Philly must pay CoL Council legal fees - $877K!

[RememberSchiff]

Phila had a chance to settle and gain $500K in building sale, instead they opted not to and pay Cradle of Liberty Council legal fees???

 

http://www.wpxi.com/news/ap/texas/philly-owes-877k-for-boy-scouts-eviction-case/nLY7T/

 

"In 2003, it (Cradle of Liberty Council) enacted its own nondiscrimination policy but was forced to repeal it when the Boy Scouts of America ordered it to conform to national rules. The chapter later enacted a statement that says it doesn't tolerate illegal discrimination."

 

Cradle of Liberty, City of Brotherly Love...how ironic.

 

 

 

 

[Beavah]

Yah, thanks for callin' this up, RememberSchiff. I had lost track of it, and just assumed the city would settle. The law granting attorney's fees on civil right challenges to government actions is pretty clear, eh?

 

From a legal perspective the city's actions were incompetent and foolish. Whether yeh attribute that to "taking a principled stand" or "being intransigent in their government-sponsored discrimination" I reckon is a matter of perspective.

 

It will be interestin' to see if they're willing to waste more tax dollars on an appeal.

 

Sometimes I think when cities lose cases like this the proper thing to do is to bill all the residents directly for the judgment. That would be a good test whether the "principled stand" was really that of the electorate. It might also make citizens pay a bit more attention in the next election.

 

Beavah

 

[JMHawkins]

Sometimes I think when cities lose cases like this the proper thing to do is to bill all the residents directly for the judgment. That would be a good test whether the "principled stand" was really that of the electorate. It might also make citizens pay a bit more attention in the next election.

 

Beavah, the last thing a modern model politician wants is for the voters to get an itemized list of expenses!

 

 

[SeattlePioneer]

I'll bet that the city of Philadelphia has paid off on numerous other such legal claims when sued by minority and homosexual advocates. And done it with a smile.

 

It's quite clear from the comments and actions described in the article that they continue to act in bad faith.

[T2Eagle]

What's not made clear in this report is that the city and Cradle of Liberty had worked out a deal after the trial as RememberSchiff described where the City would sell the property to the scouts for $500,000 and forgiveness of the legal fees.

 

That deal had the support of both the Mayor and reportedly a majority of the council.

 

The problem was that in order to sell a piece of city property the council member whose district it's in has to sponsor the legislation making the sale. That council district also has probaly the largest bloc of LGBT voters in the city. So effectively one council district was able to veto the deal.

 

Similar to things at our national level the ends of the political spectrum trump the desires of the middle.