The average home sale price in Washtenaw County in July was $263,978, an 11 percent increase over July 2012.

Courtesy photo

Homes were on the market for an average of 36 days last month before they were sold, down from 61 days in July 2012. Meanwhile, condos spent 29 days on the market last month, compared with 53 in July 2012.

During the first seven months of 2013, homes spent an average of 51 days on the market, compared with 74 in 2012.

The pace of home sales is fueled in part by a lack of inventory during the first half of the year. With more buyers than sellers in the market, many buyers competed for houses and offered more than asking price.

July data shows inventory of listings is to starting to grow, with 11 percent more listings entered last month compared with the previous year. There were 141 Ann Arbor home listings entered during July, with 69 new condo listings.

The average home sale price of $263,978 is also an 11 percent improvement over July 2012.

The Washtenaw County data is reflective of national trends; year-over-year home sale prices are showing the strongest gains in seven years, according to the National Association of Realtors.

“There continue to be more buyers than sellers, and that is placing pressure on home prices, with multiple bids common in some areas of the country,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for NAR. “Higher interest rates are now causing sales to level out, but the tight supply conditions look to be with us for the balance of the year in most of the country.”

Lizzy Alfs is a business reporter for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at 734-623-2584 or email her at lizzyalfs@annarbor.com. Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/lizzyalfs.

Psychologist David Falkner has an office in the Pretzel Bell Building in downtown Ann Arbor. He's accused of having sex with a female patient in the office and billing her for the sessions.

John Counts | AnnArbor.com

The trial of an Ann Arbor psychologist whose former female patient told police he billed her for sessions at which they drank wine and had sex has been delayed while the state reviews his health care license.

David Falkner, 60, faces four counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct in the case and now his health care license is being review by Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, his attorney John Shea said.

Shea requested this week and was granted a delay for the trial — which was set for next week — at a hearing in the Washtenaw County Trial Court. Neither Assistant Prosecutor Robyn Liddell nor Judge Darlene O'Brien objected to the adjournment.

O'Brien set a new trial date of Nov. 18 and a final pretrial hearing date of Oct 21.

Falkner is in the middle of the license review, and adjourning the trial would make dealing with the two proceedings easier and more efficient for the defense, Shea said.

The state agency could respond in a range of ways, from finding that nothing inappropriate occurred between the married Falkner and the 44-year-old female patient with whom he had an affair to stripping him of his license.

At Monday's hearing, Liddell stated a plea offer is on the table: If Falkner pleaded guilty to two of the counts, the prosecution would dismiss the other two. There was no indication Falkner is considering the deal.

In a statement to AnnArbor.com, Shea wrote that the police report is incomplete in certain regards.

"We have a significantly different perspective on what happened and why, and the materials contained in the police investigation are incomplete in some important respects, both of which have made the pending case difficult to resolve," the statement reads.

Falkner's relationship with the woman began in August 2011 when the woman came seeking treatment from Falkner for problems with her marriage, according to documents obtained by AnnArbor.com via the Freedom of Information Act.

David Falkner

Courtesy of WCSO

The Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office subsequently authorized the four criminal counts, which are each punishable by up to two years in prison.

“I gave him the blueprint how he could manipulate me,” the woman told police. “I was completely honest with him … and he knew where (my) weaknesses were and knew how to exploit me.”

First contact

The woman told police she started looking around for a psychologist in July 2011 to address "relationship issues."

“I sought therapy for difficulties I was experiencing in my marriage, as well as some concerns about my career,” the woman wrote in a letter to the state licensing board.

She came across Falkner and chose him because he was listed on the website of the magazine “Psychology Today” and also accepted her insurance. Falkner's profile on that website has since been removed.

Falkner had a distinguished background. He had been a school psychologist with the Ann Arbor Public Schools for 25 years before going into private practice after retirement. He told police he worked with a wide variety of clients including children, University of Michigan students and adults at his office in the Pretzel Bell Building at 120 E. Liberty St. in downtown Ann Arbor.

“Things were fine at first,” the woman told police. “He went through my background (and) current issues. They were normal therapy sessions. We discussed issues and concerns.”

The woman said during this time Falkner shared general things about himself: He was married, had kids, loved sailing and was a fan of jazz. By November, though, Falkner was disclosing even more personal information to the woman.

“I thought it was significant,” the woman told police, adding that she initially thought it was a way of building trust in the therapy sessions.

“In December and January, his disclosures became more frequent,” the woman said to the detective. “…The tone at the beginning and end of sessions (was) more conversational.”

They had also started exchanging emails. When the woman came down with a case of laryngitis, she sent Falkner an email saying she wouldn’t be able to talk much at their next session and asked him if he’d be willing to answer “196 questions” she had for him about his disclosures.

Falkner said he would.

The woman arrived at the February session with tea to drink. Falkner, however, had wine waiting in his office.

Wine therapy

“I got to his office. He poured me a glass of wine,” the woman told police about the Feb. 3 therapy session.

The woman said she asked Falkner if it was normal to pour wine at a therapy session and said he replied, “No.”

She accepted the wine and Falkner started talking, according to the police report.

“He talked about himself,” she said. “His enjoyment, troubles, career, travel (and) music.”

He also told her he’d had an affair 10 years ago, but that it was over now.

“I asked what he was most passionate about,” the woman told police. “He said, ‘Great sex.’”

Falkner also had wine at their session two weeks later, which stretched to two and a half hours. Their normal session time was an hour. They drank wine and Falkner played the woman music. Falkner kissed and touched the woman for the first time, according to the report.

“It felt weird in his office,” the woman said. “A voice inside me said this wasn’t right.”

The woman broached the ethical question at another wine-fueled therapy session, according to the report. She asked him if he had ever been intimate with a patient before.

Falkner told her he had not, according to the report.

Crossing the line

Falkner still continued to bill the woman’s insurance for the sessions, she told police. At one point, the woman said he suggested they continue doing “non-traditional therapy.” The relationship soon turned sexual. On March 6, 8 and 15 of 2012 Falkner and the woman met in his office and had sex, according to the report. Falkner billed her for each one of these sessions. March 15 was the last session billed to the woman’s insurance.

They started meeting in parks instead.

“He called me, had jazz radio on,” the woman said about a particular meeting at an Ann Arbor park. “He’d been drinking. He grabbed me and we danced in the street. We had wine. We drank wine at the dock and we were kissing.”

Their sexual relationship continued throughout April and May even though they were both traveling.

In April, the woman told police her husband caught her playing the online game “Words with Friends” with Falkner. The husband knew she had stopped seeing Falkner as a patient and confronted her. The woman confessed the cheating to her husband, according to the report.

“He thought it was egregiously wrong,” she said.

The affair continued, however. On May 18, the woman told police she returned from a work trip. She met Falkner at his house where they drank some wine, then went and had sex in a deserted corner of Delhi Metropark.

The woman and her husband split up that summer.

Is it abuse?

The woman told police that she and her husband, who also have children, started mediation and getting their finances in order that summer. She also started doing online research about sexual relationships between psychologists and their patients.

The woman said she discovered the Therapy Exploitation Link Line website, which had a lot of information about similar situations.

“I found it wasn’t an affair or (a) relationship,” the woman told police. “It was abuse.”

By mid-July, the woman was becoming conflicted about the relationship. She ended it a month later via an email but then had sex with Falkner at his office on Aug. 21 while trying to retrieve her medical records from him.

The woman told police there was some confusion after that about how and why their affair finally ended, but it was soon over. Her attorney contacted Ann Arbor police in November and Detective Amy Ellinger subsequently interviewed both the woman and Falkner in person.

The detective asked the woman why she was coming to police months after the affair ended.

“I had an abusive therapist,” the woman told the detective. “It was not consensual. I trusted him with the details of my life. I didn’t assess him for trustworthiness.”

The woman also said she wanted to protect any future patients from going through something similar.

Jan Wohlberg, a founder of Therapy Exploitation Link Line said abuse by therapists is not uncommon.

The Massachusetts native said many people don't realize it is not an "affair" when a therapist becomes involved with a patient.

“(The therapist) knows things about you that no one else knows about your life,” she said. “... This is not just an affair. This is a power imbalance situation.”

Wohlberg said there haven't been any scientific studies about inappropriate relationships between therapists and patients, but her network's website, www.therapyabuse.org, gets traffic of 35,000 to 40,000 users each year.

Wohlberg also cited an informal survey conducted by a Boston-area psychologist which claimed 30 percent of mental health workers said they'd had a sexual encounter with a patient.

"It was mutual and consensual"

When Ellinger asked Faulkner if he had any idea why he had been brought into the Ann Arbor Police Department for questioning in December, Falkner replied, “Absolutely zero.”

Falkner seemed worried about his career, according to the police report.

He said he was anxious to find out why he was there "because a career can get destroyed because of an accusation, not a conviction, so I’m just confused,” he said.

During questioning, he admitted to having a sexual relationship with the woman.

“It was … mutual and consensual,” he said.

Shea also addressed the relationship in his statement about the case.

"Falkner has been forthright from the beginning that he had a relationship with an adult patient that was wrong on many levels and for which he is deeply sorry," the statement said. "It lasted for some months, it became extremely troubling for both, and it ended. However, that does not change the fact that the relationship was completely inappropriate and, unfortunately, it hurt people."

Falkner was free to go after the questioning in December, but left the station with the knowledge that he could be charged with a crime for the relationship

On Jan. 28, the prosecutor’s office authorized the four counts of fourth-degree CSC. Falkner turned himself in on Feb. 4 and was arraigned in the 15th District Court in downtown Ann Arbor. The judge released him on a personal recognizance bond.

On March 21, Falkner waived his preliminary examination and stood mute to charges. A trial was set for Aug. 19 before being adjourned to November.

State records show Falkner is still in possession of his health license.

John Counts covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at johncounts@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.

The historic house at 326 W. Liberty St. was sold in July and the building is being converted to offices.

Courtney Sacco | AnnArbor.com

The solution, he decided, was to purchase the historic house at 326 W. Liberty St., just west of downtown, and convert it to office space.

“It’s a gorgeous house, built in the 1860s,” Lambert said. “It has a lot of history.”

City records show Lambert purchased the building in July for $550,000 from former owner Gary Clark. Lambert recently moved his seven-person company to the building and is in the process of renovating the structure to create rentable office suites.

“One of our thoughts here is to try and create some space for other companies that are in similar situations to what we were,” Lambert explained. “Young companies, growing companies, people with good energy. People who are just starting companies and want to occupy some of this space.”

After leaving his former employer, Lambert, a University of Michigan alum, founded Sequoia Applied Solutions — which provides technical consulting, mechanical analysis, and design services to clients in aerospace, defense and commercial industries.

“This business sort of started accidentally,” Lambert explained. “I had left the old company planning on taking a break. Within a week of leaving, I had customers calling and I did some small consulting just to help. …Within two weeks of that, the contracts kept growing and growing and I had to hire some more people.”

Built as a single-family home in the 1860s, 326 W. Liberty St. was later occupied by the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and then the Moveable Feast restaurant. Identity Salon & Spa opened in a portion of the building in 2008, but that business has since closed.

The building was listed for sale with Bela Sipos of Reinhart Commercial. It has an assessed value of $363,000 for the 2013 taxable year.

“The house is close to downtown, so we get to be a part of the downtown community,” Lambert said. “Being here and being a part of the community and meeting people is really valuable.”

Sequoia Applied Solutions’ office occupies a small portion of the building on the first floor. As the company grows, Lambert said it could expand room by room.

In the meantime, Lambert is creating separate office suites in different parts of the house that companies can rent, along with a shared conference room, kitchenettes and bathrooms. The building will also have a common receptionist near the entrance.

Lambert plans to recreate the building’s original porch and possibly add a second floor to a block structure located behind the main house.

“These are unique spaces, not just the cookie-cutter office cubicle,” Lambert said.

“We’re kind of bullish on Ann Arbor. We think this is a great town. There’s a lot of talent coming out of U-M and a lot of interesting startup companies that we pair well with. …I like being around good, creative energy and we’re going to try and make that possible.”

Lambert hopes to have three office suites ready to lease by mid to late August.

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Lizzy Alfs is a business reporter for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at 734-623-2584 or email her at lizzyalfs@annarbor.com. Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/lizzyalfs.

Seattle resident Kristen Kozak fly fishes in the water during Huron River Day on July 14. The Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners has backed $3.33 million in projects aimed at reducing phosphorous and E. coli levels in the Huron River.

Daniel Brenner I AnnArbor.com

The board voted unanimously Wednesday to back a total of $3.33 million in bonds at the request of the county’s Water Resources Commissioner Evan Pratt.

The bonds will be used to fund projects requested by the city of Ann Arbor.

Three of the projects are along Allen Creek, while two are along the Huron River.

Allen Creek watershed:

• $435,000 bond to design and construct storm water control measures in drains on Fourth Avenue between Huron and Liberty streets in Ann Arbor
• $1.56 million bond to design and construct storm water control measures in drains on Madison Avenue between S. Seventh Street and Main Street in Ann Arbor
• $575,000 bond to design and construct storm water control measures in drains on South Forest Avenue from S. University Street to Hill Street

Huron River watershed:

• $465,000 bond to design and construct rain gardens in Ann Arbor
• $700,000 bond to plant trees in Ann Arbor

Ann Arbor is in the midst of building a rain garden at the intersection of First and Kingsley streets. Designs for a public art installation at the rain garden were recently announced.

All five of the bond projects will be funded through the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality’s clean water revolving funds low-interest loan program.

The bonds are eligible for loan forgiveness that would reduce the obligation payment to about $1.5 million, Pratt said.

Amy Biolchini covers Washtenaw County, health and environmental issues for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at (734) 623-2552, amybiolchini@annarbor.com or on Twitter.

Flickr photo by genista

Along the way, it's not been uncommon at the end of the visit for client to say "Oh, I forgot about the goldfish. Could you give them a little food each day? They're my son's -- he won them at the carnival last year and they're still plugging along, believe it it not."

I usually make good notes on a clients file if this is the case, and ask more questions -- I usually hear a quick chuckle at that notion -- but I know all too well feeding fish a specific amount of food is crucial.

Overfeeding is never a good idea; too much food can contaminate the water, as well as create a higher output of waste. And being flippant as to whether they have enough food, well to me, that's just cruel.

It's my philosophy that caring for a goldfish is as important as properly caring for any other pet -- they're not a novelty.

With that in mind, ensuring the optimal health and well-being of a goldfish is simple really, but it does require a little work and forethought, and in doing so can be a great opportunity to interject more dialogue with children, with whom goldfish are so popular.

Goldfish can live a long time with the right care -- as old as 13-14 -- so thinking about their environment as a whole is a good start. And as I wrote in 2012, being mindful of a pet's overall well-being is key to a lot of things, though not every species gets the same consideration.

Size matters

Dr. Greg Lewbart, MS, VMD, Dipl. ACZM, and professor of Aquatic Animal Medicine at North Carolina State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine has a few tips to offer, and says that starting with the right sized tank is key.

“A 29-gallon tank is best, and no smaller than 20 gallons,” he says.

And yes, that's for one fish. These creatures need space. And the tank should have a hood. Goldfish are feisty and can accidentally jump out.

The higher the volume of water in a tank, the more time it takes for the water to become compromised by fish waste, excess food, algae growth, even bacteria.

Introducing no more than 4-5 average sized goldfish to a tank that size is ideal.

“Goldfish are very sociable, but don’t require or need companionship,” notes Lewbart.

“They’re not aggressive fish and typically leave each other alone."

More tank basics

As for the actual water, it's the core of a fish environment, so the quality needs to be optimized. That means when setting up a tank for the first time, adding a dechlorinating agent to the water, and each time that water is added. Lewbart suggests siphoning out 1/3 of the tank water once a month and replacing it with dechlorinated water.

Aquarium salt is of benefit -- fish actually prefer a little salt in their water, according to Lewbart. It can make for a smoother transition and help with stress.

Adding substrate, like a colored gravel, to the bottom of the tank is a good start. A power filter will help keep the tank clean, and a thermometer can help gauge the temperature of the water so that if adjustments are necessary (especially as the climate changes here in Michigan), you can do so. A back up heater might be a consideration, especially during a power loss in the cold months.

A fine mesh net meant for fish is the best option to gently scoop your fish or nudge them out of the way if necessary during maintenance.

Lewbart expands more on additional things to help cultivate an optimal environment for goldfish, like why quarantining fish before introducing them to a healthy, established tank of fish and why it's important that your pet sitter follows your established rules for feeding.

Click here to read more on Vetstreet.

Lorrie Shaw leads the pets section for AnnArbor.com and is owner of Professional Pet Sitting. Shoot her an email, contact her at 734-904-7279 or follow her adventures on Twitter.

• Event preview: Saline's Summerfest is many events in one

Saline's Summerfest got underway Friday evening with arts and crafts vendors lining Ann Arbor Street south of Michigan Avenue. Summerfest runs all day Saturday, and visitors can also enjoy music, food and more, along with activities for kids.

"Saline is such a quaint town," said Annette Betley from Ypsilanti, who was attending Summerfest for the first time.

Sharon Graf-Horning has had a booth for a number of years at Summerfest. She works at the 212 Arts Center and sells pottery.

"We love it here and want to be part of everything that's happening in Saline," she said.

"The Bag Lady," the booth that Liz Kerstens runs is adjacent to her sister Sue Paulin's booth where she sells dishtowels, scarves and other items that she sews.

"We've been very successful at Summerfast," said Kerstens, who specializes in little girls' purses. "The people of Saline embrace this festival, and we get a lot of returning customers."

Festival coordinator Art Trapp, who is also the director of the Saline Area Chamber of Commerce, is hoping for more than 6,000 visitors during both days of the event. He says the festival, which began in 2006, grew out of Picnic in the Park, which was much smaller.

There will be music all day Saturday as well as more than 40 artists and craftspeople with booths open from 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Saturday. History buffs can learn the history of Saline by going on the Historic Trolley Tour put on by the Saline Historical Society.

From 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday is the 31st annual Saline Street Machines Car Show, which will include an Electric Car Show from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. with test drives.

There will be a Casino Night Saturday including a Blackjack Challenge using play money with all proceeds going toward Saline High School Rotary Scholarships.

For Saturday's complete schedule at Saline's Summerfest, go to http://salinesummerfest.org/schedule.html.

Lisa Carolin is a freelance reporter. Contact the AnnArbor.com news desk at news@annarbor.com.

Pianist Rick Roe, a favorite of Ann Arbor jazz fans, plays with his trio Friday night at Kerrytown Concert House. The ensemble also includes Robert Hurst on bass, and a drummer to be announced.

The show marks the release of the new CD “Swing Theory.”

Roe, who cites the great Thelonius Monk as one of his primary inspirations, was twice a semifinalist in the Thelonius Monk International Jazz Piano Competition. He has ties to the University of Michigan and Michigan State University music departments.

Hurst, an Associate Professor of Music at The University of Michigan School of Music, Theater and Dance, Department of Jazz & Contemporary Improvisation, has played in the bands of Wynton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, Chris Botti and Diana Krall.

Roe was in his teens when he first dug Monk’s music.

“It was total acupuncture,” Roe told Lansing’s City Pulse a few years back. “I felt it all up in my back and all around my body. He played certain things and I went, ‘Ow, it’s so damn good! You just cracked my back!’”

Rick Roe performs at Kerrytown Concert House, 415 N. Fourth Ave., at 8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 16. Admission is $25-$5. Details at www.kerrytownconcerthouse.com or 734-769-2999.

Ashlee Arder films for her Many Voices video.

Courtesy of the University of Michigan Museum of Art

The Many Voices project allows art enthusiasts to connect to the museum’s newly installed Wi-Fi network and access a variety of resources including videos produced by the museum, links to related websites, audio files and photos.

Visitors can walk through UMMA’s galleries and scan QR codes or type in a numeric code (located on artwork labels) on the Many Voices mobile website to access related materials. Resources can also be accessed from home, but content is limited due to copyright.

Manager of Public Programs and Campus Engagement for UMMA Lisa Herbert Borgsdorf said Many Voices, introduced in May, was the museum's next step in creating an interactive environment for visitors after the installment of the dialog table about eight years ago.

“UMMA’s dialog table allows people to interact with the collection in a totally different way because it isn’t set up by geography or time and gives them access to extra resources like videos,” Borgsdorf said. “At the time we did the dialog table, we didn’t have Wi-Fi fully installed in all of the galleries, but this spring we were able to do so and that opened up a lot of possibilities for us.”

After receiving grant funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Community Foundation of Southeast Michigan, the museum was able to create a platform that would allow the community access to more resources and the museum’s gallery in a digital format.

In addition to the interactive platform, grant funding allowed the museum to develop videos with the help of community members to add to resources available to the public.

“Many Voices allowed us to invite a number of people - we picked 17 - to make movies in response to the art in our collection,” Deputy Director of Education and Curatorial at UMMA Ruth Slavin said. “We wanted a mix of novice and experienced filmmakers who had an artistic practice of some kind, whether it was art, music or writing.”

Donald Harrison, an independent filmmaker and former executive director of the Ann Arbor Film Festival, and independent filmmaker Sharad Patel were hired to instruct several workshops and aid in video production.

“We sat down with 30 or 40 applicants and selected 13 from that pool,” Slavin said. “We were looking for a balance in the class between novice and experienced participants, between artist and non-artist and people with a variety of ages and backgrounds. Then we picked people we thought were interesting, committed and sounded like they had a good reason for doing it.”

Harrison and Patel as well as two mentors who were recruited to provide extra support for novice filmmakers also made videos.

From left to right: Collin McRae, Sudandyo Aprilianto and Emilia Javanica work on Aprilianto's film, "Rodance".

Courtesy of the University of Michigan Museum of Art

“We held our first workshop meeting in early November,” Slavin said. “The workshops lasted for about three months and then went in to the later production stage. We started by meeting each other and learning about the museum to learning about the project, picking a work of art to center the video around, creating a story board and then starting to shoot.”

By March, 17 videos created to provide viewers with a new perspective on the artwork were added to the museum’s many resources.

“The movies were a way of engaging a few selected community members in an exciting and deep way with the collection and then allowing them to share their experience with others,” Slavin said. “And the website was developed as a way to make those videos and other resources readily available; for us to work audio tours, movies, information, treasure hunts and games in to our galleries.”

The mobile website is meant to model rich conversations about the work and provide context about the pieces, Slavin said.

“When you come to an art museum, a lot of people just come to look and that is so important, but a lot of people come and they want a meaningful experience and they’re not exactly sure how to have it,” Slavin said. “That’s what the videos are for and what the mobile site is for. It’s to help people have that experience.”

Slavin said she hopes the videos will help visitors realize that someone spent five months with the artwork and that spending five months with one piece is possible.

“The average time someone looks at a piece of art is 17 seconds and that’s our society; that’s our world,” Slavin said. “It’s a 17 second world, but you can also have a different kind of experience.”

The Many Voices videos will be on view for another year, but Slavin said the videos will most likely remain available although they may not be featured.

It has not been determined if another round of Many Voices videos will be produced, Slavin said.

“You never know what is going to be the right next step for creating an engaging experience,” Borgsdorf said. “This particular model was very expensive and wouldn’t have been possible without the grant funding. Figuring out what is going to be the next way to engage our visitors and the community is our job. We don’t know if it’ll be another round of Many Voices videos or if it will be something completely different.”

Chelsea Hoedl is an intern reporter for AnnArbor.com. She can be reached at choedl@mlive.com.

• Event preview: Dexter Daze festival expands, features updated Mill Creek Park

Dexter Daze just keeps growing, from the number of artists and businesses with booths to the footprint of the event, which now includes Mill Creek Park as well as Monument Park. The more than 100 vendors as well as organizers hope the number of visitors grows, too.

He recycles and repurposes materials like bowling balls and golf clubs and turns them into colorful ornaments including turtles, peacocks and penguins. Bonnie Bisson purchased a Spartan ant at the Physical Illusions booth.

"This is for our front yard," she said.

Bisson was with her 10-year-old son Hudson who was heading to the sand art booth, and her husband Rob who said, "I like the beer tent best. You see tons of people you know, and it's good beer."

Booths included clothing, toys, jewelry vendors and more. Cindy and Jim Pierson from Ann Arbor own the Natural Designs Jewelry booth.

"We've been coming to Dexter Days for 20 years," said Jim Piersen.

Kathie Weinman sold World Book Encyclopedias at Dexter Daze 30 years ago. This year she's visiting with family.

"It's become huge!" she said.

Visitor Fran Schultz said, "I like the music and the atmosphere. There are great sidewalk sales. Dexter is a nice small town."

There were also information booths like the one promoting the Webster Fall Festival, which is Sept. 28.

"Almost everyone who's stopped by our booth knows about the Webster Fall Festival because Webster Township has so many connections to Dexter," said Malaika Whitney, whose artwork will be for sale at the Webster Fall Festival's art and historical exhibit.

Dexter Daze started Friday and runs through Saturday night.

Tom Paup, the new chair of Dexter Daze, says he hopes to see the event expand even more in years to come. He mentions the rock climbing wall on Jeffords Street and the Mill Creek Park amphitheater as two of this year's additions.

"Things are going great," said Paul. "We have a big turnout and fantastic weather."

Things are also going well for the Dexter Area Historical Society and Museum.

"Our raffle sales are excellent," said member Sharon Wheeler. "People want to support Gordon Hall."

Longtime patrons can still rely on Dexter Daze traditions like the $10,000 raffle, which will benefit Gordon Hall this year. the parade, which took place Saturday morning, and the Little Conductors Train, located on Jeffords Street until 7 p.m. Saturday.

Activities Saturday afternoon and evening at Dexter Daze include tours of Gordon Hall, Top Hat Street Performers, along with music from the Dexter Community Orchestra and Dexter Encore Theatre at the Mill Creek Amphitheater beginning at 3 p.m., and music from Rhythm on a Stick, the RFD Boys, and Bugs Beddow, beginning at 3 p.m. at the Monument Park Gazebo.

For the Dexter Daze complete schedule, go to http://www.dexterdaze.org/schedule.html.

A press release contains complete details:

Two years after graduating from the prestigious School of Music, Theatre & Dance at the University of Michigan, an event that was immediately preceded by a terrifying diagnosis of cancer that threatened to end his career before it began, actor and playwright Alex Kip has completed a play based on his experience.

Titled "My Other Voice," the work will premiere in Ann Arbor at the Arthur Miller Theatre on the U-M campus. The show, directed by Ari Laura Kreith, will run from Thursday, August 15 to Sunday, September 1. Performances begin Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets are available at akkipprod.com/tickets.

Kip, 25, a native of Columbus, Ohio, received his BFA in musical theatre from U-M and is also a graduate of the London Dramatic Academy. He was given a 15-30 percent chance of survival after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma as a senior at U-M.

During subsequent treatment at the U-M Medical Center, Kip lost his voice. “No longer able to speak or sing,” he said, “I had to find a new identity.” Now in complete remission, Kip wrote "My Other Voice" with the goal of providing inspiration and hope to other cancer patients, particularly young adults, whose survival rate for cancer has not improved at the same rate as other age groups. At the same time, cancer incidence among young adults has increased more than any other age group, becoming the number one disease killer in that population.

“My hope is that this play will spread awareness of the unique difficulties young adults experience when diagnosed with cancer, while also giving patients hope for the future,” said Kip. “It will also be used as a teaching tool for doctors in training, or help this underserved group secure the age-appropriate resources they need. I want it to act as a patient advocate for young adult cancer victims.”

Prior to the play’s upcoming premiere, it received several readings with industry professionals in New York City and had a staged reading in Columbus, Ohio. The Ann Arbor production will feature U-M faculty, students, and other industry professionals both on stage and behind the scenes. For more information, visit akipprod.com.

Jenn McKee is an entertainment reporter for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at jennmckee@annarbor.com or 734-623-2546, and follow her on Twitter @jennmckee.

It would be easy to see the Ann Arbor school board's recent superintendent search as something less than a full success.

With the district having seen six superintendents over the last decade, the desire to get this choice right was deep and obvious. The process generally went well—for the most part, it was timely, transparent and collaborative. Despite some polite disagreement as the search narrowed, the board members ultimately voted unanimously to offer the job to their top choice, Brian Osborne of South Orange Maplewood School District in New Jersey.

But then things changed. Osborne's answer unexpectedly took more than a week to arrive; when it did, it turned out to be no. That left the school board choosing among less-than-ideal options: Should it move on to its second choice? Start over? Or what?

Trustees eventually decided to offer the job to their other finalist—essentially, their second choice—Jeanice Kerr Swift, an assistant superintedent in Colorado Springs. But the vote to make that offer, unlike the first, was a less-than-encouraging 4-3.

It was awfully hard not to think, "Here we go again." Then Swift went into action.

Jeanice Kerr Swift is the new superintendent of the Ann Arbor Public Schools.

Daniel Brenner | AnnArbor.com file photo

Despite the fact that she's never held the top job in a school district, Swift's experience impresses. She comes from a larger district than Ann Arbor, yet one that's already faced some of the same challenges we do. She's been involved with "zero-based budgeting" and has dealt with financial constraints, redistricting and building closures.

Stakeholders in the education community have stressed openness and accountability will be critical traits for the new superintendent. That's certainly true, and here again, Swift appears to be a good fit. She already plans to host forums at every school building, conduct a thorough analysis of every department, and take a fresh look at the budget. In fact, some of this is already underway.

Yes, so far it's mostly words. But they're undoubtedly the right sort of words, and they offer encouragement to a schools community that's been through a pretty rough period. With Swift leading the way into the new school year, the district seems well positioned to finally move past its recent struggles and return to the institution the community expects and deserves it to be.

For the 21 years he has served as Superior Township’s Supervisor, Bill McFarlane has never faced opposition in any election.

His friends and colleagues say that is a testament to how well liked and respected he is by the community he serves.

But after 21 years, McFarlane is preparing to submit a letter of resignation at the Sept. 16 Board of Trustees meeting.

McFarlane said health issues are forcing him to leave his post and he would prefer to stay if he could.

“I love my job,” he said. “But it gets to a point that when I talk to people I stop to catch my breath. And I have to talk to people all day.

“I’ve had some medical issues, and I had thought I could work through them, but I don’t have the energy level that I think I have to have to do the job. So instead of giving 50 percent, I’d rather have someone come in and give 100 percent.”

After being re-elected last November, McFarlane had to have a lung removed as he battled with cancer.

Township Clerk David Phillips praised McFarlane for helping turn around the township in the 21 years McFarlane served as supervisor and as a trustee for six years prior to that.

He called McFarlane a strong leader who brings stability and said he quickly earned residents’ trust. Phillips cited the improvement at the fire department as an example of McFarlane's leadership on issues. When McFarlane took over as supervisor, the fire department was understaffed and its equipment was in poor shape.

But soon the fire department had “first class equipment” and another firefighter on each shift. The township was also able to build a new fire station to serve as their main base while keeping the doors open at the old station in the townships' south. Fixing the department was made possible after McFarlane sold the community on the need for a fire millage increase.

“After that, when people called 911, they knew they were going to get a good emergency response,” Phillips said. “If a community has confidence in a leader, then they’re willing to pay a little more if they trust them. I think that the increase was related to residents' confidence in (McFarlane)."

Despite that tax increase over a decade ago, McFarlane has prided himself on his fiscal responsibility and he noted that the Superior Township is in nearly as strong of a financial position as it has ever been since he took over despite the recession. In 2010, when most municipalities were struggling with declining property values, Superior Township was actually lowering its resident’s taxes.

McFarlane said he is now proposing the township lowers its general fund millage because it has built up such strong reserves.

“It’s better to keep the money in the citizen’s pockets than to put it in the bank,” he said.

Phillips said part of the financial success there can be attributed to the township rarely borrowing money to pay for new fire trucks, roads or other needs.

“(McFarlane) has really instituted a pay as you go policy and I hope we continue that,” Phillips said. “The township has never had a large amount of debt and is in excellent financial shape.”

Phillips added that Superior Township has seen improvements at every level during McFarlane’s tenure, including in police protection, fire protection, improved roads, improved sewers and in its overall financial health.

McFarlane, who comes from a family full of local politicians, called the township hall a "merry-go-round with its staff" when he came in and said it now has a stable, dedicated team. He highlighted partnerships with neighboring municipalities that have provided better services for less money.

The township has also worked tirelessly to avoid an onslaught of development that residents generally opposed, worked to stick to its master plan and maintain a rural character throughout most of its 36-square miles. “He has just been a great leader and done a good job in the management of the township,” Phillips said. “He really brought the township up to a professional level in all aspects.”

McFarlane also credited those he worked with.

“I’ve tried to provide strong leadership but I try to look at it as a team effort. I’ve always had good people to work with,” he said.

Township Treasurer Brenda McKinney echoed Phillip's thoughts and said it is a sad time for the township.

“He made sure that we kept a good tax base, strong fire protection, strong police protection and I hope we’re able to continue with the services that we provide for residents,” McKinney said.

She praised McFarlane for always keeping the township’s good ahead of his own or others’ personal interests.

“He stood up for what he believed was right and would tell a citizen ‘What might be good for you and might be a good idea for you is not in the best interest of the entire township,’” she said. “I hope our next supervisor can pick off where Bill left and continue moving the township forward.”

The township is accepting letters of interest from those seeking appointment to the position. The board will interview candidates and make a decision at its regular October meeting.

McFarlane said he is disappointed to have to retire earlier than he would prefer, but he said he is pleased with the township’s direction as he departs.

“I think the township is in the best shape it has ever been in,” he said. “It has excellent employees, and hopefully they can select a replacement who will provide good leadership.”

And, he added, “If you’re going to leave, you leave on top.”

Tom Perkins is a freelance reporter.

A major international player in the computing world has opened a new technology center in Avis Farms just south of Ann Arbor. NVIDIA doesn’t have the name recognition of Apple or Dell, but its software helps design products and components that find their way into many of the electronic products we use every day.

The scope of NVIDIA’s product development can difficult to comprehend. The software and hardware tools created by the company are used for such wide-ranging functions as helping smartphones function, creating dazzling special effects in movies and designing cars.

Danny Shapiro, director of marketing at NVIDIA, said the company's new Ann Arbor technology center will focus on car design, car info-tainment systems and connected vehicle and self-driving vehicle technologies.

Courtesy NVIDIA

“We’ve been working with the automotive companies in the Detroit area for over a decade, but that work has mostly been done by employees working out of their homes,” NVIDIA marketing director Danny Shapiro said.

“Several years ago we started focusing in on vehicle application and we realized that we needed a greater presence here locally and a physical space to be in.”

The tech center will support about 20 employees primarily dedicated to working with the local automotive community. Shapiro said that additional work will likely be done at the center with super computing and graphics development. NVIDIA has approximately 12 employees currently working in the region and plans to grow the local workforce over the coming months both through new hirings and relocations.

“We’re going to have software engineers, hardware engineers and field application engineers working here as well as people on the business and marketing side,” NVIDIA vice president for worldwide automotive sales and Ann Arbor site leader Phil Hughes said.

“Some people will work every day out of the office while others will use it as a landing pad. What’s really unique about what we have here is that it’s a great office facility and we have a garage that’s built so that a car can be driven directly into the laboratory space.”

NVIDIA’s corporate headquarters are located in Santa Clara, Calif., and the company has offices in 14 states, including the new Michigan location. Globally, NVIDIA has operations in China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and the United Arab Emirates and nine Western European countries, including England, Italy and France.

The company started in 1993 and went public on the NASDAQ exchange (NASDAQ: NVDA) in 1999 when it developed the GPU (graphics processing unit) processor. The company has more than 8,000 employees worldwide and reported $4.2 billion in estimated revenue in the 2013 fiscal year.

When combined with a normal CPU (central processing unit, the type of chip that powers most computers), the GPU processor created by NVIDIA allows faster and smoother operations of everything from personal computers to smartphones to powerful supercomputers.

More recently, the company’s processors have been used to power the “infotainment” systems that are becoming increasingly standard in new cars on the market.

NVIDIA already works with companies like Audi in designing video screen consoles that go into cars like this one headed into the new Ann Arbor Technology Center.

Courtesy NVIDIA

“Our processors are found right now in Audi, BMW, VW and Tesla Motors cars and we’re engaged with the automakers in the Detroit metro area in future programs as well.”

Shapiro said that the company is working with auto companies on projects ranging from the physical design of the car’s exterior to the possibility of using vision systems that can lead to connected cars and self-driving vehicles.

“We’ve engaged with a lot of the self-driving initiatives out in Silicon Valley,” he said.

“But to really be a player in the automotive world, having a presence in the Detroit area is an absolute necessity.”

In a press release, NVIDIA cited the presence of the University of Michigan and other automotive technical centers as reasons for locating in the Ann Arbor area. Avis Farms, located off State Road just south of the Ann Arbor Airport in Pittsfield Township, is home to a number of high-tech engineering companies and manufacturers.

The tech center will be in a suite at 525 Avis Drive, a property that was purchased in a foreclosure sale in June 2012 for $1.15 million by 525 Avis LLC. According to Pittsfield Township tax records, the sale was for approximately half of the property’s assessed market value.

A number of suites in the building continue to be listed for lease by Neal Warling of Jones Lang LaSalle. The suites range from 2,200 square feet to 4,500 square feet and all have a $14.50 per square foot per year rental rate.

Hughes said that NVIDIA has been looking to open an office in the area for approximately two years and is happy to be officially joining the Ann Arbor community. The company already has some Ann Arbor-style credentials, ranking No. 6 on Newsweek’s list of “greenest companies” in 2012.

Ben Freed covers business for AnnArbor.com. You can sign up here to receive Business Review updates every week. Get in touch with Ben at 734-623-2528 or email him at benfreed@annarbor.com. Follow him on twitter @BFreedinA2

Will Leaf, co-chair of the Ann Arbor Mixed-Use Party, sits perched above downtown Ann Arbor with city hall in the background. He's helping to coordinate a slate of three Independent candidates who are running for City Council in November.

Ryan J. Stanton | AnnArbor.com

A newly formed group called the Ann Arbor Mixed-Use Party has put forward a slate of Independent candidates to challenge three incumbent City Council members.

The three challengers — Jaclyn Vresics, Conrad Brown and Sam DeVarti — are all college students running on a shared platform with the belief that some fundamental changes are overdue in Ann Arbor. As the name of the party implies, they want to see more mixed-use zoning.

Jaclyn Vresics

Conrad Brown

Sam DeVarti

Jeff Hayner, another Independent candidate, has entered the 1st Ward race but is not affiliated with the Mixed-Use Party.

In the 2nd Ward, Council Member Jane Lumm, a former Republican turned Independent, already was being challenged by Democrat Kirk Westphal in November, but now she also faces Brown, the 22-year-old president of the libertarian student group at U-M.

DeVarti, a 23-year-old Eastern Michigan University student and lifelong Ann Arborite, is challenging Stephen Kunselman, D-3rd Ward.

Will Leaf, a recent U-M graduate who has lobbied for a video privacy ordinance in Ann Arbor, and Shang Kong, a U-M law student, are the Mixed-Use Party's co-chairs.

"Our biggest issue is land use," Leaf said. "That's where our name comes from. We think we can better protect residents, and at the same time provide more space for people to live and work."

Leaf acknowledged zoning is "complicated and kind of boring." But it affects everybody, he said, and he's hoping the party's ideas resonate with Ann Arborites.

The party states on its website it believes in civil liberty, efficient government, environmental preservation and legal equality.

The Mixed-Use Party questions traditional zoning laws that provide separate districts for different types of land uses.

"We're for a zoning code that's based on mixed-use zoning, where there would be a variety of land uses allowed in each district," Leaf said. "So we would be zoning for specific harms like noise, odor, and even shade from tall buildings, but not things like use itself."

Leaf said it's not an untested idea — Ann Arbor already has some mixed-use development, and it's part of the town's charm.

"I think a lot of people understand it's nice to have a corner store near where they live," he said. "They like to be able to walk places, be less dependent on their car."

The party wants to replace the city's "exclusionary zoning" with a new city code that includes three types of zoning: Mixed use, restricted mixed use and heavy industrial.

It specifically wants to abolish "extra rules" the city has for co-ops, sororities and fraternities.

The mixed-use zone, according to the party's website, would make it so areas of Ann Arbor with tall buildings and late-night activity can have businesses, houses and apartments next to each other "with few rules about noise, light, building height, and opening and closing times."

The restricted mixed-use zone would place additional limits on residences and businesses, including a three-story height limit, and the industrial zone would allow for "loud and dirty activities."

"Except for public land, including parks, all of the city will be covered by these three zones," the party states. "With the new zoning code, housing will be cheaper, walking to stores will be easier, natural areas will be preserved, and people will be freer to do what they want with their property."

Leaf said the party also wants to legalize "victimless crimes" and it advocates for easing the rules around drinking in public.

"One thing we would do is something like the marijuana ordinance where there's a civil infraction rather than a misdemeanor. We would consider that for underage drinking," he said. "If you're not harming others, you should not be punished by the state."

Sabra Briere

Jane Lumm

Stephen Kunselman

"I have a feeling there will be some very different visions for Ann Arbor and how we live together coming out in this election," she said. "I'm not convinced that their solutions don't create bigger problems, but I try very hard to keep an open mind."

Leaf said U-M students and recent graduates make up the bulk of the party's membership at this point, but they're looking to appeal to more Ann Arbor residents.

He said his party isn't trying to override the discussions city officials already are having about zoning — they're all for incremental reforms.

He attended a recent community meeting as part of the downtown zoning reevaluation process and introduced the party's "variable height limit" idea.

That essentially would allow tall buildings in the center of downtown and impose shorter height limits as properties get closer to the edges of downtown, with the height of any building perhaps limited to half the distance between that structure and the nearest property with restricted zoning.

In other words, if a downtown property is 50 feet away from a restricted zone, the height limit of a building on that property would be 25 feet.

Leaf said that type of zoning could have prevented the controversial 14-story high-rise at 413 E. Huron St. from being approved immediately next to a residential historic district.

Vresics, an Illinois native who moved to Ann Arbor three years ago, points to Kerrytown as an example of what she'd like to see more of throughout the city — collections of shops and restaurants and houses all in close proximity, making the area more walkable and vibrant.

"Right now Ann Arbor is very expensive to live in," she said. "I think our zoning plan would help bring more affordable housing for students and young professionals."

Zoning issues aside, Vresics said she'd like to see less wasteful spending in city government and less subsidization of corporate interests. The party wants to abolish tax-increment financing in Ann Arbor, which is how the Downtown Development Authority is funded.

The party's members come with mixed political backgrounds. Leaf said the party has approached both the College Republicans and College Democrats and recruited from both sides.

"Conrad is a libertarian, Sam has described himself as a bleeding-heart liberal, but I mean all of our candidates are for sound fiscal management," he said. "We're trying to get past the two-party system."

Sam DeVarti is the son of Dave DeVarti, a Democrat who spent one year on the City Council in the late 1980s and also served for several years on the DDA board.

After talking with Leaf at length about the Mixed-Use Party, DeVarti said he decided to throw his hat in the ring. He said he fully supports the party's vision for a new zoning code.

"I think a lot of the reforms that we'd like to institute are very common-sense reforms," he said. "They can prevent a lot of trouble in the future."

Leaf said he understands the Mixed-Use Party candidates might be underdogs going into November, but he's optimistic about their chances at the polls.

"Because we're young and some of our platform has more personal liberty provisions, that seems scary to a lot of residents and we understand that," he said. "But I think once they see we have a better plan to fix infrastructure, and to protect residents from harm without unnecessarily restricting the city's growth, and to prevent urban sprawl, I think they'll vote for us."

Ryan J. Stanton covers government and politics for AnnArbor.com. Reach him at ryanstanton@annarbor.com or 734-623-2529. You also can follow him on Twitter or subscribe to AnnArbor.com's email newsletters.

The Ann Arbor Public Schools is waiting to move forward with exploring building closures and redistricting in order to consider a possible partnership with the University of Michigan.

Steve Pepple photo | AnnArbor.com

Previous coverage:

• Redistricting: Ann Arbor schools seeks consultant, software to aid process
• Ann Arbor superintendent: School closures not realistic for next year
• Ann Arbor superintendent: School closures, redistricting 'cannot be ignored'

Ann Arbor Public Schools' work toward redistricting is stalled while officials wait for a partnership opportunity with the University of Michigan and for their new superintendent to arrive.

But the amount of work that actually has been done since the school board and central administration first discussed the task of assessing and preparing to consider school closures for next year appears to have been minimal.

Former Superintendent Patricia Green told trustees at a board meeting in December that rerouting and redistricting cannot not be ignored. She recommended AAPS hire a third-party organization to conduct demographic and feasibility studies throughout the next 18 months prior to approving any steps toward redistricting.

Officials completed reports to the school board on enrollment trends, capacity trends and facility replacement costs in January and February and they issued two back-to-back requests for proposals in April and May for a consulting firm to head up its redistricting analyses. However, neither RFP resulted in the type of response that AAPS officials desired, until a research division for the University of Michigan saw the bid advertisement, contacted the district and offered to do the work for free.

District spokeswoman Liz Margolis said no details about the research division or the possible partnership could be shared at this time.

Ann Arbor Public Schools Communications Director Liz Margolis

Danielle Arndt | AnnArbor.com

Margolis said the research division is faculty-run with some graduate students on staff. She said the group has experience in analyzing the type of data that would be necessary for completing a redistricting study.

Ann Arbor school officials told AnnArbor.com in May that the district hoped to hire a consulting firm to prepare a variety of possible school closure scenarios for the board's consideration by late fall — October or November — of the 2013-14 academic year. Margolis in May said this timeline would allow AAPS ample time to engage the community and to extensively vet the different redistricting scenarios in the public, prior to possibly implementing one or more before the 2014-15 school year.

However, Margolis said Thursday because AAPS has been in "a little bit of a holding pattern" since February, the scenarios for the board to begin weighing will not be ready this fall and the likelihood of being able to implement any building closures in 2014-15 is "up in the air," despite the Board of Education's hope.

"We're waiting to hear from (U-M)," Margolis said. "We're basically on track to start when we do … but also, the board sets their timelines, but really the best thing right now is for us to have Dr. (Jeanice Kerr) Swift get involved."

Swift, the candidate chosen to be the next Ann Arbor Public Schools superintendent, currently is negotiating an employment contract and start date with the district. The board voted 4-3 on July 31 to offer Swift, an assistant superintendent from Colorado Springs, the vacant superintendency. Green left AAPS after two years in July to retire.

Swift has experience with closing buildings at her current district in Colorado. She has gone through the emotionally charged process twice in the past five years. The most recent round of building closures — two elementary schools and one comprehensive high school — is wrapping up now.

"It sounds like there is at least a lot of good preliminary thinking on the table (in Ann Arbor) and I would want to get there and really work with the staff and with the board to see what the possibilities are," Swift said of the district's plans around weighing building use.

Swift told AnnArbor.com in an interview Friday that as of right now, she does feel making any major changes in time for 2014-15 would be ambitious. But she sees three options to be considered.

The first option is utilizing U-M's offer to assist with redistricting and moving forward with the plans that AAPS already has on the table, just "not on quite as rapid of a timeline," she said.

The second option, Swift said, would be turning down the university's offer and heading up the redistricting studies with an internal team of staff and volunteers. She said this also would require a slightly modified timeframe.

Swift said she has experience with both hiring an external consulting firm and using an internal team to lead the building reutilization projects that she aided in Colorado Springs. She said it can go well either way.

"The one (project) with the district leadership, from my sense, I think people tended to trust that more," Swift said. "But the consulting firm we had was from out of town, and so perhaps, with the university folks that would be a really great possibility because they are local. But it's something to think about."

Jeanice Kerr Swift speaks at a community question-and-answer session at Skyline High School in July.

Daniel Brenner | AnnArbor.com

"I appreciate the administration wanting to regroup after I get in there. I think that is an excellent idea and I will also want to get input from the board on the direction they're providing and from what we can find out about if the university folks are available," Swift said, adding that she feels if all parties can get in "some really deep discussions, we can still get to a plan yet this year that moves us forward.

"… It's going to be a little tricky to follow their original plan, … but I know we can make progress if we do it in multiple phases and are very careful to be methodical about this."

She said even with multi-year plans, there are steps in the redistricting or building-reutilization process that can be completed without a terribly long lead-time. She said moving classroom wings around or adding a grade level or two from one building to another building is not that complicated and can help with a gradual, smooth transition.

AAPS has been criticized by various community contingents in recent years for not seriously considering school closures. The Ann Arbor Administrators Association this budget cycle issued a public statement, a rarity for the group, asking central office staff to created grade-level target schools at the elementary level, among other reconfigurations.

Instead, the district has cut teachers, transportation, music and arts programming and extracurricular activities in piecemeal fashion to reduce its budget, when district documents show closing three elementary schools could save $1.5 million (15 teachers), closing a middle school could save $1 million (10 teachers), closing Community High School could save $1.4 million (14 teachers) and closing a comprehensive high school could save $3 million (30 teachers).

"While we have short-term needs and urgencies — and in my mind, certainly the budget situation is that — mid-range and long-range planning for the district is more important than getting something done tomorrow," she said. "I share the urgency. … This is a priority … and can and will be done quickly. But having balance is important."

Danielle Arndt covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. Follow her on Twitter @DanielleArndt or email her at daniellearndt@annarbor.com.

Washtenaw County’s newest destination shopping center is preparing for its grand opening later this month.

The 90,700-square-foot Arbor Hills plans to open Aug. 22 on Washtenaw Avenue between Platt Road and Huron Parkway.

The center was bustling last week as construction crews worked to complete the buildings’ facades and landscape the site. Portions of the buildings still need windows installed, and the center’s tenants are working to complete individual renovations.

The developers estimate the project created 1,300 jobs through the planning and construction process. Together, the retailers have hired hundreds of full- and part-time employees.

“Construction is right on schedule,” said North Shore Properties Group’s Max Reiswerg, one of the project’s developers. “It’s going to be a nice opening.”

Arbor Hills has 17 confirmed retail and restaurant tenants, which includes a mix of national retailers — such as Anthropologie and The North Face — and local tenants — such as V2V and Running Fit. The project also includes about 10,000 square feet of office space.

A driver climbs into the cab of his semi parked in front of Anthropologie in Arbor Hills shopping center on Washtenaw Ave. on Thursday, August 8, 2013

Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com

Confirmed restaurant tenants in Arbor Hills include Pizzeria Biga and Zola Bistro — a restaurant by the owners of downtown Ann Arbor’s Cafe Zola.

Reiswerg said there is one retail space available in the shopping center, and he’s negotiating a lease with a high-profile restaurant user for another space.

Arbor Hills broke ground in June 2012, and vacant commercial buildings and a former car dealership were demolished to make way for the center. Four buildings were constructed on the 7.45-acre site, with parking interspersed between the structures.

The project’s architects — New York-based BKSK Architects and Troy-based reForm Studios — designed the Arbor Hills buildings with textured brick, steel, wood and glass. Industrial-style reclaimed highway billboards are the focal point of the center’s design.

Reiswerg, along with co-developer Tom Stegeman, worked to meet some goals of the ReImagine Washtenaw initiative, including putting the buildings close to the street to promote pedestrian connectivity.

As of Friday, Aug. 9, the new traffic light at the intersection of Platt and Washtenaw was flashing yellow for drivers on Washtenaw. Soon, it will switch over to stop-and-go operation.

An employee stocks the display shelves at a Sur La Table location in suburban Houston.

Photo courtesy of CITYCENTRE Houston

Among the tenants that plan to open Aug. 22: Glassbox Coffee & Juice, Madewell, My Urban Toddler, Hot Mama, Running Fit, Sur La Table, lululemon, The North Face, V2V, Paper Source and Anthropologie.

Many tenants plan to offer deals on the day of the grand opening, such as 15 percent off every purchase at Hot Mama boutique and a “mystery” discount to the first 25 customers at Madewell.

Running Fit plans to host a run in County Farm Park, and lululemon plans to host a trail run, CrossFit class and yoga class during the opening weekend.

Arbor Hills will celebrate its grand opening starting at 10 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 22. The retailers' hours will be: 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday; 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday; 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. The restaurants' hours will vary.

Lizzy Alfs is a business reporter for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at 734-623-2584 or email her at lizzyalfs@annarbor.com. Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/lizzyalfs.

Public health officials and doctors who worry that not enough Michigan children are immunized against diseases must combat a trend not helpful to their cause: More parents are simply refusing to get their kids vaccinated.

A boy receives the whooping cough vaccine.

Jae C. Hong | The Associated Press

About 7,300, or 5.5 percent, of the state's roughly 125,000 kindergartners had medical, religious or philosophical waivers on file last school year. That's up from about 6,900 the year before and 5,700 in 2010-11.

Three in four of the exemptions were for philosophical reasons. Parents may be skeptical that vaccines are essential, fear they carry their own risk or believe in older vaccines but question newer shots. Others may take pause at the sheer number of shots and wonder if the cumulative effect has been studied enough. By the time most children are 6, they will have been stuck with a needle about two dozen times.

One reason Michigan has a high number of exemptions is it allows philosophical waivers while roughly 30 states do not.

"We have maybe a little more liberal view of what qualifies as a waiver than other states. And so I think more and more people have taken advantage of that," said Bob Swanson, director of the state's Division of Immunizations. "That's where we need to really voice the importance of making sure kids are vaccinated and that only legitimate waivers are being utilized."

Some parents may have no philosophical opposition but find it easier to file a waiver after forgetting to schedule a vaccination before the school year starts, said Jevon McFadden, an epidemiologist with the CDC who is based at the Michigan Department of Community Health. He took part in a news conference Thursday to help raise awareness about immunizations and newly released statistics causing concern among the state's medical community.

"An event like this is very, very important because it's to remind parents that school season is coming up and now is the time to start thinking about getting your kids up to date on vaccines," McFadden said.

Less than 72 percent of young children and 63 percent of Michigan adolescents are fully immunized, according to the Michigan State Medical Society.

To attend a public or private school, kids must be vaccinated against a number of diseases and medical conditions depending on their age: diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), polio, measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis B, chickenpox and meningitis.

Particularly alarming to doctors is the prevalence of whooping cough and measles. Before vaccines became widely available in the 1940s, about 200,000 U.S. children became sick with whooping cough each year, leading to 9,000 deaths. While between 10,000 and 25,000 cases a year are reported now, with 10 to 20 deaths, they have risen in the last 30 years.

The trend is largely attributable to better testing, reporting, waning immunity and other factors, according to the CDC. But in Michigan, which had nearly 850 whooping cough cases last year — including the death of a 3-month-old — officials say immunization can make such deaths entirely preventable.

"It's scary. ... We had a decline but not enough of a decline to satisfy the medical community that we're doing the right thing," said Kenneth Elmassian, a Lansing anesthesiologist and president of the Michigan State Medical Society.

The group plans to organize more awareness events across the state this month.

There is no talk of asking Michigan lawmakers to restrict or eliminate waivers from immunization requirements, though one lawmaker has introduced legislation to prevent the state or schools from adding the flu vaccine to the list of required immunizations. In the case of an outbreak, the state health department or local health agency has the power to exclude unvaccinated children from school.

"Ally" by Cathy Barry

Barry (who teaches painting at Washtenaw Community College) has exhibited through this last decade, and her signature February 2010 “Overview” exhibit at the Chelsea Center for the Arts illustrated her previous style of abstracted landscape composition.

As she said in her artist’s statement to that display, “Aerial views of Earth have been the subject matter of my painting. I use many resources for material including satellite photography; cartography; geological surveys; oceanic and atmospheric photography; and photos taken from flights taken by myself.”

These medium-sized geometrically abstract paintings look everything like bird’s-eye views of what’s below the horizon. Detailed with either environmental topographical design or urbanesque rectilinear grids, Barry’s art is akin to floating just slightly below a cloudline keenly observing what’s directly underneath. By contrast, “Out Here” looks out in the other direction — and the distances are telling.

“This body of work comes from my interest in Deep Space and the Cosmos,” says Barry in this exhibit’s gallery statement. “I find images of outer space incredibly beautiful and very thought provoking. Looking at and reading about such phenomenon as quasars, nebulae, black holes, stars and galaxies is mind boggling to me. There are amazing events occurring all the time beyond our world.

“The concepts and theories regarding the existence of time and space in the universe leave room for much exploration, imagination and discovery. Expression of my thoughts and feelings about such big ideas helps me reflect on a personal level about my place in all this.”

“Out Here” indeed helps us reflect our place in the scheme of things. And what’s most fascinating about this display of 26 paintings executed between 2009-20013 is Barry’s way of translating this enthusiasm to her viewer.

Most interesting is the formal geometric reduction she uses in her compositions. For while these paintings are a clear transition from her prior subject matter, the manner in which she compresses her geometry is also on a far differing scale.

Those prior topographical and urban-influenced paintings relied on her audience’s familiarity with our landscape to orient the work’s geometry.

The cosmic is, however, distorting. One strategy therefore might be to emulate the astounding images taken by the Hubble telescope, where the scale of dimension and distance is nearly beyond human comprehension.

It’s therefore reassuring that Barry has opted to give us the human scale — and her art has thereby imaginatively grown proportionately. Rather than try to approximate these stunning astronomical photographs, Barry has opted to borrow a page out of 20th century geometric expressionism.

Take her 2011 oil on birch “Ally” painting. This red and blue composition features a furious scrub that occupies the larger part of the work’s surface. But in the left corner of the work, Barry has crafted rings whose concentric recession leads to an earth-like orb focusing the artwork.

Barry therefore gets to have her outer space and depict it, too. A more straightforward painting might have yielded another result, but Barry’s handiwork replaces one visual splendor for a more thorough-going intimate psychological one.

"Flock" by Cathy Barry

2011-12’s oil on birch “Flock,” on the other hand, shows Barry enthralled with the geometric purity of the cosmos. Looking vaguely like a blue-tinged out-of-focus Hubble photograph of some far-flung galaxy, Barry once again gets to have her cosmos and depict it, too.

Cascading rings upon rings — double-rings and rings with red-centers — Barry marries what might approximate one of those astounding outer space photos with the crucial human dimension. And while we may marvel at the clarity of these other photographs, we more properly think vaguely in terms of what we can conceive. Thus Barry’s blurry, variegated blend of oils carries us to realm where fictive contemplation meets hard fact.

“Cathy Barry: Out Here” will continue through Sept. 1 at the Ann Arbor District Library lower-level Multi-Purpose Room, 343 S. Fifth Ave. Exhibit hours are 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday; 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Tuesday-Friday; 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday; and noon-6 p.m. Sunday. For information, call 734-327-4200.

Blimpy Burger will close at 8 p.m. on Aug. 14.

Joseph Tobianski | AnnArbor.com

The burger joint at 551 S. Division St. will close at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 14, said owner Rich Magner. Blimpy Burger’s hours are noon to 8 p.m. for its remaining days in business.

The restaurant has to close after the University of Michigan purchased the Blimpy Burger building and surrounding properties to make way for a 600-bed graduate residence. Blimpy Burger must vacate the building by Aug. 31.

Magner is in the early stages of negotiating a lease for a new restaurant space in the downtown Ann Arbor area. He said it could be several months before Blimpy Burger reopens.

“The lease isn’t signed yet, so the location isn’t disclosed,” Manger said. “However, we will be moving, of course.”

Although Blimpy Burger won’t be open to the public after Wednesday, Magner plans to host fundraising meals on Aug. 17 and 18.

The restaurant launched a “Blimpy Last Supper” fundraising website, where people can purchase tickets to have a final meal in the building.

“Our time at 551 S. Division is coming to an end and we will no longer be able to serve the public mouth watering burgers beyond (August 14th), but we wanted to offer some of you the opportunity to be the last customers at the original location,” the website says.

The Blimpy Last Supper meals are being held in one-hour time slots between noon and 8 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. There are 35 seats available per hour, and tickets costs $100.

The ticket price includes a meal, a custom Blimpy Burger T-shirt and an invitation to an annual private appreciate dinner at the restaurant’s new location. The restaurant will also hold a drawing for a private catering event.

Magner said the money raised through the fundraisers will be used to help Blimpy Burger transition to a new location.

• Check out the Blimpy Last Supper website.

Lizzy Alfs is a business reporter for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at 734-623-2584 or email her at lizzyalfs@annarbor.com. Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/lizzyalfs.

A 40 year-old Ypsilanti man was jailed Saturday after police said he stabbed another man who had entered his residence without permission looking for his stolen bike.

The victim, a 27 year-old Ypsilanti resident, was taken to St. Joseph Mercy hospital for treatment of a stab wound to his shoulder and a laceration to one of his hands. He was in stable condition, police said in a release issued early Sunday.

Police were notified of a stabbing at 9:34 p.m. Saturday on the 300 block of Ballard Street in Ypsilanti.

Investigators determined that an argument between the two strangers broke out after the victim went to the residence to look for his stolen bike. The stabbing took place after the victim entered the suspect's residence without permission, police said.

The suspect is expected to face a charge of felonious assault.

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