Moving West
Cypress Creek's city planner, Jason, found it to be relatively easy to find the problems causing so much trouble: funding. Budget cuts early in the town's history had never been reversed, leaving a substantial hole in public service funding. He had never thought to check the funding levels during the town's rapid expansion, and his oversight had left the town without healthcare workers and a prisoner population that escaped temporarily. Berating himself over the mistake, he brought the issue to the attention to Michele, who promptly fixed it. Additionally, he proposed having several new medical buildings built, plus a prison for future criminal incarceration. The mayor approved the prison but refused to build any new medical clinics for the time being. In her eyes there wasn't a need, since with the extra funding the capacity problem was already fixed.
Determined not to make the same mistake, Jason refused to continue with any further expansion until a complete overview of the town's situation was completed. A census taken the previous year provided him with additional information regarding the state of the town.
Crime was definitely becoming an issue; he'd have to put some effort into containing the problem in the near future. Traffic, despite the spread-out nature of the town, was still adequately low. Some problem areas were popping up, sp he made of note to address it quickly. The education system was particularly worrisome, however. He respected Mayor Michele's decisions, but her refusal to implement any education system beyond grade-school levels bothered him. He knew the town would stagnate at some point without an educated workforce, but he couldn't convince Michele of that fact. What was she thinking?
Regardless, the budget appeared to be fine beyond the initial healthcare fiasco. He made his report to Michele the next day, and with it he recommended a mass transit system be implemented before the roads became congested beyond use. He also put forward a proposal to begin construction of recreational facilities to help placate the citizens; the town's lack of them was starting to show in the citizens' expressions as they walked about the town. Mayor Michele passed the mass transit proposal without argument, and merely stated that the recreational facilities were to only use undeveloped land, be low-cost, and low-maintenance.
The transit system was the simplest to put together. Jason put through a mass order of prefabricated bus stop stations and had them distributed throughout the town.
The recreational facilities were going to be a greater issue. He laid down a small park area in one of the residential areas that had not yet developed, but found that undeveloped areas elsewhere were in short supply. Working with what he had, he engineered a holdover plan while better solutions were implemented: trees. Lots and lots of trees. Many of the low-density residential areas had unzoned land between rows of houses. Trees were transplanted into these grounds in short order to give Cypress Creek a less harsh feel to it. Even the "historic" section of town was given trees for transplantation, though Michele had them plant the trees themselves due to the agreement that Mayor Michele would not force the people living up there to build anything they didn't want. She obviously extended that policy to all aspects of her decisions.
With those improvements to the town completed, Jason gave Michele the go-ahead for any further expansions of Cypress Creek. When Michele heard that, she was elated. Immediately she scheduled a meeting with Benzoate mayor Vi. Jason sat in on the meeting, but did not participate. After going through the ceremonial greeting process that must occur when two mayors meet, Michele quickly laid out her desires to Vi. She wanted permission from the farmland mayor to expand Cypress Creek inside Benzoate's borders. Benzoate's southern border with Cypress Creek was a considerable distance away from the actual town of Benzoate, and Michele wished to utilize the extra land. She promised Mayor Vi that 60% of any revenue generated within Benzoate would go to her town, rather than Cypress Creek. Michele believed this was a reasonable deal.
Mayor Vi, on the other hand, was less than thrilled.
As she explained to Michele, she had a very specific setting in mind for Benzoate, one placing natural beauty over money and population. Michele's cruder methods of construction were not welcome within her borders. Mayor Michele, frustrated with the answer she got, left the meeting as politely as she could manage - not very, from Jason's viewpoint. He exchanged a few words with Mayor Vi following Michele's exit:
"You know, I could probably design the town to your liking if you let us build here," he said.
"Maybe, but I just don't like her very much. I wouldn't let her greedy hands into my home even if you were restraining her," was Vi's reply.
Jason merely smiled at the comment. He took his leave after giving Mayor Vi a formal farewell for both himself and Mayor Michele.
Cypress Creek's land ownership only extended to the rivers surrounding the mountain. Legally, they were not permitted to develop on the other sides of the rivers, nor were they legally allowed to develop the mountain due to Michele's agreement with the original residents. With Vi rejecting their desire to build into Benzoate, Cypress Creek was effectively cut off from further expansion.
Legally.
Jahono was merely a territory owned by the country's government. The government had no actual presence there, and would likely not find out about any legal transgressions until long after they were committed. Michele wasn't stupid; as long as she didn't overtly announce the expansion, no one in the outside world would likely find out. She could then take her time in applying for the purchase of the land beyond the rivers while continuing her town's expansion westward.
Jason had reservations about the plan, but he ultimately gave in to Michele's pressuring. By the following year, a road bridge to the west was completed and the foundations of the new section of Cypress Creek were laid down. Two ferry docks were also put down to assist transit across the river.
The new expansion would be industrial; since residential growth had stalled, Jason surmised that they would need to attract more jobs to the area. The added industrial base would be a good jump-start for the town.
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