Chapter 1: "Founding Father? ...Technically, I guess"
Welcome to the area soon to be know as Fort Consternation.
A smattering of water makes for a little variation, and the hilly terrain provides a bit of a challenge and will hopefully break-up a rigid grid system and allow for some rather aesthetic city design.
A smattering of trees were placed while in God mode. The game was still running as I was figuring out how best to take screenshots, so this was how I spent the first 7 months of my administration
So with the view admired it was time to incorporate the city. A small ceremony was held, speeches were made and a plaque markng the new settlement of Fort Consternation unveiled. With some embarrassment it was noted there was nowhere to affix the plaque, yet, but regardless there was much rejoicing.
Fort Consternation
Mayor: Peck of Arabia
Population: 0
Mayor Rating: 0
Funds $200,000
Administrative Agenda: Build the beginnings of a city in as financially responsible a manner as possible
First order of business was the power debate.
Wind, gas, oil and coal were all put on the table as potential options. Gas was right out, far too pricey for the meagre output it offered.
Oil didn't last much longer- if your going to go dirty fuel you may as well go all the way.
Wind was a serious contender- a small town would only need a couple and more could be added as the city grew.
In the end however, Coal won out- the allure of cheap power, made even cheaper by budget cuts, coupled with the ability to put it out the way of residents won out. Besides, it was figured, if industry was going to pollute anyway all that extra expense would be wasted.
Residential was placed a fair distance from major air pollutants, and the commercial sector was drafted to fill in the gaps in the power grid.
6 months in came one of the most controversial decisions of the administration, toll roads. In order to help fund further construction and aid an ailing budget, a toll booth was set up on the sole stretch of road linking residents to their jobs, industry with their employees.
“Roads don't pay for themselves” argued proponents of the toll booth “and continued expansion requires a greater income”
“What do our taxes pay for?” answered it's critics. “Citizens' livelihoods are being held to ransom by a grasping, tyrannical bureaucracy!”
In the end the measure was forced through with the compromise that health and education were to be provided by the end of the mayoral term, earlier than the administration wanted.
The toll booth furore meant a delay in the construction of the Mayor's house, but it was eventually offered on the 31/03/01, and constructed two weeks later
To which the administration responded with an unofficial statement of approval...
After being shouted at by the utilities adviser:
More funding was granting to the power plant, and to recover the cost, a hamlet was established on the outskirts (OK, not the most efficient thing I could have done, but I wanted a different growth pattern to grid after grid after grid which what most of my cities look like.)
Continued below