George, Waldo and the Good Dells were sitting in the back room of that dimly lit bar, having a few drinks and rehearsing for their next gig. Seriously… some of you need to step away from the keyboard. There is no conspiracy afoot. But unfortunately given the way this has unfolded, I guess I kind of deserved that. Mischief managed!
Disclaimer:
I haven’t drawn a Chautauqua paycheck since my last summer in college working at Club for Mr. Lewellen. I am in no way associated with any organization directly or indirectly involved with the New Amp project. I don’t have any professional or fiduciary relationship with/to Chautauqua. As to my history briefly mentioned in the intro on my original Amp Redux v. 3.0 post (link on the RH sidebar), that is all true. There is nothing to be gained by Amping that up. As my Chautauqua grandmother used to say, “It will all come out in the wash anyway.” So that being said, I’ll put this out there for your review and consideration. And if it’s not good enough for some of you…well, its a large world (wide web), and with all due respect, you can feel free to shove off this dock, and steer your browser someplace else.
OK that being said, George T. Seaver is a nom de plume I took to start this blog in support of the New Amp project. George was the first name of my Chautauqua grandfather. I’ve used a pen name because, unlike some people out here, I have no desire to self-aggrandize my position on this whole thing. More importantly I do not want me or my family to be subjected to some of the bitterness and contempt that has been dished out by an overly zealous few. This debate has brought out the worst in some people and I seem to have become a bit of a lightning rod. I am simply a concerned Chautauquan with enough experience in the field to be dangerous to myself and others. I choose to fly above/below this storm (depending on your point of view). I have to admit, in the clarity of 20/20 hindsight, I absolutely underestimated the curiosity level generated by this blog site, and now know, I should have announced my intentions to remain anonymous right up front. I need to own this, so I profoundly apologize to anyone who may have been offended. I wholeheartedly agree with and wanted to support Chautauqua’s proposed New Amp project. I was also sick and tired of all the vitriol and one sided arguments coming from the committee and the press. I thought it painfully ironic that while discussing the Amps structural integrity I post a pic of a crane holding up the roof from the 80’s and just 5 days later history repeats itself, only worse. I’m surprised George didn’t get blamed for that.
I will however share a few things with you to hopefully allay your curiosity and that of the varied conspiracy theorists who think I am “a shill” (wow, really) working for the Ricochet group hired by Chautauqua. On that note I have seen more than a few emails from various sources in the last week and I find them paradoxically disturbing and laughable. Although I will take it as a left-handed compliment on my amateur writing and web development skills if they think I work for a PR firm. I did spend three years in the advertising business as an account executive and part of that job entailed writing copy for television and print ads. If I was working for that PR firm, would I have made the rookie mistake of using a pen name and not calling that out…yeah I didn’t think so.
I cut my teeth in the commercial real estate field spending 1 ½ years working on and in a National Historic Landmark Building. The building was a classic example of turn of the century beaux arts architecture. The developer I consulted for specialized in Historic Landmark properties (over 90% of their portfolio). This limestone and terra cotta building had a 3 story high atrium, granite floors, a half an acre of skylights, and incredible architectural detail in the ceilings. I loved walking through there every day on the way to my office. It was originally built as a hotel and regional headquarters for a very large (now defunct) Mid Atlantic corporation, and had fallen into disrepair and was vacant for years before my client purchased it. It was lovingly restored and re-purposed into luxury apartments/office/retail space. Every build out within the buildings original shell had to strictly adhere to the Secretary of the Interiors Standards as the developer was taking the 20% Historic Tax Credits and traded on the Historic Landmark status in all their marketing efforts during the lease up period. We had to turn away Law firms because we couldn’t penetrate the ceilings building private offices, but two medium sized Architecture and Financial Services firms did some very creative things with their spaces and the apartments leased up quickly.
I won’t belabor this by telling you of the other Historic projects but I will give you a glimpse into the Chautauqua project I worked on. I negotiated a purchase option on one of Chautauqua’s turn of the century boarding houses in the early 90’s. We had a 90 day due diligence period and with my previous exposure to Historic Tax Credit Financing we pursued that route. The Rehab and F.F. & E. (Furniture, Fixtures & Equipment) estimates came back within acceptable ranges and we thought we were on our way. The problem we ran into as we communicated our plans to the the NY State Historic Preservation representative stopped us dead in our tracks. We were informed that we had to keep the first floor common parlor and dining areas as they “are individually and collectively important in defining the historic character of the building”. Basically that wrecked our proforma as we lost 25% of our gross rentable area and projected income in the proposed redevelopment to apartments. Our option lapsed as we could not secure financing under those constraints. So, I’ve both benefited and been burned by the Secretary’s Standards.
My only compensation for doing this has been in the negotiable currency of a whole lot of positive feedback from so many people, as I have changed some minds, enlightened some more, and at the very least shed some positive light on this divisive topic…and that as they say is…PRICELESS!
So for the time being I remain,
Curiously George
Photos above courtesy of the Where’s Waldo & Chautauqua Boys & Girls Club Facebook pages.
Waldo Inspiration by Jane.
Drift of the Day 
Well George, we may not know who you are but we know you are not who you said you were. Strike one against your credibility. Second, we know that you do not know the correct spelling of “nom de plume” so you are either not very well educated or you are very careless. Strike two against your credibility. You may not agree with Jane Gross or Hale Oliver, but they are honest, gutsy people. Please explain why your claims as to your status now are any more credible than the false claim you made and published about your identity to the Chautauqua community.
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So George is a pseudonym. I for one do not think it takes any credibility away from much of what he is posting on the blog.
Here’s what I do have a problem with: Why do you feel the need to insult the guy?? ( ” not very well educated”) I did not find it at all honest or gutsy for Hale Oliver to send out a private email to him from Jane Gross where she accuses “George” of being a PR shill for the Institution. Tactics like those do not at all speak to much credibility either. Why does the discussion have to devolve into baseless accusations and name- calling?
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Jay I wanted to thank you for your constructive criticism. I have personally edited the typo you pointed out in my text and sternly reprimanded the editor. Your email requesting my winter, summer, and work addresses, corresponding digits, and one CHQ property owner who could vouch for me has been forwarded to the legal department. Last but certainly not least, thanks for helping me make my point about using a pen name.
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Okay, everybody calm down and take your meds. George, Hale, Jane, Elinore, Jack, Tom, Brian, Stevie, Geof, Hugh, Debby, another Tom, two additional Georges and Jay all have a right to make respectful statements. Yes, some of these are a little edgy, but I think we are all grown up enough to shrug them off.
So, please stay chill, it will be a long summer and as George’s Mama says “It will all come out in the wash.” The good news is the renown Mr Elliot Fishman will be helping us sort it all out. See you on the lake.
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That is my Grandma, not my Momma. She is a whole nother story! Thx Dude!
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I have to agree that people shouldn’t have to present their passport and the geographical location of their first born to have a legitimate opinion. I think George has shown pretty good credibility; and it will also likely all come out in the wash. I have no desire to drag a man (or a woman) out of any closet for whatever reason. But can you blame him? Bijou is absolutely right to say that the first reaction cannot be the vilification of people with whom we don’t agree. And I certainly don’t look at typos and think a lack of credibility. I find typos all the time, from just about everyone from University presidents to Chautauqua’s own website and with myself. In fact, I can decimate the English language and wonder why neither spellcheck or grammar check ever picked up on it.
No where is what George has written does he attack anyone from the other side. He might try to show why he feels it’s not the right answer, but he called no one names that I saw. Honestly, I think everyone ought to be more open to a criticism of their point of view, because this much I know for sure: No one is assured of being “right” on this. There has to be some spirit behind the process of good intention, and whether or not I agree with “George,” I do think there is good intention from someone who doesn’t wish to have red bricks thrown through his window. So.. yes… please chill folks.
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I’ve been remiss in not thanking you sooner. In the interim I have made fun of some. But it was sorely needed. IMHO!
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