Controversy Continues Over Boy Scouts Deal

A group of prominent Philadelphians have sent a letter to Mayor Nutter asking that he reconsider a proposed legal agreement that would allow the regional Boy Scouts association to buy their Logan Square headquarters from the city.

Among the names on the letter, which attacks the "sweetheart deal," include prominent gay rights activists, lawyers and community leaders. Among them are Sister Mary Scullion of Project H.O.M.E., Mark Segal, the publisher of the Philadelphia Gay News and former mayoral candidate Happy Fernandez.

You can read it here.

The proposal, announced last month, calls for the Boy Scouts group to pay the city $500,000 to buy its 13,000-square-foot headquarters in Logan Square, the focus of a civil-rights dispute that began over the Scouts' national ban on gay members.

The price tag is less than half the appraised value of the building. But the settlement would end an expensive legal fight and the risk that city taxpayers would eventually have to pay the Scouts' legal bills, now approaching $1 million.

The big question in City Council today is if Councilman Darrell Clarke, whose district includes the property, will introduce an ordinance needed for the deal. We'll see if he does so today at the final Council session of the year.