Temple temporarily closed.
Mar. 4th, 2013 12:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
icarusSo to clarify:
The temple prayer room, gift store, and everything within the building itself (including the food bank) is temporarily shut down. The county's requiring us to make about a million dollars in renovations before we can reopen.
Understand, the temple property is safe. We own it free and clear, largely thanks to your help two years ago.
Good thing too, because 35' concrete stupas are hard to move.
The wildlife refuge remains open to the public.
The temple grounds and Garuda Aviary with rescued parrots remain open. But no one can come inside the temple proper -- not even to use the bathroom.
The prayer vigil continues, since family and members can come and go.
Answeringrabidfan: What can we do?
1 - We're gathering donations wherever we can, so we can do the renovations.
I don't understand why the county dropped the boom on us, we'd been working with them, but I missed the meeting about this so I don't know the details. The one thing I did catch: the renovations are linked, one to another. You can't just do one or two. You have to do it allll. Quote: "...massive interior upgrades to all
systems, including drywall, electrical and plumbing work, and the installation
of extensive sprinkler systems throughout the building, and much more."
2 - There's a hardcopy petition to urge the county to let us reopen.
For one thing, people shouldn't be cut off from the food bank. And the whole community makes use of this place. The birding community hops by the Mani Jewel gift store for food and water (and a bathroom break) before heading into the woods. Cyclists come through. We're a stop for Asian tours. People borrow books from our Buddhist lending library. Hikers come through for Sunday lunch before hitting the trails. The local high schools visit here for their religious studies programs throughout the school year.
I'll link you guys to the petition once it's online.
There's also a crowdfunding effort going on via email and Twitter.
This is the page explaining the situation: http://www.tara.org/2013/03/02/urgent-temple-is-temporarily-closed-to-the-public-we-need-your-help/
And this is the donation link: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=S3DA9NBZ2SBLS
The temple prayer room, gift store, and everything within the building itself (including the food bank) is temporarily shut down. The county's requiring us to make about a million dollars in renovations before we can reopen.
Understand, the temple property is safe. We own it free and clear, largely thanks to your help two years ago.
Good thing too, because 35' concrete stupas are hard to move.
The wildlife refuge remains open to the public.
The temple grounds and Garuda Aviary with rescued parrots remain open. But no one can come inside the temple proper -- not even to use the bathroom.
The prayer vigil continues, since family and members can come and go.
Answering
rabidfan: What can we do? 1 - We're gathering donations wherever we can, so we can do the renovations.
I don't understand why the county dropped the boom on us, we'd been working with them, but I missed the meeting about this so I don't know the details. The one thing I did catch: the renovations are linked, one to another. You can't just do one or two. You have to do it allll. Quote: "...massive interior upgrades to all
systems, including drywall, electrical and plumbing work, and the installation
of extensive sprinkler systems throughout the building, and much more."
2 - There's a hardcopy petition to urge the county to let us reopen.
For one thing, people shouldn't be cut off from the food bank. And the whole community makes use of this place. The birding community hops by the Mani Jewel gift store for food and water (and a bathroom break) before heading into the woods. Cyclists come through. We're a stop for Asian tours. People borrow books from our Buddhist lending library. Hikers come through for Sunday lunch before hitting the trails. The local high schools visit here for their religious studies programs throughout the school year.
I'll link you guys to the petition once it's online.
There's also a crowdfunding effort going on via email and Twitter.
This is the page explaining the situation: http://www.tara.org/2013/03/02/urgent-temple-is-temporarily-closed-to-the-public-we-need-your-help/
And this is the donation link: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=S3DA9NBZ2SBLS