How? The city doesn’t have to fund youth organizations that provide a clear purpose and build character in youth. Can you imagine how much it would cost taxpayers to fund an organization the size of BSA and have the same accomplishments and achievements the BSA has had?
It’s not even close. The gov’t, any gov’t couldn’t do it in a million years. You know why? Volunteers who actually give a good damn about the youth of this country.
SZ
I agree, but a few clarifying points:
1) These are individual benefits even more than they are for the city. I cannot imagine the original agreement in 1928 to have been, "OK, we'll let you build your offices here and stay for $1 a year, and in exchange you give us some leaders." I'm looking at this issue from a more step-by-step, concrete, and less abstract POV.
2) The BSA is not the only organization, especially in a city the size of Philadelphia, that builds character. Do the others also get similar breaks?
3) Does every Boy Scout mature into an adult with purpose and character? If a former scout commits a vicious crime as an adult, does that take anything away from the scouts? That's why I tend to boil groups down to the individuals that make them up, as everyone's different in some way.
Sorry to ramble, but I'm on your side here. I want the BSA to be treated fairly by the government...and by "fairly" I mean left alone. To be left alone, they'll have to wean themselves off every government benefit they currently receive. If that means a one-time purchase of the land, at fair market price, which they will then own FOREVER, so be it. Gays have nothing to do with this...the government does.