Girl Scout leadership resorts to RW tactics in bid to sell off summer camps

[brentspeak]

Dig deeper, and you'll likely find the fingerprints of big real estate developers and private equity pulling strings behind council leadership.

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_23331030/sales-camp-sites-throw-girl-scouts-into-turmoil

Sales of camp sites throw Girl Scouts into turmoil

By RYAN J. FOLEY Associated Press
Posted: 05/27/2013 02:55:44 AM PDT
Updated: 05/27/2013 02:59:37 AM PDT

IOWA CITY, Iowa—When it came time to draw up a budget, one of Iowa's regional Girl Scout councils reviewed its programs and made a proposal that would have been unthinkable a generation ago: selling its last four summer camps.

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Nationwide, Girl Scout councils are confronting intense opposition as they sell camps that date back to the 1950s and earlier. Leaders say the properties have become a financial drain at a time when girls are less interested in camp. Defenders insist the camping experience shaped who they are and must be preserved for future generations.

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Pro-camp activists have boycotted cookie drives, held overnight camp-ins outside council offices, filed legal actions and
tried to elect sympathetic volunteers to governing boards.

The other side (leadership councils) has responded with its own aggressive tactics. At public meetings, some Girl Scout councils have hired facilitators to tightly manage the agenda and security guards to watch over protesters. Others have used parliamentary tactics to call protesters out of order.

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In Ohio, police were present to keep protesters off council property during a ceremony last year to mark the closing of Camp Crowell/Hilaka. Opponents have raised $80,000 to pursue a lawsuit, so far unsuccessful, seeking to keep it and others open.

"Democracy has been completely squelched," said volunteer Lynn Richardson of Bedford, Ohio, who recalled how police were at their campouts on the council lawn and parliamentarians have called her out of order. "They will hide behind rules and regulations, but they are shutting us down."

[madaboutharry]

1. This news makes me sad.

It seems they opted for the most radical solution by seeking to sell the campsites. The Girl Scouts and going to the campsites are the happiest memories of my childhood and early teens. It's a pity other generations of girls will not have those great experiences.

[MADem]

2. They need to think outside the pup tent....

If they need money, they should lease the camps to other entities that need a place and space to run fresh air funds or fat camps or what-have-you--that will reduce their debt and pay for the cost to maintain the properties until such time as camping becomes fashionable again. It might also give them some seed money to improve the camps to make them more 21st Century friendly.