June BSC Building Updates

By Eileen Malloy, Director of Operations

The ravens have fledged! The beginning was a bit inauspicious, with one of the fledglings landing on a car hood, where the car’s owner poked at it with a stick. This did not dissuade it from resting on the hood. This was not as bad as last year, when one of them landed in the middle of Spruce Street and didn’t quite know what to do. But they’re all off and flying now, leaving the nest disheveled but intact. 

New Chairs for the Main Shrine Room
Yes, you read right. The beloved wooden chairs in the main shrine room are going away. Thanks to the generosity of two outstanding donors, we have shopped for, selected, and ordered 20 new chairs to stand along the back wall. I truly hope you enjoy them. 

Roof Progress Report
We have selected Academy Roofing as our contractor to replace the roof. Construction will begin soon and will take four to six weeks. All programs that can be moved out of the main shrine room will occur in other shrine rooms. For programs that need to remain in the main shrine room, we are asking work to stop while the program is in session.

Plywood is being laid in the attic above the main shrine to protect it from falling hammers and whatnot. The under-decking and insulation in the attic should withstand falling dust and debris so none reaches the shrine room. The east sidewalk will be blocked off and covered with a tunnel, and a section of scaffolding will protect people at the front entrance. The back door will remain our accessibility entrance. Construction materials will occupy the parking lot and probably 14th Street parking. The roof color will be evergreen, four shades darker than the current roof, which has faded considerably over the years. 

The project consists of many parts. There is a top layer of metal sheets in an s-wave pattern, not clay tiles as it appears. Under that is a fabric ice-and-water barrier and a layer of lightweight plywood. The workers will re-flash and seal the chimneys—where most of the leaking occurs. They will repair the mortar on the chimneys and add new gutters, three new downspouts, and several rows of snow guards to keep snow on the roof so it can slowly melt into the gutters. They’ll close some venting louvers on the base of the tser-togs (steeples), redoing the flashing and repairing some of the gold leafing on the tser-togs. They will move the access hatch from the north to the west side of the roof and enlarge it so that we can actually use it. Finally, they’ll cap the chimney that serves the boiler so birds and bird nests don’t fall into the chimney. 

At this point the project is slated to cost $188,000. The State Historical Fund is funding 75%, and the good community of the Boulder Shambhala Center is funding 25%. If you would like to see a sample of the roofing materials or a color sample, stop by my office. 

Many thanks once again to those practitioners who have added “Great Clouds of Blessings” to the morning chants, and to those Kurukulla practitioners who have also supplicated for the successful completion of the project. 

Sustainability and Conservation
So far we have replaced all our lightbulbs with LED bulbs, separated the trash into compost and recyclables, purchased wind power from Xcel Energy, installed aerators to reduce water flow on all the faucets, wrapped the water heater and piping with insulation, and serviced the evaporative coolers and boilers. 

We are currently contemplating installing a solar array on the west side of the roof, pending approval by the State Historical Fund, and replacing all florescent tubing with LEDs. In addition, we are looking at replacing the one dead boiler with either a super-high-efficiency gas boiler, geothermal heat, air-sourced heat pumps, or some combination of all three. Also, we are looking into fixing the windows.

Suter Dubose, who professionally develops financing for projects like these, is working closely with our Green Team to create a financing package that achieves net carbon zero with no capital expense to the center and reduced monthly costs.  Those are what we politely call stretch goals! They will require a combination of investor tax credits, a voluntary tax lien on the building, and government subsidies. The Green Team includes Suter, Jeff Wilzbacher, David Takahashi, Melanie Klein, and myself. We’d love to hear your comments and suggestions as we work on these challenging projects. 

Lobby Shop
The Lobby Shop is doing brisk business and is fully stocked with what you need for your home shrine. The Lobby Shop is open whenever there is someone at the front desk, regularly M–F 4:30–6:30 and Sunday 9–noon, but also whenever there’s a volunteer at the desk between noon and 4:30. We take cash, checks, and credit cards. 

Sumi ink, 12 oz: $18
Juniper, 2 oz: $15
Shoyeido daily incense: $2.75–5.25
Viva sandalwood pine—short: $2/bundle, $20/box
Viva sandalwood pine—long: $4/bundle, $20/box
Miyakozumi charcoal, 48 (1″ x .5″) pieces/box: $10
Three Kings round charcoal, 10 rounds per roll: $3
Lamp oil, 32 oz: $12