Full Steam Ahead
The Finance Committee and the LRPC both met this weekend and voted to put to sea, regardless of the condition of the vessel or the forecast weather.
They are dis-inclined to be confused with further facts.
The vote will be the first and last time that members will have a chance to be heard on the subject. In the meantime if you want to do some lobbying, below is the beauty parade.
Make sure you vote and may I also suggest that you start taking some polaroid pictures of the Club, it may be all you have left to remember it.
posted by Unlock at 5:57 PM
1 Comments:
It would appear that those engaged in the Finance and LRP Committees have done their sums, and are happy to make a recommendation to go ahead with the proposed project. Having had some 7 or 8 years to conduct step-by-step research, it stands to reason that these well intentioned men and women must have examined all manner of contingencies and options, such that now they have full confidence in the financial soundness of the proposed project.
OK, that's fine.
Against that backdrop, will the powers that be at TAC now consider the following suggestions :
1. For any member who elects not to use the temporary club, and makes such a commitment in advance in writing, monthly dues to be reduced by 75% from the time Azabudai closes until the New TAC opens. The 25% charge is to cover core administrative costs, and iNTOUCH, and assorted other items which continue regardless of location. In any month if a member uses the temporary club [by using his/her member's card] then the full monthly fee to be charged, plus 25%.
2. TAC, represented by the incumbent Board of Governors, to indemnify all members to the effect that membership fees and charges in all TAC facilities will not be increased at all during the period of the temporary club, except where it can be proved that wage and cost inflation in Japan has reached a level warranting any proposed increase to charges. [In other words it may not be the project itself that is the cause of cost increases.]
3. TAC, represented by the incumbent Board of Governors, to indemnify all members to the effect that TAC may not call upon members for loans or bonds or any such financial aid to the club arising from the redevelopment project.
4. TAC to offer to purchase from members their individual or corporate membership, at the same Yen value as said membership cost in the first place minus 25%, providing that such purchase scheme is exercised in a period of [say] 12 months leading up to the closure of TAC Azabudai, whereafter the scheme closes. Should a member who exercises such a right to sell his or her membership to TAC subsequently reapply to join after the New TAC is open for business, then, subject to normal rules relating to applicants, a premium of at least 50% to be charged on top of the normal fee. [In other words, if you want out now you get back most of what you paid ; if you want to come back later, you pay a premium for your absence.]
To state the obvious, if the proposed project is as sound as we are told it is, then enacting these suggestions will make no material difference to the overall viability of the plan, and could even get rid of a view dissenting old farts from the depths of the club's beverage outlets [yes, there could be an upside for the BofGs]. Of course if all of this were to be offered and were to make a material difference to the plan, then perhaps some people will learn something.......
I am no lawyer - I know it will look all too cute by half - and it will never fly with the cabal that runs TAC these days, but there is a serious point : it was never stated when I joined TAC that the club may engage in a potentially ruinous project to redevelop, so why should my financial wellbeing be potentially impacted adversely by the decision of others, most of whom I would contend are ill-informed or self-serving or delusional? I am not expecting to be able to wait until 2010 or 2011 to then declare whether or not I am happy with the outcome [with the benefit of hindsight] and to then ask for financial recompense - that would manifestly be unreasonable. No, I am asking that now, or in the next year or so, TAC gives me guarantees that I will not be financially harmed by the project, with an option to leave the club with 75% of my joining fee recovered. Who could say fairer than that ?
After all, if the deal is so solid and the new place will be "premier club in Asia" then people will flock to join and take the place of those who prefer to depart now.
Not that TAC's BofGs ever responds in this blog, but, over to you ladies and gentlemen : do you have real confidence in the plan to the extent that you back it up with cash ?
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