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I don't get it -why the hostility? The BSA went out of their way to proclaim themselves a private group (which they were entirely within their rights to do so). Having done that, I don't see why they should expect the City of Berkeley to pay for their docking fees, any more than the city should pay docking fees for any other yacht club that docks in the Marina.

The city was not paying the Scouts' docking fees. They were waiving the fees in exchange for rocks. I think the city should return all the rocks they've taken.

And what do you mean by saying the BSA "went out of their way to proclaim themselves a private group"? They are a private group. Always have been a private group. I don't think they had to go out of their way to proclaim the obvious. Sounds like you have an agenda.

The city was not paying the Scouts' docking fees. They were waiving the fees in exchange for rocks.

The city was clearly subsidizing the Scouts unless you think you can get dock fees for rocks anywhere else...

And what do you mean by saying the BSA "went out of their way to proclaim themselves a private group"? They are a private group. Always have been a private group. I don't think they had to go out of their way to proclaim the obvious. Sounds like you have an agenda.

Didn't mean anything by the "out of their way"comment other than that when the athiest/gay lawsuits came up, that the Scouts at the point eschewed the idea that they are a public organization and declared themselves private. Many people prior to that time (including myself) thought that the scouts were a public organization - wrongly, but it wasn't something I had given a lot of thought to, even when I was a scout. The athiest/gay suits were predicated on the idea that the Boy Scouts were a public organization. All I meant by that was that they emphasized that they were private. If you think I have an agenda, please state what you think it is instead of making implications...

The BSA is a private organization. Their status as a private organization vs. public accomodation has been litigated in 5 states. In each case, the highest court to rule on the subject has ruled them to be a private organization, invalidating any contradictory findings by a lower court.

It's interesting to compare this situation with that in some public schools. As you might recall, some public schools started to deny local units the right to use their facilities on the basis that the BSA discriminated against homosexuals and atheists, in violation of those schools' non-discrimination policies. In response, Congress added an amendment to the latest education act; schools that did this would from now on lose their federal funding. So, the practice has stopped. OTOH, the schools can charge units the same rates they charge any other not-for-profit (NFP).

It seems to me that the Berkeley City Council has every right to charge Ship 42 the same docking fee as any other NFP. It may very well be that there is no other NFP that owns a boat and pays a docking fee. In which case the upper limit would seem to be what they charge a private party.

This talk of "Breach of Contract" sounds interesting. Was there any kind of agreement that the BSA would get preferential treatment in perpetuity due to providing fill for the marina? There are cases like this all over the country. Very often the BSA has put buildings and other improvements into public facilities in exchange for preferential use of those facilities. Now people decrying the BSA's policies want to remove those privileges, without recognizing that the BSA is owed consideration for what the money, time, and labor they have provided the public.

It's as if they think that since the BSA doesn't allow "avowed" gays or atheists as members, nothing about the BSA is good, and it deserves to have everything it has earned or paid for taken from it, and to be cut off from the public. It is, in fact, not at all far fetched to think that there are deliberate attempts to bleed it dry; the death of a thousand cuts.