by Magnum 27 Replies latest watchtower scandals
Ignoranceisbliss: Miami area got a new style build recently
I wonder whether that's because it made good investment sense. Miami probably presents good opportunity for future sale. I wonder whether they would build one in an area where there wouldn't be much of an opportunity to sell.
Kingdom Halls projects are moving on. Whilst there is absolutely some prevarication by the LDC to push on with some halls I expect we shall see more activity over the coming months.
Part of the slow down has been due to the move from the RBC to LDC. This has been a big organisational change, complicated by the staffing changes at Bethel and the obvious financial backtracking and adjustments. Reading between the lines of conversations I have had I also suspect that the plan to have full time Bethel people running projects has not panned out as expected.
The biggest change has been at Bethel/RTO level. The worldwide design team has been slashed and I mean slashed. Pretty much every Bethel had some kind of renovation or improvement project being worked on. Over 90% of these projects have been canned.
Of course, the upper echelons are spinning the facts with no shame. The impression is that expansion continues, construction moves on and the need for workers and (more importantly) money is greater than ever. I think the comment I saw about the lack of JW.ORG signs on a number of halls used in this months broadcast was on the mark - I too suspect many of these are not quite as new as we are being led to believe. In that vein however, expect to see new halls and showcase RTOs promoted heavily in an attempt to keep momemtum on cash flowing in. As for when Warwick gets finished later this year the fanfare will be huge.
I am near a very large metropolitan area and I only know of one new design LDC hall that's been completed.
Also, the cutbacks are actually a lot more conspicuous now that RBC is out and LDC is in. Why? Because, as hyped by the WTBTS just a year ago, many of the duties formerly carried out by RBC volunteers in their spare time are supposed to now be taken care of by full time LDC people. But.... Many of those are being laid off just as quickly as they were recruited. I know personally multiple LDC couples. One moved across the country and has since been sent home. Another is in limbo, doing paperwork at an assembly hall while they wait to find out if they will even be needed long term.
And believe this, as has been stated by others, JWs are talking. Not all JWs of course. Just the smart and honest ones. Going so far as to question the judgment of the GB hyping up all the construction only to throw the machine into reverse.
In the Netherlands an auditorium that was used for circuit meetings is currently being expanded (existing building overhauled, new building next to it) to create more capacity so it's suitable for conventions as well.
Since currently this auditorium cannot be used, and the only other was already sold, they have to complete it. Renting is expensive, and you can't sell rented buildings (but they may try in future ;-))
For financing this project they sold an other auditorium, and calculated to us the money for renting venues for conventions that would be saved. Those combined more than financed the new building, and then they added a nationwide moneygrab resolution to finance it....
Chelmsford is moving ahead however it may be a while before things ramp up on site again. They have done much of the access roads, site clearance and preparation. They have held off most (maybe all) groundworks due to changing the plans. Many long term volunteers have been released from their assignment.
From what I can tell talking to contacts they are working through changing the designs to take into account the reduction in Bethel staff (-25%) and removal some of the "luxuries" like sports facilities and larger laundry and catering areas.
You can now count on one hand the number of projects the worldwide design team are working on. Warwick and Chelmsford are two of them.
We went from 2 RBC projects a month to nothing to the past year and no talk of future projects.
I think the focus is to throw out a bone (1 project) in the larger cities to give a good impression that things are moving ahead, when in fact there been a HUGE SLOW DOWN!!!
Near here, there is a large property that was purchased for the construction of a new KH, maybe 6 or 7 years ago.
It has sat idle all that time. There was some zoning / permit work going on a few years back, but now nothing.
In our congregation there used to be a dozen or so who would regularly go to RBC projects, probably once every month or 2. Now nothing.
I grant that the changeover from RBC to LDC is a major shift.....but to go from KH projects in a hundred mile radius just about every week or 2, to absolute 0, overnight? Something smells fishy.
