They have been trying to beat the dead horses that are the scientology public for money to buy empty buildings since Miscavige launched his “ideal org” boondoggle in 2003.
More than 20 years later, this org has not managed to round up 50 “Humanitarians.”
I have no idea how many of these people are from Brisbane. Or even Australia. In the bottom left in blue is Trish Duggan. She is most definitely not Australian or in Australia.
If this is all they can round up from across the world, it says a lot about the current state of the “Ideal Org” program.
It has run its course.
Difficult to read names in the picture but couple bottom left looks like it’s Mikel Lindsaar and Helen Cho. They are from Sydney, Australia.
Second row far right, even more difficult to read but is that Virginia and Michael Gordon, if so, they are from south of Brisbane.
Bringing in outside donors indicates an org unable to raise money on its own. We’re seeing that now with well-known SFOs (small and failing orgs), which are many if not most of the orgs still left to go ‘ideal’ – and also many of those that bought a building to renovate going on a decade or more ago, and have been unable to do anything with it.
Thanks to you and others for identify the donors and where they’re actually from.
Yes that’s Helen & Mikkel. Carly Crutchfield is also 2nd from right in 2nd bottom row. Mike & Veronica Hibbard from Coffs (Hibbard Homes and Veronica just set up a big IV drip business during Covid), 3rd from right 3rd bottom row. Bit hard to make everyone out on my phone…I can see Julian Dirou in there too (Sydney roofer).
I think it does show how things are stalling. Their ‘field’ is not only small, limited and increasingly tapped out, but actually shrinking as Scientology ages and falters. And the pandemic can only have exacerbated the situation in multiple ways (Monday’s piece in The Bunker was about older OTs succumbing to COVID), and accelerated the decline
The current Brisbane org is tiny, it’s in a small office building in the CBD. They missed out on the building they originally wanted for their Ideal Org, it’s now an apartment building. They have another one in their sights but I doubt it will happen.
This one:
https://www.realcommercial.com.au/for-sale/property-337-logan-road-greenslopes-qld-4120-502476546
I can’t imagine they are getting any new members. I’ve been tempted to check out the org but I’d worry I’d get harassed.
Very few of those Humanitarians are from Brisbane or even have ties to the city; Cauchi & Cockerill are the only names that stand out. Dan Cockerill works for Reinteractive, a Sydney-based tech company featuring a literal who’s who of Scientology public amongst their staff.
Brisbane Ideal Org was slated to move to Spring Hill when they purchased the former site offices of Energex at 185 Warry St in early 2019. The Underground Bunker referenced it their article on November 3, 2019.
https://tonyortega.org/2019/11/03/add-the-last-samurai-to-tom-cruise-movies-scientology-uses-for-themed-fundraising/
It was then sold to property speculator Keylin who are developing the site https://brisbanedevelopment.com/art-deco-green-development-proposed-for-447-gregory-tce-spring-hill/
I remember reading that article and have been keeping an eye on that land ever since, I was prompted to do some digging when I noticed it was being turned into apartments (I work nearby)
I’ll be surprised if the Ideal Org ever happens, the program has been a failure.
Jen, wow, another ‘ideal’ project building scrapped? And so quickly!* They have quietly given up on a couple, like St. Louis and Albuquerque, but only after holding on to them for about a decade (not to mention running up all sorts of expenses for a vacant property along the way) without being able to do the renovations necessary (though reportedly, in St. Louis they raised plenty of money).
Thanks to you and Joe for the information about Brisbane.
* I assume – I can’t readily find information about when exactly they purchased it. It’s also worth noting that in the case of an old building they bought in Boston and then eventually put back on the market, at least one deal fell through because it was contingent on the buyer getting building approvals that they were unable to secure, so I’d want to be certain the Brisbane property has actually changed hands, though I doubt in any case Scientology would decide to keep and renovate it.
Reinteractive is full of Scientologists and the director through three overarching companies including MPOL is Mikel Lindsaar. Mikel is also director of Hubbard College of Administration Sydney and linked to WISE and Prosperity Planner. The links continue through SELLability, Exec.IO, Envisage and StoreConnect Pty Ltd, amongst others. The scary thing is storeConnect, a very new company (2021) and connects to many main stream Australian businesses which I am sure they are trying to infiltrate and funnel into Scientology. It’s all very intertwined with direct links back to Scientology and Hubbard College of Administration.
That’s an interesting building. It might be too small. 50,000 sq ft is the standard. 4645.152 sqm in Australia. They may have to add something. That’s what they did in Harlem.
A couple of early “ideal” projects were resold because requirements for minimum size apparently changed, as seems to have been the case with the historic hotel the Boston org first bought. I would have thought they had that issue ironed out with recent purchases,
Or are we even entirely sure, they actually complete the purchase, which can sometimes be contingent on architectural planning and approvals? The CofS has a track record of mis-representing the status of what are only prospective property deals.
There would really be no precedent for flipping a property so quickly, even though the “ideal” scheme has been accused of being a real estate investment scam. The Boston property seems to have finally been sold for a profit, but only after more than a decade of machinations during which they racked up a lot of property tax bills, and they may just have been lucky to have bought that one building in what turned out to be a hot area for redevelopment.
Xenu’s got their tongue.
There’s no winning in Scientology, even if they did everything perfect, it all leads to the Xenu story, and to zillions of the surplus souls (body-thetans) Xenu earth dumped that get the Scientology five exorcism levels (OT 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7).
There’s no selling Xenu.
The Xenu cat is out of the bag, and Scientologists are left holding this unsellable Xenu L. Ron Hubbard bag of soul snipe hunting.
Xenu’s got them.
The Hubbard creation Xenu has boomeranged beyond Hubbard’s imagination.
There is an unlimited supply of human conceptions of incorporeal (non embodied) beings. Since it’s Halloween here is Mussorgsky’s “Night on Bald Mountain”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b756FPiLlp8
non movie version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCEDfZgDPS8
Here’s another classic for Halloween, Camille Saint Saens, Danse Macabre – Maybe bring back memories for any musicians on the blog
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNMzBnuBC6Y
Here’s one for Tubby –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Tm2Dr-xVnk
This left them with two options , either they contact consulting firms like Mechanzie, BCG , Bain or Harvard Consulting to restructure themselves with new prophets, heavenly dities , improved revenue collection, next texts etc to run the business like business.
Or
Go in isolation for next 50 years , have babies 👶, spread love and more babies 👶
This way they can amass enough blind followers who can compete with wogs , as long as they keep them away from internet and social media.
Well, that’s what the Mormons did when they went west to what is now Salt Lake City. The South Dakota Governor says she welcomes newcomers. Lots of wide open spaces out there and no mandates.
The Mormons entered the Salt Lake valley as wildeyed polygamists. They essentially gave the government the finger because they had gotten permission to do polygamy from their prophet Joseph Smith. So there!
Flash forward to 1889 and the Federal government comes out with its Edmunds-Tucker act which essentially allows it to put LDS inc. out of business. One year later, they announce that God has commanded them to give up polygamy.
Now the Mormon Church has to rebrand itself in order to survive. And it’s been doing this since 1890.
Yet those pesky old doctrines keep popping up.
I see Scientology going down a similar road.
Most religious sects have a better chance of long-term survival than Scientology even if they have less in a way of resources. Others just go about their businesses quietly or understand they need to adjust in order to survive.
True yet what was easy for Mormonism may not be that easy for Scientology. Remember that Scientologists consider LRH to be the source of Scientology. Everything Ron taught must remain as it is. This is unlike Mormonism where Joseph Smith was succeeded by a line of prophets who hold the same powers he did and therefore can alter whatever he said.
That much is true – after Smith died several sects emerged out of the original church, using the Book of Mormon as scripture but not all sharing the same teachings. Mormonism proved more adaptable in any case – and even the likes of the Unification Church and JWs.
And those sects do not have criminality written into their DNA to the point of locking up their own clergy in a concentration camp. Imagine studying your whole life to be a preacher or minister, only to be met with such a fate!