Gifford and a group from BGI visited Jonathan Rose some time last year. Jon took them for a tour of Port Gamble and his vision for how his company could convert Port Gamble from a financial liability for his company Pope Resources to a thriving Living Learning community. Like a Sears, Macy's or Nordstrom's might anchor a mall the idea is that BGI could anchor this community. Last year BGI's was worrying about surviving. This year BGI is planning where it will be in 3 and fifteen years. I met Lisa Berntsen a C8 at the first Intensive and told her I was on this project. She promised to introduce me to Jon and did. Jon and I met on Wednesday October 28th at Jon's office in Port Gamble.
What an experience. When Jon sat me down to give me a serious presentation about his vision for the 8,000 acres of land that Pope Resources owns from Port Gamble to Kingston I asked him if I could video tape it. He gave me this look of "so where is your camera'? I took out of my pocket this very small Sony Cyber-shot camera that my son Evan got me to buy. It will shoot a half hour of video. So if you have 26 minutes to kill take a look it here.
BGICampusProject-PortGambleOption
Also see the video you can share at Vimeo.
I know you have busy schedules so here is a brief summary. Jon has convinced the Board of Directors of Pope Resources to turn Port Gamble in a Living Learning community. The people he has in mind to settle in the Port Gamble community are not the type that are going to be playing golf three times a week. They are going to be interested in continuing their education and some kind of work. (Here is a link to an article Enlarging the Academic Community - creating retirement communities linked to Academic Institutions) His dream scenario is for a University to move onto the 40 acres they have set aside for classroom buildings and dorms. You can see the land on the right. The site is 8 miles from the Kingston Ferry and about 35 minutes from the Bainbridge Ferry using the back roads through Suquamish. It is surrounded by about 3500 acres of forest that will remain as forest. It is about a ten minute walk to the town of Port Gamble. His plan is for a developer to come in and build housing for a community. A farm already exists with several large greenhouses. There is a trail project happening which is connecting Port Gamble to Poulsbo, to Hansville, Indianola, Suquamish, Kingston, Keyport and Bainbridge. Jon would love to explore how this could be the home for BGI. He development plan for the town has a 3 to 5 year horizon. His timing seems to match ours.
Dal, This seems amazingly perfect. I know BGI needs a permanent home, and of all the different scenarios I have heard of, this one feels most in keeping with our aesthetic, and our needs. The opportunity to build exactly what we require, and in accordance with our values (LEED certified, etc) is exciting. Something of this size, surrounded by nature that is contractually guaranteed to remain undeveloped, must be difficult to find. I imagine it might cost us less in the long run to build what we want from scratch that to retrofit something that will never be right. That Pope's timeframe matches ours is fortuitous.
Finally, the idea of an intentional community in line with BGI's vision-- a Living Learning Community-- is truly exciting. The possibilities for synergy and creation are truly mind-blowing. That this is something Pope WANTS for Port Gamble seems like yet another sign that this may be a serendipitous path for BGI.
Having fallen in love with Port Gamble after many bike rides through that area, I'm thrilled with the possibility of BGI's future there.
Maybe I missed this point already made in the video, but I would love to see the conference/events center and BGI campus be one and the same. The conference center available dates would be any that weren't needed by BGI. (And conference attendees might likely be members of the BGI target market.) While not in use by either, it could even be used to rent out lodging/facilities to individuals/families/groups for retreats/family reunions, etc. Lots of opportunities to build a profitable, sustainable revenue stream.
In 1980 Dal founded TWEEZERMAN Corporation. He built it into a multi-national, personal care tool brand and practiced responsible capitalism. He has written a memoir “Failing to Get Ahead”. Dal has spent the 8 years of the Bush Administration trying to stop the War in Iraq. He funded four Iraq War movies: The War Tapes, The Ground Truth, Iraq For Sale, and Meeting Resistance and traveled with Congressman Jim McDermott to Amman to videotape McDermott’s interview of high level public officials from throughout the middle east. Working as a “citizen diplomat”, Dal partnered with Iraqi Parliament Member, Mohammed al-Dayni to work a cease-fire between Iraqi insurgents and the Coalition Forces. These efforts were covered on NPR’s “This American Life”.
He has served on the Board of Directors of the Social Venture Network (SVN); he is on the Boards of Yes Magazine, and Bainbridge Graduate Institute. Besides his run for President of the USA in 2007, he has run for U.S. Congress twice. Dal holds two graduate degrees from Harvard, an MBA and an MPA, and earned his BA at Providence College. He spent his Junior Year at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland.
Dal,
ReplyDeleteThis seems amazingly perfect. I know BGI needs a permanent home, and of all the different scenarios I have heard of, this one feels most in keeping with our aesthetic, and our needs. The opportunity to build exactly what we require, and in accordance with our values (LEED certified, etc) is exciting. Something of this size, surrounded by nature that is contractually guaranteed to remain undeveloped, must be difficult to find. I imagine it might cost us less in the long run to build what we want from scratch that to retrofit something that will never be right. That Pope's timeframe matches ours is fortuitous.
Finally, the idea of an intentional community in line with BGI's vision-- a Living Learning Community-- is truly exciting. The possibilities for synergy and creation are truly mind-blowing. That this is something Pope WANTS for Port Gamble seems like yet another sign that this may be a serendipitous path for BGI.
I concur, what is the catch?
ReplyDeleteHaving fallen in love with Port Gamble after many bike rides through that area, I'm thrilled with the possibility of BGI's future there.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I missed this point already made in the video, but I would love to see the conference/events center and BGI campus be one and the same. The conference center available dates would be any that weren't needed by BGI. (And conference attendees might likely be members of the BGI target market.) While not in use by either, it could even be used to rent out lodging/facilities to individuals/families/groups for retreats/family reunions, etc. Lots of opportunities to build a profitable, sustainable revenue stream.