Councilman Kelly: Pay Scouts to leave

By Timothy Cwiek
PGN Writer-at-Large
© 2007 Philadelphia Gay News

Councilman-at-Large Jack Kelly (R) won’t pursue a resolution he introduced last week that called for an indefinite extension of time before the local Boy Scouts must vacate their Center City headquarters.

But Kelly said he personally supports a section of the defunct resolution calling for the city to compensate the Scouts for improvements they made to the building over the years.

“It’s only an issue of fairness,” Kelly told PGN this week.

He was planning to formally withdraw his resolution yesterday, but wants both sides to discuss the remuneration issue, he said.

The Scouts erected their headquarters on city land at 22nd and the Parkway in 1928. After completion, the building was turned over to the city, but the Scouts were allowed to remain rent-free unless given a one-year notice.

That eviction notice came in July 2006, when the Fairmount Park Commission told the Scouts to stop banning gays or pay fair-market rent.

The Scouts are balking at the $200,000 rental figure requested by the FPC, citing budgetary constraints.

Kelly said remunerating the Scouts for improvements to the building they’ve made could prevent future problems.

“For instance, if the Scouts put in an air-conditioning system, they could say, ‘We put it in, we’ll rip it out.’ Let them leave the damn thing in; we’ll pay them for it,” he said.

The Scouts have given no indication that they would remove components of the building, such as the air-conditioning system, prior to vacating the premises.

But Stacey Sobel, executive director of Equality Advocates Pennsylvania, said they wouldn’t have the legal right to do so even if they wanted to.

“The building is the property of the city,” she noted.

Sobel strongly opposes any remuneration to the Scouts.

“The Boy Scouts knowingly entered into the arrangement in 1928,” Sobel said. “The ordinance does not call for any remuneration of expenses once the arrangement is ended. That was the deal they made: They would build the building and it would be the property of the city.”

She also pointed out that the Scouts have benefited greatly over the past 79 years by not paying any rent to the city.

“They’ve been using a building for almost 80 years rent-free,” she said. “They’ve already received significant monetary benefits. Leave it at that.”

Stewart Graham, a spokesperson for Councilman-at-Large Frank Rizzo (R) said Rizzo also supports remuneration for the Scouts.

“You’re ending a relationship; there’s a certain fairness element to it,” Graham said. “If they’ve created a value here, that needs to be recognized and compensated. But you’re not going to consider everything they spent to build, maintain and renovate the building over the 80 years.”

Many people think the Scouts pay $1 annual rent for the building under a lease with the city.

But according to city records, there’s never been a lease for the building and no annual payment.

In 1994, the Scouts embarked on a $2.6-million renovation program for the building without any type of lease agreement with the city.

In related news, city spokesperson Terry Phillis said the city’s information office recently received about 295,000 e-mails urging officials to let the Scouts remain in their current headquarters.

The vast majority of the e-mails are believed to be from people who don’t live in Philadelphia.

Timothy Cwiek can be reached at (215) 625-8501 ext. 208.