A Wayne County judge has blocked a local heating and cooling company from doing work on a steam line project on Lafayette Park property in Detroit, a ruling some residents of the famed development are cheering.

Detroit Thermal, a company that provides heating and cooling to buildings through an underground network, said it will appeal the decision.

Detroit Thermal wants to upgrade and reconnect a steam line to the 1300 Lafayette East Cooperative. But residents who live in the housing cooperatives designed by famed architect Mies van der Rohe worry the project would damage their community’s landscape because it would involve excavation work.

Earlier this week, Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Annette Berry granted a permanent injunction, which the Mies housing cooperatives had sought.

Berry ordered that Detroit Thermal is enjoined, or prohibited, from entering on Lots 19-22 of the Lafayette Park Subdivision, excavating on the lots and using the lots for the purpose of installing a slip line into existing steam pipes.

“I think generally that we feel vindicated and … feel like it was important for us to stand up for our property rights,” said Randy Essex, a resident of the Nicolet Co-op, one of the housing cooperatives.

What is Lafayette Park?

Completed in stages in the 1960s, the Mies van der Rohe Residential District is considered one of America’s most successful post-World War II urban redevelopment projects, according to the Detroit Historical Society. Located east of the Chrysler Freeway and roughly bounded by Rivard Street, Lafayette Avenue, Orleans Street and Antietam Street, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.

MILWAUKEE — The Milwaukee LGBT Community Center is celebrating Pride Fest’s 30th anniversary this weekend from a new home — and its executive director says the move feels like a homecoming.

The center relocated to its current space in February, situated near the intersection of First Street and Pittsburgh Avenue, across from the Bobblehead Museum and Collectivo coffee shop.

WATCH: MKE’s LGBT Community Center executive director calls move a homecoming

Milwaukee LGBT Community Center executive director calls move a homecoming as PrideFest kicks off

“We have been here since February. We are loving it. It’s been a welcome home for us. When the center first opened up back in 1998, we were actually on South 1st Street, and so it’s been a homecoming for us,” Executive Director Ritchie T. Martin, Jr. said.

The center provides a range of services to Milwaukee’s LGBTQ+ community, including behavioral health services, a food pantry, a gender-affirming clothing boutique, and Project Here — its oldest program — which serves young people between the ages of 13 and 24.

Martin, Jr. said the community’s support has been critical, especially as the center has faced federal funding losses over the past year.

Milwaukee LGBT Community Center

“The community has grown. The center has grown. We’ve gone through our ups and downs like any other nonprofit across the country, but the community’s really showing up for us, especially over the last year as we face federal funding loss. It has been really, really unique the way the community shows up,” Martin, Jr. said.

Martin, Jr. emphasized that every form of support makes a difference.

“Volunteering, you know, there’s actually no little bit that can help. Every little bit that a person can do, whether it’s volunteering, whether it’s clothing donations, whether it’s giving monetary donations, every little bit helps in these times,” Martin, Jr. said.

Milwaukee LGBT Community Center

He said the need for centers like this one remains as important as ever.

“Very much so important. We show up each and every day living through our mission, providing services to a marginalized vulnerable community, and the people need these services. We’ve seen the growth in the services that are needed and so it’s important that we continue to show up, the community shows up, and we’re all here for each other,” Martin, Jr. said.

PrideFest’s 30th anniversary celebration continues this weekend in Milwaukee.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.

It’s about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for “TMJ4” on your device.

Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.

Report a typo or error

Prince fans will paint Minneapolis purple this weekend as concerts, block parties and a new museum opening celebrate his musical legacy and what would have been his 68th birthday Sunday. 

In St. Paul, roller skaters will head to Rice Park for a weekly disco night, while a new exhibit at Indigenous Roots showcases work by Black and Indigenous artists. In Maplewood, food trucks will roll into the Asian Street Food Night Market. 

A weekend tribute to Prince

Fans will have multiple opportunities to celebrate Prince across Minneapolis this weekend. A concert at the Armory will bring together members of his backing bands alongside performers Morris Day, Miguel, Bilal and more. 

Saturday’s events include a block party and sing-along at the downtown Prince mural, followed by late-night gatherings at Union Rooftop and First Avenue. On Sunday, fans can take part in a Lake Minnetonka tribute cruise. 

This weekend also marks the grand opening of the People’s Museum for Prince at Roberts Gallery in north Minneapolis. The museum’s “Let’s Work! A Labor of Love” exhibit at the Capri features artwork created by community members inspired by Prince’s life and music. 

Artists reflect on humanity’s ties to nature

A new exhibit at Indigenous Roots brings together Black and brown artists from the Twin Cities to explore the natural world as a source of guidance. 

“Force of Nature” is the curatorial debut of Afro-Indigenous artist Dizi Lawrence. The show features more than 25 works that examine humanity’s complex relationships with land, water, wildlife and plant life. 

“Nature itself, and the Earth are teachers,” Lawrence said. “In this time in particular — from a social and political lens — we have so many questions of how to solve certain problems or how to move through certain tragedies. The Earth holds a lot of the answers that we seek.”

The concept for the exhibit grew after Lawrence participated in “Where the Seed Remembers,” a group show at the Minnesota Arboretum. 

The exhibit includes a range of media, from collage work by Pau Perez to three-dimensional pieces by Jaali Griffin, along with large-scale paintings by Maiya Lea Hartman and Linnea Kingbird-Martini. 

Lawrence will also present 11 of her own paintings, shaped by her interest in Indigenous ways of living and Christian creation stories, including Genesis, Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden. 

Indigenous communities “have origin stories that completely encapsulate a reciprocal relationship to nature,” she said. “I would like people to come away from [“Force of Nature”] examining their own relationship to nature and honoring all the ways that it provides for us.” 

The opening reception on Saturday will feature poetry readings from Kira Bunkholt and Isavela Lopez; live music from Jada Lynn and Brandyn Lee Tulloch; and a performance by the Mexica Aztec dance group Kalpulli Yaocenoxtli. Plant-based meals will be catered by Heal Minneapolis. 

Skating and disco at Rice Park

An annual roller-skating series, “Roller Disco,” returns this Friday with free skate rentals, music by DJ Presto, line dancing led by Coach Rahn Oz and food trucks. Twin Cities Skaters also plan to introduce themed skating nights later in the summer. 

Three days of street food, music and dance

The Asian Street Food Night Market returns to the Pan Asian Center in Maplewood for a three-day festival.

The weekend will feature a talent show, lion dances, a beer garden, and music and dance performances. More than 35 food vendors will serve Thai dishes, sushi, egg rolls, Korean corn dogs and more.