It’s like Kremlinology over here as we attempt to read the tea leaves and figure out where Scientology leader David Miscavige is going to have his next “Ideal Org” grand opening and make another of his very rare public appearances.
But back in November and December, at two major events, Miscavige promised his followers that the new Paris cathedral would be the next to open in January, followed in quick succession by Ideal Orgs in Austin, Chicago, and Mexico City.
January has come and gone with no Paris opening, and Alex Barnes-Ross, who has been keeping an eye on it, tells us that he’s still seeing social media chatter which indicates the Paris event is not imminent.
He described a flier which indicates that yet another “briefing” event about the project is happening this weekend, which suggests that no grand opening is happening yet.
Meanwhile, our helper in Austin reports that there’s evidence a permit that was taken out for February 24th (several previous ones have come and gone) shows some signs of being real.
Here’s the message they sent us in full…
The February 24th opening of the Austin Org is looking more likely to happen. The minor evidence is that I drove by their parking lot around 4 pm today and counted 12 or 13 cars. (Last week, I only saw about 6 or 7.) That means more people are onsite at the Org, although it’s no guarantee of the opening, of course. After scoping out the parking lot, I drove by the building and noticed that they had covered up the Scientology sign on the side of the building, as well as the sign and quasi-cross symbol on the front. The pics I took last week show the side sign uncovered, as were the sign and symbol on the front. Funnily enough, the tacky-looking black tarp hiding their name over the front doors still has a section hanging loose, flapping in the breeze.
The major evidence is that I recently contacted the City of Austin department that’s handling the street closures. The description in the city’s online database was really confusing (whether that was the city’s fault or Scientology’s, I have no idea), so I emailed a few people at the city to ask for clarification. One guy provided some details that were somewhat helpful and somewhat not. I wrote back and asked for further clarification about a specific location that Scientology had requested for closure. It didn’t make sense for them to close the alley behind a neighboring building; they should have asked for the alley directly behind their own building. I didn’t hear anything from the guy at the city for a day or two. When he wrote back, the address closure I’d questioned had been changed/corrected to the alley behind the Scientology building. Also, several closures Scientology had previously listed had been deleted in the new version.
The point of the above being that it suggested the city had to go back and forth several times with the Scientology representative to determine the various locations the Org requested for closure. If the event weren’t happening next week, I’m not sure if the church’s planning with the city would still be occurring. Certainly, the Org could cancel at the last minute, as they’ve done multiple times in the past, but as of today, they seem to be moving ahead with opening on the 24th.
I’ve attached the form I received from the City. The first closure (sidewalk along the side of the facility) is set to begin on Tuesday the 20th at 9 am. I’ll make a trip by there next Tuesday to see if the sidewalk is closed. I think that’s going to be the big tell, either way.
Meanwhile, our Chicago helper sees no signs of life there at all, and one of our readers forwarded to us yet another flier where Scientologists are begged to consider joining staff. This one came with a video of a fellow named Sam.
Hello, Chicago, my name is Sam, I'm Pro Supe, I’m Pro Word Clearer, I'm Clear. I just joined to the Chicago org, it's a very cool place to be. It's a beautiful city where you can raise a family. The world's crazy right now, they need a lot of help, they need a lot of sanity. And the only thing that can really, actually help the insanity is Scientology. And the group of people that can make that happen is just the Sea Org and the staff members. Come join the team and let's help to make Chicago great again.
Judging by the state of the vegetation behind Sam, we can safely assume it’s been months, at least, since this was filmed, and who knows if Sam is still on Chicago’s Ideal Org staff, waiting for the building to open.
So that’s the latest from our Ideal Org watch: Austin shows signs that it might actually come off next weekend, Paris is still messing around with briefings and staff recruiting, Chicago is dormant, and we’re not sure what’s happening in Mexico City.
If you know more, please drop us a line!
UPDATE: And here’s help from Alex Barnes-Ross, who found this flier that suggests strongly that Austin will go on Feb 24. Sacre bleu, Paris!
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Wait, why do they need an Ideal Org in Austin? My mom already cleared that city before she joined the Sea Org in 75.
I don’t understand why anyone would need a sidewalk closed for five days for a ribbon cutting. And what will they need to be loading out until 6 am. The theater across 22nd (Austin Playhouse) is opening Cabaret on the 24th. Do they know about this?
Separately, I can see the point of delaying the Paris opening until just before the Olympics. By that time, Austin will have faceplanted, and they can move the coins to Paris, where everything will be sparkly new.