Successfully self-employed for 25 years, I have long defined retirement as that time in life when one does almost nothing one does not want to do -- either for money or as a volunteer. Based on that definition, I have been retired for 25 years.

For a couple of years, ended in 1998, Versagi Consulting published an occasional newsletter which dealt with civic and business concerns of Royal Oak. That earlier version of Voice served three purposes: (1) promoted Versagi Consulting's services as wife/partner Muriel and I completed the process of replacing international and national clients with local ones; (2) offered the community a forum for the exchange of information and opinion not readily available elsewhere; (3) provided me -- a former business journalist and editor -- with an outlet for my writing.

Then, after Muriel and I redefined retirement to mean less paid work and more volunteer activity, I discontinued Voice. Since then, former readers have kindly told us they miss the publication. Very recently, the combination of such comments and my involvement in Royal Oak's public dialogue about historic districts and the availability of the Internet has nudged me into publishing an electronic version of Voice, of which this is the first issue.

Voice will reflect my editorial bias, of course, but the electronic format permits me to offer opposing views a place to be expressed in a wide-ranging and timely exchange of information and opinion.

Let's see how it goes.
=======================

Well, it has gone pretty well over four years. Readers have "googled" Voice so they are automatically alerted whenever the website is updated. And, as the companion column at right shows, citizens, public officials, and local and regional press monitor Voice.

11 August 2005
The Detroit Free Press published a piece headlined, "Election issues enter the blogosphere," in which it commented: Mayor Jim Ellison, a VersagiVoice reader, said he thinks the blog may have an effect on local elections.

22 September 2005
In a piece about "civic-minded charities," Detroit Free Press staff writer Bill Laitner reported about VersagiVoice's coverage of the pros and cons of Royal Oak's ACORN Foundation.

October 2005
Media people assigned to cover Royal Oak, a city hall newcomer, and a candidate or two say that the archival nature of VersagiVoice provides useful background and context for the current political and civic developments.

31 May 2006
Breakfast-eaters praise, criticize, simply comment about VersagiVoice
Dozens of adults among the 700-plus persons who attended the Royal Oak Historical Society's 2006 Memorial Day Pancake Breakfast expressed a wide range of opinions about this website. Most of them already knew me, others commented after being introduced as part of those brief conversational encounters which are so much a part of large community gatherings. A sample of what was on their minds:

Intentional or not, the School District continues to deprive the South End. . . . Not at all, the District is behaving admirably. . . . Voice is too critical of the city commission and is unfair to [two or three specific commissioners]. . . . "Why don't you go after [her most disliked City Department]?" . . . "Your non-Royal Oak observations are more interesting that your local coverage." . . . "I don't know how many readers you reach, but you obviously reach everybody who matters." . . . "Don't [or seldom] agree with you, but I watch for the weekly updates." . . . Vehement disagreement with Voice's apparent support of condos. . . . Praise for the website's suggestions about watching city meetings. . . . Criticism for Voice's support of demolition of the Water Works Building.

The readers offered opinions and suggestions about traffic, inconvenience caused by "all that construction," performance of the police and fire departments, the Ice Arena debate, the status of downtown retailers, whether Woodward Avenue businesses are "really part of Royal Oak," the pluses and minuses of angle-parking on Washington.

In all that civically focused chatter, there was not a single mention of the city budget deliberations which are just getting underway.

For example, the reference value of VersagiVoice came to the fore recently when a University of Detroit Mercy marketing class found it helpful to review our survey of Woodward Avenue businesses concerning their thoughts and feelings about the Dream Cruise. The class was directed to the website and to Versagi Consulting by a reporter from the Detroit Free Press.

Vanity publishing or not, there are two dominant characteristics of civically focused websites. First, a website can devote much more space, many more "column inches," to a topic -- and more often -- than a newspaper can justify. During the months preceding Royal Oak's referendum vote, reporters from three area newspapers told me they used Voice's lengthy coverage of the Human Rights Ordinance dialogue for context and leads.

Second, a website's old articles can conveniently be stored in easily accessible "archives." Voice's Human Rights Ordinance work is only a click away from where you are reading at this moment.

Mandated historic designation is a third topic which Voice has covered extensively. Our posture is that one can simultaneously support historic preservation and property rights, yet challenge any attempt to force an unwilling property owner -- residential or commercial -- to "go historic." Most of Voice's coverage about matters historic appears in a sub-website which tracks the efforts of Citizens for Property Rights (CPR) and which, again, provides reference material for the ongoing dialogue.

For Versagi Consulting's business needs, this website serves as institutional advertising, continually reminding prospective customers that we are here and about the services we offer. The "vanity" part comes through the satisfaction of knowing that Royal Oakers are paying attention, of hearing our non-business phrases and themes mentioned at City Commission meetings and in social and business gatherings about town.

Which leads to yet another advantage through which a civically focused website can supplement, but cannot replace, newspapers: Readers can and do react immediately, have their reaction immediately acknowledged, and -- only if they choose -- become a part of the "archives,"  whatever the topic.

FJV April 2004