the things they take from you:.
first they take your childhoodthen they take your familyfinally they take your memorieswe all know that you limit your social interactions so you have few school friends who are not jws.
they openly promote this in their magazines and it's repeated at meetings throughout your formative years.
Yep, you can never doubt the current teachings or you'll get a reputation for being negative, then your dissed. If you hold it in and suffer privately through depression, perhaps trying to drink you way out of it like many witnesses do, they will diss you also.
I don't know of anyone in the congregation that could financially help with a job, house, etc. if things totally went south like the OP. All the window washer, janitors don't have much to offer.
i'm not, even a little bit and i don't understand what the outrage is all about..
Emily Ratajkowsk ......as Austin Powers says, "Good God!"
i continue to puzzle over the future direction the watchtower is taking.
it seems very strange.. let's review: they are selling everything off in brooklyn, raking in huge sums from that real estate and building heavily in a fairly isolated part of upstate ny.. why?.
it may be classified as a country club (legally).
"So you have eight offices for the GB, and yet they are building a complex for 800-1000 people to serve them?"
"Priceless"
i continue to puzzle over the future direction the watchtower is taking.
it seems very strange.. let's review: they are selling everything off in brooklyn, raking in huge sums from that real estate and building heavily in a fairly isolated part of upstate ny.. why?.
it may be classified as a country club (legally).
Narcissistic Supply said, " Yes. The business model seems total whack. They are building monster infrastracture for what?? To adminstrate their world wide real estate laundering???? What product are they selling. Sounds like Enron . Where is the cash flow to support all these gold plated toilets??? "
Interesting that ALL the brothers in the congregation that I used to go to when I told them about the new complex they just look at me and shake their heads back and forth, not up and down. I've had elders say when told about the property purchased, "Why is that necessary?", "What are they going to use that for?"
It seems that the local publishers are struggling to wrap their minds around this, because for most of the brothers the size of the projects that the society is having for themselves doesn't quite add up to the "no education policy", "pioneer, and be poor" policy, the "sacrifice all you've got for gods earthly organization policy", and the "listen, obey, and bend over" policy. It would be interesting to know if the GB have crossed the line of credibility with the flock by such a large project. Of course, they can come back with the "if we build it they will come" attitude, saying they are preparing for a great influx as world conditions worsen and God Calls people to the mountain of Jehovah. I'm expecting a great outflux personally, their gig is up.
It's kind of like the snake oil salesman of old. The first night everyone is buying thinking that the snake oil will cure anything, by the next night, the town has a posse ready to hang the snake oil salesman, and most of the time he is already down the road.
since this topic of protesting assemblies recently came up, i was wondering .
what would be the some of the most proficient and perhaps strongest message.
to place on a placard to show as the people arrived at the venue.
"Shun This, Jerks"
i continue to puzzle over the future direction the watchtower is taking.
it seems very strange.. let's review: they are selling everything off in brooklyn, raking in huge sums from that real estate and building heavily in a fairly isolated part of upstate ny.. why?.
it may be classified as a country club (legally).
So you have eight offices for the GB, and yet they are building a complex for 800-1000 people to serve them?
i'm not, even a little bit and i don't understand what the outrage is all about..
Upset no, I think the highlights showed bad entertainment. Now as far as Bethel goes, this would not be appropriate clothing for a tour of the Bethel Facilities.
what was your wake-up call(s) before you left the jw s organization?
.
Wake up call??? How about the zombie like attitude that existed in the congregation. I never felt like I fit in with many of the congregations. The whole socio/economic/education parameters left me associating with people that I knew I could have better quality friends than the limited number available in the congregation. As they say on Big Bang Theory, your thrown into association with people that have "few options, low goals", and limited education. Many were just loosers all the way around. The last congregation I was in was a nightmare.
i continue to puzzle over the future direction the watchtower is taking.
it seems very strange.. let's review: they are selling everything off in brooklyn, raking in huge sums from that real estate and building heavily in a fairly isolated part of upstate ny.. why?.
it may be classified as a country club (legally).
114,000 sq. meters =1,227,085 square feet. I could be wrong, but the source "Brooklyn Eagle" gives a square footage of 832,000.
Also, there are several existing buildings already on site, " The organization is cleaning existing buildings on the site constructed by International Nickel — a two-story former laboratory and a one-story industrial building — and preparing for future development, Facilities Manager Troy Snyder said." http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091116/NEWS/911160318
" The campus buildings will include a three-to-four-story, 195,000-square-foot office building and place of worship; a three-to-four-story, 137,000-square-foot service building with kitchen, laundry and support functions; four five-story residential structures totaling 400,000 square feet; a two-story 100,000-square-foot maintenance shop; a three-level parking garage; and additional smaller buildings, including a vehicle repair shop (for onsite vehicles), a heating/cooling/generator house and a recreation building." ( http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/217485/1/Watchtowere28099s-Move-to-Warwick-e28098Not-Any-Time-Soone28099)
According to the newspaper The total square footage without the listed smaller buildings is 832,000 square feet, remember that there are several buildings existing on site that are being "cleaned up".
832,000 x $200 per square foot=$166,400,000. Jeff T's estimate, which is sound.
We also have to remember that a quick quide of estimating cost for these types of building is that material and labor are roughly in a relationship of 50/50 to each other. So if the rest of the world can build at $200 a square foot this type of office/residence hotel/ finished, what is the true cost of WTBT$?
Consider Reed Construction data http://www.reedconstructiondata.com/rsmeans/ Reports the U.S.A National Average 4-7 Story Hotel Construction Cost cost with Union Trades, Architects, and General Contractors overhead and profit of $181.76 per square foot.
| Hotel, 4-7 Story Construction Cost Assumptions | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| Cost Estimate (Union Labor) | % of Total | Cost Per SF | Cost |
| Total | $137.17 | $18,518,500 | |
| Contractor Fees (GC,Overhead,Profit) | 25% | $34.29 | $4,629,600 |
| Architectural Fees | 6% | $10.29 | $1,388,900 |
| Total Building Cost | $181.76 | $24,537,000 | |
| Cost Estimate (Open Shop) | % of Total | Cost Per SF | Cost |
| Total | $126.50 | $17,077,000 | |
| Contractor Fees (GC,Overhead,Profit) | 25% | $31.62 | $4,269,300 |
| Architectural Fees | 6% | $9.49 | $1,280,800 |
| Total Building Cost | $167.61 | $22,627,000 | |
Personally I think that even including some expenses of food and shelter incurred with the cost of volunteer labor it would not be a greater cost than running union trades.
Subtract the General Contractors overhead and profit, along with Architectural Fees, your looking at $137 per square foot. $137x 832,000 sq.ft=$113,984,000 U.S. Dollars. Even with a 15% contingency for actual cost to be greater than estimated costs, another $17,097,600, total cost is $131,081,600.
If they just sold their New York City Property for $810 million -$113 million (cost of new building) they are left with $697,000,000. And I don't believe the $810 includes all their property does it?
Bellagio Las Vegas
| 3600 South Las Vegas Boulevard Las Vegas NV United States |
|
|
445920 square meters= 4,799,842 square feet. Cost of Bellagio $1,600,000,000/4,799,842 square feet=$333 per square foot. in 1998 dollars.
At $1.6 billion, the Bellagio was the most expensive hotel ever built when it opened in 1998 on the site of the former Dunes.
MGM Resorts International bought the hotel from Steve Wynn, along with the Mirage and Treasure Island, in 2000 for $6.2 billion. The company has spent almost $500 million since then on additions and renovations.
The Bellagio today has 3,933 rooms, more than 100,000 square feet of casino space and 200,000 square feet of convention space.
($1,600,000,000 / 3933 rooms=$406,000 per room with all the other square footage for resturants, convention space etc.
Even at $406,000 per room the cost of 800 WTBTS rooms at Warwick NY, would be $324,000,000.
Another way to look at it at the 1998 cost of building the Belagio of $333 per square foot, WTBTS's 832,000 square feet x $333 per square foot= $277,056,000.
WTBTS is and does NOT build to the high standard of the most expensive hotel in the world (1998 dollars) even with inflation. Bethel wraps carpet up the walls in the corridors, cheap, crap, cheap crap, cheap crap.
If WTBTS incorporated similar finishes and amenities that the Belagio Hotel in Las Vegas did were talking at the most $277,056,000 to $324,000,000. Watchtower is/are not building to that level of luxury or quality!!!!
Cost of basement style underground parking? The NewPaper also reported that WTBTS, "Most of the 750 parking spaces at the facility would be underground." http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091116/NEWS/911160318 Further, if they are just building garages in what would otherwise be basements floors there is no additional cost structurally.
Below are recent bids awarded for a parking garage at Texas State University that is similar to the size of WTBTS: " Project also includes landscape garden, bus shelters and major pedestrian connections. There was very little room for value engineering given the standards in the Campus Master Plan (Very high Standards). Cement and structural steel costs are through the roof around here. Also, this garage had some (architectural) dressing up done on it."
Total bid: $14.9 million
Garage Portion of bid: about $13.7 million based on an earlier bid
Number of spaces: 721
Floors: 4? one of which is partially below grade.
Cost per space: $19,000
since this topic of protesting assemblies recently came up, i was wondering .
what would be the some of the most proficient and perhaps strongest message.
to place on a placard to show as the people arrived at the venue.
As an organization, Are you really ready for Christ's Return?
