Difference between revisions of "Xilare"

Revision as of 16:49, 28 January 2006

Overview

Xilare at sunset. The right side shows the central business district; the tallest building is the VCSE Tower.

Xilare, the capitol of Xila Province, is the second largest city in Vetalia and home to the world's largest stock exchange, the Vetalian Combined Stock Exchange. It's 233 population is 23,675,000 and has grown consistently over the past two decades. It boasts a mixture of historical and modern architecture, with the city's towering skyscrapers mixing with the marble edifices of the Old City. Compared to other cities in the nation, Xilare is noted for its far greater degree of social and political freedom. However, the combination of social freedoms, abundant wealth, and the congregation of the world's greatest corporations almost ensures that city politics are corrupt and self-serving to organized crime.

The city lies on the Nera Bay, which connects to the Western Artilan Ocean some 200mi out. This produces a warmer, more humid climate than its geographical location suggests; it is in the humid subtropical climate zone despite its location on the edge of the continental zone. However, this also produces more serious weather conditions, although major investments over the past few decades have eliminated most of the danger from hurricanes.

The Old City is an architectural marvel, with several blocks of marble edifice and archaic construction reflecting the city's role as capital of the Republic. The old Vetalian Stock Exchange building is currently used as the headquarters of the Galie/Restare Group, the largest brokerage in Vetalia. The district also boasts several parks, along with the old Presidential Palace which serves as a museum of local as well as national history. The end of the Old City is marked by the VCSE Tower, the tallest building in the city and home to the headquarters of the Vetalian Combined Stock Exchange.

Economy of Xilare

Private Sector Overview

Xilare boasts a robust, modern economy centered on its financial services sector. This sector employs some 23% of the city's workforce, followed closely by information technology with another 17%. The rest is distributed between other services and manufacturing, which employs 7%. As a result of its supremacy in finance, Xilare boasts a per capita income about 10% above the national average, about Ş39,750 ($69,525) in 233. Its unemployment rate is very low, hovering around 1% (compared to 1.82% for the nation); this poses a continuing problem of wage inflation and rising prices.

The economy of the city continues to grow above trend in virtually all aspects, although manufacturing employment has been greatly reduced over the past two decades due to wage inflation. The city GDP grew 4.3% last year, and has grown over 4% for the past three. The most recent recession occured following the bear market of 228; therefore, the government of the city has taken steps to increase their ability to better respond to economic slowdowns.

Public Sector Overview

Compared to Vetalia City, Xilare does not have the same scale of government or government expenditure as the Imperial capital. In FY 233, total government revenues were Ş138.34 billion Solaris; this is an average tax rate of 17%, compared to 32% nationwide. However, a large piece of that revenue comes from the various taxes levied on capital gains and other transactions, making it more vulnerable to slowdowns in the stock markets. As a result of the bear market of 217-223, the city government established a Reserve Fund to help cover the decline in revenue during these periods. All yearly surpluses up to Ş8 billion/year are put in to the fund; if surpluses are larger than Ş8 billion, the remainder is refunded to taxpayers via a special tax rebate . As of 233, the fund holds Ş54.9 billion.

The city offers nothing in the form of social security or welfare programs; all issues surrounding retirement are the responsibility of employees in both the public and private sectors. However, since 193 the government has offered public service employees commissionless trading and investment in the stock markets as part of a deal negotiated with various brokerages. There are similar plans for people who earn less than Ş30,000/year, but this does not have sufficent support from the Council yet.

Other than taxes, the city raises money through the sale of municipal bonds; the city plans to offer Ş20 billion of them over the next decade to cover several major public works projects. They are 10 year certificates that yield 4.5%/year.

Security Forces

Military

There is a significant military presence in the outskirts of Xilare, consisting of a Vetalian Internal Intelligence regional headquarters as well as several military bases. These bases are focused primarily on the development of new weapons and the training of elite units known as Vetalian Imperial Guards. The net employment of these facilities is around 62,000 civilians and 100,000 soliders in various occupations. Several units of the Vetalian Army also serve as emergency police, called up in response to civil unrest or natural disasters. Their last major deployment was during the summer of 231, when a significant number of poor neighborhoods had their power cut off due to a pricing dispute with Xilare Integrated Atomics.

Police

For day to day policing, the Xilare Police are the primary force deployed. The force has 150,000 members, of whom 110,000 are on duty at any time. The force is officially organized in to 16 districts according to relative crime rates, but it is common knowledge that organized crime syndicates' influence in the force plays a major role in the distribution. This is most obvious in the Xilare Industrial Docks, where the number of police on duty at any time is 1,200; the next lowest total is 7,600 officers.

Nevertheless, the force is remarkably effective at controlling the non-organized crime in the city, in many cases with the help of organized crime syndicates desiring the removal of a competitor. Violent crime along with sexual assault are a good deal lower than the national average (although contract killings and similar crimes are not prosecuted provided the syndicate is on good terms with the police) along with virtually all other criminal offenses. However, external observers have concluded that Xilare has rates of white-collar, identity, industrial espionage, prostitution, drugs, and black-market crime no less than three times the national average.

However, there is also a program underway in Vetalia City to create a new force of "superpolice" that would be genetically and psychologically immune to outside corruption. This project is still in the planning stages, and will not be feasibly implemented until the mid 250's.

Politics

Xilara Family

Xilare is ruled by the Xilara family, of whom Baron Hasiral II is the current heir to the Xilare title. This family and their city is one of a handful that still retain the ceremonial nobility titles of the Republic, most likely due to their support for the Imperial forces during the revolution. The Baron has virtually unlimited power to appoint and fire city officials, and is the city's representative at Imperial government functions. However, his power is not unlimited. The Xilara family's banner is two bands of scarlet and a center band of gold.

They are also rumored to be one of the richest families involved in various types of organized crime, with a net wealth of Ş10.92 billion. This is particularly notable when the official yearly salary for the Baron is Ş5.5 million; some estimates place 55-70% of their wealth as derived from illegal actions. It is also rumored that the Baron holds a majority stake in Xilare Integrated Atomics, although concealed behind a maze of shell brokerages and holding companies. His involvement in the blackout of 231 is nebulous at best, although there is coincidental evidence that a cluster of minor companies had shorted 1 million shares of the company about a week before. The stock plunged shortly after the shutdown, netting those companies a profit of Ş23 million.

City Council

The day-to-day management of the city is the resposibiliy of the City Council, comprised of 16 members elected every 5 years by the residents of the city. Again, this office is a holdover from the Republic era and is not standard Imperial procedure. This body meets 2 days per week and decides on policy for the various departments; twice per year, the heads of the city's departments submit their projected department budgets for the year and the Council deliberates over the best course of action. This budget is then submitted to the Baron, who can either veto it or sign it in to law. An important note is that the Baron's veto can be overturned by unanimous vote, and the Baron cannot dissolve the council.

Compared to the department heads and the Baron, the City Council is respected for its greater degree of honesty and lack of corruption; this is attributed to infiltration of the Council bureaucracy with Vetalian Intelligence anti-corruption officers.

Departments

Xilare's public services are provided by a group of departments; these are the Security Department (split in to Police and Fire), the Education Department, the Health Department, the Public Works Department, the Technology Department, and the Transportation Department. Each of these has a department head who manages his department according to the goals set by the City Council in their ten-year plans or the directives of the Baron. In 233, Ş130.34 billion was spent by these departments. They employ a combined 800,000 people and have a payroll of Ş33.6 billion/year.

The health department has seen the most expansion as of late, given the significant increase in funding on the national level in the past decade. Similar expansions are planned for education and infrastructure as the government continues to eliminate subsidies and handouts to businesses, which consumed upwards of 18% of the Imperial budget in years past. Currently, the biggest project in the city is the construction of a massive new subterranean public transportation system, to replace the increasingly over-utilized Xilare subway system. The project will cost Ş200 billion over 15 years. Plans are also underway to totally upgrade the city's water system to make it self-regulating, and to replace as much of the pipe network as possible. This project is in the planning stages, and will likely coincide with the subway construction.

Corruption within the departments costs the city as much as Ş4 billion/year, for example through embezzlement and outright theft of supplies or the use of no-bid (organized crime) suppliers for construction products; this last action has resulted in serious damage to major projects due to the subpar materials supplied by the firms. Vetalian Intelligence has more than doubled its presence in the Department of Public Works since the widespread and rapid deterioration of new public roadways in the 210's. The police department also suffers widespread corruption, but it is far harder to detect than in others. It is even suspected that the police chief is a member of an organized crime syndicate, with public opinion attributing him to the Virata crime family. The greater oversight of the City Council on the other departments has resulted in them having a far lower degree of corruption than the police or public works.

Miscellaneous

Quality of Life

For all of its corruption and crime, Xilare boasts an excellent quality of life for most citizens. The entire city has access to clean water, free schools and police, fire and health services. Pollution, even in the poorest districts, is under control due to a combination of technology, geography, and the city's lack of a large industrial sector. Literacy is 100%, and the average life expectancy is 79.9 years for men and 84.4 years for women due to the incredibly low child mortality rate.

Problems

However, the city also boasts a dark side. There is a large income gap between rich and poor, and workers have little in the way of rights in the event of a large scale corporate shutdown or discrimination. Also, there is nothing a citizen can do in regard to their utility rates unless they directly appeal the City Council; this body only hears some 1,000 complaints a year of 19,000 filings. The city's rampant corruption also means that there is little refuge from organized crime, save for the Vetalian Intelligence offices who are still trying to gain the edge on the criminals; they have only been in place for a decade or so while the syndicates date back to the Republican era. This has led to severe problems of drug abuse and forced prostitution in the city, and even worse such as slave trafficking. The Emperor abhors such practices, but his ability to stop it is still far from a threat to syndicate powers.

Justice System

The city justice system is an arm of the national Ministry of Justice and so is not influenced by the city government. For more on the Vetalian legal system, see Vetalian Ministry of Justice.

Organized Crime

Little is known about the extent of organized crime in the city, but some estimates place its value as high as Ş200 billion per year. There are three major crime syndicates, the Virata family, the Cabile family, and a foreign group known only as the Organization. The Virata are currently dominant , although there have been signs that they are faltering following the government seizure of their hydrogen-extraction business to settle a Ş17 billion "back tax" bill (a euphemism for a government seizure of property known to be tied to organized crime but not proven).

Culture

The city has a rich cultural history dating back centuries. The Xilare Opera House, first built in 165 B.E. is the longest operating performing arts center in the city. Music and live theatre are performed at the Nerva P.A. Center, and modern music, sports, and miscellaneous entertainment (such as the wildly popular Tastes of Xilare festival held every July) are held at Xilara Stadium and its expansive outdoor Imperial Gardens. There are five major museums; the Gallitia Museum showcases modern art and sculpture, the Feligal is the premier curator of classical art and sculpture, the Stabile is the home for various types of pop art and cultural memorabilia, the Denegae displays artwork from around the world, and the Imperial Palace displays historical texts and priceless antiquities. Thousands of smaller performing arts companies, theatres, gardens, ethnic restaurants, music halls, bars, and nightclubs cater to the styles of a diverse and literate populace as well. There are also dozens of independent holofilm makers and virutally countless numbers of writers and other literary artists.

The city also subsidizes various types of art from its Xilare Endowment for the Arts; this fund holds about Ş9 billion in assets, along with a Ş1 billion/year contribution from the Imperial government. This, along with an established history of cultural literacy has made Xilare a leader in the cultural evolution of Vetalia.