Revitalizing the District {Anders Selberg Mayor Speech}
Jun 7, 2017 20:57:41 GMT -5
Post by Lyn𝛿is on Jun 7, 2017 20:57:41 GMT -5
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anders selberg
If there's one word he has to describe the district as it is now, it's inefficient.
Nearly twenty years ago, when the oil wells had first started dotting the landscape, people had speculated of the riches they would bring. He had believed them, too, when he was a boy setting out to the city for the first time, and it had for a short while, a boom that propelled him from farm boy to factory leader. But not anymore. Grain prices rose, shops shut down, and the district squirreled away taxes and screeched to a halt.
Yet governments were meant to uphold the greater good for society, not simply to preserve themselves. And if they were doing it wrong, well, he'd be doing a duty to Five to make it run efficiently again.
"For too long, District Five has stagnated. A machine that sits in a corner quickly grows rusty; it is no different with economies. We must grow, or we will deteriorate.
I pledge to cut taxes, so all of you can afford to feed your children with what you have earned. The rich supply of natural resources that have fueled our district's growth in the past two decades has not translated to prosperity for its citizens. Instead, we have tied up that wealth in bureaucracy and regulations, refusing to allow that growth to benefit the workers who created it. I vow to put an end to such obstructionism, and to keep that money in your hands, where it rightfully belongs. Your hard work deserves to be rewarded.
We need to revitalize the district. A government should support growth and innovation, not hinder it by shying away from necessary change. It should welcome the investors, the architects, the developers - all the people that seek to make us a more beautiful and prosperous district. It should promote the production of newer and safer machines that will save thousands of worker-hours and many citizens' lives.
From here - from this podium in the Town Square - I can still see to my left one of the decades-old, abandoned slaughterhouses. I can still see the run-down apartment buildings beside it, rusted and covered with graffiti. Now, they are empty but for criminals who seek to undermine our society. I pledge to tear down these eyesores and root out these outlaws, targeting the gang leaders and drug dealers that exploit our district's most vulnerable. Only by striking at the source can we eliminate these lowlifes and save their victims; there is nothing I deplore more than pipers who promise our children false glory only to lead them to their own destruction."
Below the podium his children were watching, hidden inside the crowd. He often worried for them, worried that but for one stroke of bad luck they might find themselves under a cart's wheels or on the wrong end of a robber's blade or - worst of all - standing on top of the reaping stage. What sort of monsters did some people have to be, to beat their kids or make them steal or use them to get drugs?
"In place of such wrecks, we will instead have clean, modernized housing. We will bring back the corner bakeries and neighborhood markets. We will build schools, because the only way to ensure long-term success of a society is by educating its children. We will make our city center something that every family can feel safe in."
He looks out at his opposition: a Peacekeeper, a teen, a bleeding-heart nurse, a sister riding on District Five's latest victor's fame. His next words come chosen carefully, calculated to win over the voters whose faces are still filled with doubt.
"District Five needs an experienced leader. It needs someone who knows how to make tough decisions, how to negotiate, how to collaborate with cabinet members in making a vision into a reality. And to that effect, I hope to offer my experience - as a manager, as a business owner, as an innovator - in service to the people of this wonderful district."
It needs someone who can play the game, he thought. Dreams and theories were worth nothing unless they could be implemented well enough to get results, unless they could recover from crises without grinding to a halt or overcompensating. (Or getting into trouble with the Capitol, for that matter.) The little details were what mattered. And it would be sorely disappointing to him if they end up choosing idealistic promises over careful planning.
"Thank you for this opportunity, and Ripred bless District Five."
Nearly twenty years ago, when the oil wells had first started dotting the landscape, people had speculated of the riches they would bring. He had believed them, too, when he was a boy setting out to the city for the first time, and it had for a short while, a boom that propelled him from farm boy to factory leader. But not anymore. Grain prices rose, shops shut down, and the district squirreled away taxes and screeched to a halt.
Yet governments were meant to uphold the greater good for society, not simply to preserve themselves. And if they were doing it wrong, well, he'd be doing a duty to Five to make it run efficiently again.
"For too long, District Five has stagnated. A machine that sits in a corner quickly grows rusty; it is no different with economies. We must grow, or we will deteriorate.
I pledge to cut taxes, so all of you can afford to feed your children with what you have earned. The rich supply of natural resources that have fueled our district's growth in the past two decades has not translated to prosperity for its citizens. Instead, we have tied up that wealth in bureaucracy and regulations, refusing to allow that growth to benefit the workers who created it. I vow to put an end to such obstructionism, and to keep that money in your hands, where it rightfully belongs. Your hard work deserves to be rewarded.
We need to revitalize the district. A government should support growth and innovation, not hinder it by shying away from necessary change. It should welcome the investors, the architects, the developers - all the people that seek to make us a more beautiful and prosperous district. It should promote the production of newer and safer machines that will save thousands of worker-hours and many citizens' lives.
From here - from this podium in the Town Square - I can still see to my left one of the decades-old, abandoned slaughterhouses. I can still see the run-down apartment buildings beside it, rusted and covered with graffiti. Now, they are empty but for criminals who seek to undermine our society. I pledge to tear down these eyesores and root out these outlaws, targeting the gang leaders and drug dealers that exploit our district's most vulnerable. Only by striking at the source can we eliminate these lowlifes and save their victims; there is nothing I deplore more than pipers who promise our children false glory only to lead them to their own destruction."
Below the podium his children were watching, hidden inside the crowd. He often worried for them, worried that but for one stroke of bad luck they might find themselves under a cart's wheels or on the wrong end of a robber's blade or - worst of all - standing on top of the reaping stage. What sort of monsters did some people have to be, to beat their kids or make them steal or use them to get drugs?
"In place of such wrecks, we will instead have clean, modernized housing. We will bring back the corner bakeries and neighborhood markets. We will build schools, because the only way to ensure long-term success of a society is by educating its children. We will make our city center something that every family can feel safe in."
He looks out at his opposition: a Peacekeeper, a teen, a bleeding-heart nurse, a sister riding on District Five's latest victor's fame. His next words come chosen carefully, calculated to win over the voters whose faces are still filled with doubt.
"District Five needs an experienced leader. It needs someone who knows how to make tough decisions, how to negotiate, how to collaborate with cabinet members in making a vision into a reality. And to that effect, I hope to offer my experience - as a manager, as a business owner, as an innovator - in service to the people of this wonderful district."
It needs someone who can play the game, he thought. Dreams and theories were worth nothing unless they could be implemented well enough to get results, unless they could recover from crises without grinding to a halt or overcompensating. (Or getting into trouble with the Capitol, for that matter.) The little details were what mattered. And it would be sorely disappointing to him if they end up choosing idealistic promises over careful planning.
"Thank you for this opportunity, and Ripred bless District Five."
