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West Valley Mission Fail

By 96 Comments

Here is the scientology mission in the Valley. The hotbed of a scientology on planet earth.

The photo he used is no doubt putting their best foot forward.

A corner of a room with an empty table with two chairs and a bookshelf. Clearly it’s hopping and popping out there in the West Valley!

Now take a look at the actual location. In the back of an industrial park without even a sign.

Let’s not forget, every ideal org is supposed to be opening missions and groups around them at a rapid rate. All orgs are supposed to have a minimum of 10 missions, Ideal Orgs are supposed to be opening missions which then turn into orgs! That has not happened in half a century….

Clearly ScientologyTV is driving the masses of curious people in.

If this is the level of interest in scientology in Southern California, it gives you some idea of what it’s like in Des Moines.

Comments

  1. I got a tip that the mission had its own premises about 10 years ago, which turned out to have been in a typical two-story strip mall building, though they did have a first floor space – a lot of missions that at least have their own premises, are in the cheaper second story walk-ups (as are some of the orgs). Reportedly at one point they were fundraising for renovations to the mission, a strategy which seems to be relatively new, that the customers are asked to donate to keep a franchise going.

    Obviously they’ve now downsized to the mission holder’s premises, in this case a room in his business (rather than a residence as is the ignominious fate of many missions), presumably because it was failing financially and he was no longer willing to subsidize the cost of its having its own space. I wonder how many of the remaining missions are open, only because the franchisees are afraid of the consequences of closing them.

    Reply

  2. Moinor quibble: At least ONE franchise was converted to an org in the last half-century: The one in Ardmore, outside of Philly. was/is the “Philly org, then was bodily dumped into the white elephant Ideal Org in center city, where no one much goes, certainly not ME!

    Reply

    • Jere, thanks for that bit of historical detail.

      I believe that the mission on Long Island was also made into an org in that same time frame, apparently due to some oddity of management politics or intrigue, and both seem to be among the smallest and weakest of orgs. The Philadelphia org is in a major US metropolitan area, nonetheless – but it’s been unable to raise the money to renovate a large old building it bought years ago to be an “ideal” facility, and a few years back almost lost it to condemnation for blight.

      I’ve actually been able to find very little about the Philadelphia org, particularly in recent years. I assume that means it’s not very active, and never has been.

      Reply

  3. the last guy to create a booming mission network was this guy:

    https://rb.tv/en/about/lynn-irons

    Gotta love the rhetoric of his bio/resume on how great he is! LOL

    Yo DM, how come Lynn Irons and Mark Shreffler aren’t part of the scene of your booming Scientology all over the world?

    Shreffler left your cult, I believe Lynn Irons did the same.

    Quote from Lynn on his bio website:

    “the turnover in 1986 was over 6 million dollars, had over 75 staff and won two international awards as the fastest growing organization of its kind in the world 1986-87 and 1987-88. Sterling Management Systems was co-founded in 1983 with Dr. Greg Hughes to serve the health care field and by 1986 had an annual turnover of over 20 million dollars, over 200 staff with over 2,000 clients throughout the United States. Sterling was on the INC. 500 list (the ‘Fortune 500 of privately owned companies) as one of the fastest growing companies in America for 3 years in a row.”

    Here’s the rhetoric. The two international awards were winning the scientology birthday game for the mission level. LOL

    opps, no missions are booming anymore. LOL

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  4. Well, I have to admit that I really didn’t know that there was a West Valley Mission. I’d never heard of it until now. I assume it’s pretty small.

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    • Grab a phone book and randomly pick a page and find the name closest to the top right – what? Never heard of them? I would given even odds that they have heard/seen on the net etc. something about Scientology recently and don’t think well of it. Same significance really.

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  5. Didn’t get a chance to comment on yesterday’s post. Alanzo, I’m honestly disgusted with you sir. To choose a post about Laura to make your “point” was classless and tasteless to say the least. And….once again the point swished above your head without you even seeing it. Comparing Monique to Laura’s situation? They are horses of 2 different colors, literally. Laura fought hard for 9 years. Marty and Monique decided to move on with their lives, leaving behind the community without any real basis for dropping their suit. If they would have said “We’re tired of the litigation and just want to live our lives” it would have made sense. I’ve been one advocating to leave Marty and Monique alone and let it just die. Then….after all this time and it started to get quiet for the Rathbuns, Alanzo has to stick his big ol nose into what WAS a dying subject.

    If you want a less biased and more open discussion about Scientology Alanzo, quit being a jackass and learn some tact. You are being the divisive one here sir, which is sad.

    Reply

    • An applicable quotation for Alonzo; “Sanity is the ability to tell differences. The better one can tell differences, no matter how minute, and know the width of those differences, the more rational he is.” – L. Ron Hubbard

      Reply

    • “Sanity is the ability to tell differences. The better one can tell differences, no matter how minute, and know the width of those differences, the more rational he is.” – L. Ron Hubbard

      Comment from Alanzo re the above quotation?

      Reply

  6. Off topic, but is there any way to get the local news to do a story on the Purple Heart event and Efrem Logreira in order to warn any older veterans that may be invited? Some place that the general public would see it, especially older veterans. I worry that they will ask them for money at the event even if it is for a front group. Some vets may even be brought in from local assisted living or nursing homes as special outing and not really know what they are attending. I really worry that all of those invitees may just be marks.

    Reply

    • N. Graham: Patience is a virtue.

      I believe Mike, or his designate, is “vetting” comments to keep them from devolving into fame fests, possibly also to keep from being designated an anti-religious attack site promoting hate-attacks on scns and orgs, which, IMHO, is a smart thing to do. SOME are pretty hot under the collar and could easily say somthing too hotheaded in the heat of the moment.
      Active moderation takes time, particulary when a guy has other concerns, like running an AWARD-WINNING show, warding off scn’s fair game shenanigans, and trying to ENJOY real life with his family and friends as he works on excellent blog entries (which aren’t polished and produced in 5 minutes.) In less-controversial subjects, I’ve seen sites where it can take more than a day for the moderator to vet the parade of posts coming in.
      I’ve abandoned a few of my comments for just that reason — and I have little reason for heated comments: no recent contact with scn, haven’t lost any of my family to the organization — I refuse to call it a “church”; never was, never will be as it was never intended to be one –. They just found it advantageous to claim the label, since it can’t really be disproven in the U.S. at this time; not legally, at least.

      On the other hand, I’ve got the right to believe anything I want, including that they’re a pack of lying thieves who wouldn’t know the truth if it came up and kicked them in the teeth. Truth doesn’t serve their purposes. Any time I write more vehemently than this, the post SHOULD be deleted, as I’ve lost my center and it serves no purpose other than venting some steam (which likely stems from other sources.)

      Hope the above isn’t TL:DR (too long, didn’t read).

      Reply

  8. With any luck, Geoff will get in trouble for running such a downstat mission, then maybe he won’t have to keep sinking his personal money to keep it open.

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  9. When I started a mission, as a mission holder in Miami, in the mid 1980’s, Scientology had been through its “bust” cycle. I found that the average person did not want anything to do with the subject. However, the upper middle class was interested in auditing. They could afford to run a few sessions and try out the process. Some had children at various ages requiring someone to talk to. I hired a top notch auditor who was successful in bringing in some cash. We expanded for a while. However, I can honestly say that the IAS put us out of business. They hounded me to the point of taking needed funds. Auditing works a lot better in a mission because if you get a talented auditor, it is possible to give people some basic relief from suffering. The problem is that they only get temporary relief because Hubbard’s fundamentals are wrong. It is a lot like Lucifer in Milton’s Paradise Lost. I don’t have the exact quotation but Lucifer is caught in a cycle of sadness and joy. He is sort of bi-polar. So Hubbard in his role as Lucifer simply created an auditing process that duplicates Lucifer’s mind. In the end, it is not worth the money you pay for it.

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    • “In the end, it is not worth the money you pay for it.”

      I paid more than a quarter million and never got anything for it. I am ashamed to admit this but taking full responsibility for the loss puts me at slight gentle cause over it all and gives more f…ing freedom than than I might have ever achieved when I was “in”. Dial wide F/N and long fall blow down just now.

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      • “I paid more than a quarter million and never got anything for it.” Glenn, you never got anything because it’s all make believe. Every aspect of Scientology is just make believe. There’s nothing there. Nothing.

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        • Thank you OSD! You nailed it. THERE IS NOTHING TO HAVE from Scientology – just levels of delusions of grandeur never experienced by homo sap before.

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    • fundamentals wrong, yep, I’d say that, or in other words No Clears, No OT’s. No Bridge to Total Freedom

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  10. Maybe someone there has an MU – heaven forbid!
    In fact all Scio’s do – it’s the words used in the term and hence the concept of, ‘deception by evidence’. Perhaps a process could be worked out for it, something on the lines of:
    Give me a time when a Scientologist or yourself handed over money or their time when they couldn’t afford it… thank you.
    Give me a time when a Scientologist wasn’t deceived… thank you.
    Run alternately to EP. That is when PC/Pre OT introverts and realizes that no Scientologist has ever gone free by using Scientology tech and no Scientology Org has ever gone Saint Hill size by following the Cof$ policy of how to do so.
    Don’t get confused by the fact Hubbard wrote the majority of the policy/birthday game etc after running Saint Hill. That should tell you something about ‘evidence by deception’.

    Reply

  11. Down in the Valley
    The Valley So Low
    Hang your head over
    As toilets overflow

    There’s never any t.p
    no money for that..
    And there’s no food
    So you’ll never get fat

    The money lines the pockets
    of that tiny man
    who’ll for any reason
    throw you in the “can”

    Life has it’s moments
    but the blind will not see
    they stay tied to this fiasco
    because they won’t see

    Reply

      • Would love to…bring the Mrs. & Kyle & Aqua, & “yawn”, & Jere & Mary &….OH HELL ALL are welcome….I think we should stand near “FLAG”……. Hey Davey, Hey Tom, Hey J.T…this is for YOU.

        Reply

          • Yes of course….see I already mentioned you under “YAWN”….you’re 4th in the lineup! Seriously, I wish we could ALL fly down to Florida…..& sing at the top of our lungs.

            Those little Sea Org uniformed people would run like they were rabbits being chased by a pack of hungry wolves….and they wouldn’t be wrong.

            Seriously…if we could get even ONE of them to walk off with us…I’d be thrilled!

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      • Thank you….too much sadness, once in a while poking fun at them……well, puts a smile on my face. To think most of you are OUT…..makes me smile even wider!

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  12. Most missions in Russia are the same. Although Moscow ideal org and liaison office at least can say that there are a couple of dozens of them.

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  13. Brings back fond memories. I was there a few years ago, trying in vain to get back the 5 thousand dollars
    that was “set aside” for services never rendered. Geoff didn’t look too good then. Just back from flag and
    it looked like a blood vessel had busted in one eye. A Miscavige tape was on really loud; there may have
    been one person there besides Geoff and his sidekick Shana. I thought to myself: “this is punishment enough, having to listen to an ass bray, I’d rather be water-boarded”. don’t miss the five thousand, I feel pity for both of them. “Nowhere Man” is the song by the Beatles that describes Geoff. He got really upset when I started laughing at him. They don’t like to be laughed at. It disturbs the delicate balance of the delusion. He
    would have to face the terrifying truth: his Sea org daughter and He have lost their integrity for nothing!

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  15. I was auditing in one of the Flag AO HGCs when LRH came out with an ED in which he said we were in the business for the buck. That shocked me because I had operated for years believing we were in the business to clear the planet of the Reactive Bank for the sake of mankind’s survival.

    A bit later the “Mission Holder’s Meeting” occurred. It was a revolt. It was a mutiny. I got the impression “The Old Man” blew a gasket because the CMO sent out Gangs who went around the world stealing money from the field and essentially that closed the mission system. Before most of these missions were making gobs of money but because they were delivering. Hubbard thought the Orgs were being robbed.

    The “logic” was suppress the missions, their public would have to get services at the Orgs. But what happened was the missions were crushed and their public went with them. Most of these missions had Flag Trained staff and ole timers running the shows. Go to an Org who charged more for lesser quality? No way.

    Hubbard just wiped out Div 6 and the field, The only way to make more money was increase the price.

    That picture in this article sort of defines current conditions. Back in the old days, for lack of better words, it was crowded.

    Chapo (“little guy”) figures, “build it and they will come”. All these fancy Orgs and tables just camouflage a huge hole.

    The billions he has in his coffers surely isn’t because of services sold.

    I think Scientology is dead. Yup, and that’s the true ideal.

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  17. I think the CoS media machine and slick production TV channel will lure people in, much like the Tele-evangelists do….they are really counting on that “controlled publicity” as opposed to talk shows and public appearances….people are so gullible and that TV station propaganda is incredibly slick and makes it appear that they are doing great things. Really disturbing as this new format will get people. They know it too. Look at the millions that supported Jim and Tammy Baker….even after he was busted, he said people had to forgive him and send him money….and they DID!!!! Crazy shit.

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    • Much as I don’t want to agree with everything you’ve said, I really have to, Lynda. As a nation, we’ve become stupid. The good news, though, is that the false PR being trumpeted by Co$ will be vulnerable to examination. They might well, as you say, lure in the suggestible stupid ones, but we’re in the Information Age now. No more “Hotel California” for Raw Public Scientologists. You can check in AND you can check out. Whosoever is lured in will leave just as quickly, IMHO. I’ll be a revolving door.

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    • And that is such a shame. Yep, a dog gone shame. Shame with more shame on top. What can I say but, Bwahahahahahahahahahahah!!!

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  22. “A corner of a room with an empty table with two chairs & a bookshelf.”

    If that doesn’t spell disaster, I don’t know what will. Poor little cult members! But, you made your bed, so you better sleep in it. Even though you’re probably broke.

    But, it’s not my problem.

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  23. Pro Objectives backlog? Wow. There aren’t enough GAT trained auditors who can tell a person to walk over to a wall. To me, the fact that the mission is begging for someone trained enough to tell someone how to get into present time is a lot larger statement on how bad the entire field is doing than the teeny little corner of a mission.

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  24. I figured out a while back that this location is one of the ones that uses what turns out to be a common subterfuge for California “missions,” where they’re located in a unit adjacent to the franchisee’s actual business – they may be nothing more than one room, with the rest of the space used by the main business but they technically have their own address. 9015 Fullbright Ave. is the address of the mission, while 9025 – in the same building, occupying the majority of it – is the franchisee’s Clear Print Commercial Printers business.

    It’s been on the books as a business entity since 1989. Presumably it’s one of the ones that’s supported by a franchisee who can afford to subsidize its operations.

    I’m sure they’re “looking” for all sorts off staff – typical Scientology “field of dreams” stuff. But do they have any actual work for them, or ability to pay them?

    The franchisee shows up as having been doing courses since 1975, and having recently completed OTVII:

    http://www.truthaboutscientology.com/stats/by-name/g/geoff-pick.html

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    • I agree with your analysis PeaceMaker. Industrial and business parks are highly competitive in SoCal. In order to keep a long-term lessee happy, it would not be unusual for the owner to lease them a very small space at a greatly reduced price. Alternately, an industrial or business park owner might even include a small space for free to keep the lessee happy.

      A space in an industrial park is easy to build. It’s just 2×4’s, drywall, Romex, a drop ceiling, and some HVAC ducting. I’d throw in 1000 sq ft for free for a client who signed a five year lease on a much larger space.

      Reply

    • Geoff Pick completed OT VII in 1990 and again in 2014. Poor guy. Joe Hockman is an Auditor. Or was.. certs pulled?
      It so happens I will be two blocks away Tueday evening for a few days. Perhaps I’ll see if they’ve hired someone.

      Reply

  28. I also had to wonder why the mission holder is sending out a letter that used to be sent out by HCO or a D of P or a letter reg??? Maybe he is holding all those posts from above? Why the backlog of objectives? Selling SRD’s cheap without auditors on post? Selling more than you can deliver then go to the org? I dunno the whole thing sounds weird to me as a former staff member in the 70’s. Maybe there’ s”new policy?” LOL

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  29. Great article Mike. I remember back in the 80’s there was a thriving mission in the West Valley area called the Westwood Mission. It was hopping and popping and had a lot of pcs, so many, that they had to hire civilian auditors to field audit and help them with their pcs. They paid money for this and so auditors and C/Ses flocked there. Fast Forward to now: they are not even in existance anymore and what is there is what Mike describes in his article here, a whole bunch of nothing. And if the mecca of Scn members who live in CA can’t fill a mission, imagine indeed what Des Moines is doing.

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  30. After all these years, I can see today that Field Auditors who are more selective of being employed by a Mission, for being paid by the persons that a Mission might potentially draw in, saving that Field Auditor the trouble to find new clients to audit, I can see how a Field Auditor pattern “could work.”

    If the Field Auditor is really a suitable type of person who loves to audit, it would be MORE likely that a Field Auditor would choose working “flexibly” with a Mission, for better pay, and Missions are ordered by policy to charge as much or more than Ideal Orgs for services (no undercutting by Missions), which has the advantage of cutting off from participation those who DO NOT have money.

    Missions ought to prey upon the more affluent dupes wishing to get some auditing, and Field Auditors who work for Missions ought to be more willing to do “flexible” auditing arrangements with Missions, than be strait-jacketed into 2-1/2 year contracts working as “staff” of Ideal Orgs.

    So, theoretically, the Hubbard bureaucratic rules and policies DO allow leeway and “make sense” to those more affluent Field Auditors who are more selective wishing to make some money auditing to upkeep their life styles which are likely more upper middle class-ish.

    The old IHELP recent couple decades has been a bomb out.

    I wonder what the Data Files of the last 3 decades of IHELP have in them, to see how bad the Field Auditor history of Scientology has gone! It’s horrendous though.

    Reply

    • When I expressed interest in being an auditor I was regged by my local mission for training all the way up through Grad V. The pitch was if I did so they would pay me $20/hr to audit for them. That doesn’t seem like big bucks now , but in 1993 it was pretty good $$……. Of course, after I paid for all my training and was getting ready to leave my family for about a years worth of training in “Mighty Miami” I was informed that Missions were no longer allowed to use field auditors and had to train up their own auditors. Therefor I needed to join staff so I could audit there. Talk about “Bait & Switch”. I’d already paid for all my training and couldn’t get my $$ back. And I never made anywhere close to $20/hr auditing as a staff member…..

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      • Vaboski, I’m interested in what you think about this above ad for Mission hiring Field Auditors offering this flexible schedule? Do you think this is a change? If so, it might “work” to some degree, so long as the other IHELP horrible changes are dropped as well. (Not that the Hubbard quackery pseudo-therapy “works”, dread anyone doing it but if they loosen the rules on doing it, they will inevitably get more of the quackery going again!)

        Reply

        • If it is anything like what I experienced, “flexible schedule” means the pc sets the schedule according to their availability …….which normally meant I would be auditing all day Saturday and Sunday. Oh, and there would be no “preferred” rates for this, either…..so, no, I think nothing $cio does will “work”.

          I walked out in 2001 after being told I needed to leave my own birthday party to come in on a Sunday (which, at the time, was a “day off” once Sunday service was completed) to cull folders.

          Btw…..it seemed like the mission had no problem bringing in a field auditor when I received any auditing….so I call BS on the entire “missions can no longer use field auditors” thing.

          Reply

  31. I bet I can go around the corner and get a liquid bed liner for my truck. Much more useful than ‘Pro Objectives’.

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  32. Six chairs Mike. They are getting ready to deliver like never before!

    Yo Dave,
    It’s time for another round of musical chairs. Better call in yer See Ogre elite chair team. If I recall correctly, Mike Sutter is an expert and can hat and properly train the staff on how to always get a seat at yer table.

    Reply

  33. Sorry this is late. I couldn’t comment on yesterday’s post this late (1/2 way through the next day). I wanted to reply to Richard and Alonzo. There is a very important difference between the cases of Laura and Monique. Monique ‘dropped’ her case without any contingencies, and supposedly “NO MONEY” (yeah, we all believe that’s true – – – – – -NOT). So her lawyers got stiffed. She ‘ate the steak’ and then refused to pay ANYTHING for it. Laura ‘settled’ her case with compensation (MONEY), part of which will go to her lawyers for their work. The first is dishonest and unethical, the second is honest, decent, ethical, and moral. Big difference. HUGE difference.

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  34. David miscavige stated clearly that Ideal Orgs would give birth to missions and baby Orgs. Ideal Orgs have NEVER done so. Not once. An Ideal Org goes from its ribbon pulling day to needing hospice care.

    The cycle of life (Birth Survival Death) has been translated by miscavige’s brain child into
    Birth Decay Death – skipping any small period of Survival.

    Reply

    • ” David miscavige stated clearly that Ideal Orgs would give birth to missions and baby Orgs.”

      Yo Dave,
      The best you have to show for the whole shiteree is an abortion clinic and we know how much you like to promote those.

      Reply

    • Rest assured that Geoff had to come up with something he could sell to the Flog ethics officer as a ‘contribution’ in order to complete his leaving base sec check after finishing Oh Tea seven.

      Reply

    • My guess is that the mission holder spends a lot of that time just doing work for his real business, which is what appeared to be going on the last time I dropped in on a similar operation. As I noted in another comment, he’s apparently had the franchise for about 3 decades – so if that’s all it amounts to after all that time, he can’t be doing much more than keeping it open for appearances’ sake.

      Reply

  36. Wow, they are lined up around the block, aren’t they? How will they ever control the masses of people trying to sign up for services?

    Reply

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