Report on Jacksonville losing WT convention

by expatbrit 36 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Carmel

  OrangeB....here's coughing at ya kid! Hope you got lots of alkazeltzer plus!!!

  carmel with the summer crud
• 

  JWD

  All the info about conventions is interesting.
  Here in Japan they always give little pep talks during the
  conventions to the brothers telling them to donate and help
  cover the expenses.There is never any reporting on how the actual
  costs worked out.Some years back one sister,who we know well,worked
  in accounting for a large convention in Kobe.When the convention was
  over they came out about $60,000 IN THE BLACK.ALL the money was immediately carted off to the Japan Bethel in Ebina and NO report
  was ever made to the local brothers as to how the finances turned
  out.It seems that all throughout Japan it is standard procedure to
  give the impression that expenses are barely being met and then
  suck up as much in donations as possible while never giving account
  regarding how the actual figures turned out. Is that the way it is
  everywhere? JWD
• 

  Had Enough

  Hello all:

  I went to teejay's recommended site of the newspaper article on this subject. I found this interesting:
  

  In addition," he said, "the entire cost of the rental for the facilities was being given back to them [Watchtower] through a grant from the city's Tourist Development Council."

  Now does this grant, that would be given to the WTS, mean that this savings would be passed on to the convention-goers? or would they be told as usual in the financial report reading, that "they were in the red at that moment and trusted the brothers' contributions, by the end of the convention, would cover their expenses for this facility".?

  Don't we all get that same "report" at assemblies?

  I just can't fatham all this drivel we all swallowed, nodding our heads in approval as they read this stuff from the platform.

  Had Enough (and better log out now for awhile before my blood pressure goes beyond the point of no return)
• 

  expatbrit

  Here's another follow up article, with some naff hypocritical comments by the WT guy.

  From http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/060601/bus_6362187.html

  City takes hit by losing two major conventions

  By Moshay Simpson
  Times-Union business writer

  Just when the conventions and tourism community was looking to pick up a full head of steam with the arrival of the Adam's Mark hotel in March, two major conventions are making tracks out of town.

  The Watchtower Society of the Jehovah's Witnesses and Cheerleaders of America left the city for Tampa and Orlando, respectively. The departures are a multi-million-dollar hit to the local economy.

  The Watchtower Society, which has met in Jacksonville for the past 20 years, could not see eye-to-eye with the Jacksonville Coliseum management over this year's rent. The Cheerleaders of America left for spatial reasons.

  The cheerleading organization, which brought 6,000 cheerleaders in March, told the convention bureau that the Prime Osborn Convention Center could no longer suit its needs after 12 years, said Kitty Ratcliffe, director of the Jacksonville & the Beaches, Florida Conventions & Visitors Bureau.

  "Both of those are high-impact conventions," Ratcliffe said. "That loss is going to be felt keenly downtown."

  Ratcliffe said despite the bureau's best efforts to keep Watchtower in town, the group left because SMG, the Coliseum's management company, raised prices for parking, cleaning and police traffic monitoring by $19,000.

  The Jacksonville Tourism Development Council was willing to foot that bill to keep the convention in town, as well as pick up the Coliseum's $18,000 rent, she said.

  "We have to be economical," said Gerald Grizzle, who organizes Watchtower's 189 national conventions. "We can't pay a lot for the building."

  Bob Downey, general manager of SMG, said the Watchtower group has been paying far below market value, compared to other religious groups, such as Promise Keepers, which is here this weekend, and Word of Jesus Christ, which is coming in August.

  Promise Keepers will bring 19,000 conventioneers to the Coliseum over two days, he said.

  "It's not our job to subsidize one group over another," Downey said.

  According to Watchtower estimates, the organization brought more than 16,000 people to the city and generated about $5 million in revenue for local businesses in 2000.

  Ultimately, Grizzle said, they left the city on principle. He said they would consider returning if the prices were reduced. The loss of the Watchtower convention, which spans two weekends in July and draws 16,000 people, is especially painful to hotels downtown.

  "July and August are the slowest times of the year." John Remmer, Omni hotel general manager, said. "When you lose a group like [Watchtower], I don't know what you do."

  Remmer said the convention was a lock to fill 700 rooms at his hotel.

  The conventions bureau estimates the Watchtower convention generated $1 million in direct spending on hotels and restaurants, while the cheerleading event brought $2.7 million in direct expenditures to the city.

  Ratcliffe said the bureau is working on getting another cheer group into the vacated March slot to offset Cheerleaders of America's departure but has nothing to fill in July.

  The city will not be able to get Watchtower back for at least two years, she said. Cheerleaders of America back will not return until a larger convention center is built.

  A call to the cheerleader organization was not returned yesterday.
• 

  Seeker

  As Had Enough said, the part of the article that really got me focused was the part that said the WTS was getting a grant to reimburse them for the rent of the center. Really? What does that mean in actuality? That the center was no cost? That can't be right, or else they would have taken the offer. There must be more to this story, and I'd like to know.

  As for announcements about contributions, I long ago (while still a JW) figured out that scam. In a two-day assembly, they would have a little announcement at the beginning of the Sunday afternoon session. The brother in charge of the assembly accounts would stroll out and tell us how horribly behind they were, but that they felt sure our contributions through the rest of the day would make up the difference.

  When I spoke to brothers who worked in that department, I found out that this preliminary total did not include Sunday's contributions yet. Remember, this was back when food service was the main money-maker, so to not include the Sunday lunch receipts was to take a big hit financially. Of course they had a shortfall at this stage!

  From speaking to these brothers, I learned that they always got enough to cover costs as well as send money to Brooklyn. They knew they would cover costs every time. Yet inevitably the brother would stroll out on stage and report about their catastrophic shortfall, all while knowing that the Sunday lunch period and after the session period would easily make up the difference.

  It seemed to me then to be a way to pump the friends for money. It still does.
• 

  Roamingfeline

  I don't see it. When it's in your town, you don't have to travel but everybody else does. When it's in another town, you have to travel but the people who live there don't. Sending thousands of Jacksonvillians to Tampa also means thousands of Tampons won't have to travel. It balances out.

  Traveling TAMPONS eh, Comf? I was just about to fall asleep over my keyboard when I read that statement. The visual it created woke me back up!

  RCat
• 

  MadApostate

  Tie these these threads together:

  . http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.asp?id=16702&site=3