593. Urban planning

Chapter 593 – City Planning
“I see this version of the planning program is good, if no one has any objections, then it’s it.”

Inside Paul’s office, a group of people were gathered here, pointing at a piece of paper that somewhat resembled a map and discussing with each other.

What they were discussing was the latest plan for the construction of the city of Lakewood.

Lakeheart Town had experienced a very high-speed expansion process in recent years, and the rapid influx of population had caused the city to construct new buildings every day. Now, in addition to the original island area of more than 600 acres, Lake Heart Town had expanded by nearly 8,000 acres of new urban areas on the southern shore of Lake Wise, which included residences, schools, stores, workshops and other venues, and the population of the entire city was already close to 100,000 people.

In the face of this situation, lord Paul Greiman felt the need to make a good plan for his city, and could not allow it to develop savagely and freely, for this reason he sent Hansel to specially invite Sir Smollett from Jingyao. This city planner was quite famous in the south, and had presided over the remodeling of the Jingyao city many times.

“Oh, honorable Earl Gleeman” Sir Smollett was standing beside Paul at this moment, he was a tall, thin, middle-aged man, with a head of curly hair that was so delicate that it was artistic at first glance, and a hint of loneliness on his long, thin face, “I have to admit that your city is the most vibrant city I have ever seen since I went north and crossed the River Lysmen. I have to admit, your city is the most vibrant I’ve seen since crossing the Lysmen River up north. I think with our efforts, she will be able to become the brightest jewel in the north of the kingdom.”

Since Paul approved of his proposal, Sir did not spare a few flattering words. Of course, his praise is also with a large component of sincerity, along the way, the town under the rule of Earl Gleiman is indeed in the north of a group of old man hats in the lead, at least in the aspect of cleanliness and tidiness of the town crushed other territories of the N street, and even better than the Jingyao, because Jingyao inside the clean and tidy is called the nobility and rich people live in the upper city, the rest of the place is just like the same dirty, and the town under the rule of Earl Gleiman is all-rounded. The towns under his rule were all-encompassing.

Smollett began to discuss the program with Paul, Paul put forward some of the requirements to make Sir feel very surprised, for example, Paul insisted that the main road should be able to accommodate 10 medium carriage side by side, Smollett could not figure out what the use of the road that Count Greiman wanted so wide, the other party replied that it was to prepare in advance for the future of the busy traffic. In addition, Count Greiman repeatedly emphasized the design of the sewers when discussing the program with him, demanding that the inside be wide enough to run a horse, and at the end of the day he looked up and tilted his face at 45 degrees and said something that made Smollett quite emotional – “Sewers are the conscience of a city!”

Smollett held out his little thumb and carefully pointed to a certain place on the map, which was located in the Island District, “I need to remind you of that, Lord Gryman. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but if this version of the program is followed, this …… grave on the island will need to be relocated.”

Graves? Paul froze, that hadn’t been noticed. He copied the magnifying glass and focused on the place Smollett’s little thumb was pointing to, then said, “It doesn’t seem …… out of place to me.”

“Ahem!” On the side, Steward Philip spoke out to remind, “According to the customs of our Northwest Bay, things like relocating graves, it is best not to relocate them unless it is absolutely necessary. If not handled well Jean may cause the public to resent it. Besides, Lord Greymane, there is also your family’s mausoleum in this area, which houses the remains of your parents and your brother who died young. So, you see if you can modify the program while having Sir Smollett here.”

“No!” Paul rejected Steward Philip’s suggestion, “I think the current program is the perfect one. As for the public’s sentiment, well then, I, Gleeman, will take the lead in moving the graves, and with a lord as an example, I’ll see if they follow. Of course, the Council of State will have to prepare a sum of money, and all the expenses needed for the people to move their graves will be paid by the Council of State, so it’s settled.”

Philip didn’t speak out again to stop it, he just sighed and said, “Alright, I will immediately start preparing for the relocation of the Greiman family mausoleum, I hope your father and mother won’t blame us.”

The people continued to discuss the details for a while, and Paul’s secretary, Bernard, suddenly raised a question – as the size of the city is getting bigger and bigger, it is no longer appropriate to continue to call it “Lakeville”? “You have a point.” Paul was moved by what he said, then thought of what Smollett had just said, and proposed: “How about renaming it [Northern Glory]?”

“That name is too corny!” Hansel voiced his opinion without mercy, “And it sounds arrogant, trees attract the wind, Lord Greymane. You see that this place is surrounded by green trees every spring and summer, how about calling it [Emerald City]?”

“Ho ho ho!” Paul laughed and waved his hand, “It sounds like it’ll break easily, what I need is an atmospheric name! The moment I see this name, I can associate it with words like great splendor and indestructible.”

Old Ford made a suggestion, “Perhaps we could solicit the entire city, they live here and have a right to participate in naming the city.”

“That’s a great idea, Chief Ford!” Paul nodded, and looked amused, “I believe in collective wisdom, put the matter of naming the city up on a bulletin board right away, add a little bounty, and I think it will be a long time before someone comes to us.”

“However, as the city grows in size, we’re definitely going to have to divide it into different areas, I’ll start by naming this one!” He pointed at the island area surrounded by the lake and said, “This island will still be called – Lakeheart Town.”

At this point, Bernard looked at the floor clock in the room and reminded Paul, “Lord Graiman, the people from the chemistry lab should be arriving soon, they have made an appointment for this time of the day, so do you think that the discussion of the program with Sir Smollett should continue tomorrow.”

“Ah!” Paul looked at the time and suddenly remembered, he stood up and said somewhat apologetically to Smollett, “Unfortunately, I have something else to attend to right now, can I continue our discussion until tomorrow.”

“Oh, of course, at your service Lord Gleeman.” Smollett rolled up the plans on the table as he spoke.

After sending Smollett away, the other officials of the Council of State besides Lardy also excused themselves to Paul and left, after all, the next discussion was an academic matter that they didn’t want to listen to and couldn’t understand.

Soon, several members of the chemistry lab appeared in Paul’s office, they were about to report their latest progress to Paul.

(End of chapter)