LCS major capital improvement campaign interviews

DaveP wrote:

joec wrote:

brigitte wrote:I disagree with Dave P, I am a European and do not fee excluded at all, they just do not offer anything I have to have.
The library and film library are made obsolete by Kindle, Netflix and a few other things. Classes can be had without going there. It has become obsolete and it needs to reinvent itself or die.

A building and its ground need upkeep and especially an old building, the grounds are very pleasant but it is a high price to pay to have a pleasant place to go to have a cup of tea or whatever and chat with your friends.

OMG! I could not agree more. I do not consider the place even close to being well maintained.

I also didn't know they catered to only Americans. I thought the organization was for all expats, Canadians and Europeans. They gotta wake up.

This is not my point. It is their image that is the problem. Everyone appears to be welcome. Their image is that they cater only to Americans.

Sorry, I misunderstood.

DaveP wrote:

joec wrote:

brigitte wrote:I disagree with Dave P, I am a European and do not fee excluded at all, they just do not offer anything I have to have.
The library and film library are made obsolete by Kindle, Netflix and a few other things. Classes can be had without going there. It has become obsolete and it needs to reinvent itself or die.

A building and its ground need upkeep and especially an old building, the grounds are very pleasant but it is a high price to pay to have a pleasant place to go to have a cup of tea or whatever and chat with your friends.

OMG! I could not agree more. I do not consider the place even close to being well maintained.

I also didn't know they catered to only Americans. I thought the organization was for all expats, Canadians and Europeans. They gotta wake up.

This is not my point. It is their image that is the problem. Everyone appears to be welcome. Their image is that they cater only to Americans.

So how to solve the image problem if it is a percieved problem??
Any Ideas.
Z

So how to solve the image problem if it is a percieved problem??
Any Ideas.
Z

Getting the workers lined up to sing "It's a Small World After All" worked for Uncle Walt

I think part of the charm of LCS is where it is located and how it came to be. It would be a shame to remove the buildings and redo...just not the real purpose of the gifted land to the residents of the Lake area. The library does need help...the moisture problem is real and needs to be addressed ..with cost estimates for new roofs and air conditioning put . A new area for coffee and social gatherings could be any area home next to the property if need be. The parking remains a real problem...again agreements with surrounding areas might be a solution. We all hope that the grounds remain as they are and that this space is open to ALL .

I quit the LCS because of their ridiculous election and "constitution" tactics a few years back, their out-of-line price hikes, their improper firing of long-term employees, and their fines on late paperbacks for books donated by the people, among other things. This makes me ineligible to offer suggestions for improvement. It does not make me blind to the problems.

HelperGuy wrote:I quit the LCS because of their ridiculous election and "constitution" tactics a few years back, their out-of-line price hikes, their improper firing of long-term employees, and their fines on late paperbacks for books donated by the people, among other things. This makes me ineligible to offer suggestions for improvement. It does not make me blind to the problems.

They followed the rules and won. I didn't find the election ridiculous at all. Were you aware of the financial situation at that time?? The fines are there
so people will bring back the books. Only half of the magazines are ever returned and most are returned months later. Many of us just can't be bothered
to return things if there is no penalty sorry to say. I don't see how you are ineleigible to offer suggestions. Give us some please? I wil pass them on. I
showed management this string yesterday. They won't comment on it as those are the rules but they see these posts. Something real and constructive
would help. By the way elections will happen and if the membership is unhappy they shouldn't re-elect the current folks right?

Remember I am a volunteer at LCS but these opinions are mine and don't represent LCS. (God I am doing disclaimers in Mexico LOL)

Z

Yes, fully aware of the financial situation, and could not believe the attitude, the disruption, the lengths that some members went to get elected, the squabbling, the "constitutional reform", the general gringo-bullshit that always seems to pour out in situtations like this.

I didn't vote, I have no rights. And I will not engage in the gringo game. It's bad enough just on this board to put forth a comment, and this group is not involved in real power struggles or self-serving agendas. It was one of the most distasteful calamities I have witnessed here, far outweighing the Ch. Vista board fiasco, because of its direct effect on the expat and Mexican residents.

Zedinmexico wrote: I don't see how you are ineleigible to offer suggestions. Give us some please? I wil pass them on. ....Something real and constructive
would help.
Z

Alrighty, here's one: Integrate the place. Find ways to make it relevant to the Mexican community. The ESL program and the Children's art program are great, but there needs to be a whole lot more. Take some cues from La Biblioteca in San Miguel. If you go there in the evenings, there are all kinds of programs and activities that attract Mexican participation as well as ex-pats. It's actually a bi-cultural institution.

Next time you're on the LCS grounds, count the number of Mexicans you see (who aren't working). It won't take long at all.

Good question, Zed, thanks for making us think about this! What exactly is the Mission Statement in one concise sentence??? Let's look at what the LCS is trying to do, what need exactly is it trying to fill? Maybe the need is gone. . .

I'm in the RV and HG camp, I think the whole concept of the LCS needs to be rethought. As it stands now, I think it's pretty irrelevant for most people. So, the people that tend to congregate there are those that have little interest in being bi-cultural or bi-lingual and participating more in the Mexican way of life. They seem to have a lot of fear. They seem to want to just congregate among their own.

Remember, it was conceived when there was a very small group of expats coming to live here and the whole area was different then. Hardly any Mexican locals spoke English, there was no Chapala.com or Insidelakeside.com to help newcomers get oriented, paper books were the ONLY books and they were very hard to come by - not like now where paper books are flooding into each thrift shop in the area and the Kindle works for so many, movies in English were only available by VCR/VHS, limited TV, there was no, or very limited internet, long distance phone calls home were difficult and expensive, etc etc etc.

Integrate, I agree with that. It's just too exclusive.

Having said all this I would not vote for it to go away completely, but something simpler, maybe even DOWNsized!

I think the need for having an LCS needs to be redefined before any answers can come to light.

Many of the purposes,problems and image mentioned above are being addressed
at this point in the ongoing study. Aside from the maintenance and repair
problems, at this time, there is no space to integrate the programs offered to
the Mexican community at Wilkes Center in to the main LCS grounds.
However, there has been more interest from the Mexican community to utilize
the LCS facilities during off hours for programs and events.

And as mentioned earlier, the feasibility study is still in progress - results
to be determined. LCS is not paying for the study which is being conducted
by a well known member of the community with an extensive and qualified
background in migration , retirement, etc.

Rosa Venus wrote:

Zedinmexico wrote: I don't see how you are ineleigible to offer suggestions. Give us some please? I wil pass them on. ....Something real and constructive
would help.
Z

Alrighty, here's one: Integrate the place. Find ways to make it relevant to the Mexican community. The ESL program and the Children's art program are great, but there needs to be a whole lot more. Take some cues from La Biblioteca in San Miguel. If you go there in the evenings, there are all kinds of programs and activities that attract Mexican participation as well as ex-pats. It's actually a bi-cultural institution.

Next time you're on the LCS grounds, count the number of Mexicans you see (who aren't working). It won't take long at all.

I agree and getting Wilkes Center (Place where the spanish library and spanish learning programs are) down to LCS should help the problem. We should
have spanish and english spoken all the time. Right now spanish is heard most at the snack bar LOL. We do have a few mexicans professional who hang
out but they speak english. I also wonder how to make economic fairness on dues? Lets face it 500Pesos for MOST mexicans is too much and that alone
will stop many Mexicans from joining. I imagine it would probably be illigal in Mexico to charge one price for Mexicans and one price for Gringoes right?

Z

Trailrunner wrote:Good question, Zed, thanks for making us think about this! What exactly is the Mission Statement in one concise sentence??? Let's look at what the LCS is trying to do, what need exactly is it trying to fill? Maybe the need is gone. . .

I'm in the RV and HG camp, I think the whole concept of the LCS needs to be rethought. As it stands now, I think it's pretty irrelevant for most people. So, the people that tend to congregate there are those that have little interest in being bi-cultural or bi-lingual and participating more in the Mexican way of life. They seem to have a lot of fear. They seem to want to just congregate among their own.

Remember, it was conceived when there was a very small group of expats coming to live here and the whole area was different then. Hardly any Mexican locals spoke English, there was no Chapala.com or Insidelakeside.com to help newcomers get oriented, paper books were the ONLY books and they were very hard to come by - not like now where paper books are flooding into each thrift shop in the area and the Kindle works for so many, movies in English were only available by VCR/VHS, limited TV, there was no, or very limited internet, long distance phone calls home were difficult and expensive, etc etc etc.

Integrate, I agree with that. It's just too exclusive.

Having said all this I would not vote for it to go away completely, but something simpler, maybe even DOWNsized!

I think the need for having an LCS needs to be redefined before any answers can come to light.

Good points all but I would like to point out that many folks don't have internet, nooks, phones and stuff. So for a few years more we still need to supply
things like books and a public computer as I doubt if many of these people can or choose to learn new stuff. I have lines sometimes to use the public
computer and logon to there Yahoo account etc etc etc. Most of us here are a little bit of a cut above regarding technology compared to a sizable portion
of expats. I agree things are going away but lets not get rid of them too early and hurt non techy folks. I use to think exactly like many of you folks
until I tried to get them to learn something more complicated than a yahoo logon. They will have to die off before the demand will go away but I agree
it is going away.

Z

So if you have a dwindling group of people who soon will gone by attrition why would you look into spending a lot of money to perpetuate a dying lifestyle? This is exactly what contribute to the image or reality it is "an old grongo club".
There are needs in the expats community but many of them are different from those 50 years ago.

brigitte wrote:So if you have a dwindling group of people who soon will gone by attrition why would you look into spending a lot of money to perpetuate a dying lifestyle? This is exactly what contribute to the image or reality it is "an old grongo club".
There are needs in the expats community but many of them are different from those 50 years ago.

Brigitte, you just hit the nail squarely on the head! Why would the LCS want to raise and spend a million and a half dollars to perpetuate a "an old gringo club" that is, by Z's admission, "going away"?

Therein lies the rub.
I call it Geezer Central, not unkindly, but accurately enough. Since I, too, am a geezer, I can say that.
Maybe what the town needs is a Senior Center, similar to those in the States. If anyone isn't familiar with that, it's a place for elders to socialize, play cards, engage in some group activities and generally compensate for the loneliness so many people experience when they retire.

Some people are busier than they've even been before, but that's another group.

That being said, a look into the future is in order, much more focused on the group arriving from now on than on those ...uh...leaving.

Isn´t it amazing how. over time, seemingly worthwhile endeavors meant to preserve old lifestyles long in the toilet continue to underpin values from yesteryear. When the original underwriters of the Lke Chapala Burial Society were concerned with the disposition of foreign corpses and the then purpuresely evolved opresumptions over time until today when there is no relevance. Old, meaningless houndogs barking at the wind. Pathetic and reminescent of old goobers exercising their limp ding-dongs to no avail.

Exactly right, Gringal. I would only add that the (by definition) "senior center" should be bi-cultural and bi-lingual.

My mother's senior center outside of San Francisco (HUGELY POPULAR) had a kitchen and provided a daily meal and meals on wheels for those who couldn't get there. All for a price. Also it provided transportation with little vans for folks who couldn't get to appts or food shopping etc, and it also provided day trips/excursions, classes of interest, and other social events. All for a price, no membership fees. This place was so popular you could hardly get in the door and you had to sign up for the trips way in advance to get a seat.

Wait, I'm not sure, she may have paid a very small monthly dues.

I'll bet, if it was bi-lingual, there would be a lot of Mexican senior citizens who would love to use a facility and it's services like this.

Dog, you always intrigue me with your postings, but tell me, how exactly did you do your research into providing the info that old goobers have limp ding-dongs?

Trailrunner, I agree with the bi-lingual and bi-cultural concept....but the trick is in making it work in real time.

Data projected from the case study of a single individual...probably personally verifiable.

HelperGuy wrote:Dog, you always intrigue me with your postings, but tell me, how exactly did you do your research into providing the info that old goobers have limp ding-dongs?

It wasn´t easy, HG. I am reminded of Harvey Milk´s response to an inquiry from a heterosexual community leader in Northern California circa 1980 or so. This antagonist said to milk, "Why, you guys can´t even conceive of a baby.", to which Milk, the then famously gay "Mayor of San Francico´s Castro Street" replied; "Well it´s not from a lack of trying."

It is the ultimate paradox that the real property given to the LCS by the long-dead Neil James as its gift from her and her cronies into eternity has, perhaps, become the chain around the neck of an anachronistic social club now unable to rise from the predispositions imposed upon this old farts´s club by its very existence. Times have drastically changed from the 1950s when this was an outpost of U.S. artists and literary iconoclasts dwelling in and drawing upon a regional outback for sustenance. Since we arrived here in 2001, time and access to media have changed drasitically but the LCS is still mired in the 60s and administered by people stamping return dates on worn out Nancy Drew novels and worried sick about humidity curling bookcovers on works no one has taken interest in since 1957.

Maybe the LCS would simply dispose of these grounds and relieve itself of this burden so that new thought as to the future could creep into view. If not, I suspect that the end is near for this glorified coffee klatch.

Being somewhat younger than the majority of the membership of the LCS I was reminded of attending one of my grandmothers tea parties the one and only time I had entered the grounds. I have never returned however being that my property backs onto the LCS grounds I may venture in for another look one day. I do watch some of the activities through the windows of my back casita.

CB:

I would guess that it would excite the heck out of you and Sharon to have a bunch of construction going on behind you!

No more than what they are listening to coming out of my place right now.......jajaja!