New York Observer article on the Watchtower as a Brooklyn Heights neighbor
by coffee_black 4 Replies latest jw friends
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Gayle
thx, coffeeblack,,when I was at Bethel '69-'74 ,,we got $14/mo,,for even then that wasn't much,, most Bethelites were not eating "out" at all on that,,unless some had families giving $$$,,most of us girls on Monday mornings were hitting the "hoppers" (floor closets where people came back with used clothes and shoes from their congregations). Some did "G-jobs" (outside work on Saturday or an occasional evening, waitering or cleaning) to bring in extra money. But ones weren't suppose to "G-job" but did anyway.
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nugget
moving out should be good for local businesses. It is sad that they didn';t make a bigger impact on the neighbourhood. This is invaluable since if the world headquarters caused such little benefit to their immediate neighbours and they didn't even call on their neighbours with the message then what benefit to they bring and what is the basis for their charitable status?
All those buildings being sold and yet none of the members that worked for free or gave the society their money will see a penny.
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coffee_black
What surprised me in this article was that residents of Brooklyn Heights were never approached with the magazines... Door to door was never practiced in Brooklyn Heights.
The author of the article made the point that here resides the headquarters of the Watchtower, whose followers are known for knocking on doors all over the world, but in their own backyard, none of their neighbors were called on.
Coffee
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factfinder
Regarding the witnesses not knocking on doors in the heights-unless I misread the article I saw mention that the witnesses were co-operating with local authorities to not preach door to door there. Certainly the people living there could approach the witnesses for info or literature if they wanted. The cong I was in does not do door to door preaching during summer months in certain areas during the summer at the request of Police-this makes sense.
The witnesses keep the area clean and safe. And Bethelites have their meals provided for them at Bethel. When liver is served many eat out! But really-where would most bethelites get the money from to eat at fancy resturaunts? Unfair criticism as I see more and more unfair criticism of the WTS and witnesses.
Who knows who will move into the neighbor hood whenever the wts does move out, if indeed they ever do all-together? I'd be glad to have quiet, clean, peaceful neighbors like those Bethelites are.
There are those who hate the wts so much that they jump on any chance to publicly criticize them, they devote their lives to it , it seems. I take with tons of salt what those critics say. They are one sided, unfair and too biased. They are not objective.
I also see often in articles about the WT facilities so many innacuracy's. One I see often is that such writers refer to the office complex as a printing plant while ignoring the 117 Adams street complex which was the printing plant and has nearly twice the sq ft of the office complex. The writer also refers to The Watchtower Magazine as a "newsletter" (The KM is a newsletter) and refers to the societies buildings as "warehouses". Such writers have no clue what the buildings are really used for.
Maybe it is because I have been away from witnesses for so long-6 years now, but I find the excessive criticism very aggrevating.
This site has so much helpful and interesting information and I am glad I found it.
But it is so discouraging to read so many unfounded complaints about the wts and its properties.
Coffee- thank you very much for sharing this aricle!