Okay – Would you want to own a small piece of a real working New England Lighthouse?

Well, our plan is simple.  We hope to provide the Lighthouse Keeper Membership Deed and seek your help in stewardship of the lighthouse.  We will be trying to ensure you “Own The Good You Do(tm)”.  For every Keeper Membership Deed people buy, we hope to provide a small list of organizations you vote for.  You vote for us to donate a percent of sales to the organization with the most votes – your votes.  Or, if you are a member of an organization and purchase through a link from your organization to ours and you buy a Keeper Membership Deed, that organization will automatically get a percentage of the sale.

We hope to save a ligthhouse and provide you and your organization with some real benefit of donations.

It may take us a while to get things worked out with a new lighthouse, but it should be coming soon.  Keep watching us and we will let you know

We lost in our bid for Ram Island Ledge Lighthouse.  But, we learned how strong the worldwide opportunity is for a “people’s option” — “Who Wouldn’t Want To Own A Lighhouse?”  We gained substantial lighthouse friends and raised a significant amount in just 6 days.  The people just loved the idea.

We would like to approach it slighty different than our previous attempt for Ram Island.  We created TOO MUCH interest during the bid process and people not normally aware of the lighthouse out bid us faster than we could raise our money.  So, instead of launching the PR buzz, emotional attraction, bid attempt and social media event BEFORE owning the lighthouse, we want to “run silent and run deep” and win the bid first.  Then we will launch our marketing and information effort.

Overview
Santa, I am hoping for 5-8 qualified individual angels to support a promissory note backed by a real estate asset — a real working lighthouse. Rate would be 10%, 20 yr amort., 7 yr balloon PLUS 1-1.25% royalty fee for 10 years.  No cap on $$.  We would hope to accelerate principle payback to participants as fast as the business model and cash flow allows.  It is low risk and has two Phases.

Phase I – Win The Bid- First, win the bid for a lighthouse.
Each participatn contributes ~$5K to participate during the open bid period, win the bid and have an option to purchase.

Phase II – Close The Sale
Closing  is ~90 days after award.  During 90 day period we launch massive and very creative sales/marketing program via social media and conventional PR.

Each participant would have the option to continue based upon a review of the unit sales trend during our 90 day sale/marketing effort.  If participant likes trend, he/she contributes a total of ~$20-$30K to execute final purchase (amounts depend upon wining bid amount).  Most at risk is $5k “earnest money” lost if one chooses to not continue with Phase II.

At closing, Phase II amount would be reduced by a portion of the unit sales, thus lessening the final amount a participant would need to contribute.

Timing
Santa, we can not wait until Christmas for our Phase I portion.  Bidding is occurring now in the next 4 weeks so time is of the essence.  Then, we have the 90 days to generate sales revenue and we are very prepared and ready to go with that plan.  The second phase closing should be after Christmas.

So, Santa
Do you have any entrepreneurs bored with conventional businesses?  They should be:

• qualified & highly interested in high tech, social crowd sourcing and network community
• be capable of understanding a highly scalable visual and virtual opportunity with world wide appeal
• add value with wisdom and help form informal board of advisors to transition to formal board of directors

The world is different now and it requires new innovative approaches to business models.  We have one.

Santa, thank you for your help.

Bob
bob@ramislandlighthouse.com

We have sent our little memento to you as our way of thanking you for taking a risk, supporting the group effort and for all your kind words for Ram Island Ledge Lighthouse – “the People’s Option.”  The memento is the “would have been” version of your Lighthouse Keeper Membership Deed had we succeeded in the auction.

People matter; people one person at a time can and do make a difference in our community.  You acted, you mattered and you should be proud of your efforts.  Most people would simply not act.  You exceeded the majority by trying and doing something.  We are proud we tried and we are overwhelmed with the response.  We hope you feel similarly in your efforts.  You acted.

As you know, while we did not “win” the bid to obtain Ram Island Ledge Lighthouse, we did not fail in our effort.  Everyone now recognizes the community value of the lighthouse and will always keep an eye out for it.  People are now very curious how its private ownership will change, enhance and continue to be an icon for Portland, Cape Elizabeth and Maine.

We learned a lot and we made some new acquaintances who have become friends.  We hope to maybe try something similar again.  But maybe in a way that does not create a bidding frenzy with people who would not have normally bid on a lighthouse.  We hope to have another community adventure in which the people matter while making a difference and having fun.

Many people sent us emails saying how excited and anxious they were to be part of the effort and in “on the ground” floor.  “I can’t stand the tension, but this is exciting” was a fairly typical quick note to us.  Many seemed to enjoy the “edu-tainment” value of the pursuit as much if not more than the outcome.  They seemed to enjoy the “not knowing” what will happened tomorrow as much as the prospect of being part of a focused and fun community.

It may have been summed up best by a teacher who bought a Lighthouse Keeper Membership Deed for his 5^th grade class.  He was going to use the membership as a very broad teaching experience for his class – including history, environment, community, lighthouses and the business aspects of the auction.  He said “……in my years of teaching I have never seen my class so excited and engaged as I have when I told them we are going to go for a lighthouse…….”  In our opinion he summed it up for the child in all of us.  For a moment we were just like those 5^th graders.  And, we got 20 or so young kids involved in a lighthouse.  Now they know about it – success!

Thx

Bob Muller and the Ram Island Ledge Team

Also, please feel free to send us any notes or thoughts you have about the experience to bob@ramislandlighthouse.com

PS – Each of you should have received your refund, your memento Keeper Membership and the Bill of Rights.  Some of you will receive your items in the USPS mail sent out today. If you have any concerns, please send me a note.

We Can Keep the Beacon Burning  

Own A Small (virtual) Piece Of A Working Maine Lighthouse
The Ram Island Ledge Lighthouse Project, Cape Elizabeth and Portland ME USA

bob@ramislandlighthouse.com — Voice 207-956-0699 — www.ramislandlighthouse.com

The following are just a very very small sample of the emails sent by you — the people taking the risk and supporting a new innovative approach to community support built around a lighthouse www.ramislandlighthouse.com

Hi Bob -

Thanks for your huge interest in and all your efforts on behalf of this little light, and for all that “might have been.” Hopefully it’ll be preserved and not fall into a heap of rubble, albeit without the public ownership that we might have had. It was exciting to think that we might have had part-ownership in a lighthouse, but who knows: with the amount of lighthouses that dot the Maine coast, there may be a chance to try again!

take care ~  Karen

Dear Bob,

Just want  to  let you know,in addition to my previous note, that I really love lighthouses as you may guess from my email address.My husband have seen 130 LH’s cross country over the years

I saw this Ram Island Ledge LH a few years ago and liked it and was fascinated by it especially since  a friend sent a picture of it to my computer and in a revolving fashion-I do not know how,but I liked it.

So when I heard about the pending purchase,I really wanted to help in some way.  t has been an interesting and different adventure It brought to light many L.H. lovers–amazing!

Sorry to bore you, such an important person ,but I wanted to share this with you.

My best to you and all who assisted you.

Sincerely, — Betty

Bob —- Please feel free to retain my $49 donation to help offset some of the expenses associated with dismantliling your innovative idea for saving Ram Island Light. — Don

Hi Bob,

I wanted to thank you for your efforts and maybe next time I can donate a larger amount. I was on vacation in Bridgton ME when I received the information about your effort to save the Lighthouse and wasn’t able to donate more at that time. Being originally from York ME lighthouses have a special spot in my heart and my life.  Please keep my e-mail address and the second one below as a backup so I can be notified the next time this type of opportunity comes up.

Well wishes and God’s blessing be upon you and your group.  — Mark

Bob,
Thank you for your heartfelt, skillful, and determined interest in protecting the lighthouse and including us all on the ground and behind the scenes.
You’re amazing! — Elena

We hoped the winner of the online auction for Ram Island Ledge Lighthouse would work with us to continue with our preservation model representing the people option with our proprietary model.  But that will not come to be according to Dr. Jeffrey E. Florman.  He informed us that he is pursuing his own preservation methods and private ownership of this majestic Cape Elizabeth and Portland Harbor icon.

I am sure we will all continue to be supportive and diligent in overseeing the stewardship of such an important Maine piece of history that represents the gateway to Portland Harbor, Casco Bay and the State of Maine.

Beginning tonight and for the rest of the week we begin the task of refunding and crediting each supporter’s account.  We are not sure when and how it will show up on each of your accounts, but it should be reflected which ever account you used to pay for supporting the effort.

If we had won, you were to receive a nice hardcopy rendition of the Keeper Membership and the corresponding Bill of Rights.  In the spirit of our fulfillment, you will still receive a personalized copy of your “membership that would have been” as attachments sent to your email address.  You just will not actually have a vote, a mini-block home and all the other unique benefits we implemented for the ownership win.

We will provide each supporter with a memento of “what would have been” in the form of an electronic copy of the Lighthouse Keeper Membership Deed and the Bill of Rights.  We will be sending a PDF file of each document to the email address you provided to us with your order.  You can print it on your own color printer or you may want to take it to Staple or Office Max and have them print it on a color printer.

Your personal and individual response has been overwhelming.  We appreciate the many emails of support we still receive.  We cannot thank each of you enough with your help, reaching out and contributing to the effort. We did not fail in our attempt although the outcome was different.  Everybody now is much more award of Ram Island Ledge Lighthouse and each should be proud of your efforts.  We made a lot of new friends in Maine and the other 25 states.  Thanks to you all.  As we said, this story is all about each of you and Ram Island Ledge.

We especially thank Flyte New Media, Rich Brooks, Gloria and all the Flyte team members. They took on this effort with us and for no or minimal web development costs.  They did a fantastic job getting the word out to Portland and Maine individuals.  They believed in the effort and acted on that belief by rapidly standing up the Ram Island Lighthouse web site pro bono.

Maine is fortunate enough to have the best subject matter experts and lighthouse supporters in the nation located in Rockland and Wells.  It is an invaluable local expertise unmatched elsewhere we are sure.  We would like to thank Tim Harrison of the Lighthouse Digest for his thoughts and communication with us.  He is a guru on lighthouses.

Of special recognition we thank Bob Trapani and Jeremy D’Entremont of the American Lighthouse Foundation – both tireless advocates of lighthouse preservation, history and outreach through the American Lighthouse Foundation.  We cannot thank them enough for their input and suggestions and most of all – hope.  Jeremy is THE Guru Light – he has visited, photographed and recorded the history of every lighthouse he can.  Bob and Jeremy can be reached at:

American Lighthouse Foundation – P.O. Box 565 – Rockland, ME 04841 – Phone: 207-594-4174

If you have any questions or care to chat, please feel free to send us a note at bob@ramislandlighthouse.com.

Good Day From Maine, USA
Bob Muller

Good Morning,

The bidding ended yesterday with “redtide” placing the winning bid of $190,000 for Ram Island Ledge Lighthouse —  Cape Elizabeth, Maine, USA.  While we personally have no knowledge of the actual identity of the final winner known as “redtide” congratulations to him/her and best wishes to you and your team.

The many emails and support we received from the people of Maine and more than 20 other states (Mainers living away) has been overwhelming. Our next steps are to begin to process refunds and provide electronic fulfillment with “I fought for Ram Island Ledge Light” Keeper Membership deed and Bill of Rights in electronic form for color printing by all our supporters. This package will include your individual names on it;  it will be  a colorful memento of your effort for Ram Island Ledge Lighthouse.

Before we begin and complete this process, we would like to simply wait this week to see if “redtide” would like to work with us, honor the membership model and enter into some form of local understanding and agreement, We’ll see, but time is of the essence for a successful launch, or re-launch!

Just yesterday I received an email from one of our supporters. It contained some excellent wisdom for me and our team. It simply said “maybe it is time to let it go”. That is hard for our passionate team to let this go given our responsibility to all supporters.  But we are beginning that process now. Although we possess a very high degree of persistence, in this case we can only “let it go” to “redtide” and observe.

Congratulations to “redtide” and his/her new lighthouse stewardship of our 105 year old Portland Harbor icon.  We are confident it is in good hands with “redtide” and he/she will continue to maintain and restore this magnificent lighthouse well into the future.

I personally extend my thanks to each of you for your calls, emails, networking and especially your enthusiasm.   We met many new friends during this process.  Good, down to earth Maine people caring about Maine things.  So, this story was and is all about you – it is your legacy of engagement to make sure “what one person does, does and can matter“.  You matter.

While the public “people’s option” versus private ownership did not prevail, each of you individually and collectively ignited the Ram Island Ledge Lighthouse beacon; it stands bright again.

Thx

Bob – Ram Island Ledge Lighthouse team.

 PS Note :      While nobody has officially come forward identifying themselves as “redtide”, according to the GSA Boston office in a phone conversation with Maine Public Broadcasting Network (MPBN) executive staff the bidder was an active previous high bidder for Ram Island Ledge who would have had to re‐enter with a new application, another new deposit and under a different name.  According to the Boston Globe today, they identified that winner as Dr. Jeffrey Florman, a neurosurgeon from Windham, Maine. 

Do you know where your lighthouse bid is?  At 2:50pm today it changed to $185K!

Well, I made some phone calls this morning and sent some information to the other assumed to be winning bidder.  During my attempt to move foward with a cooperative and collaborative model with the assumed winning bidder a new dark horse (or white horse!) has now come to the table.  Maybe Art, Jeff and our people option need to really join forces now — officially — to ward off a new competitor.

If anybody knows of this new bidder (“arakiran”) please forward their contact information.  He/she just entered the bidding on Friday by paying the $10K qualifier downpayment with the GSA.

Well, it goes on for another day of anxious, nail biting suspense in the harbor of Portland, Maine USA!

I never could have imagined our public and “people’s option” model playing out like this.

thx

Bob

Good Morning,

The bidding will end today.  I am certain of it.

As you may have read in last Friday’s news, after we introduced Dr. Jeffrey Florman and Art Girard to each other on Thursday, they came to an agreement with the flip of a coin.  Dr. Florman won the coin toss and he placed the most recent bid of $180K Friday morning and still stands as of this morning.

I had been in contact with both Art and Jeff during the last week.  I also provided Dr. Florman with a well thought out model that offers a fun, edu-taiment experiential preservation and conservation for-profit plan and for all people to enjoy.  We invested considerable resources and legal expense developing and fine turning our business model.  It is innovative and different and can be used to bring the lighthouse to everyone for internet enjoyment.

Today, we can only hope to meet with Jeff and learn more about his desires and work something out that works for everybody to truly keep a people’s option.  We would have 45-60 days to develop an agreement that ensures a collaborative win for everyone.

Background

Some of you asked about our plan.  Without getting overly legal or technical, I will provide a quick overview bullet list of our for-profit experiential preservation conservation model.

• The plan is sustainable via one time membership fee and continued commercial marketing of events and products.  Individuals receive their personalized Lighthouse Keeper Membership documents suitable for framing and display – a rare item indeed.  Not many people in the world can say “I own a little piece of a real working (Maine, USA) lighthouse”.
• Create a membership model with unique benefits of sharing, similar to name a start, land on the moon.  Members get:

  • A vote to help with sustainable items regarding the lighthouse.  For example, items might include:

    
    

    • Okay, how do you do a “home inspection” before closing on a lighthouse?
    • What should we name the mini-blocks?
    • How do we mathematically layout the lighthouse blocks?
    • Who is a marine and lighthouse expert to provide us with advice?
    • Utilities, power and plumbing – do we and with what new exciting technology that melds with the historic preservation concept?
    • Do we host an event on the water?
    • Member suggested items, challenges and creative ideas
    • Team with non-profits for expertise as well as similar concern about the bay – Gulf of Maine Research Institute, Keeper of Casco Bay, Lobster Association, Island Trail Institute Association, American Lighthouse Foundation, Outward Bound, Lighthouse Digest, Ocean Learning and other similar organizations
    • Also, solicit Maine business sponsors for our internet as well as product development of a retail lighthouse package
    • A designated “home” place on the lighthouse – ~5cm x 5cm x 300cm mini-block area
    • A set of benefits such as naming rights to the home block and the block coordinates
    • No other fee unless members decide they want one.
    • Set up the necessary world wide support model and develop a sustainable maintenance fund
    • Develop some contests around the lighthouse – essay, mission, etc.
    • Local Maine and Portland business support
    • Special “open house” events.
    • Expand the “sensorizing” of the lighthouse with audio, cameras, pressure gauges and other environmental and weather metrics.  Get help from member experts who know these things better than us.
    • Target – get kids involve more;  we would love to have a feature of “kids say the darndest things” about what the lighthouse means to them and if they were its keeper.

 thx
Bob

Mr. Girard upped the bid to $175K so the “end” rolls to the next day.   It will take $180k to surpass the latest high bid now.

I have spoken with each bidder and gave them each other’s contact information.  Since they are both from Portland and since their stated position is the same – they want to keep ownership local to Portland and Maine – I was hoping to broker a solution with both of them to team up and use our Lighthouse Keeper Membership Deed model as the people’s option.

All we can do is sit and wait to see if both or either of them would like to work with us if they win the bid.

Don’t forget – we have a bill of rights if you have not seen it.  http://www.ramislandlighthouse.com/about/bill-of-rights/

Also our mission if you missed that is http://www.ramislandlighthouse.com/about/

Early good night from Maine, USA

Bob

Bob Muller

We Can Keep the Beacon Burning

Own a Working Maine Lighthouse
The Ram Island Ledge Lighthouse Project

Portland  ME  USA

www.ramislandlighthouse.com

bob@ramislandlighthouse.com

Voice 207-956-0699