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Redwood City Mission (California): Wha hoppin?

Enthetan

Master of Disaster
One cruel game played on "upstat" Scientologists, was to convince them to "get their exchange in with LRH" by opening a mission.

The process involved spending some large amount of money to buy a "mission starter package", which would include a whole bunch of books, e-meters, etc. The "mission holder" would have the job of renting/buying a space to put it, and paying all the bills.

Now, if by some chance the mission became solvent, could the mission holder get back some of the money he put in from the profits? Nope. I saw a goldenrod issue on one mission holder who tried doing that. The funds of the mission are the property of the mission and its staff, and need to be plowed back in for expansion.

If the mission became a money pit, could the mission holder shut it down? No, that would be suppressive. He would have to "make it go right". And so we have phantom missions, which exist on paper, but which have no real staff left except the mission holder. Perhaps finally he moves the "official presence" to co-locate with his business or home. At one point, for amusement, I used Scientology's "org/mission locator" and called up some of the missions. I often got either nobody answering the phone, or an answering machine for some business.
 

pineapple

Silver Meritorious Patron
I know missions aren't supposed to fail and close down, but obviously they do. So what happens to the mission holder in a case like that? When the "mission" has ceased to function as a mission in any meaningful way, when it isn't sending any money to HCO WW (I think that's where we used to send it?) or sending any public uplines? When it no longer has any money or any public? What happens to the mission holder? I've often wondered.
 
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Enthetan

Master of Disaster
I know missions aren't supposed to fail and close down, but obviously they do. So what happens to the mission holder in a case like that? When the "mission" has ceased to function as a mission in any meaningful way, when it isn't sending any money to HCO WW (I think that's where we used to send it?) or sending any public uplines? When it no longer has any money or any public? What happens to the mission holder?
We've had some threads on the subject

Tucson Mission collapse
http://www.forum.exscn.net/threads/scientology-tucson-mission-collapse-and-closure.34614/

Angry Gay Pope has an article on failed missions
http://angrygaypope.com/scientology_missions_failed_southern_ca.htm

And then there's a mission in Israel which decided to defect to the Free Zone
https://www.villagevoice.com/2012/0...s-as-david-miscavige-faces-leadership-crisis/

And then there was the period around 1982-83 where the Int Finance Police were seizing missions (and their real estate assets) right and left
https://androvillans.wordpress.com/...tory-205-head-of-international-fiance-police/
 

programmer_guy

True Ex-Scientologist
I know missions aren't supposed to fail and close down, but obviously they do. So what happens to the mission holder in a case like that? When the "mission" has ceased to function as a mission in any meaningful way, when it isn't sending any money to HCO WW (I think that's where we used to send it?) or sending any public uplines? When it no longer has any money or any public? What happens to the mission holder? I've often wondered.
When the Ventura Mission failed the Steiners joined Narconon.

When the Riverside Mission failed Corydon eventually turned the building into a leasing place for businesses.
 

pineapple

Silver Meritorious Patron
When the Ventura Mission failed the Steiners joined Narconon.

When the Riverside Mission failed Corydon eventually turned the building into a leasing place for businesses.
Riverside was a different situation. It didn't "fail" in the sense I'm thinking of, i.e. do so little business it becomes unable to function. As Bent detailed in Messiah or Madman, it was being raped by the Finance Police, which drove Bent to break away from CoS, and eventually to give up on "the tech." But Riverside wasn't short of money or public before that happened. It was very much a working installation.
 

programmer_guy

True Ex-Scientologist
Riverside was a different situation. It didn't "fail" in the sense I'm thinking of, i.e. do so little business it becomes unable to function. As Bent detailed in Messiah or Madman, it was being raped by the Finance Police, which drove Bent to break away from CoS, and eventually to give up on "the tech." But Riverside wasn't short of money or public before that happened. It was very much a working installation.
Okay, how many staff and public did the Riverside Mission have after Bent switched to Scio Logos?
 

JackStraw

Silver Meritorious Patron
The Redwood City Mission began after the Palo Alto Mission was killed by the Int. Finance Police.

The Palo Alto Mission was a fairly successful mission that came under attack by the Int. Finance Police.
Sarge Gerbode (the Mission Holder) fought them and ended up exiting "standard" scn and some dedicated parishioners set up shop in a private home.
Eventually, scilons secured offices on University Ave. and continued as Palo Alto Msn.
Because they were down the hall from an organization of/for Transactional Analysis the SO came by and ordered them to move.
They moved and became the Redwood City Mission.

I had personal contact with several principals of the Redwood City Mission and they were "good" scnists. They lasted a few years and then just sort of disappeared. And now the mission is just gone.

Now, truth be told, I worked for 5 years at Sarge's Palo Alto Mission and a few years later worked at/for Mountain View Mission. While I was at Mtn. Vw. Msn. the Redwood City Msn. went away... Mtn Vw. Mission became Mtn. Vw. Org. I don't recall when Mtn. Vw. became an "Org" but, it was a mission when I joined Cindy Feshbach"s "New, New Palo Alto Mission" and when I left Palo Alto and went to Mtn. Vw. Org. it was an "org."

After seeing too much BS, in 2006 I walked away from Scn completely...Joined ESMB and here we are.

Jack
 

pineapple

Silver Meritorious Patron
Eventually, scilons secured offices on University Ave. and continued as Palo Alto Msn.
Because they were down the hall from an organization of/for Transactional Analysis the SO came by and ordered them to move.
Funny you should mention Transactional Analysis. Toward the end of my time on staff I had a "wog job" as a security guard, from 10:30 pm to 5:30 am. In the wee hours I had lots of free time and little to do except read. I read "I'm OK, You're OK" and "Games People Play," two popular books on Transactional Analysis. I thought, "Hey, this stuff doesn't seem so bad." It did serve as a kind of "gateway drug"; after that I started reading Freud's "Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis."
 

JackStraw

Silver Meritorious Patron
PA Mission shared the second floor with the TA people.
The SO came by one day on some sort of mission and saw some TA people coming out the their offices crying uncontrollably, punching and kicking holes
in the walls and screaming, and the SO told Brodie "You guys have to move out of here, like NOW!"

Thus Redwood City Mission was born.

Jack
 

JackStraw

Silver Meritorious Patron
We had a guy who was trying to start one up, but I don't think it ever got off the ground...

Jack
 
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