WT to entirely shut down Brooklyn soon? New developments (page 5)

lrkr

That is all poor Ramapo needs. They have enough land off the tax rolls with every Hasid family claiming that their house is a religious institution. They had to close a school this year because the orthodox community votes in blocks to make sure that there is no public school funding (because their kids go to private religous schools) Besides, now I'll have to see more bethelites in the grocery stores, movies and malls!!!

Scarred for life

Well, at least the Bethelites won't be adding any children to the school system!

rebel8

The drop in real estate value is not applicable to every neighborhood in the US--NYC being one of the exceptions, from what I've heard. wts may not lose any potential revenue at all.

Now those Ramapo residents should attend their town hearing to decide upon wts' application to build the commune.

wts spent million$ to buy that property before getting approval to use it for their commune. Is it a normal business procedure to purchase property before zoning has approved the intended use?

Scully

Is it a normal business procedure to purchase property before zoning has approved the intended use?

Usually the municipality would have the zoning established and the by-laws would determine what kind of establishments can be built within certain zones. Zoning tends to evolve as the population grows and/or migrates. For example, the "main street" near to where I live, was all farm land (zoned as "agricultural") about 25 years ago. In the meantime, the municipality planned for expansion, creating residential zones and converting the "main street" to commercial zoning. Once land is zoned as "commercial", it's not difficult to apply for variances to "institutional", even when it involves a house ("residential" zoning) that was built within the original "agricultural" zoning (i.e., "residential" - progress from "agricultural" - within "commercial" zones - equals progress from "residential").

Nearby there were a couple of older homes on adjacent lots in the former "agricultural", current "residential within commercial" zoning that were purchased one at a time by the Muslim community. They used the first house purchased as a place of worship for years before buying the second property. Apparently they more-or-less bullied the owners of the neighbouring house into selling by making the owners' lives miserable with traffic and parking issues and loud five-times-daily prayer sessions (but well within the Muslims' fundamental rights to worship freely, of course!). Once the Muslims had ownership of both homes (which would have drawn property tax revenue had they remained "residences" or "commercial" properties), they promptly demolished the houses and are currently in the process of building the community's very own mini-mosque, on which the Muslim community will pay $0 in property taxes.

It seems a little short-sighted on the part of municipalities to give away so many tax exemptions to "institutional" use. If they want a community to grow, they need to offer incentives to the people who will be taking on the burden of paying for infrastructure and services (roads/police/fire protection, etc) via property taxes instead of to give them to people/institutions who are only looking for a way to avoid paying taxes while simultaneously raking in tons of other peoples' money.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

yknot,

So we have...
A) Terrorist concerns
B) Climate change (rising waters)

Headquarters with it's Better-than-Jesus Governing Badly would have divine protection from terrorist attack. Hojovah would blind the terrorists and they would sink into the East River before touching Brooklyn Heights. In fact, I'm surprised there haven't been more JW spam emails about the divine, invisible, terrorist barrier around Brooklyn and how each member of the GB posesses terrorist repellant powers. The GB is in greater danger when they drive or fly anywhere.

Climate change wouldn't come for decades and would destroy most of Manhattan before engulfing the Brooklyn properties. Armageddy is coming way too soon for rising oceans to force them out of NYC... or is the big A coming a century from now?

B the X

rebel8

Scully, I meant building permit. We have zoning laws here too, but I'd think a facility would get some sort of approval to build before they go and buy a gajillion acres of land. I don't know if this is true as far as NY laws go.

Now the town is having a hearing to determine if they will allow wts to build. I wonder if they could have gone through this process before buying the land. That they might take a hit on, if they need to unload it soon.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

rebel8,

I believe it would depend on local and state laws, as well as the local real estate market and previous zoning. Often, a developer would pay for an "option" from the previous owner. For a predetermined time, the seller wouldn't sell to someone else and the buyer doesn't actually buy the property until they get necessary zoning, permits, and EPA issues figured out. If the developer runs into red tape, he can walk away from the deal, paying only for the "option". In my area, many go with the "option" and then need to check the property for suitable aquafers for ground water quantity and quality, as well as other things that many only think of... too late.

B the X

besty

So what's going to happen to all those Bethelites in some small town on meeting nights? As I understand it, they're spread out to several congregations in New York now.

they could open as many bethel-only KH's as neccesary - it could even be a fulltime assignment just to take care of 'normal' KH duties for the benefit of the rest of the bethelites

or you could have a mega-KH - with the absence of the CBS why not 500 people at a meeting - that size of audience is standard for many churches....

truthsetsonefree

What I don't get is why another facility? Don't they have enough with Walkill and Patterson? These guys just waste money all the time it seems. But they have been saying that all operations are moving tom upstate NY from when I was in. That was coming from bethelites in the know.

Isaac

sir82

What I don't get is why another facility? Don't they have enough with Walkill and Patterson?

I see them more rigidly defining the roles for each location in the future:

Patterson: Education center (Gilead, COs, elders, branch committees, etc.)

Wallkill: Printing center

Ramapo: Administration center

And of course as has been speculated, complete abandonment of Brooklyn.

Having 3 separate locations gives them "backup" locations for personnel in the event of natural disaster or the supposed attack of "Gog of Magog".

WT to entirely shut down Brooklyn soon? New developments

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