Chapter 155: Chapter 106: Day Lantern, Night Fire, Fools' Village_1
After winter in Gotham City, as the temperature begins to warm up, it's one of the rare seasons in the city where rain is scarce. The weather might still be draped in an overcast sky and the city perpetually shrouded in a thin layer of haze, but in comparison to winter, it is considerably better.
The first reform introduced by Mayor Roy Brown was, naturally, to address the traffic issues in Gotham.
Indeed, this wasn't because the previous mayor died in a car accident, but due to the city's emerging development from its collaborations with other coastal cities. Warehouses and supporting facilities have sprung up, a substantial number of cargo ships docked at the port, docking in queues to deliver their goods.
However, if a single sentence is to describe the state of Gotham's traffic, it would be: "It's as if it has no traffic rules at all."
This created a very vexing situation. The freight capacity of the cargo ships was sufficient, the ongoing construction of the warehouses, though not yet perfect, could still accommodate the goods. The issue rooted in the journey from the dock to warehouses.
Warehouses belong to different gangster families. Everyone wants their goods transported, round the clock, non-stop. However, there are no traffic rules in Gotham. There is no consensus on who should go first. The means of resolving such issues in Gotham was determined by firepower - whoever has the most guns and ammo, moves first.
But there is another problem, drivers, though members of gangs, are not combat members. When two vehicles get stuck, the gang members escorting the goods start opening fire, causing injury to drivers and other technical personnel on the vehicle.
In fact, there was already a shortage of such professional personnel in Gotham. During conflicts, all caution is thrown to the wind and inevitably both parties end up incapacitated and hospitalized.
Their hospitalization didn't really matter, but their vehicles, loaded with goods, still obstructed the road. As a result, those coming after were completely stuck, unable to move at all.
Such a vicious cycle rendered Gotham's traffic virtually paralyzed. Although delaying most goods for a few days isn't a big issue, prolonging this situation is simply burning money due to increased labor costs, warehouse costs, maintenance costs for cargo ships, and fines for delayed deliveries. The heads of the Twelve Families were going bald from the stress.
A number of them were actually university graduates, but they had been accustomed to the chaos in Gotham for years and were oblivious to the most significant problem of the city. As soon as an attempt was made to coordinate relationships within, their thoughts were immediately occupied with how to deal with other gangs to give way to themselves.
However, everyone wanted others to give way to them, hence no one stepped back, leading everyone to a deadlock in the middle of the road.
Essentially, Gotham is a disorderly and chaotic city, where an evil order established by the gangs, is intrinsically still chaotic.
Thankfully, the new Mayor, Roy Brown, was insightful. Instead of intervening when the gangs were most heated, he allowed the chaos to continue, till the entire main street was blocked and no one could pass.
It was not until the central roundabout of Gotham, which was also the most important, and four outer-ring intersections were reduced to ruins did the gangs lose their temper completely. The money was right in front of their eyes, yet they couldn't get it. No one could make the goods in cargo ships sprout wings and fly to the warehouses on their own. With no people, no cars, and now no roads, they were at their wits' end.
Finally, they had no choice but to ask the Godfather to intervene. When the heads of the largest families sat at the negotiation table, they were all silent. Among the goods stuck on the roads were those of the Falcone family. The Godfather, whose authority was still formidable, left them all accepting their fault quietly, reducing them to a mute state.
The problem was very apparent now. Continuing the fights would only worsen the situation. If it continues, not just the roads but the entire city would soon be gone. How would they make money then - by starving to death?
The situation had advanced to this point, a proper solution was indeed necessary to improve the traffic chaos.
Therefore, on the second Sunday of the warm up in Gotham City, Mayor Roy Brown held a televised speech at the Gotham TV Station.
In the broadcast, he wasn't wearing a trench coat and Fedora like he used to in Chicago, but instead was dressed in a suit and tie like the gangsters of Gotham, with a flower pinned on his chest. He took a seat at his mayor's office, stating calmly:
"Dear friends of Gotham City, I am your new Mayor, Roy Brown, I believe most of you already know me."
"The main purpose of delivering this speech for today is to advocate for adherence to traffic rules, and explain the new city policy I am about to implement in Gotham."
"As we all know, in this historic ancient city, we all have worked together to get to where we are today, and now, Gotham City is about to welcome another resurgence, a good development opportunity once again lies before all of us."
"So, as mayor, I propose a new city policy to serve the friends of Gotham City."
"The name of this new policy is the 'Gotham Civilized City Construction Plan', the main content of this plan involves, starting from tomorrow, the 'Gotham Civilized Traffic Day' will be implemented in Gotham's six major traffic hubs, along 17 main roads and 22 secondary roads."
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone