In November, Ann Arbor voters will decide whether their city should build its own electric utility and stop buying power from DTE. A group funded by DTE is suing to stop the vote.

The man likely to be Ann Arbor’s next mayor wants the city to take over.

Yousef Rabhi is a Democratic Socialist. He beat 12-year incumbent Chris Taylor by 10 points — over the endorsements of Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and U.S. Senator Elissa Slotkin — in a primary that was part of a bigger progressive wave.

Dr. Abdul El-Sayed won the U.S. Senate nomination. State Rep. Donavan McKinney beat a sitting congressman. Abbas Alawieh will likely be the first Arab American in the Michigan Senate.

Rabhi is a sitting Washtenaw County commissioner who spent six years in the state House. He spoke with host Robyn Vincent about why he ran for mayor, and how he wants to govern the city as a self-declared outsider.

Hear the full conversation using the media player above.

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Looking to experience music and culture from around the world? Or maybe take in the sights and sounds of a Formula 1 car? This week’s Metro Events Guide has you covered with some of the best of what Metro Detroit has to offer this weekend. 

Upcoming events (July 15-19)

Concert of Colors 

Various locations
 July 15- July 19
Free

Concert of colors one of the longest-running and largest free global music festival in the country. Each summer, musicians from around the world come to Midtown for a community event showcasing music and culture from around the world. This event is free and family friendly. WDET is a proud partner of Concert of Colors.

Ann Arbor Art Fair 

Downtown Ann Arbor
July 16- July 18
Free

The Ann Arbor Art fair is a three day event featuring work from nearly 1,000 artists. Taking place in downtown Ann Arbor, the event features live music, family-friendly art activities, local food vendors, and more. This event is free to the public.  

2026 Detroit Lit Summer Writers’ Institute 

The LOVE Building
July 18- July 19
Free

The Summer Writers’ Institute offers workshops, resources, and professional growth opportunities for the Detroit literary community. Events in this year’s program include Finding Your Voice: A Non-Fiction Workshop, Landing a Book Deal: Navigating the Query Process, and more. All events are free with RSVP. 

Blake’s Lavender Festival

Blake’s Orchard & Cider Mill | 17985 Armada Center Road, Armada MI 48005
July 17- July 19
$12-14

It’s lavender season and that means it’s time for Blakes’ Lavender Festival. Eventgoers will have the opportunity to pick their own lavender, enjoy lavender flavored food and drink and shop lavender inspired gifts from over 200 artisans. 

Red Bull Showrun Michigan

3 Parklane Blvd, Dearborn MI
July 18 | 1 p.m.
Free

Formula 1 comes to the streets of Dearborn with driving demonstrations showcasing the power of a F1 vehicle along with interactive racing experiences for the whole family to enjoy. This event is family friendly and free.

The Ann Arbor Art Fair will welcome nearly half a million visitors from July 16-18.

There will be a thousand juried artists from across Michigan and the entire country. They will display their work at three simultaneous nonprofit events:

• The Ann Arbor Street Art Fair, The Original
• The Ann Arbor Summer Art Fair
• The Ann Arbor State Street District Art Fair

A Youth Art Fair and Kids Collectors Club also emerges for grade school creatives.

Karen Bauer has been the executive director of the Ann Arbor Summer Art Fair for 20 years, while Teesha Lieber is a Detroit marbling artist from Spontaneity Works. Both joined The Metro to talk more about this year’s festival.

Bauer says putting so many separate fairs together may seem like a lot, but experience is on their side. “These fairs have been working together since the early 60s, we are a well oiled machine at this point.”

Tune in to listen to the discussion with Bauer, Lieber to learn more about youth participation, and how art remains authentic during the digital age.

Hear the full conversation using the media player above.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and stream on-demand. Never miss an episode — subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, NPR, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Have you ever rented an apartment and noticed extra fees tacked onto the rent? A fee for the trash. A fee for pest control. How about a fee for “managing the boiler.”

Those are among the allegations against Greystar, the biggest landlord in America. It paid $24 million to settle a lawsuit claiming it hid fees like these on top of the rent it advertised. Greystar says it did nothing wrong — and the settlement lets it keep charging the fees. It just has to list them now.

This one hits close to home. Greystar runs more than 3,000 apartments in metro Detroit, and nearly 2,000 more in Ann Arbor and Lansing. The fees can add hundreds of dollars a month. And if you miss them, many leases say you can be evicted.

It comes at a brutal time to rent. Nearly half of America’s renters already pay more than they can afford. Just yesterday, Congress passed the biggest housing bill in decades — but it leaves fees like these largely untouched.

Investigative reporter and author Tracie McMillan spent months digging through leases and court records for her new investigation in The Guardian. She joined Robyn Vincent on The Metro to explain why renting can cost so much more than the advertised price.

Hear the full conversation using the media player above.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and stream on-demand. Never miss an episode — subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, NPR, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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In 2019, Michigan’s largest utility ended what’s called net metering. That meant if you had solar panels, you no longer got full credit for the extra energy you sent back to the grid. So, instead of getting a dollar’s worth of credit, you might get 30 cents.

But in Ann Arbor, this didn’t slow down rooftop solar, or make it less attractive financially. Solar installations exploded there —from 17 per year before 2019 to 180 per year since 2020.

This is partly because of a program called Solarize — neighbors banding together to get group discounts on solar installations. Now it has spread across metro Detroit.

Julie Roth launched Solarize. Today, she’s the energy manager at the city of Ann Arbor’s Office of Sustainability and Innovations. She spoke with The Metro‘s Robyn Vincent.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

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