Danger Zone One

IS HYNDEN NEVILLE THE MAYOR PALLAD CITY DESPERATELY NEEDS?
Arie Skye, Pallad City Post

Following his re-election last November, Mayor Hynden Neville continues to assert that he’s the candidate Pallad City requires. But, according to recent polls, not everyone agrees. Despite his re-election victory a year ago, Neville won after an intense mayoral race—one of the closest elections in the city’s history—with Neville earning only 5% more votes than his political opponent, Jarid Kelvo.

During his first term, Neville’s critics claimed that his efforts—or lack thereof—earned him the distinction of being one of the city’s most ineffectual mayors in recent decades. Campaign promises, such as allocating a budget for the Kurtow Redevelopment Project, were ignored. Darrin Ceres, of the Pallad City Wastewater Treatment Division, spoke at a press conference last week, accusing the Mayor of ignoring the salt water that has been corroding the city’s sewer pipes. And, most recently, rumors are circulating that the Pallad City Police Department has been affected by severe budget cuts under Neville’s charge.

Neville has also come under fire for a scandal involving several members of his mayoral staff and misplaced municipal funds—the amount of which is said to surpass the millions. As of yet, no confirmed total has been revealed to the public, but an investigation is said to be underway.

“I voted for him, and I don’t regret it,” said Andra Kress, a CEO at Absolution Incorporated, a company that develops biometric security equipment. “Mayor Neville was instrumental in providing incentives to keep businesses in Pallad City. It’s one of the reasons Absolution hasn’t relocated to Nu Metropol or Silica City. We provide jobs and help boost the local economy, while not having to face crushing taxes and unionized influences which could harm our growth.”

The public is sharply divided, however. Vance Loden, a full-time data analyst at the Kagetsu Corporation, expressed concern that Neville is a corporate puppet, eager to crawl into the pocket of big business. “Neville’s only worried about furthering his own corporate reputation and securing lucrative business deals in advance, all for after he leaves office,” Loden claims. “Neville, like most politicians, never bothers to look out for the interests of the common worker. We’ve all seen that little kid, the one who goes to the park and stomps on the ants—that’s Neville, and we’re the ants, except while he’s doing the stomping, he’s building his castle in the sand pit.”

Neville maintains that he’s improving the city, even as his approval ratings continue to decline, according to recent polls.

“It hasn’t even been a year into my second term—changes of this magnitude take time,” Neville commented. “The kind of transformation Pallad City needs can’t be hastily thrown into motion overnight. It would only create chaos. I’m working every day to ensure that this city has the rich, sterling future it so rightly deserves. Some claim that I didn’t do enough my first term—that’s grossly inaccurate. All of the plans to better Pallad City, which are finally happening now, were drafted and approved during that first term. This is a process with no shortage of red tape and a tangled mess of legal wrangling. If all it took for an elected official to get something done was to sign their name, well, even a city like Nu Metropol would look good by week’s end!”

Danger Zone One. Story by Midnight. Art by Katsu.

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