WARREN, Mich. (WXYZ) — This Thursday is National Day of Prayer. The annual event falls on the first Thursday of May.
Joceyln Howard is the task force coordinator for the National Day of Prayer event in Warren.
"We pray for our city, our nation, we pray for our schools, our military and the businesses, and we have been received with open arms for years," she told 7 News Detroit.
Howard said her group traditionally rented the atrium and the space outside of city hall for the event, and she said there was no charge.
"But here recently, this administration has been resistant to the religious community in Warren," she claimed.
When asked how so, Howard replied "because last year, we noticed that there was a fee for the rental of the space, which we hadn't paid before, but we didn't have opposition to that. But what we discovered was that there was a sliding scale as to who would pay and who would not."
The space is now off limits. No one can rent it because of a moratorium put in place late last year by city council while the city examines its fee structure. Howard said some groups have complained the city will allegedly charge some groups to use the space and not charge others.
This year, Howard's group plans to use public property for the event over by the flag poles.
"It was, I believe, the National Day of Prayer was the impetus of people beginning to recognize that there was some disparity as to who was being charged what. That's a failed policy of the administration," she said.
"If you look at their rental agreement, it's very straightforward. So why there were differences, it's left up to the administration to answer that question."
7 News Detroit reached out to the city on the matter. In a statement, a city spokesperson wrote the following:
In response to a recent inquiry regarding facility rentals, the City of Warren provides the following clarification:
An inquiry was made regarding the availability of both the city hall atrium and the warren Community center auditorium. The downtown development authority (DDA) informed the interested party that the city hall atrium is currently unavailable for rental, pending the completion of a revised city hall facility rental policy. The suspension of atrium rentals has been in place since November 2024, following a resolution adopted jointly by city council and the mayor’s office.
Additionally, an inquiry was made regarding the availability of the Warren Community Center Auditorium. A tour was provided to the interested party. Although interest was initially expressed, no reservation form or payment was submitted to secure the facility. After several follow-up attempts by the auditorium manager, the interested party declined to proceed with the reservation of the Warren Community Center Auditorium.
The City of Warren provides rental opportunities of city facilities, in accordance with established policies and procedures.
