Kalistani Major History

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Urban Renewal begins in Full swing in Addisjah
Residents of "Picture of Blight" protest Eminent Domain
Addisjah, Vrassa
January 31, 5361


Blocks go under demolition as NSP moves into Addisjah

Urban Renewal has begun across the Republic, as teams of civil engineers and demo workers under the NSP have descended on blighted communities. The sounds of destruction and heavy equipment is becoming a regular part of the Kalistani city scape. The goal: to attack the signs and locales of poverty and crime with the aim of renewing the housing stock and civic infrastructure across the Republic. To support the new move, the National Assembly has proposed a 10 percent increase in spending in the Infrastructure, HSS and Internal Affairs budgets and increased funding will continue over the next 10 years where levels will be revisited.

As NSP engineers begin redesigning the face of mainland cities by levelling sometimes whole blocks, they are also working to replace aging infrastructure from the subsurface up. Thousands of miles of new wire conduit, cable and high speed wifi infrastructure, and drainage, sewer and water lines will also be constructed to replace obsolete infrastructure. Above ground, once blighted areas have been leveled, the reconstruction will begin and will focus on increasing density and vertical expansion. By the time urban renewal ends, the cityscapes of several Kalistani cities are expected to be greatly altered.

The Republican Government has expressed optimism that this long term program will not only put as many as 450,000 workers to work in long term, high paying jobs, but will dramatically reduce municipal budgets. "We expect that the way tens of millions live will change dramatically over the next quarter century," said egan Carruthers, Minister of Infrastructure and Trade. "This investment in Kalistani Cities represents a long overdue alteration in our way of thinking. The practices we saw employed and practices as best practices on Ananto, especially those following the Kaliburg Earthquake, where huge sections of the city were demolished, will be brought to the mainland and established as best practices going forward. By this we mean a strong city core, with walkable neighborhoods, infrastructure for electric public transportation, getting rid of food deserts, and more efficient use of city services. Our aim is to take the burden off municipal budgets that are struggling to provide expensive services to far flung neighborhoods."

Not everyone is as enthusiastic for the project. Civic groups and liberal independents in elected office in District Governments on Mainland Kalistan launched immediate protests against the practice known as eminent domain. "The government shouldn't have the right to just come in here, send their industrial army to confiscate and destroy property at will and impose a massive civic spending scheme on all of us," said Chip Webber, President of the Port Swedes Club for Free Enterprise. "The constitution and statutory law says the government has the power to eminent domain, but they seem to think that means that property rights are inviolable. We were in the process of private sector solutions aimed at rehabilitating these dwellings to provide affordable housing units to private citizens and new economic opportunities to Kalistani Investors, which we believe to be a far better solution, especially for individuals who would like to move into the neighborhoods, and who have refused so far because of the blight that our Government is almost exclusively responsible for allowing to happen."

Other civic groups complained about the destruction of the character and culture of Mainland Kalistan's cities. "This will represent a change in the cultural characteristics of our neighborhoods," said Marcus Weller, of Addisjah. "So far the Government has focused on vacant and condemned buildings, but we expect that the people who still do live here will eventually be priced completely out. At the end of the day, for the poor individuals who still live in a lot of our neighborhoods, new housing and vertical development means that people themselves will lose their family's homes in a lot of cases. The solutions offered by the Landlords Association are probably worse in the long run, because they want to gentrify our neighborhoods, but at least families will be able to remain in their home. When you level a block, except for one house, that house's time is short, before it too is destroyed so that the State can build a high-rise apartment complex in the area."

The Republican Government has, for the most part ignored the critiques of local objectors. "Urban renewal and vertical development is what is going to happen," said Carruthers. "These stakeholders can choose to be a part of the solution, or they can sit on the sidelines and complain about what we are doing, but its going forward. We know there will be pain. We know there will be displacement. But if our goal is to provide affordable, sustainable housing, a working and efficient infrastructure, and a foundation to build local businesses, jobs and general prosperity, the losses we take up front will be more than offset. As for the landlords, they will have to find something else to sink their unlimited wealth into other than exploiting people's needs for reliable, affordable, safe, and sustainable housing and infrastructure. For those who wish to preserve the character and culture in their neighborhoods, we want to talk with you. We want to work with local cultural groups to conserve what you have. But that concern is not enough to offset the fact that the largest line in police budgets is fuel because it costs our cities so much money to patrol huge, horizontally developed neighborhoods. If we keep burning money on inefficiency, soon there won't be any money to keep police patrols in any neighborhoods."

Minister Carruthers stressed that the outcome will be better when it is completed. "This government is willing to stake its reputation on the success of this program. Give us 10 years to see if people do not see improvement, while protecting the things people like about these neighborhoods. If we haven't brought crime down, if we haven't made a significant impact in the black market drug market, if we haven't provided more people more services at a lower cost, if you don't see clean streets, livable and walkable cities, and more efficient uses of city resources, then you can say we failed. But we hope these people who are sitting out there and not helping will change their minds and pick up shovels to help the NSP clean up these neighborhoods and pave these roads, instead of just complaining." The message of the government was heard loud and clear and was met with muted opposition. "Just condescension," said Weller. "Might be unconstitutional," said Webber. "This government may be more hostile to the interests of wealth producers than any Socialist government in my life."