A Mayor Q&A: Two Small Cities Face Similar Issues

Orange Blossom and Rising Sun, two very prosperous suburbs in Midlandia, are thriving, healthy places to live, say many of their residents. Yet, despite their success, they face similar challenges and difficulties. Midlandia Gazette reporter Jan Thomas sat down to discuss these issues with their mayors this afternoon.

"If there's nowhere outward to grow, the only direction left is up," Orange Blossom Mayor Cyclotron Taft said in an interview at the offices of the Midlandia Gazette.

Taft, one of the younger mayors in Midlandia, is in charge of the small suburb bordering Cheater's Haven in the south. His nearest counterpart, Angela Jay Michaels of Rising Sun, an Industry Haven suburb, has a bit more wisdom and weariness.

"Cities can get out of control very quickly if you don't carefully manage who you let into town in the first place," Michaels said, noting that Rising Sun's early quests for growth cost the suburb more than they expected.

Rising Sun learned that lesson early on when Michaels agreed to let in a SimNation Air Force Missile Silo in order to solve a budget crisis not long after the founding of that town. Like its neighbor, Industry Haven, known in those days for being a terribly polluted and troubled city, Michaels had to make compromises in order to keep things operating.

The aptly named "Precarious Gazebo" in Rising Sun's Rising Village

"We were one of the earliest Midlandia cities," Michaels said. "And so, unlike the mayors of more recent cities, we had to learn things the hard way. We overspent, we sprawled, we didn't know the right strategic placement of education and health care. In Rising Sun especially, we reacted hard to what we saw as craziness in IH. [IH Mayor Vladimir] Putin in those days was, forgive my saying so, a total wackjob. He's moderated a lot since then, so I think a lot of people forget that city's struggles. So we in Rising Sun spent a ton on education, parks, healthcare, and services. Too much."

Fortunately for Michaels, both Rising Sun and Industry Haven recovered from their early troubles despite their compromises. Nowadays many in the region see Rising Sun especially as a model for what can go right in a city.

Taft, of Orange Blossom, says he especially looked to Michael's management model, not only because of Rising Sun's success, but also because of the similar geographies and circumstances of the two cities: both are small, hilly islands neighboring much larger cities, both benefit from their neighbors' good fortune, and both have extra tiny islands to consider for growth possibilities.

"We're certainly running into the same problem as Rising Sun--we've flat out run out of useable real estate," Taft admitted. "I tried to take a very careful approach to what is now called Mistake Village, for example, but I will admit that once it was there, we were happy to have the extra residential zoning."

Taft is referring, of course, to the nickname for Hilltop Village, a small neighborhood in the east of the city, the hilliest portion of the town. The city planners had designed a small residential-commercial sector, but an error in the zoning office led to a much bigger, sprawling area on top of Tunnel Hill. That oops quickly caught on, though, and was filled in no time by eager commercial and residential developers.

Hilltop Village in Orange Blossom, known among its residents as 'Mistake Village'

At this point, both mayors are looking for ways to grow their populations without damaging their suburban charms.

"Rising Sun residents are very active when it comes to political involvement," Michaels said. "I encourage it, and I think it makes for a better city over time."

"We honestly don't know yet where we'll end up growing to," Taft said. "But I know I can speak for my council when I say we're not going to be content with a mere 20,000 population."

Orange Blossom