The Metro

When people don’t feel welcomed in a space, they create their own. In 1984, a third space came to life on 7 Mile and Woodward, that was Club Heaven. Decades later, the legacy of the community continues to thrive.

This month, in celebration of Pride, The Love Building is hosting a LOVE@Nite session called "A Place Called Heaven.” 

The gathering will center Black queer life through storytelling, music, and community connections, and a look back at more than 30 years of history.

The Metro spoke with Chris “Inpaq” Sutton, director of the film "Heaven In Detroit" and broadcast studio manager for LGBT Detroit, alongside Kwaku Osei-Bonsu, project manager at the Love Building. 

They talked about the impact of Detroit’s Black queer community, explored the need for safe physical spaces, and how their partnerships honors those who live their truths.

Restaurants in Detroit are now eligible to receive a Michelin star rating. That’s 20 years after the Michelin Group awarded its first star to restaurants in the United States.

The designation was born from the French tire company’s efforts over a century ago to recommend places for drivers to stop. It has since become an authority on where to eat worldwide.

Detroit Free Press dining and restaurant critic Lyndsay Green joined The Metro to explain what the Michelin star designation means, why Detroit is being considered, and if a metro Detroit food spot has a real shot at receiving a star rating.

Windows nailed shut. No heat on the second floor. Sewage backing up into the basement — in a home the city never cleared to be a rental in the first place.

For 40 years, Detroit has had a law meant to prevent exactly that: landlords must register a rental and prove it's safe before anyone moves in. Almost nobody follows it. Only about 1 in 7 Detroit rentals meets the bar, and rewrites of the law in 2017 and 2024 have barely moved the needle.

Outlier Media senior reporter Aaron Mondry joins host Robyn Vincent to explain why — and who pays for it. Part of the answer is enforcement; part is math: a Center for Community Progress study found that fixing an old house can cost more than the rent will ever bring back, so landlords ignore the law. It's a bind in any city built on old, cheap housing. Mondry lays out what it costs tenants, why a landlord without a certificate of compliance isn't even allowed to collect rent, and what it would take to change.

Iron Chef Detroit is an annual fundraiser that supports Cass Community Social Services. It returns for a third year at Eastern Market in Shed 5 on June 5. 

There will be a contest where two Detroit chefs, Chef John Vermiglio and Chef Andy Hollyday, race against time for their dish to win the favor of the follow judges:

- Mamba Hamissi (Baobab Fare Chef) 
- Anthony Lombardo (SheWolf and Medusa Chef)
- Jessica Care Moore (Detroit Poet Laureate, Author, Director, and Activist) 

Carlos Parisi is the owner of Aunt Nee’s, an editorial contributor to Hour Detroit, as well as a TV and podcast host. He will be hosting the event beside Jon Kung, a Chinese American chef, podcast host, content creator, and author of "Kung Food: Chinese American Recipes from a Third Culture Kitchen." They joined The Metro to talk about their love of food and the importance of connecting through food with people from all walks of life. 

For about three years, Detroit's Right to Counsel program has given free legal representation to low-income tenants facing eviction. The share of tenants who walk in with a lawyer has gone from almost none to nearly all. But the program is running low on money, and its future depends on the state, the federal government, or philanthropy to step in. What happens to tenants — and to the court itself — if it disappears?

William McConico is the Chief Judge of Detroit's 36th District Court. He spoke about why he's hoping to keep the program with The Metro's Robyn Vincent.

Over 150 Michigan performers entered NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert this year. Only 10 of them will be eligible to appear in Sounds Like Detroit. It's a local musical showcase that’ll take place at Batch Brewing Company on August 13.

Before the concert starts, Detroiters have the chance to select the top five musicians who go on to headline the show based on their entry videos. 

This year's top 10 includes:
- IIAJIDE
- Michelle Held
- Aisha Ellis
- KTCHN
- Jubilee Jackson
- Checker
- Vaughn Black
- Rose St. Germaine
- Mild Pulp
- Laurie Love

Jeff Milo is the host of MI Local on WDET. He also is the coordinator and main host of Sounds Like Detroit. He joined The Metro to talk more about the chosen finalists and how they are shaping the local sound.

For more information, go to WDET.org/TinyDesk and cast a ballot before June 19.

Coal is dying. Gas, wind, and solar got cheaper, and the market moved on. So why is the federal government spending about $700 million, and reaching for a 1950 wartime law, to keep coal plants open and even build new ones? 

Harvard historian Naomi Oreskes — author of "The Big Myth" — joins host Robyn Vincent to unpack the contradiction at the heart of America's coal revival: the same movement that insists government should stay out of the way is now using government power to overrule the market. Then they turn to a very different plan — the World Inequality Lab's new Global Justice Report, which maps how to lift the world's poorest and hold warming under two degrees by taxing the very richest. Why does one get called "pragmatic" and the other "impossible"?

It's a conversation about coal, capitalism, and who gets to decide what's realistic.

Mentioned in this episode

Most people don’t realize the first free national public art museum has its roots in Detroit. 

During the turn of the 20th century, Detroit experienced a cultural boom. The Detroit Institute of Arts opened in 1885. Pewabic Pottery opened in 1903. The Scarab Club began in 1907. The College for Creative Studies traces its roots to 1906 as the Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts.

All of this was happening as Charles Lang Freer crafted his home to reflect the cultures of the world.  

Freer wasn’t born in the city, but moved here for opportunity and economic growth. Following the success of his railroad car business, he retired at the age of 47. He became a student of art, collecting, traveling and amassing an impressive collection.  He turned his Ferry street home into a living gallery, collecting thousands of American, Asian and Middle Eastern art works.

The collection went on to form the country’s first national art museum and the first Asian art museum. 

So, why isn’t the Freer House and its history more known in Detroit? Why isn’t it considered a major cultural export like cars or Motown? 

Dr. Chase F. Robinson is the director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art.  He and his team worked closely with the Freer House in Detroit to curate a new exhibition in honor of the nation's 250th anniversary. He tells The Metro more about the history behind the Freer House.

A Museum in the Making will be on display June 27 through August 8 at the National Museum of Asian Art in the Freer Gallery of Art. 

Reporter Byard Duncan spent a year finding out how often emergency calls go unanswered. His reporting was the source of recent episode of the investigative podcast Reveal called "911, Please Hold." His search took him from California to Capitol Hill, and one common theme emerged: emergency call centers dispatchers are not classified as first responders.

In the federal government’s eyes, they sit alongside receptionists and bill collectors. There’s a move in Congress to change that, and this past winter, a team from Detroit’s 911 center went to Washington to fight for it.

Why aren't emergency call dispatchers considered first responders? Duncan joined The Metro to share his findings.

"911, Please Hold" was produced by Byard Duncan for Type Investigations in partnership with Reveal.

Lyme disease cases have spiked in Michigan during recent years. Dr. Jean Tsao, professor and tick researcher in Fisheries and Wildlife department at Michigan State University and Dr. Peter Gulick, professor of Medicine at Michigan State University join the show to discuss increasing tick populations in Michigan and how to identify and mitigate the risks of Lyme disease.