Sovereignty

Is this an all residential city? Is there much High Tech, either in this city or in neighboring cities? There's a bug that prevents that R$$$ sims from working in HT buildings. This could be the cause of your problems. HT creates demand for R$$$ but does not employ them, leading to much R$$$ development, but rapid abandonment. Then the city's overall education falls as new, lower-wealth, uneducated sims move in. It's also possible, especially if it is an all residential city, that people are just too far away from available jobs. Do you have any mass transit, a bus system or anything?

Please elaborate on this. I understand the HT/R$$$ jobs problem, but what is the problem that occurs from installing the fix? What impact does it actually have on gameplay?

It is possible that you are misreading this situation. The downgrading of buildings from higher to lower wealth levels means the wealthy occupants abandoned the building. When new sims move in, their education level starts at zero. So it's possible that the abandonment is what is causing the falling education level, rather than the other way around. What kind of employment is available in the city? Are there not enough jobs for the wealthy sims? Are/were you seeing any no job briefcase symbols above residences, especially of the wealthy? What do your tax rates and demand levels look like?

Anyone on TV or the radio is going to be primarily an entertainer. Entertainers benefit from sensationalizing things and making outrageous statements. People don't tune in to Glenn Beck or Rachel Maddow because they want to hear unbiased news. They tune in to hear someone sticking it to the other side. There are a couple of talk shows I like but I do regard them as entertainment. I think it makes way more sense to read the news, rather than watch it. This phrase really hits the nail on the head. Which is why it is so bizarre to see religion (Christianity) playing a major role in the current U.S. Presidential election. Just goes to show you what happens when you welcome radical elements into your camp. At first you love their enthusiasm, they really seem to bolster your team's strength. But then they start to grow louder and louder, eventually absorbing all the attention. And now the Republican Party looks like a ridiculous circus, and there is no credible leadership for Obama/Democrats to negotiate with. Leaving us with short-term budget deals and stop-gap solutions when what we clearly need is serious, long-term planning. But to get back on the stated topic, I am an American liberal. I believe that the U.S. is the innovative, productive country that it is in large part because the government has poured massive amounts of cash and organizational strength into research and development, especially in the areas of communication and transportation infrastructure. If the federal government hadn't paid for all the highways (and before that, all the railroads, and before that, all the roads, bridges, and canals...) the U.S. economy could never have taken off in the way it did. Also, many modern technologies had their genesis in the budget of the U.S. Defense Department. The private sector is great at exploiting available opportunities. It is not as good at making massive, unprofitable investments to develop public infrastructure or completely new technologies. What I'm basically saying is: if the U.S. government hadn't been unleashing a flood of funding for telecommunications since WWII, it would not matter how innovative Steve Jobs was, he would never have been able to build the iPhone.

I do think that President Obama's decision to reject that one, specific pipeline proposal must be viewed in the context of House Republicans trying to force his hand in order to score their own election-year victory. However... Ultimately, all fossil fuel resources on Earth are going to be developed, so we can set aside the idealism. The Canadians can ship the oil via pipeline to be refined in the U.S. or they can ship the oil via supertanker to China or some other location to be refined there, as our good man the Moose pointed out. Either way, that carbon is going into the atmosphere. I happen to have one particular article bookmarked, entitled: "Say Yes to Canadian Oil Sands" www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/say-yes-to-canadian-oil-sands/2011/08/28/gIQAl0HmlJ_story.html?fb_ref=NetworkNews The way it lays out the issue struck me as eminently logical. edit: can't seem to properly insert a link, adding the url.

Yes. That tutorial is spectacular. Should be required reading, really. The lay-out is extremely logical and the lessons it contains will revolutionize your understanding of the game. Zero exaggeration. Read it right now.

It would probably help to raise taxes slightly on C$$$, especially if the rates are lower than the C$$ rates. This will dampen demand for C$$$, reducing the over-development that leads to plunging demand and abandonment. You might be able to solve this problem by just gradually increasing the taxes on C$$$ until only a reasonable amount is being developed.

You shouldn't have too much trouble doing this. You'll need to maintain a population of poor, uneducated sims in the polluted area near the industrial zone. Those sims will work in the dirty businesses and maintain demand for them so they don't become abandoned. On the other side of town you can place the parks, schools, and services you'll need to raise an educated upper class that will create demand for HT and advanced commercial. You should gradually raise taxes on Dirty Industry until the tax rate reaches a sweet spot where no new Dirty businesses will move into the city but your current dirty industrial area will not disappear. Then you can zone new areas for HT development in the unpolluted parts of town without worrying about dirty industry moving in. Of course, you need to create the demand for HT first. Manufacturing is less lethal than Dirty, but you still want to keep it away from your HT. You'll have demand for M before HT, so you can zone some areas for Manufacturing development and then gradually raise taxes to discourage Manufacturing businesses from moving in when you start zoning areas for HT. If you want to add more manufacturing when you've already got HT, just make sure there is no empty zoning in your HT areas, zone more space for Industrial in a different area, and lower the I-M tax rate. When you're laying new zones in a mixed-development city, you just need to always make sure the tax rates and overall demand levels are in the right place to produce the desired type of development.