply absorb the additional costs, the sheer number of requests meant that Ann Arbor could not use that as a reasonable strategy.

There was enough uncertainly that councilmembers seemed unenthusiastic about approving the higher fees without getting some additional answers.

Outcome: The historic district review fees were postponed until Sept. 21.

Industrial Development District

Council considered a resolution establishing an industrial development district for Anika and Associates, Inc., located at 3885 Research Park Drive. An industrial development district has to be established before receipt of any applications for an industrial facilities exemption certificate within the industrial development district. An industrial facilities exemption falls into the category of what’s commonly known as a tax abatement. One member of the public spoke to the issue

Karen Sidney: Sidney said that she found no justification in the supporting materials for the establishment of the district. Sidney wanted to know what the public benefit was. She suggested that if the public benefit was to be realized in the increased tax revenue from improvements undertaken to the property, then the city should contemplate offering the same kind of tax break to homeowners. If the idea was to bring jobs to the city, then Sidney asked the council to consider how many jobs tax abatements had brought through Google and Pfizer. [Google had said it would be hiring 1,000 workers by 2001, but to date has hired only around 250. Pfizer has left Ann Arbor.] Ann Arbor can’t afford to give away more taxes, she concluded.

Outcome: With no discussion, the council approved the industrial development district.

Municipal Airport

Sol Castell: Castell spoke against the adoption of a resolution that supplemented an agreement between the city of Ann Arbor and Pittsfield Township concerning jurisdictional issues around the municipal airport. [Opponents of the proposed airport runway expansion see the resolution as a way to circumvent public process.] Castell began by acknowledging the item had been stricken from the night’s agenda. He focused his remarks on safety issues – speaking from his perspective as a 747 pilot. He pointed out that extending the runway would have an impact on the risk to areas surrounding the airport, because on takeoff an airplane is heavier (maximum fuel load), slower, and close to the ground.

Andrea Van Houweling: Van Houweling spoke against the resolution supplementing the agreement between the city of Ann Arbor and Pittsfield Township regarding the municipal airport. She said that Ann Arbor residents were “the last to know” about proposed construction and changes to layout. She pointed out that the Ann Arbor city council had historically supported the notion that residents needed to be informed about proposed changes at the airport. She cited a Jan. 22, 2007, council resolution which approved and updated the then-current airport layout plan and called for city staff to bring back a separate proposal about extending the runway. The resolution also stated that notification of the proposal be sent to citizens in the surrounding area. But it was only 18 months later that citizens in the surrounding area were notified, she said. Before the supplemental agreement with Pittsfield was acted on, she suggested, there should be a public hearing on the matter.

Other Public Commentary

Thomas Partridge: Partridge introduced himself as a Washtenaw County Democrat, advocating for those in most need of government services. He called for a new effort to establish countywide regional transportation. He said that the voters must be asked to do their part.

Jeff Deboer: Deboer introduced himself as president of the Pioneer Rowing Club. He commended staff for the clarity of their presentation on Argo Dam, which was presented at a working session immediately preceding the council meeting. He said that he supported the formation of an oversight committee. He weighed in for keeping the dam in place, citing the heavy use of Argo Pond. He also said that it made no ecological sense to remove the dam, and stressed that the concrete and steel dam holding back the Argo impoundment was in good shape. [The Chronicle will provide separate coverage of the working session prior to council's regular meeting, which was devoted solely to discussion of the Argo Dam.]

Lily Au: Lily Au spoke to the issue of homelessness in Ann Arbor. She pointed out that there were hundreds of homeless people, but that the Delonis Shelter had only 50 beds, which resulted in people sleeping in chairs when there was overflow. She described the homeless as an “invisible” population that lived in the woods or under bridges, or in bathrooms. She called the council’s attention to the eviction of Camp Take Notice from their location behind Arborland and the arrest of one of the residents. She called on the community to get together and honor their Christian or other religious commitments to act on behalf of the homeless population. [Many of the supporters and residents of Camp Take Notice attended council's meeting. See "Laws of Physics: Homeless Camp Moves."]

Libby Hunter: Hunter held forth in song, which has become her preferred way to address the city council over the last few months. This time it was a medley, beginning with lyrics sung to the tune of Scarborough Fair and ending with London Bridge is Falling Down. The focus was the poor condition of roads in Ann Arbor and the Stadium Bridge in particular. Her concluding lyric was “Defeat Higgins!” [Marcia Higgins (Ward 4) is opposed in the November general election by independent candidate Hatim Elhady. The Stadium Bridge is in Ward 4.]

In his communications from council, Mayor John Hieftje sought to put into context Hunter’s contention that Ann Arbor had the second-worst roads in the state, saying that it had been a 2007 survey done by the Michigan Road Builders Association. [The Michigan Road Builders Association merged with the Associated Underground Contractors in 2005 to become the Michigan Infrastructure & Transportation Association. MITA issued a press release in October 2008 about their conclusions based on data from the 2007 Michigan Asset Management Council report.] Hieftje said that a 2008 version of the same survey showed that Ann Arbor actually had some of the better roads in the state.  The data in question can be found on the Washtenaw Area Transportation Study (WATS) website. [The 2008 data seem to be problematic in an order-of-magnitude kind of way, compared to previous years.]

Communications from Council

Carsten Hohnke (Ward 5) reported that the Greenbelt Advisory Committee had gone on a field trip to two potential sites that could be acquired through greenbelt millage funds. Both sites, he said, were connected to local food production. He mentioned this, he continued, because it reflected the modification of the overall greenbelt strategy that councilmembers had previously been briefed on.

Mike Anglin (Ward 5) gave councilmembers an update on his request that all city council emails dating back to 2000 be released to the public. He advised his colleagues that a resolution would be brought forward at the Sept. 21 council meeting addressing the issue. The delay, he said, was due to the fact that staff had needed time to compute cost estimates. The question, he said, was whether the council would do this on its own or whether the public would request the records through the Freedom of Information Act.

Sabra Briere (Ward 1) followed up Anglin’s discussion of council emails by alerting her colleagues to an exhibit on 19th century events in Washtenaw County at the Museum on Main Street (500 N. Main at Beakes Street). It was an exhibit, Briere said, that would be an appropriate title for council emails: “Murder, Mayhem, and Mischief.” [The exhibit runs through Nov. 29 – the museum is open from 12-4 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays.]

Sandi Smith (Ward 1) reminded her colleagues that it was Local Food Month and alerted them to the HomeGrown Festival to take place on Sept. 12 at the Ann Arbor Farmers Market from 5-10 p.m.

Present: Stephen Rapundalo, Mike Anglin, Margie Teall, Sabra Briere, Sandi Smith, Tony Derezinski, Leigh Greden, Marcia Higgins, John Hieftje, Christopher Taylor, Carsten Hohnke.

Next council meeting: Tuesday Monday, Sept. 21, 2009 at 7 p.m. in council chambers, 2nd floor of the Guy C. Larcom, Jr. Municipal Building, 100 N. Fifth Ave. [confirm date]

The word on the button is bigger than it appears.

At last Thursday night’s work session, city council members reached a consensus on a city income tax proposal. Their consensus was this: They did not want city staff to place on their Monday agenda an item that, if passed, would have put a city income tax question on November’s ballot.

So based on the agenda posted on the city of Ann Arbor website, and in light of the Sunday night caucus discussion among council members, it appeared there would not be any really substantive issues before that body at its Monday night meeting.

Yet council ended up voting on three substantive items – all introduced late in the day on Monday. One was a reconsideration of a historic district study committee resolution passed at the council’s previous meeting – it  amounts to a wording change. But it’s a wording change that has a material affect on what projects homeowners in the district can undertake on their properties during the study period. The original resolution at the previous council meeting had also been introduced late in the day, with no public discussion beforehand surrounding the resolution.

A second item introduced late Monday concerned a new transit center on Fuller Road. It entailed the authorization of around $200,000 – about half of that from the city’s economic development fund, which was originally established to pay for parking spaces that Google had demanded as a part of its decision to locate offices in downtown Ann Arbor.

And finally – even though councilmembers had decided at their work session they didn’t want to contemplate putting an income tax before the voters – they decided to put something else before the voters: a charter amendment that would give council the authority to decide how certain notifications are published.

The amendment would change current requirements that certain items are printed in a newspaper, instead allowing for a broader range of options, including online publications.

How could an online enthusiast like me, the editor of an online publication, be against this move? Easy.

Background

Printed agendas are provided to audience members at Ann Arbor city council meetings. They’re similar in function to church bulletins that I recall from the Methodist upbringing of my youth – for many attendees they’re just a way to track how much time is left in the purgatory of public policy discussion. In other ways, of course, those agendas are different from church bulletins – for one thing, they don’t give hymn numbers for the musical elements that have become familiar over the last few council meetings, including last night.

Musical elements aside, the timing of last night’s ballot resolution was ironic. The resolution to put a charter amendment before voters – one that would change the newspaper publication of council’s ordinances – was added so late that it could not be included in the printed agendas at council chambers on Monday evening. Not even in the section labeled “Added After Newspaper Deadline.”

That deadline comes not from the city charter, but rather from the council’s own set of rules:

3F – Publication of Agenda: The approved agenda for all meetings of Council, including Work Sessions, shall be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the City no later than the Sunday prior to each meeting, except those meetings called less than six days prior to a meeting. All meetings of the Council will be posted in the lobby of City Hall and on the City Website.

As we reported in our summary of Sunday night’s caucus, one resident there addressed councilmembers on the issue of newspaper publication of various notices. One of her points was that the city council agenda had not been printed in the print edition of AnnArbor.com, and that was where she and many other residents expected it to appear – printed in a newspaper.

The FY 2010 budget (the current budget year), which was adopted by the city council in the spring, includes an assumption that the city council agenda will no longer be printed in a newspaper – at a cost savings of around $15,000.

But this is a council rule, not a part of the city charter. As such, it needs to be changed by the council to conform with the current practice of non-publication.  Editor’s note: As clarified in comment [6] below by the city clerk, and the contentions at caucus notwithstanding, the agendas do continue to be published – in AnnArbor.com, which The Chronicle has verified [photo]. Such a change is likely to be included in the raft of rule changes that are expected to be considered at council’s Sept. 8 meeting – along with rules governing email exchanges.

What, then, has city council decided to put before voters on the November ballot?

What the City Charter Says Now

There are two parts of Chapter 7, “City Legislation” of Ann Arbor’s city charter that voters will be asked to amend. Here’s what they say now:

7.3 (d) A zoning ordinance or an amendment or revision thereof shall be published in one or more newspapers of general circulation in the City, and opportunity for a public hearing allowed thereon before final action is taken by the Council.

7.4 (a) Each ordinance shall be published within ten days after its enactment in one of the following two methods:

(1) The full text thereof may be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the City of Ann Arbor, or

(2) In cases of ordinances over five hundred words in length, a digest, summary or statement of the purpose of the ordinance, approved by the Council, may be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the City of Ann Arbor, including with such newspaper publication, a notice that printed copies of the full text of the ordinance are available for inspection by, and distribution to, the public, at the office of the City Clerk. If Method (2) is used, then printed copies shall promptly be so made available, as stated in such notice.

What the Amended City Charter Would Say

As the “Whereas” clauses to the resolution make clear, the city council is asking voters to change the city charter because we live in a different world than when the city charter was first adopted – in 1956. This was a point that city attorney Stephen Postema made in his remarks to the city council that introduced the resolution. From the resolution: “Methods of communication and forms of media have altered materially since the adoption of these provisions and similar provisions in State law; …”

The amended versions of 7.3 (d) and 7.4 (a) in the city charter would change the requirement of newspaper publication to simply one of many unspecified options (additions are indicated in blue):

7.3 (d) A zoning ordinance or an amendment or revision thereof shall be published in one or more newspapers of general circulation in the City or any other media otherwise permitted by law, and opportunity for a public hearing allowed thereon before final action is taken by the Council.

7.4 (a) Each ordinance shall be published within ten days after its enactment in one of the following two methods:

1. The full text thereof may be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the City of Ann Arbor or by posting to the City’s website or by any other means or method determined by City Council appropriate to properly inform the general public in matters of municipal concerns, or

2. In cases of ordinances over five hundred words in length, a digest, summary or statement of the purpose of the ordinance, approved by the Council, may be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the City of Ann Arbor or by posting to the City’s website or by any other means or methods determined by City Council appropriate to properly inform the general public in matters of municipal concerns, including with such publication, a notice that printed copies of the full text of the ordinance are available for inspection by, and distribution to, the public, at the office of the City Clerk. If Method (2) is used, then printed copies shall promptly be so made available, as stated in such notice.

Public Policy Considerations: Beyond Dissemination

It was good public policy back in 1956 for the city charter to require publication of these items in a newspaper of general circulation – newspapers were an effective way of disseminating information about the actions of the city council. This public policy concern is reflected in the resolution passed on Monday night: “… the original intent of these provisions was to provide notice of Council actions by the most effective means available; …”

Given that there are now other ways to disseminate textual information that are arguably at least as effective as newspapers – direct mail from the U.S. Postal Service, email list-serves, RSS feeds, text messaging services, websites – it’s reasonable to contemplate adding other options to printed publication in newspapers.

But it’s not merely the effective dissemination of information that made printed publication of notices in newspapers good public policy in 1956. The merit of that public policy also stemmed in part from the fact that a third party – a newspaper – was involved. That third party, which stood outside of the government agency whose actions were to be documented, acted as some sort of external check on the government agency – in this case, the city council.

Publishing versus Posting

How does a requirement for publication of notices in newspapers provide a check on government agencies? This check does not stem from the fact that newspapers print information on paper. There’s nothing magical about the paper and ink. Rather, this check stems from the fact that newspapers publish information. Otherwise put, newspapers have editors.

Web-based publications can have editors, too. So, it’s possible to publish information on the Web as well as in print, and we prove that every day here at The Ann Arbor Chronicle. But our claim to the act of publishing does not rest on the label of the blue button in our software, which reads “Publish.” Clicking on that button makes an article accessible to the public, but making it accessible to the public is not the same as publishing it.

What makes this column you’re reading published as opposed to just posted is that someone else besides me looked at it, evaluated it, made some changes, discussed with me various issues, and ultimately decided whether to press that publish button. So not everything that appears on The Chronicle’s website is published. Comments that readers leave at the end of articles, for example, are merely posted. It makes no sense to say, “The Chronicle published my comment.” We did not publish your comment – we gave you a tool to post your comment.

Why is this distinction between publishing and posting a big deal? It’s not that we imagine that there would be editing to do for an ordinance that’s been passed by city council. Quite the opposite. If the city clerk, Jackie Beaudry, were to send along an ordinance for publication in The Chronicle, it would not be my editor’s role to examine the text and suggest that she use “will” instead of “shall” or perhaps rethink the “Whereas” clauses in terms of providing more dramatic tension for the reader.

Rather, it would be my role to ensure that what appeared on The Chronicle’s website matched exactly what she gave me. So what’s the benefit of adding this third-party editorial process that allows us to call it publishing an ordinance?  How does publishing serve as check on government? Isn’t this really just an argument that government should write a check – to publishers? No.

Benefits of Publishing

Here’s where I see the check. Attached to publishing is a cultural understanding that publishers archive what they publish. Part of the reason The Chronicle keeps all of its old articles online is that they’re useful as archival reference – for readers and for us as well. Part of the reason I write articles in the amount of detail I do is that I want to use those detailed accounts myself – to write additional detailed articles in the future. This is not idiosyncratic to The Chronicle. That’s what publishers do.

So when a question arises as to what was published and how it was published, you can appeal to the publisher’s archives. Why is that important? Because if there’s a question about whether the government met its 10-day deadline requirement of the city charter, it should not be the government itself that adjudicates the question of whether it has met its obligation. Rather it should be the third-party publisher’s archives.

Similarly, what if there’s a question about whether the wording of an approved ordinance that first appeared on a website matched the wording that currently is displayed in the archives? Or what if there’s a question about whether the currently displayed archives match the wording deliberated on and approved by the city council? These questions, too, should be settled not by asking the government itself whether it has created an accurate record, but by appeal to the third-party publisher’s archives.

Posting on the City’s Website?

The charter amendment that city council is asking voters to approve in November states that a sufficient means to disseminate the content of its passed ordinances is to post them on the city’s website.

As I’ve laid out, there’s no built-in external check, if the city itself – through posting as opposed to publishing – disseminates the content of its own ordinances. Certainly it’s a good idea if the city posts the content of its passed ordinances on its website. The question, however, is whether the city charter should require anything more than that.  What the city council is asking voters to approve is a measure that would allow the city to satisfy the charter by posting ordinances to the city website – and nothing more.

The Flexibility Afforded to City Council

In the amendment to 7.4(a), the city council is also asking voters to give the council the broad discretion to use “any other means or method determined by city council appropriate” to disseminate the content of its ordinances.

A future city council could thus determine that spray-chalking ordinances on the sidewalks around city hall is appropriate for dissemination of this information. Were it to decide such a thing were appropriate, it’s not clear from the proposed charter amendment how the council might express its desire that this count as an appropriate method.  Would a resolution be required? Would that resolution need to be passed before the method were deployed?  Could “no means at all” count as “any other means” in terms of the amended charter language?

According to Ann Arbor’s city attorney’s office, no other municipality in Michigan affords its city council the kind of latitude that this charter amendment does to determine compliance with requirements of dissemination.

Ballot Language: Copy Editor Needed

The ballot language accompanying one of the proposed charter amendments is as problematic as its content. That’s important, because it’s the ballot language that voters will confront in their voting booths, and it’s the language that is likely to be used as a briefer, more efficient version of the proposal in various publications that cover this issue leading up to the November election.

First, given the broad latitude that is afforded to the city council by the proposed charter amendment to 7.4(a), it’s unfortunate that the ballot language puts unneeded grammatical distance between the council and its role as the determining agent. Here’s how the ballot language reads:

Shall Sections 7.4(a) (1) and (2) of the Ann Arbor City Charter be amended to permit the current requirement of newspaper publication of City ordinances to be satisfied also by posting to the City website, any media permitted by law or determined appropriate to inform the general public by City Council? [emphasis added]

As written, it’s not immediately clear that it’s the city council that is determining the appropriate means of communication. The “by” phrase would be better placed immediately after “determined” – like this: “… or determined by City Council to be appropriate to inform the general public?”

The more serious problem with the ballot language is that the “any media permitted by law” phrasing is not a part of the proposed amendment for 7.4(a), but is included in its ballot language. However, the “any media permitted by law” phrasing is a part of the 7.3(d) amendment. I would conclude that this is sloppiness on the part of the city attorney’s office and/or the resolution’s sponsor, Marcia Higgins.

To  reflect the proposed amendment accurately, the ballot language should instead use the “any other means or methods” phrasing of the 7.4(a) amendment.

In sum, the ballot language that council approved probably should have read:

Shall Sections 7.4(a) (1) and (2) of the Ann Arbor City Charter be amended to permit the current requirement of newspaper publication of City ordinances to be satisfied also by posting to the City website, or also by any other means or methods determined by City Council to be appropriate to inform the general public?

Conclusion: I’m Voting No

At the council’s Monday meeting – when councilmembers approved the ballot question for the charter amendments on newspaper publication – Tony Derezinski (Ward 2) was spot-on when he lambasted his colleagues for failing to support his motion to postpone the historic district study committee appointment at the council’s previous meeting.  He’d asked for 12 days, he said, arguing that something so controversial – which had in one form or another been discussed over multiple months and multiple meetings – should not be introduced for consideration late in the very day of a council meeting.

As it turned out, the language of the resolution on the historic district had to be brought back before council for reconsideration to get the difference straightened out between “demolition” and “all construction, addition, alteration, repair, moving, excavation, or demolition.” A postponement might have avoided the glitch.

Some city council members seemed to think it did not matter about the late timing of the charter amendment – because they assumed it wouldn’t be controversial. The problem with that assumption is that it’s impossible to know if a proposal is controversial until it’s made public.

Now that it’s been made public and approved, here’s a news flash for Ann Arbor’s city council: Asking voters to give you charter authority to do anything you didn’t already have authority to do – that’s going to be controversial.

There are problems with the ballot language as well as with the basic premise of these charter amendments. They could have probably been altered in a way that would have made the proposal truly uncontroversial – if the city council had publicly discussed the possibility of putting such an amendment forward before it suddenly appeared on its agenda.

There is no particular urgency here, and once the charter amendment and accompanying ballot language are revised appropriately, it could be passed in spring of 2010.

But as the charter amendment stands, I find it impossible to support and I’ll be voting no.

Jillian Downey and Ari Weinzweig meet with The Chronicle at Zingerman's Deli Next Door.

Elizabeth Kostova often sits in Booth 104 at Zingerman’s Roadhouse – it’s a detail that Zingerman’s co-founder Ari Weinzweig mentions in passing, a little insight into a much deeper connection between the best-selling novelist and the popular family of food businesses.

It’s a connection that plays a role in yet another enterprise that could be added to the mix: Zingerman’s Press.

The press already exists, in a fashion, with Jillian Downey at the helm. The first book under that imprint – “The Vampires’ Ball Companion” – has just been published, in conjunction with an Oct. 28 fundraiser for Food Gatherers.

Kostova is really responsible for the fundraiser itself. In 2006, her best-selling novel, “The Historian,” was coming out in paperback. She offered to do a reading at the Roadhouse to mark the occasion and as a fundraiser for Food Gatherers. The wall of Booth 104 sports a poster for that first year, which featured a Transylvania-inspired menu. That initial seed grew into a Halloween-ish annual event, and this year Kosteva again has a hand in it.

Cover of "The Vampires' Ball Companion" from Zingerman's Press.

Her contribution to “The Vampires’ Ball Companion” – a collection of essays which complements this year’s Ghoulish Gaelic Gala fundraiser theme – is a short reflection about a 12th century castle in Slovenia. Also included in the volume are a piece on the love and lore of Irish butter by Weinzweig; excerpts from “The Year in Ireland” by Irish folklorist Kevin Danaher; and some recipes (to be served at the fundraiser) by Alex Young, chef and managing partner of the Roadhouse. Menu items include Colcannon – potatoes with cabbage – and barm brack, an Irish bread.

The idea of starting a Zingerman’s publishing business has been kicked around for a while. “We realized we had a lot of written material floating around,” Weinzweig says. (Zingerman’s has come out with other books in the past, including “Zingerman’s Guide to Good Eating” and “Zingerman’s Guide to Giving Great Service,” both by Weinzweig and published by Houghton Mifflin and Hyperion, respectively.)

But forming a new Zingerman’s enterprise takes time. Each venture is partly owned by a managing partner (or partners) who generally starts and runs the business. Becoming a partner is a Big Deal, and done through a formal application and approval process with a certain amount of caution – it’s important that Zingerman’s current partners and the potential new partner feel comfortable that the arrangement is a good fit. That’s why makes sense to find ways to work together before formalizing the partnership, Weinzweig says.

Entrance to Zingerman's Roadhouse, at the corner of Jackson and West Stadium.

So for now, Jillian Downey is developing books under the Zingerman’s Press imprint on a project-by-project basis. She has a publishing background, and for the past 18 months or so has been leading the bi-weekly partnership meetings for Zingerman’s as a facilitator. (As an aside, these meetings – held at the community room of Great Oak Co-Housing in Scio Township – are run so efficiently, productively and on task that it might make you weep if you’ve ever suffered through a typical time-sucking, soul-numbing meeting.)

The books for the fundraiser were printed locally by Print-Tech for Zingerman’s Press with a limited run of 250. They will be signed by Kostova and Weinzweig, and given to everyone who attends the Oct. 28 event – tickets for that cost $126. The book will also be on sale for $15 starting this weekend at Zingerman’s Roadhouse and Deli, or can be requested from other Zingerman’s retail businesses.

A second book is in the design stages, tentatively titled “Zingerman’s Guide to Better Bacon: Pork Bellies, Hush Puppies, Rock & Roll Music and Bacon Fat Mayonnaise.”

Finally, as a sneak peek for Chronicle readers, here are a few excerpts from “The Vampires’ Ball Companion”:

From “Castle of a History: A Memoir” by Elizabeth Kostova

The grounds of the castle were shaded by chestnuts and oaks that seemed to me as old as the fortress itself; their great-great-and-greater grandparents had probably seen the feudal struggles of local nobility and the invasion of the Ottoman scimitar on its way to Vienna. The grass under those trees was short and velvety, an ideal place for picnics and for lying around, dressed in a navy jumper and red knee-socks of the era, listening to a good story, which was what my father told us: kings, treasure, adventures, but above all Dracula, whose castle I imagined as a Transylvanian twin of the one looming above us.

From “In Love with Irish Butter: Farmers, Firkins, Fairies, Fair Trade and Full Flavor” by Ari Weinzweig

I don’t think I’m exaggerating to say that when you bring butter to the table, Irish people get a glow about them in a way kids over here would when you bring a bowl of ice cream. By contrast, butter here in the States seems to make a lot of people nervous; we hide the fact that we like it, or ask for more almost apologetically. Irishmen may, I’m sure, worry about their weight as we do, but they don’t seem to let that slow down their beer drinking nor their butter eating.

I should have known that butter in Ireland was a different thing when, on my first visit to Ballymaloe House, the late Ivan Allen shared an Irish saying with me. “When your teeth hit the bread,” Ivan said with his huge smile and ironic Irish twinkle, “the butter better be hitting your gums.”

From “Recipes: Barm Brack” by Alex Young

I’m starting to think of barm brack as being to Halloween in Ireland what stollen is to the Christmas season in Germany crossed with what king cake is to Mardi Gras down in New Orleans. Like so much of the activity around Halloween, this sweet loaf was tied to divining activity, so it’s also a bit of an old-style board game and traditional, full-flavored tarot reading all tied up in a single nice sweet bread.

At a cost of about only $10 per book, the entire digitized collection (as it currently stands) could be recreated in physical form by an Espresso Book Machine for $20 million. Put a different way, for the $700 billion price tag of the currently proposed bailout of our core financial institutions, we could instead reprint the digitized collection of the UM library 35,000 times. At 5-7 minutes per book, that project would, on a low estimate, take one Espresso Book Machine [70 billion]*[5 minutes], or 665,905 years.

Here at The Chronicle, we’ve got nothing but time, but we have a less ambitious project in mind: We’d like to find somebody in the next few weeks who wants a specific book printed off on the Espresso Machine, who would let us tag along and document the event. That is to say, we’d like to come as close as we can to spotting a “reprinting in the wild” of a book in the digital collection. Hanging out in the Shapiro Library and setting upon patrons who have a digital gleam in their eye, pestering them to “Let us see, c’mon pretty please, let us see the book, let us touch the book,” seems like a horribly inefficient approach, not to mention one that might cause library staff and patrons undue stress. So we’d like to ask in advance if you’re planning to get a book printed on the Espresso Machine: Can we please watch? We promise not to get in the way.

Or if you find yourself in the library and spontaneously decide to print off a book, we’re nothing if not agile here at The Chronicle, and could probably be on site in under half an hour.

Contact information is elsewhere on this website.