Video of the La Mesa Ideal Org ruins (YouTube)

[Mister Mike]

Here is a video of California's greatest wreck, the former campus of Coleman College, located at 7380 Parkway Drive.

[Freeminds]

"Unprecedented expansion."

Thanks for sharing this... it's very encouraging.

[AngeloV]

Thanks for the video. Hopefully in the years to come, more videos of abandoned ideal orgs will make the pages of ESMB.

Scio bought a large building in Atlanta, GA some years back and it too has remained empty and abandoned.

http://www.forum.exscn.net/showthrea...hlight=atlanta

[Freeminds]

Can't off you a video, but this is Scientology's "unprecedented expansion" in the northeast of England.



It stood idle, got vandalised, acquired squatters, and then there was another of those mysterious fires in Scientology-owned properties.

Of course, if you're a Hubbardist then it looks like this:



They're still asking for funds, so if you feel like donating a few hundred thousand, be sure to stop by the Sunderland Org. (Be warned, it's only open for about six hours a week, due to lack of staff and lack of publics... but they still "need an Ideal Org.")

[Dulloldfart]

Can't off you a video, but this is Scientology's "unprecedented expansion" in the northeast of England.

Yup. The "Ideal Org" image is not a WWP shoop (I wondered). It's from here, like the text below — http://www.ukotc.org.uk/northumbria.htm:

Northumbria's Ideal Org

Our new Ideal Org for the North East of England takes over from Sunderland Org. It is not situated in the city of Sunderland but in the city of Gateshead and will be known as Northumbria Org.

Northumbria is the area where an entire revival of the United Kingdom's spiritual and cultural fabric emanated from in the 7th Century - and now, from where it will shine once again. Northumbria played a vital role in the UK's spiritual resurgence - and it is the position to take for our new org today: the Church of Scientology Northumbria - the home of spiritual resurgence and cultural wealth (or to be further refined with surveys that are also ongoing).

The photo of the current building pretty much shows the cultural wealth of the CofS.

Paul

[Freeminds]

It's an interesting indicator of the level of unreality within Scientology's remnant that we see a promotional image produced by the CofS and wonder if it was done by somebody from '4chan' as a parody. There really isn't that much difference between the two, now.

By the way, before somebody suggests that the Sunderland Scientology victims are doing a good thing, restoring that old ruin of a building... it should be explained that it was a reasonably serviceable care home at the time of purchase. Then the project stalled due to Scientology's daft approach of beginning projects when they don't have any idea how to fund them to completion... and then it stood empty for years, getting no maintenance and getting broken into. (This report from an 'urban explorer' shows its condition 14 months ago.)

Scientology has ruined a lot of interesting and historic buildings now.

[NoName]

What the hell is going on? It doesn't make sense for the Co$ to buy up buildings and let them go into foreclosure, loose them to tax liens or unpaid fines, or let them get looted and devalued. Everyone talks about how much the Co$ has in reserves (give or take a few hundred mil in legal fees and settlements). If they really haven't been bled dry in courts, why the hell aren't they at least preventing the buildings from LOOSING value?

You know what? I no longer believe the statements about a billion in reserves. I know that the Dwarf is insane and all, but these pictures of Idle Morgue buildings looted, trashed, going to auction, etc. - they just don't make sense. Moreover, I've been around long enough to know that mysterious fires only happen to financially desperate people. People with a billion in reserves don't have mysterious fires.

Edit - financial desperation also squares with what I've been hearing about getting refunds. It used to take a few months. Now you have to be noisy and lawyer up **IF** you want to even come close to seeing a refund.

I strongly suspect that the reserves are much lower than what we've been led to believe, and that we're much further into the end game than we thought. FWIW.

[Mister Mike]

I strongly suspect that the reserves are much lower than what we've been led to believe, and that we're much further into the end game than we thought. FWIW.

Or Slappy is just that much of a cheapass bastard/soulless Hellbeast.

[NoName]

That's certainly possible, but cheap bastards tend to be self-serving. Letting properties get looted and go to the auction block are self-defeating acts.

[Freeminds]

I'm sure that not all of Scientology's "billion dollars" is liquid assets, but money there is. Money in Scientology never flows downhill. That's a fundamental principle. Money is kicked uplines, never to be seen again.

Repayments and refunds are paid out of org income. With no 'fresh meat' nowadays, there simply isn't any income from which to give repayments to former Scientology victims. Like a Ponzi scheme, Scientology continued to look workable while it was in a growth phase. Once the growth slowed to zero, the wheels fell off wee David Miscavige's wagon.

Since Hubbard prohibited flowing money down-lines, the ambitious ideal orgs are unlikely to ever get finished. The few that are completed generally suck a lot of the financial lifeblood out of Scientologists in neighbouring cities: I suspect that they actually reduce the number of practicing Scientologists. If, through herculean efforts, the reg-Gestapo managed to fund the Ideal Org in La Mesa, right through renovations, equipping, opening ceremony and so on... there'd be virtually nobody left to use the facilities.

In that case, Miscavige wins because local Scientologists have paid for a nice shiny new building, transferred ownership to Clearwater, and then failed to use it.

If the Ideal Org project stalls badly, like La Mesa, Jaffa, Gateshead, Chicago, Belfast, Zurich, Manchester, etc., etc... then Miscavige only gets the shell of a building, or perhaps an insurance payout after a mysterious fire, or just the land it was built upon. (Like Mark Twain said, "Buy land - they don't make it anymore.") In any case, he paid out not one red cent for that piece of real estate.

In terms of managing a "religion", Miscavige is a joke... but his scheme for making money during the twilight of Scientology is certainly to be admired.