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HUNTINGTON WOODS — Earlier this year, an issue arose within the city of Huntington Woods regarding the rental and reservations of rooms in city facilities.
The Huntington Woods Peace Group looked to reserve a space at the Recreation Center to hold a discussion on the conflict in Gaza. The group said it was told it couldn’t have the reservation because of the content of the meeting, though the city stated it was because the meeting would be open to the public with no attendance limit, which concerned officials.
The city decided to review its policies for room rentals and reservations and was advised by its city attorney to establish a moratorium of 90 days on rentals at both the Recreation Center and the Huntington Woods Public Library while this occurred.
An item on the Huntington Woods City Commission’s April 22 meeting about the moratorium brought many residents, a number of them members of the Peace Group, to the meeting, with the majority urging the commission not to approve a moratorium.
Suhair Ghannam is a member of the Peace Group and the Huntington Woods Citizens for Ceasefire. She stated that residents are feeling the city is giving mixed messages, saying it supports free speech, but she feels that room denials contradict this.
“Events are still being denied based on content,” she said. “After the moratorium was suspended, I was still unable to reserve a library room for a book signing event that was scheduled for March 24, and the denial was based on content. We are getting contradicting messages. Are we free to rent a space not based on content?”
Ron Yolles, a resident of Huntington Woods since 1974, said his understanding of the rules the city was considering “in no way has anything to do with free speech or hindering free speech.”
“That you’re looking to rules to allow residents with a uniform set of guidelines to use our facilities, and I think that’s a good focus that your focus is on residents, not nonresidents,” he said. “I think your effort and working with the city attorney in this way is the right track and appreciated.”
The commission voted unanimously at the meeting to not go ahead with the moratorium. The city planned to hold a special meeting on April 29, which occurred after the Woodward Talk went to press, to discuss the room rental policy more in depth.
Mayor Pro Tem Joe Rozell told the Woodward Talk that the denial preserved the status quo of people being able to rent the different rooms under the current policies that exist, but the goal of the commission is to evaluate the policy in its totality to determine if the city is treating all buildings the same and should they be open to residents and nonresidents.
“I’m advocating for a single point of entry for the permitting process,” he said. “Meaning you might apply and fill out your application at City Hall with the city clerk, but then it’s reviewed by public safety, the city manager, maybe library director, Parks and Rec, so that there’s a central spot where all applications to rent a room go through, we have a sort of set fee schedule, etc., and sort of try to standardize the process as best as possible.”
“It’s a very emotional issue for a lot of folks in the community, and so this isn’t anything that we’re going to rush through,” he continued. “We’re going to take our time and we’re going to make sure that we get it right.”
