Hayden Sound, a region by Swamper77

[Swamper77]

Hello and welcome to Hayden Sound. Climate is similar that of the Pacific Northwest, Whidbey Island in particular. The rainy season runs from October to April/May. Temperature during the day ranges from 40-60 during the rainy season and 60-80 during the summer. The grass becomes a fire hazard during the summer as well.


This is Verdant Island with Jade Mountain. Previous exploration parties have found massive deposits of jades and other precious stones and ores underground. Some veins are deep underground while others are close to the surface.


This picture was taken around January 2nd. The forests on Jade Mountain consist of douglas fir, western red cedar, ponderosa pine, junipers, Maxiod pines, and possibly some redwoods and pinyons in the higher elevations. The lower portions of the slopes contain a mix of these trees with shore pines and oak, elm, and maple forests. The lowlands are shore pine and oak, elm, and maple forests.


Above a certain elevation, the snow stays on the ground during the entire year. Here, you can see a better view of the trees and wildlife.


This is a better view of the northwestern slopes of Jade Mountain. There are also some sections of exposed granite rock off to the left of the picture, weathered by the elements.

The following pics show some of the wildlife that is roaming around the region:



Now, let's go to the town of Independence....


Starting out with a bang.....


I, Mayor Jan Haskins, have begun setting up Independence's zoning. I have contracted Hardun Industries to provide power with their clean coal plant. Hardun Industries is managed by SimGoober.


West of the industrial Estate, I set up the zones for residential and commercial development.


To help fund the city and prevent early debt, a series of billboards have been setup and advertising space sold to companies wanting to advertise. It seems that most of the advertising spaces have been bought by DEViant Desires and Simply Pets.

The power plant is getting its first shipments of coal:




Due to the power plant, several middle class families have moved in.


A few months later, the middle class doesn't seem to be doing very well. A census reveals that the houses are only containing 1-2 people each.


The first two businesses are coffee shops, Cafe Joe and Starbucks Coffee. Next door to the Starbucks, a customer is having a fight with an employee of BB's Grease Pit. Someone is getting a trip out to the water today


A few months later, a Krispy Kremes and a pawn shop open up. Odd, there's no cop cars around....


Beware of the coffee shop at night. The police setup a speed trap at night to catch the workers speeding home. You better hope SimCop and Dan are so busy with Krispy Kremes that they sent out one of their trainees to do the speed trap....


Here is an overview of downtown Independence. So far, I am pleased with how Independence is turning out.


Just the other day, I received reports that there is crime occuring in the industrial estate. Reports of a male flasher have been made, and a task force of citizens is looking into the matter. Wouldn't have anything to do with SimGoober's fame, would it?


I'm a little worried about where a worker has parked his truck. The scene looks like something from an industrial demolition derby....


I think I have found where Pegasus is living in Independence. If this what he really lives in, we really need to treat him better....

-Jan

[threestooges]

A very nice start. There is a very practical story behind the layout, and the city is establishing itself quite nicely. the pictures are very well suited to their captions and work very well in showcasing the city. I'll look forward to more. One question I have though, is where the name Jan Haskins came from... is it invented or is it the name of someone you know? (I ask only because I participate in a "Mock Trial" program and our case this year (fictional) featured two names: Jan Adams and Dana Haskins). Good work. Keep it up.

[Pat]

Jan i really love how Indepandece is turning out myself and i do plan to
come again and give my business some more. - pat



Hey Threestooges where are you from? just ?? I was wondering cause you where talking about Mock Trial and with that i know my wife's school just went down to Madison WI and actuly lost their Trial this year for the first time.

[Gecko]

hehe. I really like it!

It definately has that small town feel I know you're working to acheive. And it reminds me quite a bit of Washington as well. Great work!

[Swamper77]

I'm glad you folks like the storyline so far. I've added another installment which is just below the replies

@ThreeStooges: Jan Haskins is a person that I know very well, me.

@Pat: I look forward to your future visits.

@Gecko: I've lived in small towns and rural areas most of my life, so I'm replicating what I have experienced. Some farming will appear later on as well. Where in Washington are you from?

I have been keeping Independence running for about 13-14 years now. Let's have a look at how I have been doing....


I have finally met the requirements to build a House of Worship in Independence. I have constructed it just behind the western most row of houses to keep the traffic noise down. West of here is just woodlands and meadows (God Mode trees with open spaces between them).


Across the street, a formal cemetery has finished construction. There were a series of stones as headstones on the site before construction began. The dearly departed were carefully removed and then reburied after the construction was finished. They have also been given marble headstones instead of plain stones.


As I was driving into the commercial district, I noticed a hawk flying overhead. I managed to get a few pictures before it soared away. (My personal car is the pale yellow one at the top of the pic. I don't have a limo yet.)


A few hours later, I was traveling to check on the construction of my mansion. I saw a gathering of ghosts and zombies around the Independence Cemetery in broad daylight! Fortunately, they stayed within the walls of the cemetery. I have launched an investigation to determine if this was the work of the evil Dr. Vu.


Here is the plot that I am having my mansion constructed on. It will be a couple more years before I can move in.


You remember the distressed looking middle class homes from earlier? Well, the middle class is doing better these days. More jobs middle class jobs have come to Independence, so more middle class are moving in. The latest census of the middle class shows the houses at or near full capacity. I see a building boom coming....


Independence has finished construction of its first education and medical facilities. A chapter of the SimNation Red Cross runs the Independence Red Cross Clinic and the Joesocwork Education Foundation is managing the Independence Elementary. The funding for both comes straight from the town treasury.


Dolomite's Diner recently opened off of Main Street. The parallel service street is only temporary. Once enough traffic is travelling down Main Street, the road will become an avenue.


The Flying Marlin Fish & Chips Restaurant has opened next door to the diner. They get their catch from the waters surrounding Verdant Island. It takes them a day or two to return with their catch once they head out to go get it. The surrounding townships do not have any development yet, which means no roads to the water. They fishermen have a series of modified cargo trucks that are designed to travel off-road.


There is a problem with low land value on the east (right) side of Main Street. I currently gathering information from the store owners and the public to determine why the land value is low.


On the northern slopes of Jade Mountain, a small grove of cottonwood trees has been discovered. They are not found anywhere else withing this township. The area they are found in is now marked as a nature preserve.


Here is an updated overview of Independence, looking to the northwest. I have no idea why some of the buildings designed by RP2005 glow at night in the neighborhood. The glow does appear to be rather unearthly at times....


This is an overview of the proposed expansion of Independence. The orange area is where Hardun Industries have located a coal deposit, which they wish to mine. This location is too close to the newly discovered cottonwoods, so alternative sites are being explored/researched. The green area is where a proposed road is planned to go, with room for future expansion to upgrade the road to an avenue or highway.


Behind my newly finished mansion, I have opened a small portion of land for development. The center of the loop contains a small park and another park is between the rows of houses and the House of Worship.

Now for some of the other businesses in Independence:

Madre Motors, the first car dealership for the middle class. Forestview B&B is in the foreground.


Cranky's Shafts, top quality machined parts for machinery

Heavy Traffic Makes for Good Business

Traffic is heavy along the southern road, but the businesses like it that way.The following pic shows three businesses taking advantage of the situation. Deadwoods Designs Inc. bought out the Flying Marlin Fish & Chips Restaurant to build two gas stations and a small store. Shortly afterwards, the price of gas dropped significantly. Gas was being imported by truck for most of the town's lifetime.



This message popped up before I saved and quit the other day. I'm trying to figure out how often it appears....

-Jan

[emilin]

This is wonderful! A Swamper journal should really be worth following.

[Heinz]

hello Swamper. or Jan, if i may call you that. its nice to see you start a Mayor's Diary here. probably one of the best places to showcase your work. i love your automatas. sorry was going off tangent a bit there. anyway, Independence seems to be having a running start. those houses the message is talking about, are they the middle class homes that you mentioned? do you have a link to them?  i'm enjoying the small town feel to it. some other questions at the top of my head are, how small do you plan for it to be? or do you plan to grow it into something huge? and the region, how big is it? is the island the whole region already or is there more to it? hope im not being too pesky.  hoping to see more development. see you around

[kimcar]

  Great CJ . I really enjoy the soty of it. The zombies , the derby... veery fun and creative. Thanks for sharing.

[threestooges]

Jan (if I may call you that),
I guess it is a coincidence (unless you happen to know people in mock trial) but I digress again. Another great update. The little details like the hawk, zombies and contruction site for the mayor's house are what adds a nice touch of detail/color. I believe that this MD is one that will go far. Have fun with it (as you seem to be doing already).
-Matt (threestooges)

-pat: I am in college in Los Angeles (Loyola Marymount University in particular). We didn't knock your wife's school's team out of the running though (we didn't get that far...but then it's only our 4th year) but I'm sorry to hear about their loss. It's a load of work but it is fun.

[dedgren]

Hi, Jan!

Two really well-conceived and executed posts.  There's a wealth of stuff you've done here- it's apparent you've got a fairly-well fleshed out (oops- forgot about the zombies) back story.  I'm headed back to look some more as quick as I hit the post button.

Thanks for sharing this MD with us.

Good luck!


David

p.s.:  Oh, you could use some stars here, too.  About five sounds right to me.

[Swamper77]

@Emilin: Thanks. I'll look forward to your future visits.

@Zniehadajet: You may call me Jan, or anything you want as long as you don't call me too late for dinner . The RLS houses indicated by the message are from SimGoober's collection of houses. The bright-colored middle class homes mentioned earlier in this MD were made by Debussyman. They are on the STEX: http://www.simtropolis.com/stex/index.cfm?id=13040. The other middle class homes in that area are CSX Vishoeks made by Colyn. I don't know if they have been moved to the LEX yet.
This Island is only one part of the region. There's more to the region, but it is all blank (undeveloped) right now. As for plans for Independence and the surrounding areas, you're just going to have to wait and see

@Kim: Thanks for your comments. The worker's truck wasn't damaged, but I did worry about where they parked it.

@Three Stooges: I have been having fun with it so far. I don't do much touching up of my images. They are as they were taken. I only tweak the images if they are night shots or if I need weather effects. As the MD progresses, you will see more edits to the images, but you will have to look closely (Hint: vehicles are involved).

@David: I'm glad you think my storyline is well written. I second guess myself a lot of the time, so I wasn't sure how the storyline would pan out. Be careful with ratings and such because I can do a few things now with my status

@All: Feel free to talk amongst yourselves from time to time. Consider this like a meeting place, where I occassionally pop in to share a bit more about my region. However, don't get carried away with the "off-topic" discussions.
Welcome back to Independence. While you were gone, I've made way for farms to develop near the town.


Here are the starter farms that I did testing with. These were farms were the only ones I allowed to start with so I could make changes to the township policies to have them thrive. I've also setup housing for workers. Many workers from outside of Independence also work on these farms.
Under a contract with Goober Enterprises and Eagle Inc., lead by Niagarian Eagle, several mobile homes were brought. Eagle's brand name of mobile homes are called "Rollerhomes". This brand of mobile home is a collection of narrow trailers and come in a variety of colors with names like "Hollywood" and "Marshfield".
New technologies involving recycled plants and other organics are being tested as power and heat sources for these homes. Recycling is encouraged in this small community and I'm starting to implement a recycling program across the entire township. I'm hoping to attract some high-tech industries in the future.


One of the two starter farms is based off of an old Southern USA farm house. This former tobacco farm is growing a small forest of Oakus Vlakhus oak trees. I'm currently working to allow tobacco farms in the area. SimNation currently has a ban on tobacco plantations.


The other starter farm is Lilly Mae's Nature Reserve. The "fields" are fynbos, areas of nature preserve that are native to South Africa. These areas are covered with a variety of grasses and scrubs with a few trees. The brick work and fencing was installed by CycleDogg Designs and with the help of volunteers from Independence.

The above two farms were developed under a partnership with CSX. They are part of CSX's Forestry program of farming. Instead of cultivating crops that are removed each year, woodlands are being cultivated, which return nutrients to the earth. These farms also do quite well in areas that are hilly, with good surface drainage. They also look very nice against the existing forests. I'm looking forward to developing more of these types of farms.


In the Mayoral Estates area, a new park has been constructed in the middle of the loop. It features a large gazebo, pond with a fountain, and wildflowers. Flowers were provided by Ann Marie, after being grown under her watchful eye on her farm. Her farm is in another nearby township. The gazebo was constructed from plans used on the Barber Farm. Goober Enterprises provided the plans for the pond, which LandShapers, a local landscaping company, constructed. Goober Enterprises also provided the crepe mrytle trees. Lighting was installed by Pegadyne Industries. CycleDogg Designs provided the grass that was planted across the entire site. I'm quite pleased with the workmanship of the entire project. I even spend some of my evenings in this new park.

Several new houses have appeared across Independence. The following pictures are ones that I took of the outstanding ones:

Dolphin66's new vacation home in Independence. Looks like something out of a fairy tale....


An A-Frame log cabin built from plans provided by Pegadyne Industries from their MTP series of productions.


A rustic mountain lodge built by OnlyPlace4. All the above houses belong to middle class citizens.

Downtown Independence has grown a slightly since your last visit. At the corner of Main Street and Commercial Avenue, some walking paths were laid down with some large trees. I have been approached many times over the years for "adding more parks to the city". So complying with my citizens' requests, I have purchased a new park for downtown Independence.

CSX financed the entire project and the pavers on the paths were designed by Geoffhaw's Texture Studio. The trees were created and grown at CSX's GM Labs.You should have seen the trucks that brought in the full size trees! Each truck was about 10 meters wide with the tree branches hanging out of the trucks. Each truck also had its own crane to move the trees into the prepared holes that were dug for each one. The entire area was closed to road traffic while the trees were brought in. The southern road to the eastern industrial park was quite congested for that time period.


In the southern part of the commerical district, I laid out new light density commercial zones and this is one of several businesses that opened up shop. Yes, another Starbucks. And a general store opened up on site as well. Starbuck's manager for the previous one is moving to this new location. She told me she'd rather have her business "where the people are". Most of the commuters use Aurora Drive, the southern road which goes to the eastern industrial park. She's now looking for some one to buy the old location.


However, I am now starting to see the problems the Aurora Drive is beginning to create. This accident occurred during the tree planting at Main Street and Commercial Avenue's new parks. I'm now looking at ways to ease the traffic congestion. A bus company is looking for a place to setup shop here in the area, so this might be the ticket to solve Independence's traffic problems. Now to find places to install the bus stops and I think I will build the first one at this intersection.


A few new farms have also been developed during the few months after the first ones. Another Southern USA-styled farm house was built next to the first one. The fields surrounding this one are growing Cottonwoods. You can clearly see them in this fall farming overview picture I took. The other new farm is Major Jolly's Ponderosa Tree Farm. Here is a closer look at his farm house:

The farm house was constructed from plans provided CSX's Housing Department. So was Lilly Mae's farm house. Both have thatched roofs and are of house designs that are common in South Africa.

Do feel free to drop by and chat with me, but don't look for me at the Mayoral Mansion. I spend most of my time outside, around Independence while taking care of business at the personal level. I'll leave you with this nice picture of the sun setting over Independence's farmland in the summer:


-Jan

[threestooges]

I wouldn't expect anything less than a few vehicles here and there from someone dubbed "BSC grease monkey" (your work is quite nice). The progression seems nice, and the bus network should yield some interesting results, but in the same shot of the crash, I noticed (in the top middle) that there may be a bit of garbage trouble in town as well. The farms are great, the parks are good and the whole city (outskirts and all) are developing nicely. I don;t blame you for spending so much time out of the office. If I lived there, I would do the same.

[Heinz]

that's what i like about smaller communities. you get to know more people on a personal level. love the update, Jan! we're having pizza and burgers for dinner... you taking the next flight in? lol. would love to see Hayden Sound unfold  see you!

[Swamper77]

@Three Stooges: I stuck that line of text in via my profile section until I can get a custom member label. Most of the non-Maxis traffic vehicles in my game are Mike Seith's work. I have only done freight traffic and emergency vehicles, since no one was working in those areas. The large pile of garbage you saw in that one picture is a result of that particular household's spring cleaning.

@Heinz: I'm glad you like this MD so far. After this update, I'll be showing a new township....
Independence has now reached the age of 31 years. The town doesn't have any budget problems and the citizens are still quite happy. The town has grown very little these last few years, so I am starting to lay groundwork for a neighboring township to the east. First, let's look at the latest developments in Independence....


3 years ago, Independence finished construction of its first bank. Towne Bank was constructed by SimGoober of Goober Enterprises. The bank is constructed after a real world bank. The bank is also connected to SimNation so you can retrieve your money anywhere in the SimUniverse.


Another MTP business has opened up shop in Independence. Tomahawk Trading Company has opened a trading post on the former site of Red's Motel. Next door, is "Just Accordians" which deals in a variety of musical instruments, including accordians. The shop owner is usually seen driving a Honda Accord.


Just down the road from Towne Bank to the south, Nexis Electronics Inc. has opened a new computer store two years ago. This shop also does computer repairs for the community. I'm currently looking at buying parts from here to upgrade my computer at my mansion. The Nexis Company is headed by Mr. Bison who runs numerous enterprises and companies. More about Nexis Electronics background can found in his CJ "Nexis of Genesis".


One of the park sections containing the huge CSX Trees has been removed to make room for future expansion of Commerical Avenue. In its place, a plaza was built. After Thanksgiving Day, a Christmas Tree is setup in the plaza. The tree was donated by the Rockefeller Family Foundation. I held a ceremony on its first day after construction was finished.


A new section of power lines has been built off of the Hardun Clean Coal Power Plant. These lines will provide power to the new township. The plant is currently running at 9-11% of total capacity.


JMyers Inc. built a new cellphone shop shortly after Nexis Electronics opened their store. This store is across the road from the electronics store. The phones provided by this shop connect to satellites in orbit above Hayden Sound. I'm reviewing plans to construct cell towers for cellphone use, as bad weather can disrupt the signal between the satellite and the phones.


The Fairweather Family Court was sadly torn down last year. It was a nice family motel that many sims enjoyed using. In its place, two new establishments were constructed. On the left is a MTP-styled cafe and on the right is a tapas bar. The cafe was built using plans provided by Pegadyne Industries from their MTP line of productions. BRT Designs, lead by Barby and Ripptide, designed and built the tapas bar. Ripptide designed it in a Spanish-style building and Barby oversaw the workers constructing the building and the landscaping of the lot.


At night, the crowds literally spill out into the street. Seen here is a crowd that momentarily stopped traffic on Main Street. The owners of the establishment have been asked to keep the crowds orderly or they will be fined.


Here's a large overview of Independence. The roadways seen cutting across the township are part of the Verdant Island Highway System. The highway system also contains the Jade Mountain Loop Highway. One corner of the loop is the 4-way intersection out in the countryside, near the farmland. The highway system won't be completed for many years, but the investment will hopefully be worth it.

I'll leave you with these three overviews of the new township to the east, Coastal Heights:

 

See you in Coastal Heights....

-Jan

[Pat]

Jan wow, wonderful work Indepandence is turing out to be what stunning detail and story you have, 
keep up the hard work and i for sure will be back in town soon - pat

[oldrogue]

Very interesting developement and storyline.....quite enthralling actually, will be keeping a close eye (the right one) one it.

[thundercrack83]

Hello, Swamper77! Just caught with all the updates, and I must say that I am quite impressed. I love the backstory and Independence is looking fantastic. Keep up the good work!

[Elektra]

I like the small town idea.  Will be looking forward to the next update.  

[emilin]

Very nice rural feeling. A lot of small houses that I haven't seen before too. Good job!

[NikNik]

Very nice MD. The litteral start of the city and seeing it grow is nice for a change. I like that.
I also like the explaination of the various industries, you make ugly CS$ look great!

LOL: "Next door, is "Just Accordians" which deals in a variety of musical instruments, including accordians. The shop owner is usually seen driving a Honda Accord."

Keep up this great work Jan.

Nik-Nik