Jehovah's Witnesses Volunteers Try Their Hands At City Park
The Watchtower Bible Tract Society, one of the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ legal entities, is nearing the design phase for Bridge Park 2 in Dumbo, a two-acre, city-owned park the Society agreed to restore in exchange for favorable zoning at 85 Jay Street. Back in 2004, the city approved a zoning variance for the Society to build…
The Watchtower Bible Tract Society, one of the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ legal entities, is nearing the design phase for Bridge Park 2 in Dumbo, a two-acre, city-owned park the Society agreed to restore in exchange for favorable zoning at 85 Jay Street. Back in 2004, the city approved a zoning variance for the Society to build on its large parking lot an 800,000-square-foot building with a 1,600-seat cafeteria, 2,500-seat assembly hall, 1,100-space public parking garage and 1,000 apartments. Of course that was before the Society began divesting its Brooklyn properties, so far selling nearly 300 apartments in four buildings and 360 Furman Street (now One Brooklyn Bridge Park) for a total of $195.1 million, according to city property records. Another 263 apartments in six buildings are on the market, including the Hotel Bossert, which one broker predicted would sell for at least $100 million.
Tucker Reed, head of the Dumbo Business Improvement District, was at a “listening session” held last week to solicit ideas for the new park. He said the Parks Department and Society have taken this long to reach an agreement on park construction. The Parks Department is used to getting a check from developers; the Jehovah’s Witnesses do everything possible in-house through their world-wide network of volunteers. “We’re an all-volunteer organization and we function on funds that are voluntarily donated by people, and so we want to make the best use of our resources,” said Watchtower spokesman Richard Devine. Volunteers would do everything from designing to constructing the park, he said, sometimes flying in “from all over the country” if someone local doesn’t have the expertise for the job. And since they believe in the Doctrine of Cleanliness, at least we know it will look perfect.
The proposed renovations in the original agreement included rehabilitation of a baseball field with artificial turf, an existing playground, seating area, landscaping and reopening the comfort station. “I think the community is looking at this to be a more active park than the Brooklyn Bridge Park, which is more walking and sitting and beautiful scenery,” said Devine.
So does that mean the Watchtower Society is going to get started on its massive four-tower building? “We’re not going to move forward in the near future but I wouldn’t say we’re never going to build,” said Devine. Brooklyn Heights will still be the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ world headquarters as the hub of its editorial and administrative staff, he said. But, as has been well-reported, the Society moved its printing and shipping operations upstate and overseas, along with many of its support services (The headquarters is nearly a self-sustaining society. Volunteers support each other by proving everything from cleaning, cooking, laundry, window washing, electrical work and drape making). Devine said after they sold 360 Furman, they stopped making their own ink for the millions of publications and bibles they print in several languages. “We are consolidating quite a bit. In fact, the rezoning of 85 Jay really gave us the confidence to go ahead and move forward with consolidation,” he said.
The only thing is, if 85 Jay Street is built as planned, with nearly double the apartments sold or on the market, the Society would be expanding its operations in the Heights, not consolidating, unless it sells off nearly all of its remaining residential properties. But alas, that’s all we get for now from Devine, who must also believe in the Doctrine of Suspense. As usual, never a dull moment over at the Watchtower!
Watchtower Divestment Continues: The Bossert on the Block [Brownstoner]
Brooklyn’s Fabled Hotel Bossert on Market [Brooklyn Eagle]
Watchtower to Sell 6 Brooklyn Heights Properties [Brooklyn Eagle]
The Witness contend that the Bible has always condemned the mixing of religions because there can only be one truth from God. They believe only their religion represents true Christianity. They believe that all other religions fail to meet all the requirements set by God and will be done away with. Weddings, anniversaries, and funerals are typically observed; however, common celebrations or national holidays such as birthdays, Halloween, Easter, and Christmas are regarded as pagan holidays due to their origins and are not celebrated. The Witnesses are opposed to ‘councils’ that unite or combine different religions.
I can’t help thinking of that Dylan/Hendrix song every time I see the big Watchtower sign from the train.
Jehovah’s Witnesses have largest turnover of recruits,have one of the highest attrition rates of all denominations.
Reports from TIME Magazine-“”An even more extreme example of what might be called “masked churn” is the relatively tiny Jehovah’s Witnesses, with a turnover rate of about two-thirds.
That means that two-thirds of the people who were raised Jehovah’s Witnesses no longer are — yet the group attracts roughly the same number of converts. Notes Lugo, “No wonder they have to keep on knocking on doors
Half of all the Watchtower related news now on Jehovah’s Witnesses is either obituaries or Kingdom Hall construction.
The old folks who gave everything to the WBTS are dying off left and right cause no new system ever came (1975)
The Watchtower keeps on wheeling & dealing big money real estate
60-80% of all the young people are leaving the JW’s
Watchtower dissident site http://www.freeminds.org
13,000 leave the Watchtower organization every month,find out why.
If the witnesses had been in charge of Brooklyn Bridge Park it would have been built so long ago that it would need restoration now.
Based on my experiences with the Jehovah’s Witnesses, which included two tours of their Brooklyn Heights properties, you are correct that in return for “volunteering” people living in their Brooklyn Heights world headquarters have everything provided for them. Most of them come from around the world and stay there for only a few years, and I believe there’s an application process involved.
It’s actually a self-sustaining community, so they provide all of those things you mentioned for each other and countless other things. I was told that each person may have two or three jobs at a time to prevent boredom, and people often rotate posts. For example, a woman I met was asked to take classes to become an electrician (which are provided in-house) because they needed one. But it’s my understanding that people also fly into “Bethel” from around the country to volunteer services at their own expense — for example to provide speciality skills during the renovation of their buildings — then return home. The same is true for any of their properties around the world. If drapes are needed for one of their Kingdom Halls, someone will volunteer to make them. In terms of them spending money in Brooklyn Heights, apparently they get some sort of allowance to buy things like clothes (or Cranberry’s, the coffee shop and bakery on Henry Street, was mentioned several times). But you’re right that they provide everything that they can for each other. They say it’s to save money.
In terms of accepting that the Witnesses living in Brooklyn Heights are volunteers, that’s what they call themselves. I have a few friends who are “volunteers” or have “volunteered” for the Peace Corps and AmeriCorps. They have everything provided for them and receive a stipend for living expenses. I think what you get in return for “volunteering” depends on the duration and location of your service. There are Witnesses who simply live throughout Brooklyn and probably volunteer for them on a day-by-day basis but don’t get everything provided for them. I’m not really in the position to debate that classification.
Also, regarding the property taxes, all non-profits are exempt from property taxes, including churches, synagogs, universities, social service agencies and private schools.
There’s of course also a lot of controversies surrounding the Witnesses, but I didn’t get into those just as scandals involving other religious organizations aren’t mentioned in every article concerning that organization (for example, articles about Giuliani accepting communion didn’t mention the church’s long-standing molestation scandal). I was just trying to treat them as any other religion.
I enjoyed the link on the doctrione of cleanliness… put a smile on my lips…
Jehovah’s Witnesses are scandal ridden, intrusive in their door to door,have zero public charities and grab all the favorable PR that they can get.
FYI, should the Witnesses really be considered “volunteers?” I believe they are part of the group/sect, they live here and their job is to garden, or to cook at the cafeteria (on Columbia Heights, I think), etc. In return, the Witness community takes care of their food, shelter, dryleaning, etc. The Watchtower folks are good neighbors in that they take great care of their buildings and the surrounding green space, Conversely, they don’t pay property taxes and use few or no local businesses, which need all the help they can get when Montague is now 75% chain strip mall, scenic though it may be.
Bridge Park 2 is reallly sad to look at now –it’s great they’re helping with the redesign. But I think it’s disingenuous to accept that many Witnesses are “volunteers.” They don’t need to earn money because 90% of their needs are taken care of.
If I am incorrect, please feel free to explain.
The Catholics are the largest land-owner in the world. Most religious denominations probably own more real estate than the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and not all denominations practice charity like Christians are supposed to because each faith has a different interpretations about what embodies their God, or in this case Jesus. Witnesses think the main embodyment of Jesus is spreading the word of God so they go door-to-door. Many Christians think it’s charity work, giving and caring for the sick, which is why they have food banks, homeless shelters and hospitals, for example.