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Chapter 108, Act 47
Chapter 108, Act 47 (Bonus chapter for 9000 monthly votes)
Friday afternoon at 3 p.m., Pittsburgh City Council Hall.
The numbers on the electronic tally board froze on an incredible screen: 9 to 0.
Passed unanimously.
When Speaker Thomas Moretti struck the heavy gavel and declared the Pittsburgh Annual Operating and Capital Budget in force, the entire City Hall seemed to tremble.
Those councilors who had once been determined to stop Leo were now bowing their heads and pressing the "yes" button.
Because in that budget proposal, which was hundreds of pages long, every constituency received a lucrative share.
That's the power of money.
The expected income from the $500 million bond issuance acted like a powerful lubricant, instantly clearing the long-standing blockage in the city's political arteries.
Immediately afterwards, Leo fulfilled his promise.
The lobby on the first floor of the city hall was temporarily converted into a "Public Facility Injury Rapid Claim Center".
Dozens of legal and financial staff lined up, with pre-printed checks and settlement agreements piled up in front of them.
The news spread very quickly.
Lawyers from all over the city flocked to the scene with their clients.
The rules are simple and straightforward: as long as you sign a withdrawal agreement, acknowledging that this is a one-time final settlement, you can take 30% of the claim amount on the spot.
"Cash, take it now."
For lawyers and victims accustomed to lengthy litigation processes and even prepared for three-year legal battles, this was like a windfall.
Although a discount was offered, the amount is fixed and does not require lengthy evidence collection and court proceedings.
The buzzing sound of the check printer echoed throughout the hall.
Some people happily took the checks and left, praising the new mayor's benevolence to the media at the door.
Of course, some background noise is unavoidable.
The Pittsburgh Chronicle published a scathing editorial criticizing City Hall for becoming an "ATM."
Rio is using taxpayers' future debt to buy present peace, which is an unprincipled appeasement policy and a buyout of the rule of law.
Some conservative citizens also raged on the radio hotline, believing that this was rewarding those who stage accidents without looking where they are going.
However, these voices were like pebbles thrown into the ocean, instantly drowned out by a much larger wave of sound.
With the passage of the budget, the "Pittsburgh Regeneration Plan Phase II" was fully launched.
The change began at the Gellerts' narrow dining table covered with a faded plastic sheet.
With trembling hands, Gellert pressed a check bearing the city hall's official seal onto the table.
That was the compensation for his wife's broken leg. Although he only received 30%, that piece of paper declared that a certain rule that had been trampled on for a long time had stood up again.
The suffering of ordinary people has value.
This change spread out of the window like waves.
In the community center, Margaret sat in her wheelchair, pushing her wheels and gliding lightly across what was once an insurmountable barrier.
Outside the window, the morning in the southern district was shattered by the roar of dozens of heavy machines.
The excavator roared, its bucket plunging deep into the cracked asphalt, turning over the soil.
The road roller slowly advanced, spreading scalding hot asphalt onto the banks of the Allegheny River.
Frank stood on a high place, holding a walkie-talkie in his hand.
He watched as those guys who used to hide in the corner of the bar drinking alone were now dressed in neat dark blue overalls, nimbly climbing the scaffolding.
The old schools in the hilly area, riddled with bullet holes and graffiti, are having their rotten shells peeled away to reveal gray concrete skeletons.
On a commercial street in Brooklyn, dilapidated neon signs are being removed, and workers are installing uniform, energy-efficient streetlights.
The air was filled with the smell of asphalt, sawdust, and the alkaline odor of concrete setting.
This smell is pollution in the eyes of the elites, but in the lungs of Pittsburgh residents, it is the oxygen of hope.
This is proof that the city is breathing heavily and awakening from suffocation.
The city is healing itself.
Neighbors greeted each other across the street, pointing to the increasingly changed streets, their eyes gleaming with a light that seemed to belong to an entire generation that had vanished.
This radiance transcends race and constituency, weaving a new skin for the city in those previously forgotten corners.
This massive transformation, covering the entire city, is pulling Pittsburgh out of its rusty grave with an unstoppable force.
Two weeks later, in the mayor's office.
Leo leaned back in his chair, holding a glass of celebratory champagne.
Sarah was organizing the latest poll data nearby, and the smile on her face never disappeared.
"Your approval rating has surpassed 75%, Leo," Sarah said excitedly. "Even in the most hardened conservative communities, your approval rating has risen by ten percentage points. If this momentum continues, you can be re-elected until you don't want to anymore."
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Frank sat on the sofa, fiddling with the empty wine bottle, his face flushed.
"Those congressmen now avoid me like the plague," Frank laughed. "Leo, we won, we won big."
The office was filled with a sense of relief and self-satisfaction after a victory.
Just then, the office door was pushed open.
Ethan Hawke walked in.
He walked briskly, clutching a blue folder tightly in his hand.
There was no smile on his face, only an unsettling pallor.
That expression instantly froze the cheerful atmosphere in the room.
Leo put down his champagne glass.
"What's wrong, Ethan?" Leo sat up straight. "What happened?"
Ethan walked to his desk and placed the blue folder on the surface.
"We seem to have forgotten something."
Ethan unbuttoned his collar, looking somewhat exasperated.
"We're celebrating too soon, Leo."
"What do you mean?"
"Take a look at this." Ethan pointed to the gold lettering on the folder cover.
Leo looked down.
Pennsylvania Local Government Unit Debt Act.
"What is this?" Sarah leaned closer, looking bewildered.
"This is a noose around our necks." Ethan's voice was a little dry. "Under Pennsylvania law, no local government, whether it's Philadelphia or Pittsburgh, can issue general obligation bonds, especially long-term debt of this size, with just city council approval."
"It must be approved by the state government."
Ethan opened the folder and pointed to a clause that was heavily circled in red.
"All municipal bond issuance plans must be submitted to the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development for a debt service capacity assessment and financial health review."
"Bonds can only be legally sold on the market with the approval of the Ministry of Community and Economic Development."
Leo frowned.
Of course he knew about the state-level approval process.
But in his mind, this was just a formality. Since the city council had already approved it, the state had no reason to hold it back.
"What's the problem?" Leo asked. "As long as our materials are complete and the procedures are compliant, why wouldn't they approve it?"
"Based on history."
Ethan sighed and pulled out another, even older, document from the folder.
The file title is printed with a string of black text: Act47.
"Leo, have you forgotten the history of Pittsburgh?"
Ethan pointed to the string of words.
"This city once faced complete financial ruin due to the collapse of its steel industry, resulting in a loss of tax revenue. At that time, Pittsburgh was officially listed as one of the 'Act 47 Financially Distressed Cities' by the state government."
"At that time, the city's finances were taken over by an oversight committee sent by the state government. Back then, you needed their approval even to buy a pen in Pittsburgh."
"This shameful label has been worn by Pittsburgh for fourteen years."
"It wasn't until fourteen years later that Pittsburgh managed to shed this label and regain its fiscal autonomy."
"But the hat was taken off, wasn't it?"
Leo asked, "Then what is there to worry about?"
"To the bureaucrats in Harrisburg, Pittsburgh is a criminal with a terrible credit history," Ethan replied.
"They are extremely sensitive to our financial situation, to the point of being neurotic."
"Now, a convict who's only been released from prison a few years ago suddenly runs up to them and says: 'Hey, I need to borrow five hundred million dollars. I'm going to double my debt. I'm going to do some social experiments with extremely uncertain returns.'"
"What do you think those actuaries sitting in their offices doing the math would think?"
Before Leo could answer, Ethan said, "They'll think we're crazy."
"In their eyes, this $500 million is not a hope for revival, but a sign of falling back into poverty. They believe that Pittsburgh is trying to jump back into the quagmire of bankruptcy."
Ethan pulled a letter with a red stamp from the folder and slammed it heavily on the table.
"So, just an hour ago, the official rejection letter was sent to my email address."
"The reasons given were insufficient debt repayment capacity and an overestimation of fiscal risk. They didn't even ask for supplementary materials; they simply shut the door on us."
"Moreover, to be honest, those actuaries in Harrisburg saw right through the word games we played in the budget."
"This kind of financial packaging is itself in a gray area. If they want to help you, it's called a very forward-thinking financial innovation; but if they want to harm you, it's an illegal operation to cover up real expenditures."
Unfortunately, they chose the latter.
Ethan's voice was filled with helplessness.
"Leo, don't forget who controls the state government now."
"The governor and the moderate Democrats in the state legislature, as well as the career bureaucrats in the Department of Community and Economic Development, are essentially the same kind of people as Moretti; they are the gatekeepers of the establishment."
"In their eyes, you are an unruly radical. Your progressive ideas are a challenge to the political order on which they depend for survival."
"They hate you, even more than they hate the Republican Party."
"They will absolutely not miss this opportunity to legally kill you."
Leo tapped his fingers lightly on the table.
He thought of Sanders.
"What about Sanders?" Leo asked. "He can get the underwriters in Washington, can he put pressure on the state?"
'
"It's no use." Ethan shook his head. "Daniel is a federal senator. In Harrisburg, his influence is limited. States' rights are independent. Those local bullies don't need to listen to a federal senator. In fact, they might even become rebellious because of Sanders' involvement."
"Leo, you need to understand what we're doing right now. Bulldozers are roaring outside, workers are getting their weekly wages, and severance checks are being printed. Where is all this money coming from?"
"That's our advance payment for annual operating expenses! It was originally intended to pay the salaries of police officers, firefighters, and sanitation workers for the second half of the year, and to cover the city hall's water and electricity bills!"
"We are now mortgaging the lifeblood of this city. If this bond cannot be issued on time and the funds cannot be recovered, what we will leave in terms of finances will not just be a shortfall, but a black hole that could swallow the entire city of Pittsburgh."
"At that point, it won't just be a matter of promises turning into empty checks."
"We will paralyze the entire city, we will be nailed to the pillar of shame for causing the government to go bankrupt, we will be the sinners of Pittsburgh."
The joy of victory vanished instantly.
They crossed the city council, only to find an even deeper chasm ahead.
This insurmountable barrier is called the memory of the system.
Pittsburgh's past failures have become the shackles binding its present.
"This is the price of bankruptcy."
Roosevelt's voice echoed in Leo's mind.
"Credit takes a hundred years to build, only a day to destroy, and rebuilding it is harder than climbing to heaven."
"Those guys in Harrisburg aren't trying to make things difficult for you; they're out of fear."
"They are afraid that if you fail, the state government will once again have to shoulder the huge financial burden of Pittsburgh, and they don't want to experience the nightmare of Act 47 again."
Leo closed his eyes and spoke to Roosevelt in his mind.
"So we go to Harrisburg? To negotiate with those examiners? To show them our resolve?"
"Of course not."
Roosevelt's voice was firm.
"You can't convince a group of bureaucrats whose profession is risk aversion to take a risk. In their eyes, your determination is worthless, and your plan is just a pie in the sky."
"Since they are afraid of risk, we will give them a sense of security."
"Since they don't trust Pittsburgh, a criminal, then we'll find someone they absolutely trust to guarantee Pittsburgh's $500 million debt."
"We need an endorser."
"A person with sufficiently large assets and sufficiently good credit."
"If this person is willing to step forward and say, 'I believe in this plan, and I'm willing to endorse its benefits,' then all red lights will turn green."
Leo's gaze passed through the floor-to-ceiling windows and landed on the brightly lit city skyline outside.
In the heart of the city, there stands a skyscraper, its lights still on.
The huge sign on the rooftop shimmered in the night.
Morganfield Industries.
He picked up the draft budget from the table.
In that long list of projects, besides community renovations, school refurbishments, and workers' cooperatives, there lay a huge expenditure.
Start-up funds for the first phase of the inland port expansion project.
That was the bait he planted, and also his backup plan.
"Looks like I have to keep that promise."
Leo stood up and straightened his suit.
"Ethan, prepare the car."
Ethan paused for a moment: "Where are you going? It's so late."
"Let's go see our old friends."
Leo looked at the building.
"Since Harlem doesn't trust the mayor's credibility, then let's show them the credibility of capital."
"I'm going to Coal Douglas Morganfield."
"If he wants to eat meat, he has to help me set up the pot first."