I just passed the Toronto org. The blinds are down and ALL the lights are off. Second pass and photos to follow.
Well... The minor lights at the front and the second floor office lights are on. The advertising display sign is off, the org entrance is off, everything else is off. Looks like a pretty dead org. (Got pics.)
All the lights were off when I passed around 7pm. In the first picture, the entrance to the left is the org entrance which supposed to be manned and watched 24/7. Lights off, nobody home.
The pic below was either posted by yourself (DeathHamster) or Toronto's Root, several weeks ago. The Vancouver Org is not looking quite as dilapidated as Toronto's, but it is very run down. As for clientele, as almost a constant, there are invitations to "Open House" near the front entrance, and the sign proclaiming that the cult is HIRING. That hiring sign has been in place since last October (2011). Today I was browsing my folder of org pics and found the one below. Appears to be from Sydney Australia but I don't know the date. I think it serves as a general index of the state of most of the orgs. Very bad condition and very low clientele numbers.
So... Friday evening, totally dead. Can any ex-member shed some light on what would normally be happening in the Day/Foundation org on a Friday night? (I'd figure that the course completions from during the week would be hip-hip-hoorayed or something.)
This is what the org looked like on Friday, May 25th, same time: The top three floors, formerly Continental Liaison Office, moved out to Mono Ontario, have been dark for the last year. Tonight everything was rolled up and dark, except for the 2nd floor office.
If that org is paying municipal taxes, the days are numbered until the debts are too large to manage.
They're paying municipal taxes, but only half of what they should be. (It's a long and complicated tale.) The funny thing is that the ground that the org is sitting on is probably worth enough to buy a smaller building elsewhere and call it an Ideal Org. (But they've probably missed out on some of the best real estate deals which have moved on without them. http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii2/MockerRule/TParty090612/CoS20120609004.jpg)
Yeah, I noticed the boarded up window. Was it a broken one by some drunk? Was it placed there to block us from being seen? Is the Org closed for GOOD? I checked it a few days ago during the day and it wasn't open. Could be a closed org? Could this be a final boss defeated in toronto?!?!?! Please, adam, help us find out!! :S
Friday nights used to be for graduations in the Academy. But that was a long time ago, I don't know if they still do Friday graduations. That would include auditing completions in the HGC as well. (i.e. I FINISHED OBJECTIVES AGAIN, THIS TIME STANDARDLY, THANKS TO COB, I"M TOTALLY ORIENTED IN PRESENT TIME, THIS TIME FOR REAL, HIP HIP HOORAY!!!)
Hey guys, I've been off for a while. Hmm, lets look at these photos: These were taken at 7pm on Friday, huh? Well, the TORD org should have shut down at 6pm, and the TORF org should have been running since then. The room with the lights on is the Academy study area, but it can also be used for events. It looks like it is functioning. As you already pointed out, my CLO used to occupy floors 6 to 9, so no mystery there. It is floors 3, 4 and 5 that are notably dark. Floor 3 has Treasury office at the front, and HCO(personnel, ethics) at the back, and that is SUPPOSED to be running when the org is open. Floor 4 has a mix of things, including LRH office, some storage rooms for events, and the event hall at the back. Floor 5 includes the HGC(Auditing rooms), and the HGC Office is clearly running in the older May photo (it is on the right side of the fifth floor at the front). There should be a Sea Org office (FSC) on the fifth floor, but the left side is dark here and it is also dark in the May photo, indicating the office must have moved. So I can conclude that the org is not fully functioning for some reason. HCO(Div 1), Treasury(Div 3), the HGC(Div 4 - Auditing) are all closed up. If the Academy was open, it would not be able to function without the other divisions - Students may need to go to Qual (on floor 3) when they finish a course, or to Ethics (also floor 3) when they are off the rails for some reason. My guess: Either they are having their Friday staff meeting early (Normally held after 10pm when students get out) But they would only do that if they actually had NO students or preclears at all that evening (Yikes!) Guess #2 - there is an event on the 2nd floor of some sort, and all staff have left their offices (turned the lights off temporarily) to attend the event. That's all I got. -Adam EDIT: I forgot to say that the Entrance Area is always supposed to have a QM (security guard + receptionist job - I have so been there, done that, for over a month in 2008) and that is concerning. I suspect now that it is more likely a staff meeting, which is the only time they would pull the front desk person. All staff have to attend the staff meeting, even the security guard. This really could mean that they had no students or preclears that evening.
I think the org is closed. Recon in video format is probably the best way to figure it out. I could firm with a phone call simply by asking.
The pictures were taken at 10pm. At 7pm, nothing was on. As for the lights on the 2nd floor, they were on, but I don't know if anyone was home.
I'll curious if they're even open today, or by the time I'm in the area to investigate. If they aren't open, everything was moved to mono.
It's possible that they had some sort of All Hands event elsewhere (Mono?) with mandatory attendance.
I'm starting to suspect that. Hmm, now wouldn't a prank be nice to list the property for sale on craigslist and kijiji under the culties names? Make it sound non-serious and more of a joke. I wonder how OSA's PR team would be able to "handle" it.
The thing is, they were shuttered and completely dark at 7pm. At 10pm, they had some minimum lights on (do they read here?), but still no QM. A three hour staff meeting? (Wait. Scientology. Of course they'd have three hour staff meetings. It's like Dilbert to the 10th power.)
Say what? Poor cult. I wantz to see them. Soon, I'll be getting some video and photos. Time will only tell....
Weekly staff meetings are one hour or less. In the CLO, the less stats were up, the shorter the meeting. But a fundraiser, or an OT Commitee project (like bulk mailing or something), or any other event might take 3 hours.
I like what I see I think the few remaining clams are lonely, don't you think they could use some friendly trolling with happy signage and cake?
Friday, Saturday nights in a row with no activity? I'm liking this. If they're still blinds-down during the week in the daytime, then it's an excellent sign.
Sorry. This has been pressing on my brain for a few days. Mono? Like this? Love this song. Seriously, though, losing an Org in a major North American city... I hope it's true. Wish I was there in general, and to help you guys confirm.
Man. What's the Canadian term for "way the fuck in the middle of nowhere"? 81 klicks from Toronto, that would be a huge loss if it were true, as it increasingly appears to be. Not exactly a place if one hopes to get more "raw meat".
Maybe they figure Canada needs its own Gold. The problem with their stale meat is that they've already gotten as much coin as they can from them. Miscavige has to know they're hemorrhaging money, and their efforts to stop "The Master" have utterly failed. They should have learned from the Mormon church when "September Dawn" came out. That church said almost nothing, took no action, and thereby allowed people to see that the movie sucked to the tune of $1 million box office on a film that cost $11 million to make. How many films get 0/4 and 0 stars from both the NY Post and Roger Ebert and a 0% cream of the crop rating on Rotten Tomatoes? Contrast this with The Master, which looks like it will not suck, and in fact, be quite good. Controversy sells. The CoS needs to word-clear "Streisand effect." In the long term, the CoS' days are numbered. How long will it be before they fold for good? I'm thinking on the order of years, but when it does happen, it will be quick. Then again, in the long term, the Earth will be swallowed by an expanding Sun, and the constituent atoms will either be ejected into interstellar space or contribute slightly to an increased metallicity of the white dwarf it will become.
