New RBC arrangements/directives

by bud2114 34 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  emy the infidel

  Who holds the deeds on these properties?
• 

  BluesBrother

  I have been out of the elder circle for some years now, but I know that even in my day nothing structural that needed Planning Consent could be undertaken without the involvement of the RBC...certainly nobody would have dreamed of buying land or arranging the sale of a KH without the arrangement being overseen by "Jehovah's appointed expert brothers" - I heard plenty of grumbles about costs in my time too.
• 

  OnTheWayOut

  do you know the REAL reason? BECAUSE THE BORG IS USING OUR FU#KING MONEY TO UPGRADE THE
  PROPERTIES BEFORE THEY SELL THEM FOR A PROFIT!!!!

  While I totally agree with Snakes, there is more to this. Control Control Control is also an issue.
  Keeping the brothers on RBC and their suppliers happy in kickbacks for their share is an issue.

  Case in point- many Halls need just new carpets or a coat of paint somewhere. The RBC gets
  involved often, seeing' thousands of dollars in potential fleecing, then the place might as well get
  a total remodeling. That way, suppliers are kept happy on that job, and will avail themselves of
  other not-as-lucrative jobs for the WTS.

  But mainly, they are making sure everything stays valuable in case they need to sell. They use
  any requests from the locals as a reason to fully investigate their funds and situations- and they are
  keeping notes. I know the RBC has the exact situation on the entire north side of Chicago in hand,
  and they aren't spending any money on more properties, but keep remodeling the halls.

  Adding windows to a windowless hall almost guarantees that it will be one of the next to be sold.
  Just like Brooklyn, why not use the free labor to renovate, then sell years later so the friends don't feel
  used?
• 

  tula

  In the past year...3 KH in this area have been "renovated" for mold problems.

  Two of the halls, I have been in and they looked fine to me. I wasn't sneezing or anything.

  And when they were "done" they looked the same. Maybe some new wallpaper. But none of the halls had deteriorated to show any obvious flaws before the remodel.

  As far as gov. access, there was a program started about 10 years ago. It had to do with churches accepting government grants. Once churches were on grants list for funds it was called a "turnkey" operation...like if gov. needed to use church facility for evacuation center or something, gov. would be given that right.

  And I too would like to know...who really holds title on those buildings?
• 

  jaredg

  BUD....what part of NC? I'm in Raleigh.
• 

  undercover

  Scenerio number 5 sounds like what happened to my old congregation (also in NC) sometime I after I became inactive. I don't know if the RBC got involved but the congregation (one of three sharing a current hall) found land, bought it, and was preparing to go to the Society for a loan and build and then everything came to an abrupt halt. Nothing's been done since.
• 

  tula

  must again be renovated and the official occupancy lowered because of the new homeland security rules enacted after the 9/11 attacks. We were told that any building with an official occupancy of 250 or more could be arbitrarily taken over by the authorities and used as a command center if a state of emergency was declared. We were also told that all KHs are being reviewed to make sure they have an occupancy of 249 or less.

  What exactly do they do to "downsize" the hall?

  Take out a couple of rows of pews?

  Or is occupancy according to square footage?

  How do they "shrink" a hall?
• 

  greendawn

  Welcome bud, it looks like the WTS is trying to make some extra cash from the local dubs if as you say they do the same same jobs at a much higher cost than they would.
  
  If they take the KH title deeds after the local dubs pay for everything (land, materials, labour, loans) in their construction then they are capable of doing anything.
• 

  startingover

  If all of this is true, this could be an interesting way to have a negative effect on the JW's. The organization has been proud of promoting janitorial work in order to pioneer, etc. so this has created an organization who pinches their pennies. If the above related stories are taking place, this could have a huge negative effect. My memories are that the RBC thing developed to save money, so when the word gets out that it's costing them more instead of less and the society requires the use of the RBC, I think there's trouble on their doorstep.
• 

  logic

  I'm glad to see more and more examples of this rbc crap . I've known for years that this ripoff has been going on. I know alot of people in different congretions as I have lived in this area for 45 years. I did my own research and questions on the sly. These contractors doing these remodels not only get paid , they charge outrageous prices. I have worked as a commercial construction estimator, and have many friends in the same buisness. I have done my own estimates, and had my friends look over these prices. We all agreed that these are ripoff prices. And think of all the volunteer workers these contractors use.
  For all you jws still going you need to wake up and stop giving your money to make these so called brother contractors who are ripping you off rich. Any good contractor will tell you that need more that one bid , if you just have one person giving you a price you have no competion. It is like the fox guarding the hen house.

  I would like to see a section on this site that deals only with this subject just to keep it going. I think that the rbc acting like a gastapo will be the actual downfall of the wts, but that is just my opinion.

  I am sure there many, many more stories like these.

  Oh, I forgot that they also get fed free.