Investigative Special Report: Seniom Sed Turns a Corner

By Tabatha Noble, Special Projects Editor

A Series in Two Parts--Part Two

SENIOM SED--You wouldn't call it a new city--not yet, despite the rhetoric coming out of the mayor's office in downtown Seniom Sed. But it would also be wrong to say anything other than that Seniom Sed is doing everything possible to turn things around for the better.

"There's no doubt that we've earned our bad reputations," mayor's assistant Burlingame Balloon said. "Seniom Sed polluted unabashedly, showed no respect for the health and wellbeing of its residents, and was the biggest example of corporate greed triumphing over the human. We're all guilty."

Seniom Sed before changes

Seniom Sed paid for that reputation on the backs of its blue collar population, men and women who lived hard, short lives in the smelting plants and industrial factories that made up the bulk of the city. They lived with compromised water and air, and still do, in many cases. In our previous article in the series, we interviewed Finney Fiornstern, a career smelter who worked in numerous plants to make enough money to raise his family of seven. Fiornstern, a frail man who wheezed as he spoke of his years in the center of Seniom Sed's 'industrial hell', passed away recently at the age of 63.

But also in the heart of the city, reformers were plotting to change the minds of city leaders.

Arranging a meeting between the city's mayor, Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho, and the man who would start the change that would begin to bring Seniom Sed out of the depths was a task that fell to a young lawyer by the name of Frito.

Frito was not someone we would call smart. But he liked money, and it was his destiny to bring Joe "Not Sure" Bauers and his girlfriend Rita to the very pinnacle of the hierarchy of Seniom Sed while trying to locate the city's fabled Time Masheen.

Of course, that story will have to be told another day. But it was "Not Sure" who convinced Mayor Camacho that change needed to take place in Seniom Sed. Camacho announced the bold new changes at a citywide press conference recently:

"Now I understand everyone's shit's emotional right now. But I got a three-point plan that's going to fix EVERYTHING," Camacho said.

"Break it down, Camacho!" a city councilman replied.

"Number one: We've got this guy Not Sure. Number two: He's got a higher IQ than ANY MAN ALIVE. And Number three: He's going to fix EVERYTHING," Camacho said.

And so it was that Seniom Sed began to turn a corner. Nobody in Midlandia believed it would be possible, considering the city's leaders had the lowest IQs of anyone in the region. But, in rapid succession, the city built the new Transcendent Isle, and invested heavily in education, building Nikita Khrushchev University, Spasibo Academy, and a host of new libraries.

Nikita Khrushchev University

In addition to the needed improvements in education, and an investment in health care that was desperately needed, Seniom Sed appears to have changed its views regarding unrestrained industrial development, a dangerous proposition considering the powerful interests behind the development of industry in SS.

"Seniom Sed has a major problem, and that is Industry Haven," development studies professor Hale Julien at Jupiter University said. "Unlike other Midlandia cities that have gotten away with wholesale dismantling of their industrial districts, Seniom Sed and Industry Haven have a cooperative, symbiotic relationship. Simply put, if Seniom Sed killed its industry, not only would the effects be felt for the residents of that city, but job loss would severely impact Industry Haven, and possibly the entire region.

"Seniom Sed is, for all the derision, the tail that wags the dog," Julien said.

New City neighborhood, reclaimed from industrial zones

But city leaders appear to be sensitive to this relationship, and they have been taking a careful approach to modifying industry in Seniom Sed without eliminating it. Assistant Balloon noted that the city has been courting High Tech industrial firms with gusto, as well as remaking industrial blocks to encourage nonpolluting industry to take the place of dirty industry. The city started by lowering High Tech Industry taxes to 7%, one of the lowest rates in the region.

"The results have been making themselves slowly evident. As commercial firms increase their commitment to the city, we see increasing services that benefit the community at large," Julien said.

Two of the more prominent signals of positive change in the city are the new Fleur Marina on the city's west side, and the city's first television station, Super Seniom TV, located at the edge of the newly created New City neighborhood in the southwest.

The massive clearing in the south central industrial area for the Fiornstern Memorial Airport

And the city itself seems to have the beginning of an understanding of how to heal from the scars of its past, by invoking the spirit of its blue collar heritage. City managers just recently cut the ribbon on Seniom Sed's commuter airport, with the family of Finney Fiornstern on hand. There, they unveiled the name of the new airport: The Finney Fiornstern Memorial Airport.

"This city has growing hope," Juliet Fiornstern, daughter of the late Finney, said at the ribbon cutting ceremony. "And if it continues to commit itself to change, then we will be happy to stay and call Seniom Sed home."

Don't Turn Your Backs on Industry

Letter to the Editor by Carlton Dikon, CEO, Midlandia Industrial Strategic Planning Company

Midlandia is a wonderful place, full of opportunities of all kinds, including good education, parks, commercial enterprise, and activities. But there's a growing alienation taking place in cities all around the region, a turning away from the engines that produce the growth that Midlandia depends on: industry.

Let me ask you, the average Midlandia Gazette reader, what city is the hub of growth and development in Midlandia? What cities have the greatest prosperity, the most jobs, the biggest economic output? Why, those would be Industry Haven, Eldorado Hills, and Red Dawn, wouldn't they? And all three of those fine cities built their great success through a strong base of industrial growth. Especially our regional capital, Industry Haven. It's in the name, folks!

But what have we been seeing in some of these cities in the last few years? Increasing tax rates, in some places as high as 20%! Decreasing zoning to conduct development and growth. Biased reportage in the media against industry. These things, while they may be fashionable to a certain minority of over-educated Midlandia residents, are a mistake in the long term.

Industry is the might that builds growth for Midlandia Sims. What does every city start with, if it wants to succeed? Healthy industry. Industry provides strong employment. Industry brings Sims to cities for work. Residents move to cities to be close to industry. Commercial sectors can't develop where there is no population! In short, everybody is hurt when industry suffers.

And you will too, if you live in a city that turns its back on its industrial progress. Look at Corner Haven, for example. The short-sighted government there has done nothing but pull away from its formerly strong industrial sector until it has become a shadow of its former self. Those citizens will pay the price if Corner Haven doesn't change its ways.

And we've all heard the criticisms from that loud minority of folks who want to stand in the way of progress, who complain about every little thing. They say that industry brings smog, that it pollutes. They say that most industry is dirty and unpleasant, and detracts from a city's 'desirability', whatever that means.

If anybody is blowing smoke in Midlandia, it's these folks, these nattering nabobs of negativity. They talk of an outmoded form of industry that is well on its way out. Modern industrial plants are clean, safe, and so pleasant you can keep them right in the middle of town! Why look again at Corner Haven. Even as the government turns its back on industry, there's a set of clean, high tech industrial plants right next door to City Hall, and down the street from Mayor Seedly, Jr.'s mansion. If industry is so bad, so nasty, why would they allow these places to stay in business just down the street?

But these are temporary problems. We, the staff of the Midlandia ISPC, in conjunction with the largest labor unions in Midlandia, are cooperating to negotiate new terms with the leaders of city governments throughout the region. We're committed to changing the image of industry amongst the average citizens of this fine, growing region. We are also confident that the majority of Midlandians are with us, and understand that if you want to succeed, you need industry. Join us.

Thank you,

Carlton Dikon, director, MISPC

Neglected City Under New Management

CORNER HAVEN--One of Midlandia's oldest cities, neglected for years with an incompetent government, has been taken over with fresh new leaders, according to a press release this Saturday.

Corner Haven's new mayor, Cotton "Joe" Seedly, Jr., son of the city's previous mayor, told the Midlandia Gazette that he intends to right the wrongs of his father and the previous City Council.

"We didn't oust him or effect a coup or anything dramatic like that," Seedly said. "He abdicated, and the City Council walked away over time, leaving us with a vacuum in power. So I stepped in, and we can tell you that our residents are much relieved with the changes we've brought to Corner Haven."

Neglected burnt rubble from old industrial fires littered the town

The evidence of the previous mayor's errors and neglect showed through in the documentation made by the new city management in a recent survey, including long abandoned water and power plants that no longer functioned, old debris left over from early industrial fires that had never been cleaned up, several abandoned industrial, residential and commercial buildings, and a funding deficit from a bloated infrastructure that did nothing.

Most curiously, the survey found a rail line that went absolutely nowhere in the North Residential District, and, oddly, a perfectly functioning subway system--the region's second--that nobody in town had publicized previously.

Asked on the whereabouts of his father, Cotton "Joe" Seedly, Seedly, Jr. was tight-lipped, though he did mention that the region's interagency police force was invovled and had the case sealed by a regional judge.

Corner Haven's tiny agricultural district

Another oddity found in Corner Haven was a tiny agricultural plot, determined to be the smallest agricultural land area in the region. Though it seemed healthy and successful, no managing authority could be located at press time.

Despite the strangeness of Corner Haven, the citizens seem happy and healthy, said regional census taker Brian Bohannon.

"I talked at length with several of the city residents, and they seemed oddly disconnected with the rest of the region. They were quite shocked to find out that several cities had sprouted up around the region, as if they just came out of a time warp or something," Bohannon said.

That isolation is likely to be coming to an end, however, as new road lines to Surrogate City to the south have recently been built, linking the two cities. Also, the city just received its first radio station, notable also for being the region's very first public radio station--named appropriately Corner Haven Public Radio.

Seedly, Jr., expressed high hopes for the new management of the city, and was especially proud of all the new trees that had been planted throughout Corner Haven.

"My father, let's face it, was a jerk, and he didn't give a crap about this town," Seedly, Jr., said. "But I love it, and I think it has a lot of potential, and we're going to work hard to be worthy of joining the Midlandia community."

Corner Haven

New Subway Stations in Corner Haven

The Midlandia Regional Transit Authority was thrilled to discover the region's second subway system, though baffled as to why such a small city as Corner Haven would have one. The city government turned over management and oversight of the subway to the MRTA, and the authority has added five new stations to their records, which are as follows:

• Greystone Station
• Government Hub Station
• South Residential Station
• Sandstone Station
• Garbonzebo Station

Investigative Special Report: Seniom Sed's Industrial Wasteland

By Tabatha Noble, Special Projects Editor

A Series in Two Parts--Part One

SENIOM SED--The reputation of Seniom Sed in Midlandia is notorious, and has been for a long time. Visitors and residents alike have called the city dirty and polluted, its residents (mostly Midlandia's working class) facing short life spans, and its buildings presenting such a fire risk that most insurers wouldn't touch the place. And a recent investigation of the city by the Midlandia Gazette finds that Seniom Sed's reputation is well-earned.

Founded initially not so much as a city but as a landgrab by capital city Industry Haven's booming industrial sector in Midlandia's early days, it's almost shocking to think that anything other than industry has developed here. Indeed, for many years, only a tiny population braved the barely-liveable conditions in the town. The city's mayor, Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho, has been accused of being nothing more than a puppet for the large industrial conglomeration that kept Industry Haven moving, even as IH divested itself of much of that industry as it strove to become a capital city.

Seniom Sed's water pollution rates are by far the worst in Midlandia

Compounding the problem was a lack of city services. Other than a phalanx of fire stations built to deal with the unprecedented rates of devastating fires, Seniom Sed was bereft of even the most basic education and health services for its small population. Beyond that, there were no recreational places for residents to enjoy, no trees, and choking smog filled the air most days.

North and south, a giant dirty industrial district pumped tons of pollution into the skies of Seniom Sed, and, indeed, still do. The water of the Des Moines Sea is blackened with waste products put out by the city's mighty industry, providing jobs to workers all around the region. Money also rules this city, with the city's bank account the largest by far in the region at $2.8 million Simoleons. But much of that money does not come back to the residents, and they seem to be starting to fight back.

"Back in the early days, all we looked at was the jobs," longtime resident Finney Fiornstern said. "But we got crushed by the machinery of the industry that was making all the other cities in the region wealthy, while we suffered." Fiornstern, 63, appears much older than his actual age, and he is plagued by numerous health problems that make him a regular visitor of the city's only hospital.

Seniom Sed's industrial area has no official name, but has been called "Industrial Hell" by residents

Surprisingly, the city's population is experiencing a growth spurt as well, topping 85,000 in population according to the latest census. The city's mayor has finally started to come around to make modest changes in the structure of the city, though much of it is too modest to make a real dent in the overall situation. Until recently, Camacho's only appearances before the public have been riding with his staff of incompetents on modified Harley-Davidson motorcycles, spewing their own black smoke into the air. Much of those rides were to the sports arena, where the only entertainment to be had in Seniom Sed, Monday Night Rehab, took place. Without police, the city resorted to comically executing its 'criminals' live on TV.

Most Midlandians who had visited Seniom Sed considered the place a lost cause, and many have professed they'll never set foot in the place. But there are also signs of change in Seniom Sed's future. For one thing, Mayor Camacho appears to be making concessions he hasn't made before, moving industrial zones away from residential zones, and building schools and police stations.

Even his rhetoric has started to change. At a recent press conference, Mayor Camacho gave a speech that almost sounded like he was finally hearing the problems of his residents.

"Shit. I know shit's bad right now, with all that starving bullshit, and the dust storms, and we are running out of french fries and burrito coverings. But I got a solution," Camacho said.

Before Mayor Camacho could continue, though, he was heckled by opposing members of the city council, before he could reveal the nature of his solution. In the next part, however, the Midlandia Gazette will look into the changes that are taking place in Seniom Sed, and find out if Seniom Sed really is about to undergo a transformation...or sink back into the depths. Join us for part two of this special investigation next time.

Seniom Sed

Happy New Year From Midlandia!

A special editorial from the Midlandia Internet Gazette publisher

We, the publisher, editors, and staff of the Midlandia Gazette, would like to wish a happy and peaceful 2017 to the citizens of Midlandia, and to Gazette readers all around the world. We hope that all of you out there find as much peace, prosperity, and growth in the coming months as we hope and expect Midlandians will enjoy.

To our Midlandian readers from our oldest community Lazy Isles to our newest, Fresh Start, we hope you'll take a moment to appreciate the peace that our region enjoys in a chaotic world. Our 1,050,000 Midlandians live in a world that is free from war, famine, destitution. Our Sims appreciate free regional health care and education provided via our surplus of tax Simoleons. We have mostly stable governments with level-headed leaders who have nothing but the best interests of their Sims at heart, and we are fortunate to not suffer too many disasters or afflictions. This is more than can be said for lots of places in the outside world, where even the most stable democracies are looking tenuous in the days ahead.

And to our readers from that strange place you call the 'real world', we hope that you can all maybe take a page from what you see here, and try to make your own cities as peaceful and friendly as our little Sim utopia. Thank you all for reading and making us live through your imaginations. Here's to tremendous regional growth and a robust population in 2017!

Fresh Start, founded 2017

Midlandia, January 1, 2017