LGC 11.43 — Central Capital Act (2) — FAILED

[ZMUN M441]

THE CENTRAL CAPITAL ACT

SECTION I — Title
This legislation may be cited as the Central Capital Act.

SECTION II — Our New Central Capital
1. The regional capital of Lincoln shall be moved to Erie, Pennsylvania.

2. An 83.4 acre, currently industrial section of Erie shall become government property. All companies that own land in this section shall be given just compensation. The boundaries of this section shall be:

• Lake Road to the north;
• Downing Avenue to the east;
• 10th Street to the south;
• Gilson Avenue to the west.

This section shall become a regional district, referred to as the 'Lincoln Park Regional District'. The District shall be a direct part of the region of Lincoln itself, excluded from the rest of Erie and Pennsylvania, and as such, is to remain uninhabited.

3. The Lincoln Park Regional District shall be cleared out, and then reconstructed in the following manner:

• The freight railway bisecting the District, as well as the sections of rail leading up to its boundaries, shall be converted into an underground tunnel, to allow for the railway's continued use without it getting in the way of the District;
• Where applicable, the four boundary streets listed in Section II Provision 2 shall be expanded to at least two lanes in each direction, to support the increase in traffic that is to come with the addition of the District;
• On the northern side of the District, facing Lake Road, a new Lincoln Regional Capitol shall be constructed. The Capitol shall be constructed in a brutalist style out of coloured concrete, with a rectangular shape — 800 feet long on its north and south sides, and 400 feet wide on its west and east sides — and a vaulted roof.
• The north-facing, or front, side of the Capitol shall be constructed with green-tinted concrete, representing our region's flag, the flora of spring in Lincoln, and our lush forests; the east-facing, or left, side of the Capitol shall be constructed with maroon-tinted concrete, representing the Labor party, the leaves of autumn in Lincoln, and the blood spilled by Lincolnites to defend liberty and equality in past wars; the west-facing, or right, side of the Capitol shall be constructed with sedona-tinted concrete, representing the Federalist party, the sandy beaches of summer in Lincoln, and our 'Rust Belt' and the workers that make Lincoln the hub of Atlasia's industrial sector; the south-facing, or back, side of the Capitol shall be constructed with blue-tinted concrete, representing our third parties and independents, the snow and ice of winter in Lincoln, and the bodies of water that surround our region — the Ohio River to our south, Mississippi and St. Croix Rivers to our west, Great Lakes to our north, and Atlantic Ocean to our east; and the roof of the Capitol shall be constructed with black-tinted concrete, representing the night sky and cosmos above us, which remain the same no matter what season it is or what party one is affiliated with, and therefore, represents that which unites every Lincolnite.
• The Capitol shall have three floors. The first floor shall be open to the general public, and include a visitor center, offices for staffers, and a museum dedicated to the political and legislative history of the region of Lincoln, its predecessors (the Northeast and Mideast regions), and federal Atlasian political figures from Lincoln. The second floor shall be used almost exclusively for offices, including those of the Governor, their cabinet, and all General Court Deputies. The only non-office room on the second floor of the Capitol shall be the hall in which the Lincoln General Court meets, which shall be located in the centre of the second floor, with the area directly above it being cut out from the third floor. The third floor shall contain the Lincoln Regional Archives, as well as more offices, storage space, and a Lincoln Capitol Police substation.
• In the southeastern corner of the District, bordered by Downing Avenue to its east and 10th Street to its south, the Lincoln Park Museum of Art shall be constructed. The LPMoA shall be constructed in an art deco style, with a rectangular shape — 800 feet long on its west and east sides, and 400 feet wide on its north and south sides — and a large clock above its eastern (main) entrance, representing how art is constantly evolving.
• The Lincoln Park Museum of Art shall have five floors. The first floor shall be dedicated to classical and modern (1776–1950) art made by Lincolnites; the second floor shall be dedicated to contemporary (1950–present) art made by Lincolnites; the third floor shall be split in half, with the first half dedicated to art made by Fremonters, Southerners, and foreigners and the second half dedicated to temporary exhibitions; and the fourth and fifth floors shall be dedicated to storage.
• In the southwestern corner of the District, bordered by Gilson Avenue to its west and 10th Street to its south, the Lincoln Park Museum of Natural History shall be constructed. The LPMoNH shall be constructed in a neo-futurist style, with a hyperbola-shaped/semicircular 320,000 square foot footprint — with the northernmost and southernmost parts of the structure facing due west and the rest curving towards the east — and a large screen above its central (main) entrance displaying a loop of three animations: one displaying what the site might have looked like 100 million years ago during the Cretaceous period, one displaying what the site looked like before it was reconstructed into the District (circa 2022), and one displaying a forested area populated by unrecognizable plants and animals conceptualized by speculative evolution artists, meant to represent what the site might look like 100 million years into the future.
• The Lincoln Park Museum of Natural History shall have five floors. The first floor shall be dedicated to zoology and paleobiology, including an exhibit dedicated to fossils and cast models of extinct species, with a focus on relatively obscure species, and a 'hall of mammals' displaying taxidermied specimens of more than one hundred species of extant and recently extinct mammals; the second floor shall be split in half; the first half of the second floor shall be dedicated to botany, including an exhibit about the history of agriculture in Lincoln, starting Indigenous Lincolnite agriculture, including the importance of the 'three sisters' and the use of sustainable agriculture, continuing to the 19th century and the Second Agricultural Revolution, then the 20th century and the rise of industrial agriculture, and ending with the 21st century and the Lincolnite farms at the forefront of the movement back towards sustainable, greener agriculture to help combat climate change; the second half of the second floor shall be dedicated to temporary exhibitions; the third floor shall be dedicated to the Earth sciences, such as geology and meteorology, including an exhibit displaying gems and minerals, an exhibit dedicated to metereology featuring an air vortex tube, computers showing how numerical weather prediction and atmospheric models work, and a retired NOAA GIV-SP, and an exhibit about natural disasters that includes simulations of 78 mph winds — the minimum speed of a Category 1 hurricane — and the shaking of an earthquake; and the fourth and fifth floors shall be dedicated to storage.
• The remaining space of the District not occupied by these three buildings shall be made into a landscaped park. At the centre of the park shall be a statue of the region's namesake, Abraham Lincoln, which shall be at a 5:1 scale — 31 feet and 8 inches tall — and constructed out of Barre granite. The Lincoln statue shall face in the direction of Nyman, signifying the region's loyalty to Atlasia at-large. Surrounding the statue shall be a circle of fourteen stones, each sourced from a different state within the region of Lincoln; these stones shall have their respective state's name carved into them. The park shall have fourteen dirt pathways, each leading out from a stone in the direction that the stone faces; these paths shall be lined with their respective state's state tree, and shall end when they reach either a street or the property of one of the three structures within the District.

4. All regional government agencies for the region of Lincoln shall be relocated to Erie County, Pennsylvania, within a ten mile radius of the regional Capitol; they shall not be required to be within the city limits of Erie, so long as they are within the ten mile radius.

5. The 11th Lincoln General Court shall continue to meet at the current Capitol in New York City. The regional government shall move to the new Capitol on February 20, 2023, two days before the February 22, 2023 start of the session of the 12th Lincoln General Court.

6. This legislation shall take effect immediately.

Sponsor: ZMUN M441
Occupying: Slot 4 of 10

[ZMUN M441]

This is a reintroduction of a bill I sponsored in the 10th Court. I'll repeat the argument I made in favour of it the first time:

This bill moves our region's capital to Erie, Pennsylvania. Erie is the closest major city to the geographic centre of Lincoln, and is less than twenty miles from the border between the Northeast and Great Lakes subregions. Having a centrally located capital is beneficial to a political entity; Nyman's site was chosen specifically because it was centrally located between the North and the South. Additionally, the other two regional capitals, Denver and Nashville, are relatively centrally located within their regions, as opposed to our current capital, New York City, being located in the far east of the region.
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and the parts of New York state to the west of Manhattan alone have more residents than the eastern parts of New York and the New England states do. Add the Midwest, and roughly 75% of our region's populace lives to the west of Manhattan. Moving the dividing line to Erie results in a near-perfect split: around 53% of the population to its east, around 47% of the population to its west.
Additionally, moving the capital to Erie would revitalize a city that has been facing near-constant population loss since the 1960s, bringing thousands of new jobs to an area that, due to outsourcing and a general decline in industry, would benefit from them.

Besides relocating the capital, the other focus of this bill is the creation of the Lincoln Park Regional District, a 'regional district' — inspired by real-world DC statehood proposals keeping the 'federal district' but shrinking it only to the National Mall and uninhabited government buildings — that would host our Capitol, two regional museums — one honouring our region's rich history and continued influence in the arts, the other dedicated to the sciences with a particular focus on flora, fauna, and natural history — and a landscaped park honouring the unity of our fourteen states under one region. In the future, we might be able to further expand the District and add more regional museums and monuments to the greatest Lincolnites, but what this bill proposes will already be great.

Let's reshine our GEM CITY, and in the process, make our government more central to our collective populace!

Additionally, I'd like to clear up one criticism that was made of this bill the first time it was introduced — that it would supposedly require a constitutional amendment. Nowhere in the Fifth Atlasian Constitution, nor in the Third Lincoln Constitution, is it mentioned that our region's capital has to be in New York City. As such, all that would be required for the regional capital to be relocated is the passage of this bill.

[Pyro]

I understand the idea behind this legislation, but I am unsure moving our capital to city plagued by population decline and a shaky local economy is a wise investment. I fear the act of moving to this city would ultimately contribute little to the revitalization of this part of PA. Not to mention, Erie is also far less diverse on a demographic level than New York City.

[ZMUN M441]

I understand the idea behind this legislation, but I am unsure moving our capital to city plagued by population decline and a shaky local economy is a wise investment. I fear the act of moving to this city would ultimately contribute little to the revitalization of this part of PA. Not to mention, Erie is also far less diverse on a demographic level than New York City.

While it is true that Erie is currently in population decline, the presence of a capital in a city can often at least partially protect it from decline — for example, Ohio at-large is facing stagnant population trends, while Columbus is comparatively propsering. (Besides, the intent of the act isn't just to revitalize Erie, but also, to provide a more central capital for our region, inbetween the Northeast and Great Lakes, instead of one solidly in the Northeast — as well as to allow for the construction of a 'regional mall', which would be comparatively difficult in a denser area like New York City.)

Motioning for a final vote.

[ZMUN M441]

A final vote on this bill has been initiated.


Aye

[nerd73]

Aye

[Pyro]

Nay

[Vice President Christian Man]

Nay

[Senator-elect Spark]

Nay

[ZMUN M441]

LGC 11.43 fails, 3-2.