Brownsville, New York: Google Satellite virtual tour of a low wealth SimCityscape

Aside from being a Google Satellite tour, this post is also a little tutorial on demand caps, pollution, NIMBY and YIMBY, describing SimCity 4 game mechanics for stable R$ residential neighbourhoods, pockets of highly profitable C$$ development lining high volume highways, and wealth creation in manufacturing (I-M) cities, using just the vanilla SimCity 4 plops.

Of course, you can get around demand CAPS issues by developing a small city tile, which is much more forgiving economically, but my Brownsville is a large city tile.  You can get around pollution management issues by zoning industry on one side of a Neighbour Connection, and zone commercial C$$ and residential R$ on the other side ... but I want to do it all in one city!

Here's the Google Satellite link for Brownsville, New York. which I am interpreting as a high density and medium density residential/manufacturing city, mostly low wealth R$, with lots of manufacturing (I-M) throughout, for many-many R$ jobs, and a few designated high density manufacturing zones where they occur in real-life.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Brownsville,+Brooklyn,+NY,+USA/@40.6311899,-73.9239773,4087a,35y,37.13h,40.17t/data=...!4d-73.9125304

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I do like to use three small cheats ...

1. A very big city startup loan (Ctrl+X  moolah ), using downloaded  Maxis Extra Cheats.dll (v1.0) , with the goal of repaying the startup loan in a few short decades.
2. Access to ALL my city planning resources from the get-go (Ctrl+X  you don't deserve it ), no download required.  This is not as cheaty as it sounds, as I still have to balance the books and pay the monthly maintenance for all this stuff!
3. Ctrl+Alt+Shift God-mode terraforming whenever I feel the inclination.  

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When planning a city tile, I like to base initial primary features off the Google Satellite images, so let's take a look through the real city, shall we?

Manufacturing + Real Railways!

This will be my first foray into the NAM railway features.  Notice the R$ high rise neighbourhood nearby, which is rather typical of Brownsville.  This proximity of industry and residential is quite achievable and healthy, using a combination of the  Clean Air Act  in the City Ordinances, lots of trees, plus many Water Treatment Plants in close proximity to the cleanest and dirtiest areas.  The many trees in unzoned green spaces inside the residential areas will also be a big help with moderating air pollution.  This kind of proximity of R$ and I-M increases employment and high residential demand in the area, so I'm hoping all the Water Treatment Plants will pay for themselves with increased tax revenue.  The thousands of residents in each high rise tenement also more than make up for the tile space allocated for trees.  This is both efficient and oddly beautiful.

This proximity of industry and R$ residential is one of the easier ways to help prevent the oompa-loompa problem.

One thing I won't be doing, is the greenway along the rail line.  Placing rail directly adjacent to industry lots provides industry with automatic railway siding features.  Although you won't see it in the industrial lots, you can certainly see the increases in freight train automata, and the high use of rail for export freight (using the Alt+/ route query tool), from industry lots adjacent to the rail line ... as long as the nearest Neighbour Connection is that same rail line.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Jetro/@40.6438314,-73.9077286,1146a,35y,37.13h,39.06t/data=...!4d-73.902221

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Brownsville,+Brooklyn,+NY,+USA/@40.6710838,-73.9061233,715a,35y,37.13h,40.78t/data=...!4d-73.9125304

Residential High Rises!  R$, R$$ and R$$$

This is also rather typical of Brownsville, these residential high rise districts.  Most of them are low wealth R$ tenements, though a few are medium wealth R$$, and just one is high wealth R$$$, Starett City on the eastern side of this screenshot.  Many trees and no parks helps with air pollution, and the resulting low desirability (from having no parks), protects the R$ tenements from gentrification.

The canal on the eastern side will have a Car Ferry, along with an OWR-4 ferry loop road, an area with all the ingredients for a highly successful local C$$ zone.  Just outside this screenshot, on the eastern side, is a Water Treatment Plant that will help protect the C$$ and R$$$ zones from dilapidation caused by water pollution.  The many trees in these residential zones will likewise protect the C$$ commercial zone from air pollution, where the commercial lots are clustered around my high traffic ferry terminal area.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Brownsville,+Brooklyn,+NY,+USA/@40.6492741,-73.8905339,862a,35y,37.13h,40.75t/data=...!4d-73.9125304

The Stadium, shown on the western side of the above screenshot, has high commercial YIMBY value (22 or 27 tile radius), and negative residential NIMBY (16 or 20 tile radius), thereby also supporting my goals of preventing R$ gentrification.  Given the NIMBY from the Stadium, I can even gift the R$ residential area with just 1 small Playground, or 1 Small Park Green, or 2 Small Plazas ... maybe, depending on the other YIMBY plops in the local neighbourhood.  You've got to be extremely careful not to unbalance the ZERO YIMBY value of R$ neighbourhoods!  

Here's some super handy vanilla plops with YIMBY commercial and NIMBY residential, very useful for this mix of R$ and C$$ neighbourhoods:

• Minor League Stadium (22 tile commercial YIMBY, 16 tile residential NIMBY) – This provides R$ and R$$ residential CAPS uplift of 200k.
• Major League Stadium (27 tile commercial YIMBY, 20 tile residential NIMBY) – This provides R$ and R$$ residential CAPS uplift of 300k, but it's really pricey to maintain!
• Tourist Trap (36 tile commercial YIMBY, 17 tile residential NIMBY) – This also provides a potent R$ residential cap uplift of 100k, with the lovely side benefit of being FREE!  I'm most definitely using this one.
• Television Studio (22 tile commercial YIMBY, 17 tile residential NIMBY) – This one is FREE, too, and provides a modest C$$ CAPS uplift, which is rather handy.
• Lighthouse (22 tile commercial YIMBY, 22 tile residential NIMBY) – This one is a little expensive to maintain, but I might get me one of these, even though I don't even have a Sea Port ... I've got 5 ferries, don't they count?  
• Convention Centre (32 tile commercial YIMBY, 22 tile residential NIMBY) – This one is almost as expensive as the Major League Stadium, but also provides potent C$$ and C$$$ CAPS uplift, which is useful for my mixed manufacturing (I-M) and C$$ commercial economy.

Of course, R$$$ Starett City will have many, many parks, and the R$$ neighbourhood in the centre of that screenshot (above) will arise naturally off the overflow YIMBY gradient from these R$$$ neighbourhood parks.

... and Water Treatment Plants, of course!

Dirty Industry (I-D) will tolerate heavy water pollution quite well, but other sectors don't, with the most fragile ones being C$$, C$$$, R$$ and R$$$.

These Water Treatment Plants are critical components for my pockets of R$$, R$$$ and C$$ zoning in this industrial city.  Whenever I plop one of these, I like switching to Water Pollution view to watch it at get eaten up by the Water Treatment Plant.  Trees help with air pollution, but for water pollution, this is the "plant" you need.  

The first one below, is just to the east of that last screenshot (above), and this screenshot (below) shows both R$$$ Starett City and the 26th Ward Wastewater Treatment Plant.  As a delightful side effect, the location of this Water Treatment Plant, on the banks of Hendrix Creek, will keep the creek's water pure and beautiful.  One thing I really hate is yucky looking water.  

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Brownsville,+Brooklyn,+NY,+USA/@40.6439653,-73.8838843,861a,35y,37.13h,40.75t/data=...!4d-73.9125304

I'm not sure what the Sperandeo Brothers Playground is, but I'm turning back the clock on this one, and it's becoming another much needed Water Treatment Plant, to support the C$$ zonings clustered around the high traffic commercial opportunities of one my large RHW-4 interchanges.  My apologies to the local R$ citizens, too, who won't be getting those tennis courts!

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Brownsville,+Brooklyn,+NY,+USA/@40.6764673,-73.8854109,106a,35y,37.13h,41.06t/data=...!4d-73.9125304

Even this Betsy Head Pool is being repurposed as yet another Water Treatment Plant, right near my second Stadium (which will provide much needed C$$ YIMBY and R$ negative NIMBY for nearby zones).

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Brownsville,+Brooklyn,+NY,+USA/@40.6591806,-73.9167838,732a,35y,37.13h,40.78t/data=...!4d-73.9125304

I have two other Water Treatment Plants planned, but they are situated entirely in relation to SimCity 4 economic gameplay, with no relation to Brownsville reality.

Heavy Passenger Rail

Let's take a closer look at Livonia Ave (from above screenshot), shall we?

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Brownsville,+Brooklyn,+NY,+USA/@40.6612625,-73.9149799,90a,35y,45.46h,45.03t/data=...!4d-73.9125304

An avenue made of train tracks!  Let's zoom in a bit further, down to Street View ...

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.6617255,-73.914584,3a,60y,45.46h,90t/data=...!8i8192

Weeeee!  An L1 rail viaduct over the avenue!    Does NAM36 have one of those???  I'm only a wee bit disappointed that this isn't Underground Heavy Rail, but I'm sure Brownsville will give me opportunities for that, too!  Heavy Passenger Rail is the cheapest of rail options, so that suits early economic development of my Brownsville large city tile very well.

House of Worship ... too good to pass up

The churches are basically FREE parks, with wide residential YIMBY, and zero commercial YIMBY.  They also raise R$$ residential CAPS, important for a larger population, and R$$ is part of my overall economic strategy for this Brownsville large city tile.  The problem is, where to put them!  Most real-life Brownsville church locations are very BAD places to plop a House of Worship, because the residential YIMBY will cause gentrification, driving out the R$ sims ... so I had a sticky beak around my single solitary R$$$ neighbourhood, Starett City, looking for good spots for a church plop.

Young Israel of Canarsie sounds like a Synagogue to me, so yep, I'll do that.  This eastern side of Brownsville large city tile is actually Canarsie in real-life, hence the YIMBY gradient with high wealth R$$$ and medium wealth R$$ on this eastern side.  Two Houses of Worship on the banks of Fresh Creek will also do a great job of simulating the YIMBY value of the pristine Fresh Creek Nature Preserve, the SimCity 4 game mechanics having no idea that the area is so beautiful.  

My second church will go where the Spring Creek Rehabilitation and Nursing Care Center is, just because it's a convenient spot!

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Brownsville,+Brooklyn,+NY,+USA/@40.6417598,-73.8884424,380a,35y,45.46h,44.85t/data=...!4d-73.9125304

My third House of Worship will be plopped at the location of the Brooklyn Sports Club, in close proximity to Hendrix Creek canal, and the 26th Ward Wastewater Treatment Plant, on the other side of this same R$$$ Starett City neighbourhood.  A sports club is almost a church, isn't it!  

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Brownsville,+Brooklyn,+NY,+USA/@40.6436454,-73.883356,664a,35y,45.46h,44.74t/data=...!4d-73.9125304

Army Base, and all the nastiest NIMBY stuff

Last but not least, here's the location of my Army Base, in the very far north western corner of my Brownsville large city tile.  I need me an Army Base, for the very potent manufacturing (I-M) CAPS relief it provides, to the tune of 100k!!!  This delivers the most potent CAPS uplift of manufacturing (I-M) in the vanilla game.  I NEED THIS ... and what I really don't need, is a Cemetery (which is basically just another FREE Park with no CAPS relief whatsoever), so the military is in, and The Evergreens Cemetary is out.  While the Army Base potent wide area residential NIMBY doesn't bother me at all, and the Army Base even provides a wee little bit of commercial YIMBY, there is something else that bothers me about the Army Base, so this is going in the remotest corner of Brownsville.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Brownsville,+Brooklyn,+NY,+USA/@40.6755989,-73.9096806,904a,35y,45.46h,44.65t/data=...!4d-73.9125304

What bothers me most about the Army Base, is it's little known Police Corruption Effect, a premium cause of crime, over a whopping 64 tile radius!  Crime being a primary cause of dilapidation and vacancy of local C$$ and C$$$ commercial zones, I've even drawn out an Army Base exclusion zone delineating that 64 tile perimeter using the Road tool, with no C$$ planned for that area at all.  Rather than waste the land, I'll put a wildlife reserve and some agriculture (I-A) there, along with some other nasty NIMBY plops which are further causes for the Ten Silent Killers of SimCity 4 Commercial Growth:

1. Dirty power plants.
2. Waste to Energy Plant, for eating all the trash.
3. Federal Prison, which gives me both §250 cash each month, and free housing for the many criminals the Army Base will cause.
4. Missile Range, which is the one and only "clean" NIMBY business deal, another §450 cash each month, which only causes plain NIMBY + additional fire risk.  In for a penny, in for a pound.
5. Convention Centre, which provides huge 100k uplift of C$$ and C$$$ CAPS ... which will probably assist my C$$ commercial zones around my ferries and interchanges.  The Convention Centre doesn't mind the crime or pollution, curiously enough.
6. International Airport, which tends to be another hotspot for crime anyway, and airports don't mind crime or pollution, either!

How much police protection to provide for this nasty corner of Brownsville, is something I'll have to experiment with.  

The money of these three NIMBY Business Deals might just end up going into higher police protection, but whatever is leftover will be invested in pollution management ... and my Monorail for scooting R$$ and R$$$ citizens from their cleanest possible residential areas to work at their C$$ businesses.  Incidentally, Monorail across half a large city tile probably won't make any difference at all for R$ sims going to work in a factory, but some sims will commute further for a cushy office job than they will for a factory job.

Perhaps most odd of all, right next to the Army Base, will be the location for a plantation of flowers ... well away from all the residential zones.  

Another little known fact of SimCity residential CAPS ... the Small Flower Garden, aside from being a potent (and very cheap) source of residential YIMBY, is also the most potent vanilla plop for raising residential CAPS!  With Brownsville having a huge high rise residential population, I need me some of that residential CAPS relief.