Entry 40 : Of Land Value and Zoning Codes (5E138)
My picture hosting website PostIMG is most likely closing due to a breach of CloudFlare ToS. At such pictures across the CJ may well be missing. The good news is, I've saved up 100% of my pictures, and it's mostly going to be a matter of transferring to a new picture service provider.
What this really could mean is that I can open up Reddit to post my screenshots every now and then, and Imgur as a duplicate of this CJ to try and reach out beyond Simtropolis, if the response turns out positive enough. If not, well I'll use Imgur without sharing to the community, or move to something else. :/
So...Just some extra work I could spend on making railroads D: Full Imgur link, which is mostly the same as this CJ entry : https://imgur.com/gallery/RIF1n
Anyway, road retextures go 
Yeah..that looks much sleeker than the default textures, don't you think? I changed the header back to normal though. xD Anyway...
It's another bright day in Ashford. The trams run on time, there aren't too many jams... That's a welcome change, right?
In City Hall, however, city planners are assembled on the High Councillor's orders. They are reviewing the final impact of the newest skyscraper in town. Least we can say is : good for real estate moguls and the treasury, bad for the residents.
The suits over at the State Capitol even tried to block it, environmental studies showed it was a bad idea, but after just two years of building..
1 Pelletine Plaza was finally completed, lighting the way to a brighter future for Ashford. The structure was built away from the CBD, citing lower property prices elsewhere, but close enough to a highway and transit links.
Still, it's an impressive building allright. 60+ floors of office and retail space, served directly by the Green Line and surrounded with a beautiful plaza, full of greenery. There's only one tiny problem...
It's in the middle of low-density residential areas, and all the traffic adjustments and road improvements won't change the fact that now, if you happen to live in the tower's shadow you can forget your 2pm garden tanning. Oh, and you're being priced out of your home. In what's already not a rich area of town. Hope you like yoga :/
Critics yelled that this tower project is yet another attempt at gentrification - hipsters are now buying out all the condos, and new residential buildings are planned. But the question is - how did this happen? Zoning laws are clear : the area is residential, and meant for low-density housing with some commercial development on Pelletine Avenue itself.
But the problem is, zoning codes here are vague at best. It only took finding some loopholes, and amendment of the codes to classify the tower as, well, small commercial development. And probably some bribing of the city council as a whole - it was cheap land to build a tower on after all.
And with such a crowded CBD, it was fairly unlikely to find land that cheap to build on any closer to town.
But 1 Pelletine isn't the only new tower in town. Other than the refurbishment of the Southern Metropolitan Hospital, Midtown businesses now welcome two new additions to its skyline.
The MileEnder Center (left) and Portland Tower (right) were also erected in the same time window as 1 Pelletine, at a fraction of the cost - at the heart of the city's nightlife, and only a dozen blocks away from the CBD proper.
This has been a much welcome boost to the local daytime economy as office workers come to visit the area's restaurants and diners. The MileEnder Center in particular has become the home of several TV and radio stations previously scattered across town, such as all three major networks (Cathnoquey Broadcast Service, Cathnoquey News Network, and Kingscote Broadcasting Company), and several minor affiliates and local station, including Dunmeri language channels. The Portland Tower, instead, welcomes musicians, labels, and even a music hall of its own.
Critics of 1 Pelletine are quick to draw comparisons between the two projects, and the High Councilor now has to deal with the Citizen Initiative, a grassroot movement that seeks to take over City Hall in a few months. Every three years, each of the city's five Districts elects two Councillors in addition to the citywide election of the High Commissioner and Celli "Cellyfish" Ajhraari, leader of the CI, looks set to displace both major established parties, the Federal Party and the People's Party of Cathnoquey - both nationally crumbling in times of political turmoil.
To make matters worse, city neighborhoods are banding together too, concerned that they might one day be threatened by real estate moguls. OccupyAshford, environmentalist lobbies, but also homeowners associations concerned with the municipal government's alleged abuse of eminent domain (the practice of buying someone's property compulsorily for public use) - they're all banding together and making a stand against City Hall.
Will Celli be able to claim City Hall? Ever since Jane Haaleri, a Dunmer - a third of the country's population yet still considered a minority - managed to win Glenvale far to the south for the Greens smaller parties and fringe candidates have shown themselves more daring, and more successful. So who knows! After the Dunmer, maybe the Khajiit can take a turn in the spotlight.
What's certain is the battle for City Hall will be tough, but then again if you're going to push more nails in the incumbent council's coffin you might as well make those nails skyscraper sized, right?
And so we leave Ashford with a few of the central areas of town...until next time
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