Mayor Sounds Off At Merion Residents Over Barnes Move

by KYW's Mike Dunn

Mayor Street is accusing Merion residents of hypocrisy, for their latest effort to stop the Barnes Foundation from moving to Philadelphia (see related story).

Mayor Street minced no words in his view of the Merion residents who went back to court last week, trying again to keep the Barnes from leaving their neighborhood:

"These are just people who are litigating almost for litigation's sake."

Street said some of those suing are the same people who battled the Barnes over a whole host of issues:

"In years past, if you didn't know better, you'd believe that they really didn't want the Barnes collection there. They're standing there with meters counting the cars that come in. They did everything they could to restrict access to the collection."

Street's comments came after he signed a bill that allows the city to turn over Parkway land to the Barnes, on which the new museum will be built.