Boy Scouts To Vacate Philly Home Under Settlement
By Tim Jimenez
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — A five-year court battle between the city of Philadelphia and the local boy scout chapter, The Cradle of Liberty Council, has been settled. Now, the scouts will be leaving their city headquarters they've been in since 1928.
Mayor Michael Nutter's office said Friday the Boy Scouts Cradle of Liberty Council staff will leave its downtown headquarters by June 30 and the retail store in the building will close by Oct. 31.
Attorney Jason Gosselin represents the Cradle of Liberty Council and says they're happy to settle.
"At the end of the day, the scouts are not about a building, they're about serving kids in the activities of scouting. That's what they want to focus on and they were very pleased to be able to resolve this dispute," said Gosselin. "In return, the city will be paying Cradle of Liberty $825,000 as compensation for capital improvements that have been made to the building over the years."
Gosselin says the scouts now plan on finding new headquarters in the city.
They scouts sued the city in 2008 for threatening eviction from their city-owned building at 22nd and Winter off the Ben Franklin Parkway because of the national scouts policy against gays. According to the deal reached, the scouts will leave the building in stages this year.
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