From our Special Correspondent in the Holy Land.
It's a shame so few are fluent in Hebrew. Still, I forward below a link to an Israeli web-site that gives all theatre and musical performances in Israel and option to purchase tickets. The site is called "habama", meaning "the stage".
And now we have a new theatre hall in Israel, the "Alhambra". Sounds familiar maybe? Yes, it's the name of the historical building which is now the "Ideal Org" of Tel Aviv.
David Miscavige purchased this building for a whopping $6.5 mill of our money, that's what the fundraisers told us. Then wasted another estimated $12-15 mill of our money to renovate it. The true number they are ashamed to disclose.
In August 2012 they gave us the "Grand Opening" with Miscavige in person. At a staff-only meeting he promised all staff they would go Clear within 2 years. Easy for him to promise, he won't be around to answer up why his promises are never kept. Not a single Clear made in the 8 months since.
What's more, in the recent "Scientology News" mag, edition 55 for the 2013 New Year, Corporate Scientology proudly announces they've had 4,575 new public in the Tel Aviv Org since opening. Just one more lie piled up on the heap. Who cares? They're all in apathy by now.
We've spoken to quite a few people who've been inside the Alhambra. It's very posh, looks extravagant yet cold, unpleasant, bizarre, no one to talk to. Lots of security and empty. "Cold and empty" we have heard repeatedly.
At a recent Graduation just 6 public attended.
So how do they pay the bills? The answer is here at this site habama. Rent the org out for performances and events. On May 10th, a Vivaldi concert with Sergei Stadler. On June 1st, "Dixieland Jazz" and on July 5th, a "Las Vegas Musical".
If you can't make ends meet doing Scientology, anything else goes.
Many thanks to Ronn Stacy for providing a translated snippet of the page:
Hey I’m not really sure what all the fuss is about the money. Buying a building is expensive, and its going to be in the millions wherever you go. But now we actually OWN a building, and can start fully applying green on white, which is impossible in a non ideal org setting. The tech works, and we need to get it out to the public. We need good buildings to do that. There is nothing fishy going on with money here.
Yeah, right.
There is no such thing as an Ideal Org “setting.” This is a creation of the fertile imagination of Chairman of the Blind who leads the blind.
You have bought the bs hook, line and sinker.
As a self-proclaimed green on white man, I suggest you re-read the Ideal Org PL again and see what mention it makes of “settings” for an Ideal Org….
There are now plenty of “Ideal Org settings” but they contain NO ORGS.
See the latest posting on Phoenix.
Or go visit whatever your local “IDeal Org” is.
Come back with a report on what you find….
Right on AQuamarine.
I meant “the” dwarf’s ideal scene, sorry. And, btw, I would love to be disagreed with about this 🙂
Sorry AQuamarine but I agree with you 100%.
Aeolus,
I definitely and very clearly see the same thing as re the transition from income from Scn Services to real estate income. These Ideal Morgues will all soon be promoted as halls for all kinds of humanitarian-type community events, all under the guise of helping people. Events where human rights are addressed and debated, any and all decent causes, and generous political donations to the local politicians will be made. Class V orgs will deliver basic courses to whoever shows up. These places will be effectually, “community centers”, and there will be seminars on the usual issues which concern families, i.e. drugs, crime, parenting, etc. The bottom line is there will be no anxiety about making it all profitable because the orgs, once “Ideal” will have “proof” that they actually do service the community, so property taxes won’t be an issue, and he’ll charge each insolvent org rent which of course they will be unable to pay, along with the utilities, so the dwarf will need to pay those, and then he gets to make the staff wrong for not making a go of things with Scientology, while at the same time he keeps them off post complying with his continual cross orders, fundraising for one thing or another. Expensive real estate unearned, no need to clear people or train auditors, and staff made continually wrong: pretty much to dwarf’s ideal scene.
It’s become patently obvious that the Runt in a Tux doesn’t understand the ‘business’ of clearing Thetans because none of his products or statistics trend in that direction. However, he does seem to have a tenuous grasp of the business of real estate, as long as it’s not his own money on the line.
People are messy, they make demands, they create problems, and DM doesn’t understand them or trust them. In fact, he’s pretty sure they all hate him. MEST buildings are different. They are much more predictable, and they are hardly ever out to get him. He likes buildings, especially ones that are better than yours.
What we are seeing in Tel Aviv and Spanish Lake is the transition of a business which used to get its income from Scientology services to one that gets its income from real estate. I predict we will soon see this renting of space as a standard operating basis in Orgs all over the planet.
We have to give David credit. There is a sucker born every minute and he exists in seconds. Cha Ching Cha Ching! Oh Oh who has the most MONEY???? You win Dave. Can we move it along now?
In most orgs Fp meetings go like this:
Gross income: 3000
Corrected gross income: after legal, refunds commissions etc- minus 80000
Available for spending – not a dime.
Expenses
Rent ouch
Electric : Ow
Phone bill: Yowser
Everything else: sorry.
Ok guys- who wants to go first, what about you Fred, how much is in your personal checking accounts. We have to pay something or they will send a mission and the first step will be to declare us and force our families to disconnect from us So dig deep guys.
There are a several interesting theories about DMs real end game with all of his acquisition of real estate. Personally, I don’t believe he has or has ever had an end game. I think he’s been flying by the seat of his pants for quite a while now, doing whatever he can for as long as he can to keep up the facade of being the Great and Powerful OZ. Frankly, I don’t think he knows at any given time whether to s***t or wind his watch. I have no data, btw; this is just my own hunch. If its correct, then, when everything collapses, if its within his lifetime he’ll have lots of leverage against his attackers. He will have to be dealt with, because he alone controls the IAS money, right? and he is “Int Landlord” – correct? Talk about deep pockets. Everyone will be suing this guy. That’s his “end game”, the only one (pun intended) that he can really see. IMHO.
I wonder when they will start setting aside money from their FPs to buy lotto tickets? It wouldn’t surprise me if they do it already.
Have you ever been to an FP meeting in a Class V org?
In most places they don’t have money to set aside to buy paper and pens for auditing….
Never, but I have heard of. I, however, was on several FP meeting at a CLO and sometimes we had the same issue. Just imagine, sometimes the assignment to feed the crew was as little as 300 USD, few years later I learned the amount of money David gets for his meals. . . I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Certainly true, Mike. In my former Class V org we almost never had enough money in the FP to pay Management (and I do use that term with strong sarcasm), org bills, staff pay, promotion and basics like toilet paper and admin supplies. The staff routinely contributed their own dollars for copy money or cups for drinking water and coffee. And many times a year, the more affluent staff who had other sources of income or willing spouses would kick in funds to pay phone, electric or rent. This was back in the 80s and 90s when orgs were actually making far more income than they are now.
I’ll start my comment by acknowledging the old statistician’s joke that while one data point is an anecdote, two data points is a trend. 🙂
Still, reading this post right after reading the post about how the Applied Scholastics International Headquarters is being rented out to the Nation of Islam for “Camp Kiswah” leads me to question whether the Church of Scientology could possibly be having a cash-flow problem. I simply don’t recall the COS having a history of renting out their premises to other groups for cash. Yes, the Church would sometimes loan use of their premises for PR purposes or to forge some alliance. I do not, however, recall the COS renting its premises for cash. Could the COS really be tight on money right now?
Sounds to me that Miscaviage has some other plans with his continuing on the Mest level. Getting to be known through the art and their councils by using is staff. Having necessary accommodations for the people with money who he will then try to control by being needed and wanted with the right place. Such nice people they are, huh, with fabulous buildings they let us use? I don’t think he gives a dam about clearing anyone, just more insidiousness from this organization.
Either they will be Clear in 2 years or they need to be declared. Obviously.
With the competition of the Dror Center around the corner it’s no wonder.
How sad this is. “Cold and empty”.
Well, the Israelis, in my experience, are a practical people with plenty of common sense, and Scientology is not a religion in Israel, so Tel Aviv RCSers rent out their empty org and pay their bills. I for one, can’t wait for this to catch on with RCS Ideal Morgues here in the US. Should be a hoot.
For those of you readers who met or worked under LRH, can you imagine HIS reaction to this financial expediency? I never had the privilege of association with him but I’ve read enough Green-On-White to be able to mock up the blistering HCOPL that would come flying off his lines at this news.
Curious, does anyone know how many are on staff there? JohnP, in the lovely analyses that you do, have you ever figured out the square footage to staff ratio? That would be an effective graphics table listing all of the orgs: Building Price / Renovation Dollars / Square Footage / Staff # or # of Auditors. What a story that would tell!
PTBA, for a “consulting service” firm like the Scientology organization, square feet per employee is not necessarily a useful metric. I am sure that a space planner looking to lease an office building for a new division will look at a general “rule of thumb” number for the amount of square feet per employee to get an idea of how big a floor plate they would want. But I don’t think that number would really tell you much about the operating efficiency of the business. Also, in the case of Ideal Orgs, I think the number would fluctuate wildly based on peculiarities of the individual building — I’m going to guess that because the Tel Aviv org is renting itself out for theater-style events that even if it were successful, the large footprint of the auditorium would make the square feet/employee number look far less impressive than, say, the New York org.
Retailers typically use a sales/square foot metric as a way to look at store efficiency since real estate is a fixed cost (the same whether you sell a lot or a little product), and when things are going badly it eats up your profit faster and faster. So that’s one of the things my fellow capitalists who invest in retailers’ stocks watch like hawks. It has proven to be extremely useful over the years.
I would suggest a useful number for Scientology is dollars of sales (“gross income” they call it) per employee. Microsoft does about $700,000 sales per employee every year and is one of the most profitable companies in existence. Based on some articles that Mike has done previously, Scientology does perhaps $10,000 in sales per employee per year in the orgs, but it makes that up with IAS donations, Flag services Narconon and a few other things. But the core business is pretty crappy. Even at $50 per week for staff, it’s a wonder that the orgs manage to stay financially solvent. If you paid people decently and tried to get revenue up to the level of a service business like a hair salon, with, say $100,000 per person per year, you could be a lot more profitable paying a lot better than Scientology does because you would have a motivated employee instead of a bunch of clueless drones.
Sorry for the spelling error…typing too fast.
Pardon my ignorance on the subject but how can Miscavige give an assurance that staff or any PC for that matter will go clear within a certain time frame ? I would assume all cases are different and a statement like that would be irresponsible at best especially when you consider he is addressing trained auditors.
Flag’s latest magazine has an ad as follows:
4 weeks
12 intensives
ARC STRAIGHTWIRE TO CLEAR!
or NED CASE COMPLETION!
In the world of Corporate Scientology false stats and false promises are the order of the day…
Not to mention the Tech Degrade “Boasting as to speed of delivery….”
A yes “Source” mag.
Which has become a font of Tech Degrades.
Bragging about their speed of delivery etc.
If only they had a clue.
Lets see, 12 intensives in 4 weeks, if my math is correct this morning, Jesus that’s 37.5 hours of auditing per week, minus CSing, say 5 hours, even if divided by 7 days, that’s receiving on average over 4 1/2 hours of 3 swing auditing every day for 4 straight weeks… 😮 Scary.
By the way, isn’t this “boasting as to speed of delivery”? I seem to recall LRH had something to say about that.
Of course — but the only criteria is if it persuades people to pay. That is the FIRST POLICY of the RCS.
This is beyond gross. What a crimial. Karma, he is calling you! When are you coming to see him?
Love your humore Mike! Checking in daily!
“By the way, isn’t this “boasting as to speed of delivery”? I seem to recall LRH had something to say about that.”
This is an example of an aspect of LRH writings that drives me batty. He will write one place one thing and completely contradict himself somewhere else. Yes, he talked about “boasting as to speed of delivery” but they he came out with the LRH ED , “From Clear to Eternity” which is likely what the Flag promo is based on. I swear, it seems you can always find something LRH said to prop up or attack just about any viewpoint. Sometimes I wish he had just written down the exact steps of the tech, kept his dang opinions to himself and let the results speak for themselves. Sigh.
Kevin — it sure would have made things simpler!
An honest assessment of the big picture just based on observable facts shows that much of the tech is proven workable and DOES get results. Much of everything else (ie primarily policy and administrative/promotional/financial writings) just cannot be said to produce any uniform results. The justification that it works when it is applied doesnt really hold water after 50 years. There are no large, steadily expanding, flourishing Scientology organizations anywhere on earth. And after 50 years, if the administrative policies are just incapable of being implemented and succeedin on a routine basis, then I would have to conclude they are a failure. Doesnt mean there is no amazing insight in the Data Series or many other references — but it is simply not a subject that has proven results. Period. And nobody can point to anything otherwise (maybe some short term successful orgs, but always a VERY small minority of all the orgs on earth).
See Marty’s new blog post of today.
My conclusion is that there are aspects of the auditing tech, ethics tech and admin tech that are very workable and aspects that aren’t so much, if at all. You could say the same about Scientologists. Many are awesome people, some not so much.
What you said Kevin.
Mike,
“The justification that it works when it is applied doesn’t really hold water after 50 years”
I wholeheartedly agree. How long does the church continue to flog this dead horse before they come to the ultimate conclusion – “it just doesn’t work”. I feel the OECs and Mgmt Services should be vetted and distilled down to a conceptual, philosophic body of work. Lose all the micro-management stuff, and stick to core concepts and theories. Leave it up to the staff member or exec on how those concepts will be implemented. Strict adherence to policy results in robotic terminals who are “doing what Ron said to do”, where’s the create in that? Where is the individual’s contribution and ingenuity?
Good managers observe, evaluate and act. Great managers operate at a conceptual level and are very creative when it comes to problem solving. They draw on a wide range of sources and adopt new ideas and experiment. Try and do that in Scn org…I dare ya.
Anyway, my 2 cents.
Statpush said: “How long does the church continue to flog this dead horse before they come to the ultimate conclusion – ‘it just doesn’t work'”.
What doesn’t work? The major programs being pushed by the church for years and years are contrary to the policy anyway. For the most part, they aren’t even up to the point of applying the policy that they have, much less observe whether it works or not.
In other words, how would anyone ever observe whether something works or not if, not only are they not applying it, but they think they are applying it when they are not? The only thing worse than being blind is thinking that you see when you don’t.
I do agree however, with the rest of your comment. Good points. I think anyone who has ever had any decent amount of success in using the admin tech has done it in a way that aligns with what you have said here.
Hey Dave,
Don’t get me wrong, I think there is real value in the Green vols, some real gems. I just don’t think it is the be-all, end-all. I agree, the programs pushed by upper management are absurd (if they are still like they were when I was on staff). I fondly recall 16 page programs with orders like “Contact your entire field and get them started on the Free FSM Course” – I mean really. For decades now programs are simply an admin exercise, the “product” is a CR and paperwork.
Regarding the blind: this is probably the common denominator to all that is wrong with the church. I stopped looking and started believing, not overnight, but over a couple of decades.
BTW, I’ve read your entire blog in one sitting 🙂 Ranks up there with one of the best.