GunRiot

(Continued from Section 4A)

WHY WAS KURTOW ABANDONED?
Reddin Belk, Pallad City Post
[Archived Article: Published Four Years Ago]

A few years prior to the earthquake, several corporations had already decided on relocating from Kurtow to neighboring districts. The Zahda Corporation, which had corporate offices and multiple manufacturing plants throughout Pallad City, had publicly expressed their dissatisfaction with the management of the Kurtow megadistrict. At the same time, a coordinated effort by city officials to expand Pallad City’s tech industry into more prosperous districts was gaining support. This would not only be a deciding factor in the city’s eventual forsaking of Kurtow, but also the beginning of the end for older, struggling districts like Ardus, Alka, and Lago. After the earthquake, the city adopted a “relocate, not revitalize” approach and offered massive tax breaks for companies to move to nearby districts—an attempt to prevent businesses from completely leaving Pallad City. This created a perfect storm that would ultimately prove catastrophic for Kurtow’s revival.

Two years after the earthquake, a Kurtow renovation bill was nearly passed before being scrapped at the eleventh hour. The bill would have seen a complete overhaul of the megadistrict, allowing for major reconstruction and the rehousing of Kurtow’s homeless. Instead, a more “cost-effective” bill was approved to send monthly supplies and provisions to survivors. In Heft’s book, City of Ruin, she questions if a regular supply schedule was ever truly met, while criticizing the questionable methods in which the supplies were distributed to those in Kurtow.

(Continued in Section 7D)

GunRiot. Story by Midnight. Art by Kuraikabe1990.