The castle I used to tourguide for is up for sale. The story being told in the "sale add" by the municipality, is that they really did everything to keep the project alive, and even "bailed out" the organization when they went bankrupt... "The project just wouldn't come of the ground" "There was a disappointing lack of income" "milions of Euro's were invested but to no avail" are just some of the sentences used in the blowhard dismissal of the organization that put blood, sweat and tears into the project, on a budget, that in view of what was accomplished, is laughable.... so, I know we were told not to talk about the goings on. God knows why you would put a gag-order on the people who are supposed to promote the abomination it has become, but that's a different soapbox I'm not willing to step up on, right now. However, to see the project put in a light that is almost slanderous, just to polish their own buttons.... No. I'm done being quiet.
First off: The municipality started the project but seemed almost immediately dead set on killing it after the next election of boardmembers.
They took FIVE YEARS to approve the plans, in which we could not build, or receive paying visitors. We could line things up for "when the planning commission would approve the plans. Plans, by the way, they had helped draft. We improved the grounds, put up the visitors center, we planted the historical garden and lined up craftsman. We received a sizable gift to build our showhorse, the gatehouse, but we couldn't build, because..... planning permission. We had master craftsman lined up, but... we couldn't build, so they eventually decided to get jobs that would pay their bills instead of being paid in promises. We had plans in place with tradeschools, but... no masters, no building permit, so they fizzled out. Because of the time lapsed for some of the environmental tests done to garner the zoning change, they had to be redone, some twice! This was the reason the project was slow to take off..... And the cost made to get these done and redone, was non negotiable. There were no shortcuts or cajoling for a better price, so a big chunk of our initial capital went to these expenses.
The money spent, was stretched to the point of tripling what we got in return. Almost all labor was from volunteers. Nobody looked at hours worked. If something needed done, it got done. We had a core of about 25 volunteers that had been consistent over the life of the project, and at most 68 at any given time. This included the involuntairy volunteers thru workprograms from communites and dept of justice.
Did everything go smooth? No but what project that has never been done before, has no previous endeavor to look at to make sure you're going about things the right order does.
Did people clash? Yes. People are people. Passionate people are more apt to put their 2 (or 10) cents in whether it helps the cause or not, but they have ideas because they care.
As for the visitors..... The municipality pushed for a succesfull restaurant, instead of putting the available money in building, The restaurant did well in attendance, but very little people would venture onto the grounds and pay the entryfee, because the restaurant was advertised more than the project. As for not "making good on expectations of visitors"? The period they took the most offence to, was 2020 thru 2023..... Now, not sure about the timing, but wasn't there this litlle hiccup in socializing called COVID around that time? NOBODY made their projected visitor quota.
The "needed bailout" was not really a bailout, but the result of systematic sabotage of possible income streams. There were things lined up, that would have made it possible to thrive as the knowledge center we were striving to become. The only hitch in our gittelong? The other FOUR parties, were denied by the municipality, because they would have to commit 50K per year to the project....
The thing that bothers me about this, is the simple fact that they boycotted their own project, with no clear view of what they were getting into, but they spin it like it's the diamond in their community that just needs help. They're quick to take the credit, and even quicker to burn the hard work of 12 years to the ground..... They didn't want to committ to 50K per year, not realising that, once they cut off the volunteer workforce the upkeep of the property alone would run them at least three times that, and it was clear pretty quick after the initial closure, that they were going to sell the property. Mind you, the buildings are cultural heritage monuments, so there are certain restrictions with what you can do with them. Although they haven't adhered to that part of their ownership responsibility since they bought it in 1947, so why am I surprised?
February 2, was my final farewell of the project that was so dear to my heart for many years. We had one more meeting with the officials to garner information about the sale.
I took some pictures. Why? I have no clue. Something to look back at, maybe? No matter what the reason was I did it, I know it will be quite a while before I can look at them and not get pissed, so maybe I'll put them on a part of my teradrive I don't visit oftern, just to keep my sanity..
The meeting itself, was bullsht. They could have put the whole thing in an email, as far as I'm concerned. They, again, stressed the point that they would have liked to see the project succeed, while giving the impression that it wasn't their fault it went under, but everybody connected TO the project knows better. The bottomline still states: The project is dead, we will take as much of the credit for what was accomplished as we can, we will keep exploiting it to make the City Council look good and get people to visit the town and meanwhile, we will sell it to whomever is willing to take it off our hands.
End of an era.....
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