[meta-story][open] Solving two housing problems, or opening a can of worms?

[Bob Schroeck]

Mm. The safe thing would be just to take a royalty, but if we on the GC wanted to do the safe thing, we'd still be in West Virginia...
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[robkelk]

And while I suspect that Ireland would allow some Unreal Estate launches just because the UK doesn't like Unreal Estate, the Irish are possessive of their homes...

In practice. It tends to be the opposite. Both countries tend to use each other as guinea pigs, and borrow legislative concepts regularly. Because Britain doesn't allow it, isn't a good reason for Ireland to allow it. Both countries are closer than they are further apart. Political objections will be more along the lines of 'Theft from future generations' and they can get quite a bit of steam behind that because it's very close to the current message of 'Theft from future generations' as applied to the banking crisis. Never mind that most of those future generations have already left for Canada or Australia....

I believe I've said this before: Noah isn't as smart as he thinks he is. That includes his knowledge of how other nations do things.

I still think moving down to Detroit might be the better option, rather than moving Detroit up. It's big. It has access to the States. It's cheap. And it's desperate for cash. It's a crack in the door to lever open access to the big American markets, setting up US sales' subsidiaries and the like. It could be the catalyst for a defrost in America when they see how much cash the city rakes in from being a business gateway. Or for the rest of the country to cripple Detroit economically by witholding critical funding from Cities/States that do business with space to ram home their own pet policies. One or the other, depending on how cynical you are.

And you won't have to deal with the EPA and every other federal and State agency involved.... along with historical preservation societies and the like.

Ah, now I see where you're going with this...

Another benefit: it's on the border with Canada (Detroit/Windsor is the busiest crossing between the USA and Canada), so the Customs and shipping infrastructure is already in place. I suspect the Ciara could find a berth somewhere on the Detroit River waterfront - if not immediately, then within a half-decade.

As for crippling Detroit economically, the city just filed for bankruptcy protection. One doesn't get more "crippled" than that, financially, without actually going bankrupt.

Now to pick a hotel somewhere near the river downtown, for Stellvia Hotels to purchase...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Dartz]

Ah. Sometimes in threads such as this, it can be hard to seperate between the two. Anyway, the main thrust of this thread happened before I got involved in Fenspace anyway. Not that either Ciara or Jet personally would've been noteworthy enough to be on the SMoF mailing list in 2014....

Ciara Docks in Detroit regularly enough for one or two of the newer crew to come from there, including the post Boskone-era computer systems operator.. (I think this was a plot thread from TSiR). Their first meeting with the locals led to a minor incident and protest when she was mistaken for a military vessel. The correct term however would probably be 'Privateer'. Which would of course make them 'Garret's Privateers'.

In a more future-based footnote. The tail that forever wags the dog, Stingray Motor Engineering, will have a very small assembly plant in Detroit sometime around 2023, to skip US import tarrifs. The business is notorious for offering some of the best pension and healthcare benefits in the city for a small pool of employees - to the point where questions and eyebrows have been raised. And other local small businesses have complained that it's causing labour relations issues...

I'd say you an get a lot more crippled than 'bankruptcy protection', howver . Wait till you see the horrors rampant privatisation of critical services will unleash.
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?

[robkelk]

Digression:

Ciara Docks in Detroit regularly enough for one or two of the newer crew to come from there, including the post Boskone-era computer systems operator.. (I think this was a plot thread from TSiR). Their first meeting with the locals led to a minor incident and protest when she was mistaken for a military vessel. The correct term however would probably be 'Privateer'. Which would of course make them 'Garret's Privateers'.

Which puts them one letter off from already having their own song... (This is what passes for Canadian patriotic music about the War of 1812. Says something about the country, doesn't it?)

--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[HRogge]

In a more future-based footnote. The tail that forever wags the dog, Stingray Motor Engineering, will have a very small assembly plant in Detroit sometime around 2023, to skip US import tarrifs. The business is notorious for offering some of the best pension and healthcare benefits in the city for a small pool of employees - to the point where questions and eyebrows have been raised. And other local small businesses have complained that it's causing labour relations issues...

I'd say you an get a lot more crippled than 'bankruptcy protection', howver . Wait till you see the horrors rampant privatisation of critical services will unleash.

"You are evil, you are doing too much for your employees! *G*

[Proginoskes]

I guess I need to read The South is Rising again: I was under the impression that Ciara was planning to dock at Seattle in that story, not Detroit.