Bigger Than the Walls

A group that buys its own building has gone into the property business, and the property starts running the meetings. Picture it: a hall comes up for sale, members lend the money for a down payment, and the vote passes with cheering. Three years on, the business meeting is about the roof, the insurance, the furnace and the tenant upstairs who is behind on rent. The newcomers get the last five minutes. The two members who signed for the mortgage carry more weight than everyone else put together, and nobody can suggest moving without insulting them. Bill W. saw it coming (A.A. pamphlet P-17, p. 21): "Acceptance of large sums from any source to buy, build, or finance clubs almost invariably leads to later headaches." And the walls don't stay big enough for long: "the growing A.A. will burst the walls of any clubhouse." The Long Form keeps the deed away from the group (Big Book, p. 563): "any considerable property of genuine use to A.A." is not the group's to hold. It "should be separately incorporated and managed" (p. 564), carried by the people who choose to carry it, so the group stays free to meet anywhere. Test it tonight: if your group had to move next month, who would have to agree to it, and what would it cost them?