Watchtower Tunnels: Mysterious, lingering remnants of a ministerial Heights presence
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The Watchtower tunnels are for real – and the city collects thousands of dollars each year for their use, Department of Finance records reveal.
The underground pedestrian passageways connecting the Brooklyn Heights headquarters buildings of the Jehovah’s Witnesses are a long-standing subject of speculation among neighborhood residents who aren’t members of the religious organization.
The tunnels enhance the campus-like atmosphere of the complex, whose inhabitants are “unsalaried ordained ministers of religion who have taken a vow of poverty,” according to a 2005 document signed by Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York president M.H. Larson.
Ten-year agreements between the Watchtower and the city Department of Transportation (DOT) and Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DOITT) grant the Witnesses access to four tunnels under Orange Street, Columbia Heights and Willow Street. Each is used as “a passageway” between properties; some are also for steam, electrical and telephone services or for conveying supplies and fuel oil, the documents indicate.