Part 31: Fit The Twenty-Eighth : Nuclear Families

Fit The Twenty-Eighth : Nuclear Families


As Funkytown grew out, we also had to make sure it grew up. Some more of the Old Town was rezoned for high-density housing. Some small parks were laid out as well to provide some breathing space.


The airport runway was extended some more, to cater for the increasing number of passenger jets.


The suburbia of Bunkleyville stretched ever further south, right up to the edge of the hill to the south of the city.



The subway system had not been expanded for several years, and with traffic problems continuing to tie up East Funkytown and the El Trentoro Parkway, it was decided to establish a new line, starting with two new stations.


Revenue flows seemed sufficient to give both the residental and commercial taxpayers a 1% cut in tax.


Gus noted that, once again power shortages were becoming a problem. Fortunately we now had a new option up our sleeve, but we'd have to wait until the following year to pull it out.


We did have enough funds to finally expand the port, however.


Finally 1966 rolled around.


Preliminary works were carried out right up to the edge of the town's boundary with RuPaul, which of course we would not make connections with.


Behold the power of the atom.


That should satisfy our power needs for a while.


And thus it seemed an opportune time to finally pension off another of our aging coal plants.


Along with the vacant space, the surrounding area was also upgraded to support heavier industry.



All was as it should be.


There was a little bit of concern about the water pollution caused by the extended port, but as long as it was far away from our pumps I didn't care too much.


We reached another little milestone, though this time it carried no immediate reward. I noticed that even though we'd started off far behind our neighbours in terms of population, we seemed to be catching up with City Name and Buttsville at least.


1967, and whilst taxes were now fairly low, we still had a fair heap of cash to play with.


Some of that would be spent on another new subway line, this one extending under the harbour and across to Westshore.


Thus new stations were laid out there and Balzac Point, from which the line would probably be extended up past Pismo Beach.


Much of the city remained unserviced by the subway, but 90% of residents were now within 10 minutes walk of a subway or surface train station.


I was holding back on building another incinerator, however. I was hoping that something better would turn up, but it seemed inevitable that I would have to thinking about exporting the trash again; at least we had the budget to afford it as a luxury now as opposed to the early years.


Still, some interesting new buildings were popping up, particularly in East Funkytown.


I also passed yet another ordinance designed to promote high-tech industries, aerospace was the big new thing and I was determined to get in on the action.


One thing they said about the Sixties (during my previous life) was that if you can remember them you weren't really there. That's kind of what happened in 1968...


Because before I knew it it was 1969. I was sure I did something over the previous year, but I can't remember what. Must've been all that weed.


The town planners were going beserk out east. The freeway had been extended to the point where those residents of Pompeii whose commute took them to Greenfield and the new nuclear plant could make use of it. Eventually the freeway would extend all the way to City Name.


I'd really like to know what the hell the planners were thinking when they laid out those streets. Still, thousands of families were clamouring to move into town because of the jobs and the services, so there'd plenty of room for them in the meantime.


Prunella was in getting back on my case about the piles of garbage. Poor Anatole had apparently been accosted by some foul-mouthed Scotsman who reckoned he knew everything about running a restaurant. The garbage really had anything to do with him, though, it was a City problem, so I agreed that something had to be done about it.


It was piling up again, just like the old days.


I put in a call to the mayor of Buttsville, who was offering the cheapest rate possible. Even if I was needed to find a stopgap solution I shouldn't have to be gouged over it. He was all smiles as we agreed on the deal.


And, voila, the problem was taken care of.

We took time out in the middle of that year to watch man's first steps on the moon on TV. That had me thinking about a thing or two to do with the town's future, but before I can say anything about my big idea, Moe was already scoffing at the achievement, "that's fake, they're all doing that on a stage", he said. Randall pointed out that there was no way you could fake the effects of gravity, but Moe was having none of it. "They're bouncing like that because they're being suspended on trings, Randy."

"I'll send you to the fucking moon", I thought, but I kept quiet about it. Moe was generally a pretty reasonable guy, but there were times when he could be quite pig-headed and, frankly, stupid. Or crazy. Or both.


At least we'd managed to survive the 1960s.


The subway was steadily becoming quite extensive, although Pompeii had yet to be hooked up.


We'd gained 60,000 new citizens over the past decade, so extrapolating on that, we could be see 400,000 living in the city by 2000. That's twice as much as I projected back after the earthquake.


The thing is, if the boom was to continue, even though we still had quite a fair amount of flat areas left to fill, I could see them being packed out before then. Eventually the hills would also become settled to a degree, but to a lesser density than downtown. They'd make nice places to live, however. Not a bad problem to have, at least.