Mercer Island Community Center Situation

Hey Everyone

As I get the information regarding what occured I will update this thread.

Right now I have about half the information.

It's a horrible situation of he said she said between us and them.

According to them:

We were allowed to be there for free because we were a walk in group. Walk in groups are small, unorganized groups. They discussed among themselves after last monday that we no longer qualified as a walk in group because we were organized, and because we brought food and drink...which walk in's are not allowed.

They informed Debbie by phone that this was the situation...and that we would need to rent a room from now on.

Part of those who worked there were unaware of the deal we had made to be there at all, and they are unsure if there are any public meetings regarding the body that governs the community center.

The manager who the deal was first brokered through was unavailable to be reached. There were no managers available to be reached on the weekends according to the person on site.

We recieved only positive feedback from other groups at the community center.

We knew this was the case last weekend.

We could rent a room, but not that night as they were too busy, and we would not be allowed to venture outside of any room we rented from now on or we would be in violation of the contract we sign.

Again all of the above...is according to them.



According to us:

After last game we were welcome back without any problems, this was told to Jason by the same lady who said we now had to rent a room.

Debbie never recieved a phone call, or a message, from the community center manager, nor did Jason.

We were never informed of any problems, issues, or discussions they had regarding our conduct at the site. This includes being allowed to wander the halls.

We were not allowed to stay at the community center that night in the public meeting areas...nor were we allowed to "play" basketball in the open gym.


My suppositions after working in the event industry as a wedding DJ for 6 years, a security manager at a vegas casino...and a salesmen:


We got red taped by a disgruntled and freaked out employee who is obviously working for less then she thinks she is worth.

The miscommunication is probably real at some point...but my instinct tells me they are 80% of the problem on that end as the women could niether remember Debbie's name or Jason's as the two contact people...when you have a problem with a group, trust me...you remember the contact's name you are suppose to inform of the problem.

There was no one available to talk with above her. No one. At a community center, and event sight, this never happens. There is always someone...they always have a way to be reached, even if they are on vacation, they always have a back up...and they are always available. According to her...she was not available. This tells me they want the "problem" to just go away and anticipated us being disgruntled as they did not properly communicate with us.



I will be meeting with the manager of the site this upcoming week and will have more information then.

I also left my contact information with them.

They didn't contact me. And then they started quotting different rates at me.

Either way, it is clear we can't trust them.

I vote to burn the place down.

Bill wrote:

I vote to burn the place down.

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Bill...it's me...your friendly neighborhood pyrotech...

I can assure you...no such plans were formed...

now if you'll excuse me...I must go incognito...

Bill wrote:

I vote to burn the place down.

I know it sucks ass, but right now I think that we should concentrate on getting a better site.

I vote we schedule a walk in group to perform a black mass with appropriate attire, human sacrifice and resulting orgy.

Freedom of religion and all.

Strangely enough...

I say we approach them in a business like professional manner, get a nailed down reason as to what their issue is, clairify the issue of who they spoke to and when...


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...and them calmly ask them why we are being discriminated against.


Wait for their reaction, explain to them exactly how we are being discriminated against, and watch them buckel.


~Sean

Guys,

I very much understand the need to vent, but please do NOT do anything extreme. I'm working with people on this.

I'll later post an email adress for people to send in POLITE compliants.

Acting out will hurt us, with other community centers, if nothing else.

Again, I know you are just venting and you are allowed to vent here. Let me and our staff work on this.

I'm visiting two possible sites tomorrow.

I will also be speaking with the event cordinator to find out their reasons from her. I left her a phone message and we will see how that goes down.

We don't need to do anything to or for this community center. Honestly...the best thing we can do is find out what and why, see where the holes are, and then write letters to their board of trustees...which are on a plaque on the wall in the lobby.

jasonbandrew-HST wrote:

Guys,

I very much understand the need to vent, but please do NOT do anything extreme. I'm working with people on this.

I'll later post an email adress for people to send in POLITE compliants.

Acting out will hurt us, with other community centers, if nothing else.

Again, I know you are just venting and you are allowed to vent here. Let me and our staff work on this.

I'm visiting two possible sites tomorrow.

I still say we burn the place down.

Bill wrote:

I still say we burn the place down.

I would like to say that anything written in this forum, to vent or otherwise, needs to be kept to a non-threatening manner. Comments in this forum can be viewed as a threat and could make our situation worse, should any of the community center people see them.

Let us, hypothetically, say they do something similar to the following:

"OMG the crazy satanic people are going to burn us down... look at what they wrote."

I do have a site suggestion that is worth looking into-

the Basement of the Elliott Bay book store in Pioneer Square.

Lots of places to have conversations, close to the public without being in their face. amd a coffee shop right there in the store.

An option worth investigating, that's all I'm saying. I have to go downtown today anyway, so I'll look into it at lunch. :-)

~Sean

I was just there today, I agree it looks great. The hours listed on the door for Saturday are til-8 or 9 pm. So technically they will be open and it will not be a "Private" location. The plus side is that is a good way to recruit.

Elliot Bay Cafe is a very nice location. We would want to be welcome there by the management. Near by at Pioneer Park just to the right of the kilt shop is a pizza place. It actually has a decent sized backroom. Not sure if it would be large enough or what their hours are. Maybe a deal of a minimu pizza purchase? Everyone buys their own drinks. It woul really depend on how slow they are on a Saturday night.


James Finnegan

How is parking? We are going to take a lot of spaces.

darkpsalms wrote:

I was just there today, I agree it looks great. The hours listed on the door for Saturday are til-8 or 9 pm. So technically they will be open and it will not be a "Private" location. The plus side is that is a good way to recruit.

Elliot Bay Cafe is a very nice location. We would want to be welcome there by the management. Near by at Pioneer Park just to the right of the kilt shop is a pizza place. It actually has a decent sized backroom. Not sure if it would be large enough or what their hours are. Maybe a deal of a minimu pizza purchase? Everyone buys their own drinks. It woul really depend on how slow they are on a Saturday night.
James Finnegan

We really need a private location.

We have a site we'll be testing out.

Do we have an email address to lodge a professional complaint at?

Typically, people tend to listen when I send things from work when they see the domain name in my email address...