Two advocacy groups and a local businessman have sent new salvos to the city on the issue of the Boy Scouts occupying a city building rent-free, calling for a quick, lawful resolution.
Local philanthropist and businessman Mel Heifetz has made a new offer of $2 million to purchase the controversial property occupied by a local Boy Scouts of America council — if that’s what it takes to outbid any other offer for the property.
The BSA Cradle of Liberty Council is headquartered on public property at 231-251 N. 22nd St., even though it refuses to accept participants who are gay, atheist or agnostic.
Since those persons are protected by local antibias laws, the city tried to evict the Scouts — but the eviction process has been mired in litigation since 2008.
In 2010, the Nutter administration tried to settle the litigation by agreeing to sell the property to the Scouts for $500,000 — a fraction of the property’s estimated value.
If they purchase the parcel, the Scouts would be on private property. Thus, they would be able to set their own membership standards without violating local laws.
The deal, however, sparked an outcry by LGBTs and their allies, who said it would pave the way for other discriminators to buy or lease city property at a reduced rate.
Heifetz made his latest offer to purchase the property in a Jan. 17 letter to City Solicitor Shelley R. Smith.
He also renewed his previous offer of $1.5 million for the property — regardless of whether there’s a counteroffer to match — or $1 million plus payment of any legal fees assessed against the city due to its prior efforts to evict the Scouts.
Smith has rejected both of Heifetz’s previous offers, noting that an agreement of sale already has been reached with the Scouts.
Smith couldn’t be reached for comment on Heifetz’s latest offer.
William H. Ewing, an attorney for Heifetz who sent the letter to Smith, said he couldn’t predict what Heifetz might do if a counteroffer exceeds $2 million.
City Council President Darrell L. Clarke, who introduced a bill in 2010 to enable the property’s sale to the Scouts, couldn’t be reached for comment on Heifetz’s latest offer.
Clarke’s bill died in committee last year, but it remains unclear if he’ll reintroduce similar legislation this year.
The Heifetz letter also states that he’ll donate the property to a nonprofit group that doesn’t discriminate, and he’ll preserve the building’s “height and footprint,” in deference to neighbors’ concerns about over-development.
In June 2010, a federal jury ruled that the city violated the Scouts’ constitutional rights when allegedly asking them to renounce the national BSA’s antigay policy to avoid eviction.
U.S. District Judge Ronald L. Buckwalter, who presided over the trial, said the jury’s ruling means the city has the right to evict the Scouts — but only if it does so in a constitutional manner.
However, the Scouts claim that the city owes them about $960,000 in legal fees — a claim that Buckwalter hasn’t yet ruled on. The Scouts say they’ll forgive the legal fees if they can purchase the property at a reduced rate.
The Heifetz letter specifies a closing date of April 30, 2013, for his purchase of the property to give the city ample time to once again initiate eviction proceedings against the Scouts.
“Judge Buckwalter specifically stated that the city has the right to give one-year’s notice to terminate the lease for a legitimate reason, such as the potential to sell this unneeded parcel of city-owned property to help cope with its financial straits,” the letter states.
Also this month, both Lambda Legal and the ACLU of Greater Philadelphia sent letters to the city advocating a public, market-rate sale of the building.
This week, Thomas W. Ude Jr., senior staff attorney with Lambda Legal, sent city officials a letter expressing concern about the amount of time that’s transpired while discrimination continues on the property.
“While Lambda doesn’t recommend a specific course of action, an open, competitive and public process for any sale of the property would be one way of ending the subsidy,” Ude told PGN. “Every day that passes is another day that the city of Philadelphia continues a subsidy that it long ago decided to end.”
The ACLU of Greater Philadelphia last week sent a letter to all members of City Council urging them to reject any “sweetheart sale” the Nutter administration might again propose to settle the Scouts litigation.
The Jan. 13 letter urges city officials not to sell the property at a reduced rate to any organization that discriminates against individuals protected by the city’s Fair Practices Ordinance.
“Selling to the lowest bidder is offensive to the taxpayers of Philadelphia, at a time of great financial and budgetary need,” the letter states. “Philadelphians simply should not subsidize discrimination.”
The ACLU letter also states that any legislation introduced in City Council enabling the property’s sale must be referred to City Council’s Committee of the Whole — comprised of all 17 council members.
The property is part of Fairmount Park and, under City Council’s internal rules, any legislation enabling the sale of park property must be referred to that committee, the letter states.
According to City Council’s website, 12 members of the committee — not a simple majority of nine — must approve a bill enabling the sale of park property before it can be given final consideration.
If such a bill reaches City Council for final consideration, it would only need a simple majority of nine votes to pass, according to City Council’s website.
Getting 12 members to support a reduced-rate property sale to the Scouts may be problematic, because at least seven Council members have opposed such a transaction.
Those Council members include Cindy Bass, W. Wilson Goode Jr., Bill Green, Bill Greenlee, Kenyatta Johnson, Jim Kenney and Blondell Reynolds-Brown.
Mark McDonald, a spokesperson for Nutter, had no comment on whether the Nutter administration considers the property as part of Fairmount Park.
He also had no comment on Heifetz’s latest offer.
City Councilperson Bill Green expressed support for the ACLU’s position that the property is part of Fairmount Park.
“The land surrounding the building on the 231-251 N. 22nd St. parcel arguably is outdoor park or recreation land that could be subject to the special disposition procedures outlined in City Council’s rules,” Green stated in an email.
City Councilperson Bill Greenlee also said he considers the property to be part of Fairmount Park.
Greenlee said he would like the Scouts to vacate the premises as soon as possible, because they exclude gay youths.
“If the Scouts were doing that to Jewish kids, or Catholic kids, or Puerto Rican kids, we wouldn’t stand for it,” Greenlee told PGN. “Why should it be any different for gay kids?”
Greenlee added: “I’m not an attorney, but my understanding is that it’s city property. We have the right to control our own property.”
If the property is sold to an entity or person other than the Scouts, Greenlee said, he wouldn’t oppose using a portion of the proceeds to settle the Scouts’ litigation.
“That would be fine, if people would be happy with that,” he said. “Why would I oppose something that makes everyone happy?”
In legal papers, the Scouts maintain they have a right to exclude gays from the property because of a 2000 U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing the Scouts to set their own membership standards.
Advocates for the LGBT community, however, point to a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision reinforcing the right of governments to condition subsidies on compliance with antibias rules.
Tim Cwiek can be reached at [email protected].