Problems with jobs/connecting cities

[tbisulca 0]

Hi, I'm new here. I recently picked up the Sim City 4 Deluxe addition, and I've been having fun with it ever since. Any help I can get with this question would be appeciated.

I seem to have no trouble creating cities, so long as I keep them disconnected. Whenever I decide to connect two cities however, invariably the smaller city incurrs massive job loss, no matter how many commercial/industrial centers are zoned and operating. What can I do to insure that two cities stay connected via road, but do not "steal" eachother's jobs?"

[Mainland Marauder 1]

A lot of things could be coming into play....desirability, pollution, taxes....are you building one-RCI-type cities or mixing it up?

Commercial seems to develop a little better in polluted areas than residential. You are not going to have skyscrapers next to smokestacks though.

[Sim_BOB 2]

I think you should place the industrial/ commercial on the parts of the city that is right next to the other, so that means if they travel to the other city past all the jobs in the current one, their commute will be longer, so they get jobs in your city. Alot of cities start out like that though, if you have an already developed city, some people will travel to another city until you have more jobs

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Once you connect the two cities the demands are blended.  You have to watch this, as the more attractive city will get the employees.  Use your desirability displays to determine why the small city people are moving to the big city for work.

You may have created a bedroom community situation.  If that is the case, supplement your road connections by various forms of rail.  You should find this fascinating.

[tbisulca 0]

I appreciate the help.

What seems to have happened now, is that the smaller town of 2500 (connected to a larger town with 12000), has become almost a predominantly R$$$ community. R$$$ are having no trouble finding jobs, while R$$, and to a much smaller extent R$ are slowly abandoning the city. There is no demand for CS/CO$$ jobs, and very little demand for IM. Ironically, my demand for more R$ and R$$ still remains high. Is there any way for me to manufacture more demand for Middle Class Industry and Commercial businesses?

EDIT: What I don't understand, is that I have more middle class jobs in the small town than there are middle class people, so why do they remain unemployed?

[schm0 27]

Originally posted by: tbisulca I appreciate the help.

What seems to have happened now, is that the smaller town of 2500 (connected to a larger town with 12000), has become almost a predominantly R$$$ community. R$$$ are having no trouble finding jobs, while R$$, and to a much smaller extent R$ are slowly abandoning the city. There is no demand for CS/CO$$ jobs, and very little demand for IM. Ironically, my demand for more R$ and R$$ still remains high. Is there any way for me to manufacture more demand for Middle Class Industry and Commercial businesses?

EDIT: What I don't understand, is that I have more middle class jobs in the small town than there are middle class people, so why do they remain unemployed?quote>

You have to provide homes for the type of people that will work in your CS$$ and CO$$ jobs, Particularly, you have to provide just enough health care, education and parks to make them happy. (But not so much that all you get is demand for high wealth.)

A screenie of your RCI demand bar would help. Satisfy your demand bar and watch your city flourish.

[tbisulca 0]

Well, here is the "parent" city, with a population of about 12000

Here is the newer city, with a population of about 2000-25000

And here is the newer city's RCI readouts.

As you can see, the RCI meter seems to be demanding een more houses, even though there are residential zones in high desirability areas that remain uncolonized, as well as a considerable "lack" of jobs in the city. This is what has got me so confused.

[Mainland Marauder 1]

Try zoning some low-density commercial after dropping the taxes for low-wealth commercial service. Also, $ and $$ residents will still live in cities with dirty industry, and you can tax the industry up to about 10% before the demand starts going away (unless you have a lot of industry in an adjacent tile). Forget detailed services for this low-rent city of yours - just stick to an elementary school, clinic and a fire station or two if you have industry. I wouldn't even necessarily bother with providing police or water. Water attracts rich Sims, which you don't want to do if you are trying to concentrate them somewhere else.

[Sim_BOB 2]

What are you taxing commercial? If you lower your taxes for a bit, the demand should go up, then after they build, you can raise your taxes back to normal

[schm0 27]

Build residential! Your demand is through the roof. And lower the taxes on your commercial zones if their taxes are above 9%.

[samuelzrp 0]

someone has said it before, but to explain better:

Sims always look for smaller commute, Arnette's people find smaller commute working at Soho, so jobs at Soho are being shared by both cities.

What you should do:

Have both commercial zones on the edges, for example:

Commercial zone on Arnette should be at the west side, while at Soho it should be placed on east side, so both commercial centers are together. Im pretty sure that will solve the problem ;o