Our move now complete, we are ready to roll!
Thank goodness its Friday! We moved out of our office into my home, and now — as one witty commenter said — I can work in my pajamas! No, seriously… M.E. would die of heart attack if she saw me in my Superman pajamas. Not good.
A local TV station ran a story on Laurent 2 days ago, and it wasn’t entirely positive. We explained that, yes — The Laurent Company is in debt and unable to operate any longer. No, we do not realisitically expect the original funding group to come through for us any time soon. Yet, we are still here and 100% committed to building the signing community in McCook County, South Dakota.
I guess we’re too stupid to give up. Like a dog on a bone, we just don’t know when to throw in the towel.
Seriously, we are working on an alternative which is exciting. This alternative will involve a true community building approach. We are full of hope and energy now, and we have been in meetings with a few key leaders and will be working on this alternative for next two weeks.
I think we will be ready to announce by then. I wish I could tell you. If I did now, I would have to kill you. Sorry.
Soon.
September 30th, 2006 at 1:21 am
Best luck to your meetings with the key leaders for the next two weeks. Please keep us posted.
September 30th, 2006 at 3:50 pm
Sorry to hear about this turn of events and hope things will begin to improve soon. The obvious question is how you can build a whole town if you can’t even maintain a small office. And by the way, that comment about having to kill us if you tell us your plans now was pretty juvenile … not the level of maturity we would want to see from someone leading this project. And saying, "We just don’t know when to throw in the towel" sounds like you’ve already given up and contradicts your other statements. The "towel" should not even be mentioned!
September 30th, 2006 at 7:43 pm
The negative posting by Willard is definitely crab theory, ignore him and his like. He is the one who is juvenile. As in life and everywhere, there are setbacks and its okay to re-think what you are doing. The Dream continues….Sometimes a better, more streamlined, more realistic approach will make things work…Stay positive and send me a pix of your superman jammies…didn’t know they had adult sizes.
October 1st, 2006 at 8:57 pm
Vikee ..BALONEY!
October 1st, 2006 at 9:01 pm
I would love to see the town built. I have written it up in Deafweekly several times to help publicize the project. Why would I not want it to succeed? That makes no sense at all. I’ve been boosting various deaf-related projects for over a quarter century now in all shapes and forms.But this stuff about moving back home and working in PJs and killing us if we know too much and throwing in the towel … there is nothing juvenile about my pointing out that this is not the way the Laurent town founder should be acting.Also, we need a new "something"-theory to describe all those idiots who trot out that tired old crab theory at every possible opportunity even when it does not apply at all.
October 1st, 2006 at 9:11 pm
And by the way, here in Rochester NY it is possible to rent an office for under $500 … even as low as $200. I imagine the rents are even cheaper in South Dakota. My question is a valid one: How can you build a town if you can’t even maintain an office?And the attitude about the hush-hush meeting that can’t be revealed until all is set … I don’t get that at all. Isn’t this supposed to be a town? Why can’t we all be involved in the planning? Why can’t Marvin tell us what he’s trying to do and see if we agree with this approach, especially those who have signed on to live in the town.I prefer transparency rather than "smoke-filled rooms." Openness is always the best approach if you want to get people on your side. Who was the original funder who backed out? Is there any real reason to protect their privacy? I mean, seriously, you had someone ready to give you funding who then changed their minds. Why can’t we know the details? What is being covered up? Who is being protected?Sorry if you don’t like being subjected to tough questions but you are in the public arena and someone has to ask.
October 1st, 2006 at 9:39 pm
I am sorry to take up so much space here and do not mean to sound critical, but comments that merely say "good luck," though they may make the founders feel better, do not move the project along.I would imagine the most likely prospects for funding of this town would be at the local, county, state and federal levels. Would you mind giving us a status report of your efforts to get funding from each of these levels? Are you in frequent touch with your County Commissioner, State Legislators, U.S. Congressman, U.S. Senators, Governor, etc.? Do you routinely send them your press releases and other printed materials? Have you come right out and asked them for money to build this town?I worked for a deaf agency that routinely sent newsletters and press releases to ALL state senators and representatives, not just the ones from their own area, because ALL of them voted on the agency’s funding.I haven’t read everything on your website and you may have already addressed these topics. In any case, now would be a good time to update us on your efforts to secure government funding. Some projects are just too big for the private sector, and this may be one of them.In the meantime, you could buy a book of celebrities’ addresses and write to them about Laurent, S.D. and ask them to donate an item that you could put up for sale on eBay. Man, you could quickly earn $100,000 or more. Just be sure to publicize it really well. Send out your news releases far and wide, especially to those who wrote about you in the past. Get volunteers to help … when a star donates something, go to that star’s fan sites and leave a post informing everyone of the upcoming eBay auction.I am glad you are doing it as a nonprofit organization now … your chances of success are much higher.Come on, get creative, this town is a lot bigger than the two of you, and now is not the time to retreat. Get busy and get us all involved!!!
October 3rd, 2006 at 1:53 am
Tom,I appreciate your comments, and your standing behind them with a real name. And, I agree with you that it is time to get all of you involved. I may have been too gun shy for too long — largely because if things go wrong, I much prefer that only I get burned. One only needs to look at what happened at Wyndholme Village and others.And boy, I have been burned. We really got hurt in this endeavor. Yet, the point of my messages were: we are still here and we are still committed. I apologize if my choice of words offended you. I will remain true to my nature and feelings, and I will share them with readers whenever appropriate.As for not being willing to share information — the original funders are still at work, and I much rather leave them alone. We have done what we could with them, and we have moved on without them. If at a later date, they are able to pull together the needed funds, more power to our community.As for going after federal, state and local level funding, we did not because of the promise of funding. Now, we will definitely look at all of them. First, we need to name right people on The Laurent Institute board. Then map out a strategy for fundraising and grants making.We ARE working on an alternative to building the original vision of Laurent. Building Laurent would have required an enormous amount of cash to cover infrastructure, initial housing and commercial units and so on. Our alternative avoids these initial obstacles, and we are excited about that.We are not ready to announce simply because we want to avoid fueling land speculation — especially when all of us are not prepared. We need to get things lined up. We have learned hard lessons from being SO open with Laurent and the County. This has resulted in an intense opposition which immediately dampened the support of Commissioners. All real estate developers I spoke with simply said we were nuts for being open before we grabbed the land and locked down the prices.All in all, this journey has been a difficult one. I would not wish this on anyone.
October 3rd, 2006 at 2:47 pm
Thanks for the update. I’m trying to see things from your perspective and have a few other comments.Why not set up a national ‘Friends of Laurent’ thing that people all over could join at various levels? This would allow people to donate and feel a part of the project and watch it grow thru a newsletter of some kind and provide you with money for operating costs.You mentioned naming the ‘right people’ to the board. Who decides who the right people are? Will you handpick people you know or will you open up the process and let all interested people apply?I’m intrigued with the plans you’re now working on. Sounds as if you’re either going to try and take over an existing town, or do without infrastructure, initial housing and commericial units.I was told that your office was rent-free and that you only had to pay utilities. Also heard that you haven’t paid employees and a lawsuit is pending. Would you care to comment?Ultimately I think your major mistake has been to try and keep the project all to yourself. Many errors could have been avoided if you had opened up and brought in a lot of consultants. They still can be ..
October 4th, 2006 at 2:44 am
Tom, thanks for the fund raising ideas. Definitely helpful! We’re now focusing 100% on this alternative — we need to tie up a few loose ends before we can announce, then from that point, we will focus on fund raising and coordinating the town’s growth.As for the office, no — we had to pay rent. As for the lawsuit, it was from an former employee and we have settled that last week. We hugged and wished each other all the best.I agree with what you’re saying, and hindsight is 20/20. If we could go back in time, we would definitely have done things differently. It was a classic case of a frog sitting in water and it slowly boiled.And, for the board… hmm, opening up and letting people apply for a board seat is intriguing. Ultimately, it would still be up to M.E. and myself in selecting them, right? or should I turn that process into a "semi-reality TV show"… at least, let people run for the seats and get votes on our blog? Our vote would weigh for 25%? Ideas welcome. I’m intrigued.
October 4th, 2006 at 2:46 pm
Putting together a new nonprofit’s board has to be one of the most challenging tasks.Yes, you and ME are the founders and can assemble the initial board, but one of the first things the new board will do is work with you to write the bylaws, which will explain, among other things, how future board members are selected. You may be tempted to pick your friends and cronies and people you know and trust, so that the board will leave you alone and not interfere with your vision.But one of a board’s biggest jobs is to raise and contribute money, so you want people who have money and know where to find more.No getting around it, you need hearing people on the board with experience in overseeing big-ass projects like this one. SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executive) would be a good place to look, if you have one in your area.But if you assemble a high-caliber board with the wherewithal to oversee this project, then you run the risk that they will look at you and question your abilities to be in charge. Having seen some of your internal memos, I wonder the same thing. I was struck by one thing you wrote: “We have no development experience or background.” Maybe you need to look at this sentence from an objective stance and rethink what you’re doing. Who is going to give big money to someone who freely admits he has no relevant experience?It is one thing to be a visionary and have a great, life-changing idea. It is quite another thing to actually have the skills to implement the idea. I have big ideas all the time but (usually) don’t act on them because I know my abilities and limitations. In any case, if you had someone promise you a lot of money and you worked hard for two years and got laws changed and developed a master plan, and then that funder backed out, I would think you could take legal action against that person or group and try to recover some of your losses.
October 4th, 2006 at 3:07 pm
Vikee,I also wanted to make sure I did not forget your statement of support. It was very much appreciated, and we always need positive comments to keep us going. Constructive feedback is also welcome.I do agree that Tom’s tone and attitude can make it difficult for anyone to take it well. But I have to believe he means well.Putting together best people on the board is a key, and I believe we will accomplish that.Thanks again, Vikee. Keep them coming.
October 5th, 2006 at 1:25 am
Oh gee, did I hurt your feelings with my "tone and attitude"? You prefer I just go RAH RAH like Vikee? All I am doing is asking valid questions and making relevant suggestions. If you were in the real world, you would be holding press conferences and people would be asking you these things. But since you’re in the deaf world, you can hide and avoid giving any real answers.You seem almost delusional at this point to keep repeating your mantra, "we will build this town." A week ago I felt positive about the Laurent venture, but now I’m starting to wonder if you have the gravitas to carry it forward.If not, then it becomes a matter of whether or not the deaf community cares enough about Laurent to find someone else to make it happen. This sort of movement would most likely have to originate with the people who have signed up to live in the town.
October 5th, 2006 at 5:08 am
I thought I should educate myself a bit more about the issues that you face, so I went to your website’s "newsroom" page and saw a long list of your newsletters. I clicked damn near every one of them and they all said the same thing: "Page Not Found." Golly gee sakes alive, this is exactly what I’m talking about when I say that some people will question your abilities and competence levels if you can’t even do the simple things right. How are you going to hook up the water and electricity and sewer pipes in Laurent if you can’t even link the pages on your website correctly?Sorry if I hurt your feelings for telling it like it is … it seems as if you prefer rah-rah, feel-good, do-nothing feedback rather than hard-headed realism.Hey, I have a question. You have a long list of people interested in the town and yet only one person has weighed in on this discussion since it started last week. I’ve raised some issues and made some points, so how come no one else has any thoughts or input? It feels as if the project has been overcome with apathy. Is that true? Hello, is anyone there?
October 5th, 2006 at 6:32 am
Marv, it is good to hear you admit that your approach up to this point may not have been optimal.I don’t doubt that this appears to have been frustrating beyond belief sometimes - hope your upcoming announcement marks the beginning of a new chapter in the Laurent story.To Tom Willard - I do not know what suing the "angel" donor (if it is who I believe it is) would accomplish. It may well be that at the time the agreement was made, the donor may not have seen any problem being able to provide the money - but things have a way of changing.I’m not sure how much more can be said without giving up clues as to their identity - but their inability to provide the money at this time is understandable.As Marv pointed out, it’s possible that at a later date they may be able to come through (but shame on Marv for relying almost totally on this donor from the beginning). Oh well - only time will tell.
October 5th, 2006 at 3:57 pm
My thought was that if this person promised funding and all the subsequent work was based on this promise and then the person reneged on the agreement and left Marvin & ME in substantial debt, then this person should help bail them out. Without the initial promises of funding, they wouldn’t have done all this work or gotten themselves into debt.I wouldn’t be surprised if the big (literally) mysterious angel donor is none other than Ben Soukup. I bet the problems started when the media exposed his absurdly high salary, and when people stopped making so many relay calls through CSD .. forcing them to lay off many staff.I recall when you had the charette, I thought it was great that you could afford to do that, and now I find out you put in on a credit card, so to speak. I don’t understand why Nederveld allowed you to do that, or why the "angel donor" didn’t pay for this in the first place, or why he won’t pay for it now since he’s the one that got all this hoopla started.
October 6th, 2006 at 1:47 am
You keep mentioning a new Board. Whatever happened to the Board you announced way back in Vol 9 of the LaurentTown Crier? Did they ever do anything? Or did these people jump ship, too?
October 7th, 2006 at 12:45 am
I am one of the people on the reservation list. I have been following the building of Laurent for a couple of years, as many others have. I applaud Marvin and M.E. for taking on such an enormous undertaking…..and having the guts to go forward with a project so HUGE. In fact so huge, that some have said this kind of vision/project has never been done. But that did not stop them! Some people laughed and said it would never happen! But that did not stop them! They didn’t have enough money. But that did not stop them!The opposition group is trying to stop them with legal action. But that did not stop them!Marvin and M.E. continued to research, talk, investigate and move forward in a professional and responsible way. They have continued to tell of Marvin’s dream and they have continued to lead the way. Yes, the road has been bumpy, some things have not gone as well as planned, some things were not planned for. However on the other hand, the world wide attention tells me people are curious, interested and want to watch what happens, and/or be a part of Laurent. From what I have seen, Marvin and M.E. have acted morally and ethically responsible in creating Laurent and representing the new residents of Laurent.I still believe and hope Laurent will be built one day. But, let’s just say, hypothetically, this was the end! (as some people might believe)….I feel the lives they have touched and the hope and vision they have given with their dream, is an incredible feat in of itself. I was a stake holder at the charette and I saw first hand, the life changing event that occurred. Not only with the signers, but with the professionals from Nederveld and the other organizations that were represented. We all left the charette knowing each of us had a small part in helping to make a difference. I have become a believer in their vision. I don’t know how it will all happen….but I am cheering them on. I can’t build a town, nor do what they do! But, I can lend my support and I hope I can continue to find small ways to help Marvin and M.E. build Laurent for all who want to be part of it. As history tells us many highly respected and successful people failed time after time, until they finally succeeded!
October 7th, 2006 at 4:15 am
Stake Holder,Thank you for your comments! In response to Sitewatcher, the "board" was an advisory board, and we are still in touch with the members of that board. You can contact each one of them and see how they feel about us and the vision today.We are now ready to make The Laurent Institute a main focus of our efforts, therefore we now need a real board. Stay tuned.