novelnext Chapter 85 The Idealist's Fever
Chapter 85 The Idealist's Fever
Chapter 85 The Idealist's Fever
Pittsburgh Mayor's Office.
The large desk was piled high with documents awaiting signature.
These documents include personnel appointment letters, financial authorization sheets, and draft executive orders.
Leo Wallace sat behind this mountain of paper.
His pen swept across the paper, leaving behind one name after another.
Every stroke of the pen signifies a transfer of power, a new control node being connected to the city's nervous system.
"This is an order regarding the termination of the contract of the former municipal consultant."
Ethan Hawke stood at the table, handed over a new document with swift movements and rapid speech.
"And this is also the authorization letter for the special working group launching the '100-Day New Policy'."
Leo signed the document and put it aside.
"Ethan, wait a minute."
Ethan's hand was reaching for the next document when he heard Leo's voice. He stopped mid-air and looked up, somewhat puzzled.
"What's wrong, Mayor?"
Leo did not answer, but simply looked quietly at his chief of staff.
Ethan's condition seems off.
This Harvard Law PhD, who had always remained calm, rational, and even somewhat bookish during the previous campaign, now looked like a boxer who had just been injected with an overdose of adrenaline.
His tie hung loosely around his neck, his shirt sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, and his eyes gleamed with fanaticism.
"You look—very excited," Leo said. "What happened?"
This sentence acts like a switch.
Ethan took a deep breath, as if he had finally waited for this moment.
He turned and rushed to the huge whiteboard on the other side of the office.
"Leo, you need to take a look at this."
Ethan dragged the whiteboard in front of Leo, picked up a red marker, and heavily circled several areas on the whiteboard.
"I stayed up all night last night to re-examine the city's administrative structure and budget allocation model."
His voice trembled slightly with excitement.
"Our vision was too limited before. We only focused on building roads and houses, which is not enough, far from enough."
Ethan waved his arm in the air.
"We now hold executive power, the power to propose legislation, and the power to allocate budgets. What we can do is not just physical repairs; we can carry out a complete social reconstruction."
He wrote a series of words on the whiteboard: community self-governing entities, participatory budgeting, urban wealth funds.
"We can break down existing community boundaries and reintegrate neighborhoods that are divided by race and class."
"We can rewrite the tax bill to make speculators who profit from land appreciation give back their money and establish a sustainable fund for all citizens."
"We can implement a completely new curriculum reform in the education system so that workers' children can receive the most advanced civic education from an early age."
Ethan spoke faster and faster, his spittle flying in the sunlight.
"Leo, think about it. We're conducting an unprecedented social experiment in Pittsburgh, in the heart of what's considered a backward Rust Belt."
"If successful, we will redefine what modern urban governance means."
"This is something I never dared to dream of in Washington. Even in Senator Sanders' office, we could only talk about these things on paper. But now, I have the opportunity to make it a reality."
Ethan turned around and looked at Leo with burning eyes.
"This is not just changing a city, this is making history."
Leo looked at Ethan.
He could feel the heat wave hitting him.
This is a pure, unadulterated passion for idealism.
But amidst this heatwave, Leo felt a sense of unease.
This unease stems from the grand, almost distorted perspective in Ethan's words.
In Ethan's description, Pittsburgh no longer seems to be a city made up of 300,000 specific people, but has become a blank sheet of paper that can be painted on at will, a laboratory used to verify some profound theory.
"Keep an eye on him, Leo."
Roosevelt's voice echoed in Leo's mind.
"Your chief of staff is currently in a dangerous situation."
"I call it the dizzying period of power."
Roosevelt paused, then continued.
"Intellectuals from elite backgrounds like Ethan, when they are just advisors, simply offering suggestions from the sidelines, are usually very calm and objective. Because they know they are just a cog in the machine, they have a sense of awe for reality."
"But once you hand them a hammer, once they feel they have control of the machine..."
"They will develop a fever immediately."
"In their eyes, the whole world has become a pile of nails."
"They will become obsessed with perfect blueprints and logically consistent theoretical models. They will feel that as long as they press a button, reality will change according to their will."
"This high fever is extremely dangerous."
"It makes people ignore the obstacles of reality, the complexity of human nature, and the roughness of those old bricks."
"They will try to forcibly correct a distorted reality with perfect blueprints."
"And the result is often that the blueprints are broken, or reality is shattered by them."
Leo looked at Ethan, who was still talking non-stop in front of the whiteboard.
He had to cool down the overheated machine.
"Ethan."
Leo spoke.
He picked up his pen and tapped it lightly on the table.
"Yes."
A sharp impact cut Ethan off from his speech.
Ethan stopped, staring blankly at Leo, the red marker still hovering in mid-air.
"Calm down," Leo said.
He stood up, walked to the whiteboard, and looked at the complicated arrows and terminology.
"Your drawings are beautiful, Ethan. Really, the logic is perfect, and the concept is grand."
Leo looked directly into Ethan's eyes.
"But don't forget, the bricks we're going to use to build the house are those old, cracked bricks from Pittsburgh."
"We are not dealing with a group of experimental subjects waiting to be reshaped."
"They are workers waiting to collect their wages and buy medicine at the construction site in the South District."
"She's a single mother working at the hair salon, worried that her child won't be able to afford school."
"They are street cleaners who get up at four o'clock every morning to sweep the streets."
Leo pointed out the window.
"We're not playing SimCity, Ethan. There's no 'start' button here."
"We are serving the living."
"If we take too big a step and tear at their wounds, they will feel pain, they will bleed, and then they will angrily kick us off the stage."
Ethan was stunned.
He instinctively opened his mouth and leaned forward, as if he wanted to refute.
But when he met Leo's almost cold eyes, the words of reason that were on the tip of his tongue choked him up.
Ethan's tense shoulders slumped, and he looked like a deflated balloon.
He lowered his head, looked at the red marker in his hand, and shook his head with a wry smile.
"Sorry, Leo." Ethan rubbed his throbbing temples. "I might have—I really did get a little tipsy."
"That's normal." Leo patted him on the shoulder. "That's the taste of power. It's more addictive than alcohol, but we have to stay sober at all times."
"Alright, let's put these social reconstructions on hold for now."
Leo picked up the blackboard eraser and wiped away those overly advanced concepts.
"Let's get back to reality, back to the ground."
Ethan quickly regained his composure.
He pulled out a pre-prepared folder from the pile of documents.
"You're right, Leo. The reality is, we have a hundred days to prove we're not just empty slogans."
Ethan opened the folder and pointed to the three core projects listed above.
"This is the draft of the '100-Day New Policy' that I've prepared."
Ethan didn't rush to read the contents aloud, but instead looked at Leo with a serious expression.
"This is your political honeymoon period as the new mayor."
""
"During these three months, the citizens who put you on the stage will be extremely patient and will give you room to try and fail."
""
"But if we can't deliver results during this period, prove that you have the ability to manage this city, and prove that your promises are not empty words."
"Then, such tolerance will instantly turn into disappointment, or even anger. Those watching enemies will pounce on you immediately and tear you apart."
Ethan took a deep breath and pushed the folder in front of Leo.
"Therefore, this draft of the 100-day policy is extremely important."
"And I believe we must start these three things immediately."
First, Pittsburgh Regeneration Project Phase II.
Second, the expansion of inland ports.
Third, reforms to increase transparency in municipal administration.
Leo looked at these three goals, which were clearly much more pragmatic, and nodded.
"Excellent, that's exactly what I wanted," Leo said. "Once these three things are done, we'll have a foothold. As for any social experiments, we'll talk about that after we survive."
"However," Ethan changed the subject, his brow furrowing, "we face a major obstacle in implementing these three plans."
"What obstacle?"
"people.
"
Ethan produced a list of personnel.
"Pittsburgh is a city with a strong mayoral system. By convention, when a new mayor takes office, he has the power to replace the heads of various administrative departments. And now, those sitting in these positions are all Cartwright's old subordinates or Morganfield's proxies."
"The city's finance director, Tom O'Malley. He's the one who froze our funds."
"The city's labor commissioner, Peter Ross. He's been in that position for ten years, controlling the entire list of construction contractors."
"And the Planning Bureau, the Health Bureau, the Public Works Bureau—"
Leo's face remained expressionless upon hearing the names that had caused him countless troubles.
He sat in his seat, his fingers tapping lightly on the table.
A moment later, Leo raised his head and looked calmly at Ethan.
"So, Ethan," Leo began, "as my chief of staff, what is your advice in this situation?"
Ethan met Leo's gaze, took a deep breath, and his tone became more resolute than ever before.
My suggestion is to clean it.
"Replace them all; we need to replace them with our own people."
Ethan pointed outside the door.
"Although Frank is reluctant to sit in an office, the young union leaders he recommended earlier are perfectly capable of handling positions in the Department of Labor, as are the professional volunteers we discovered during the campaign —"
Leo frowned.
"Replace them all?" Leo retorted. "Ethan, do you really think that Sarah and those few young union leaders can keep this city of 300,000 people running?"
“They have passion, and they have loyalty,” Ethan argued. “That’s more important than anything else.”
"Enthusiasm won't put food on the table, and loyalty won't fix the sewers," Leo said coldly. "Do those union leaders even understand the process of issuing municipal bonds? Do you understand the chemical parameters of a sewage treatment plant?"
Ethan opened his mouth, but didn't say anything.
“We don’t have anyone on our side, Ethan, that’s a fact.” Leo sighed. “Those old bureaucrats may have all sorts of problems, but they understand the technology, they know the city’s labyrinthine pipework and rules.”
"If we start a major cleanup now, this building will be paralyzed tomorrow. No one will collect the garbage, no one will repair the heating pipes, and even the streetlights will be broken and no one will care."
"At that time, the angry citizens won't care whether it's the old bureaucrats causing trouble; they'll just curse me, the new mayor, for being incompetent."
Leo pushed the list back.
"Therefore, we cannot change players, at least not now."
"We must keep them, utilize their skills, and at the same time, use Sarah's audits like a whip to lash them out until we develop our own people."
"Well done, Leo," Roosevelt said with a hint of approval.
"Ethan is still too young. He thinks that the problem will be solved by replacing the enemy with his own people."
"He thought that Frank's union leaders, once they put on suits and sat in their offices, would be more loyal than Tom O'Malley."
"But he doesn't understand that once those key members of the unions are in the position of bureau chief, they will become bureaucrats just like the current group of people in less than three years."
"So-called loyalty and closeness are nothing but fragile illusions in the face of the corruption of power and interests."
"Once you sit in that chair with the power to sign documents, the former revolutionary becomes the new bureaucrat. Human nature is no different in the face of power."
"You can't, and you don't need to, get along with everyone in the city hall."
Roosevelt's voice became distant, carrying a sense of reminiscence.
"When I was in the White House, I had Ikes, Hopkins, and Marshall. They all claimed to be loyal to me, but I never managed them based on loyalty. I managed them based on checks and balances, on making them fight each other and monitor each other."
"I exploit their ambition, I exploit their fear, but I do not rely on their conscience."
Roosevelt paused, then said, "As a true leader, you must remember one ironclad rule: no one can be completely trusted."
Leo's fingers paused on the table for a moment.
A thought suddenly popped into his mind: "So, I can't even trust you?"
Silence fell over the space of consciousness.
This silence lasted for a long time, so long that Leo thought Roosevelt wouldn't answer.
"That's a good question."
Roosevelt finally spoke, his voice low but filled with a chilling honesty.
"If I were still alive, if I were still in a wheelchair, with my own political calculations and family interests, then you absolutely cannot trust me."
"Because for my goal, I will not hesitate to sacrifice you, just as I have sacrificed countless others."
"But I'm just a ghost now, Leo. I have no interests, only obsessions, which ironically makes me your only ally you can rely on."
Suddenly, Roosevelt's tone changed.
"Therefore, in a sense, only the dead are trustworthy."
In that instant, Leo felt a chill run down his spine and straight to the top of his head.
Roosevelt's voice then returned to normal.
"Even so, maintaining your skepticism is what makes a qualified politician."
Leo took a deep breath, pulling his thoughts back to reality.
Ethan opened his mouth, but didn't say anything.
He understands the law and policies, but he really doesn't know how to fix a sewer.
"So, we have to keep them."
Leo stood up and walked over to Ethan.
"But that doesn't mean we have to compromise with them."
"7
"What do we do?" Ethan asked rhetorically.
"I'll have my own way of dealing with that when the time comes. Let's talk about something more important now."
Leo walked to the whiteboard and wrote down the three strategic objectives from the document.
Pittsburgh Regeneration Project Phase II.
Inland port expansion.
Municipal transparency reform.
These three words represent three completely different directions, and also three completely different battlefields.
"Ethan, we only have a hundred days." Leo crossed his arms, his gaze sweeping across the whiteboard. "The first of the three fires a new broom sweeps clean must burn brightly enough, and absolutely must not burn us."
"In the long run, the inland port expansion will be the most beneficial," Ethan analyzed. "It can fundamentally change Pittsburgh's logistical position, bring long-term tax revenue growth, and it's the basis for your deal with Morganfield."
"But it's also the slowest." Leo shook his head. "It's a huge project worth hundreds of millions of dollars, involving approvals from the federal, state, and municipal governments, as well as environmental assessments, land acquisition, and union negotiations. The preliminary feasibility study alone can take us a whole year."
"The people of Pittsburgh can't wait that long. They just elected me, and they need to see change immediately."
"If I told them, 'Please wait five more years, and you'll have jobs once the port is built,' they would just kick me out of office."
Leo picked up a marker and drew a "suspension" symbol next to "Inland Port Expansion".
"This project should be promoted, but only behind the scenes; it cannot be the core of the 100-day policy."
Ethan nodded and moved his finger to the third one.
"What about municipal transparency reform? That was a major promise we made during the campaign. Clean up the corruption networks left by the previous administration, cut those positions where people are drawing salaries without working, and put opaque procurement contracts into the open. This can greatly boost your political reputation."
"That's also the most dangerous," Leo rejected the suggestion. "Ethan, as I just said, we don't have anyone on our hands right now. Although those old bureaucrats are lazy and greedy, the entire city hall still depends on them to run."
"If we start by wielding the butcher's knife, launching a massive purge, and conducting a comprehensive audit, this building will be shut down tomorrow."
Leo also drew a circle next to "municipal transparency reform".
"Of course we need to do this, but we need to do it gradually. Let Sarah's auditing department start from the periphery, make an example of a few, and not launch a full-scale attack right away."
After eliminating two options, only this one remains.
Pittsburgh Regeneration Project Phase II.
"That's it." Leo's fingers slammed heavily on the whiteboard.
"The first phase of the project was a huge success in the southern district, and it was the cornerstone of our election victory."
"In the second phase of the project, we aim to replicate this success in other districts."
Leo picked up a pen and wrote down several specific locations and projects on the whiteboard.
"We're in debt, Ethan, political debt."
Leo pointed to the words on the whiteboard, speaking in a steady, deliberate manner.
"The public school in the hilly area needs a complete renovation."
"The high streets of Brooklyn must also undergo a complete transformation. This is my commitment to the Latino community in order to break down racial barriers."
Leo paused for a moment, then wrote down a new phrase next to it: workers' cooperative.
"And don't forget my promise to Senator Sanders; that's the core of our reforms."
"We will use this funding to establish a workers' cooperative, owned and managed by the unemployed steelworkers themselves. Small-scale municipal projects in Pittsburgh will then be prioritized for this cooperative."
"We want the profits from the project to flow back into the workers' pockets, instead of being exploited layer by layer by those construction oligarchs and their political proxies, as in the past."
Leo put down his pen and looked at the blueprint on the whiteboard.
"Schools, commercial streets, cooperatives. Each of these tasks is a tough nut to crack, each one threatens the interests of the old guard."
Ethan looked at the radical plan, but his brows furrowed even more.
"Leo, this plan is excellent; it can indeed fundamentally change the distribution logic of this city. However, there is one core problem."
"money."
Ethan pulled out a financial statement from somewhere.
"The financial situation Cartwright left us was a disaster. The deficit was huge and the debt was coming due. The city's accounts were barely enough to keep things running, let alone afford such a large-scale second phase of the project."
He put down the report, a relaxed expression on his face, as if he had already thought of a solution.
"However, this is not a dead end."
Ethan took out his phone and waved it.
"We have Senator Sanders, and we have friends in Washington. Since the first phase of the project was funded by federal special funds, we can simply repeat the same approach for the second phase."
"I can immediately draft a new application report and apply for special funding from the Department of Health and Human Services or the Department of Labor under the guise of a 'pilot program for the transformation of social services in industrial cities.'"
"With Sanders putting in a good word for you, and given your current political standing as a 'rust belt example,' this funding will be approved faster and in larger amounts than last time."
Ethan appeared very confident.
"This is the fastest and safest way."
Leo listened to Ethan's advice.
That is indeed a tempting offer.
With just a few phone calls and forms, hundreds of millions of dollars can flow from Washington to Pittsburgh.
He didn't need to beg anyone, didn't need to deal with those troublesome old guys in the city council, and didn't even need to use a single penny of Pittsburgh's own tax revenue.
This is like a windfall.
Leo also thought it was a good idea, and just as he was about to nod, Roosevelt's voice rang out.
"No."
"Reject him, Leo."
Roosevelt's voice was unusually serious, leaving no room for negotiation.
"Why?" Leo wondered in his mind. "Isn't that what we did during the campaign? Using federal money to do things in Pittsburgh, what's wrong with that?"
"Use your brain, son," Roosevelt didn't give a direct answer, but instead asked, "What do you think is the most scarce resource for you right now? Is it money?"
Leo frowned and thought for a while.
"It's about time," Leo replied tentatively. "The federal funding process is too slow. From submitting the application and going through inter-departmental review to the final disbursement of funds, it can take six months or even longer."
"But I only have 100 days now. If I wait until the money arrives, the citizens' political enthusiasm will have cooled down, and they will think I am slow to act."
"That's one reason, but only a tactical one," Roosevelt commented. "The process can be expedited if Sanders is willing to apply pressure. That's not the core reason; think about it again."
Leo looked out the window at the city hall square, the place where he had just been sworn in.
"That's a restriction?" Leo continued to speculate. "If you take federal money, you'll be subject to federal rules and regulations. The workers' cooperative we want to set up might be shut down because it doesn't comply with some rigid federal regulations."
"It's close, but it hasn't hit the bullseye yet."
Roosevelt's voice carried a hint of disappointment and frustration.
"Leo, you're mayor now, but you seem to have forgotten how you won. Have you forgotten the key phrase that put you in this position?"
"Struggle," Roosevelt uttered the word coldly.
"Struggle?" Leo paused for a moment.
"Look around you, look at this building, and think about the city council across the street," Roosevelt guided. "If you were to come back from Washington like Santa Claus, carrying a huge bag of free dollars to fill the fiscal hole and start construction, what would those old guys think?"
A flash of lightning seemed to strike Leo's mind.
He suddenly understood.
"They'll think I'm a capable fool," Leo thought to himself.
"It's not just Kayle, Leo, you're giving them a second chance at life."
Roosevelt gave a cold laugh and then began to analyze the political logic behind it.
"You need to understand the source of your power. You are the mayor elected by the citizens of Pittsburgh, not a governor appointed by bureaucrats in Washington."
"Being able to get money from the federal government sounds impressive, and the media even sees it as proof of your extensive connections. But from the perspective of local governance, it's actually a trap."
Why?
"Because Washington's money is detached," Roosevelt explained. "It comes from the national treasury and is not tied to any local grudges. You spend this money as if operating in a vacuum, without touching anyone's sore spots."
"But the money in Pittsburgh is different."
"Behind every dollar in Pittsburgh's budget stands a living person, entangled in a complex web of relationships."
"This money might have been squeezed from the police union's pension fund, that money might have been a kickback from a construction company, and another money might have been a useless project set up by a legislator to curry favor with his constituency."
"This money has an owner; it's tied to someone by blood."
Roosevelt paused for a moment.
"If you bypass these funds and use Washington's money directly for construction, you are essentially giving up the opportunity to intervene in the core of power in this city."
"You'll become a figurehead philanthropist, while those old guys who control the city council, who should be responsible for this and should be struggling with the budget deficit, are freed because of your generosity."
"They don't have to face the pressure of a fiscal deficit, they don't have to painfully cut the administrative budgets of those bloated departments, and they don't have to offend Morganfield to pass the wealth tax you want."
"They'll comfortably lie on the federal funds you've secured, continuing to maintain their corrupt network of profit distribution, and might even secretly mock you for being a self-employed laborer."
"So, Leo."
"If you want to truly control this city, you have to get your hands on that money."
"Although it's difficult, although it requires you to fight with these deeply entrenched local forces over every single penny, and to balance the appetites of countless greedy people."
"But this is precisely your opportunity to intervene in multiple forces and build your own system of checks and balances."
"Don't let them live too comfortably."
"You need to put your hand in their pockets, make them feel pain, make them scream, and force them to sit down and renegotiate according to your rules."
"Leo, we need to create pressure, we need to create a crisis."
Roosevelt's strategic intentions were now fully revealed.
"We need to include the second phase of the revitalization plan in the annual budget; we need to deliberately create a huge funding gap."
"We will use this necessary expenditure gap as a lever to pry open that rigid city council."
"They were forced to choose: either agree to cut spending on useless bureaucratic institutions to raise funds, or agree to impose higher taxes on large corporations like Morganfield; or they would have to bear the stigma of 'hindering urban revitalization' and 'disregarding the lives of workers' in front of the entire city."
"Don't give them an easy way out."
"Use this necessary money as leverage to drive the reform of the entire fiscal system."
Leo took a deep breath.
He looked up at Ethan, who was looking at him expectantly.
"No.
"
Leo spoke, his voice not loud, but unusually firm.
Ethan froze, his hand holding the phone hanging in mid-air.
"No?" Ethan asked doubtfully. "You mean, we're not applying for federal funding?"
"Yes, I won't apply."
"Why?" Ethan was completely baffled. "That's tens of millions of dollars! With Senator Sanders' help, it's practically a done deal. Why would we give up such an easily accessible resource?"
Leo stood up, walked to the window, and turned his back to Ethan.
"Ethan, if we take Washington's money, what will those guys in the city council do? They'll pass our proposal and continue their lazy, wasteful, even corrupt way of allocating budgets without paying any price."
"I want to use this money to force them to reform."
Leo turned around and looked intently at his chief of staff.
"We need to draft a completely new municipal budget."
"We will include the second phase of the recovery plan as a core annual expenditure, but this money must come from Pittsburgh's own finances."
At first, Ethan was still in shock, his eyes filled with confusion, his brows furrowed tightly.
Using Washington's money to do things in Pittsburgh is both a matter of face and substance, and any normal politician would make that choice. So why did Leo refuse?
But after following Leo's train of thought and processing the logic in his mind, he understood.
He suddenly looked up at Leo, his eyes no longer filled with doubt, but with terror.
He finally understood.
Leo was even more radical and crazy than he had originally anticipated.
Ethan just suggested purging those old bureaucrats. Although it sounds harsh, it's a legitimate power granted to the mayor by the Pittsburgh City Charter. It's an operation within the safe zone, and at most, it's just a change of personnel.
But now what Leo is doing has completely changed in nature.
He is deliberately provoking a civil war within Pittsburgh City Hall; he wants to take a bite out of the vested interests that have been entrenched for over a decade.
Not taking federal money means having to use municipal funds.
The city's lack of funds means that the old guard's budget must be cut, or vested interests must be forced to contribute more money.
He's trying to snatch food from a tiger's mouth.
Ethan gasped, his voice trembling slightly.
"Leo, do you know what this means?"
"The city government simply doesn't have that much money. If you insist on doing this, we'll have to cut the budgets of other departments or raise taxes."
"That's the lifeblood of those old guys."
Ethan stared at Leo, speaking very quickly.
"According to the Pittsburgh City Charter, all annual budget proposals must be reviewed and approved by the City Council."
"You're forcing them to fight you to the death."
"This will be a war, a legislative war even more brutal than an election."
"Come on, Ethan," Leo pointed to the still-smudged writing on the whiteboard, "Compared to those 'city wealth fund' and 'social reconstruction' scribbled on there, my plan is at best half as good, isn't it?"
"What, you've already used up all your revolutionary courage?"
Ethan's face flushed red instantly.
He opened his mouth, wanting to explain something, such as the difference between "theoretical models" and "political suicide," but he found himself unable to utter a single word.
After all, just half an hour ago he was wielding a red pen, trying to reshape Pittsburgh, but now he's terrified by a budget proposal, which is really a bit unreasonable.
Seeing Ethan's discomfiture, Leo's smile vanished.
He walked back to his desk, pulled out a chair, and sat down, his expression turning serious again.
"I know it's difficult, Ethan, and I know what it means."
"But I had no choice."
"If I want to truly change the power structure of this city, I can't let them live comfortably on piles of federal money. I have to make them feel the pain and force them to take action."
Leo looked up at Ethan.
"Go and get ready, Ethan."
"Next, let's talk about the city council."
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