Hello everyone, thank you for taking the time to listen today, as I have a very important announcement regarding the way Chicago will be doing business in the very near future. 

Inspired by the business ventures taken on by Godmother Marietta in Detroit and Godfather Rourke in New York, I'd like to introduce to all of you the Chicago City Pass.

Chicago is a city with much to offer the citizens of our world, and I believe since I began presiding over the city, it has once again become an attractive place to do business. We offer full jails on a frequent basis, an active and entertaining business district, highly competitive drug prices, sleeping bums for target practice, and serve as a travel hub to the east and west coast cities.

Now down to the financial details of how this new program will work. In order to operate and do business in Chicago, beginning Monday August 31st at 00:00 MR time, you will need to purchase one of our Chicago City Passes. Godmother and Godfather families will not be required to purchase a pass, as they will be given complimentary passes courtesy of the city of Chicago.

For all other families, there will be two different types of passes to purchase:

Basic Chicago City Pass- Our basic city pass will cover your families hotel accomodations, jail upkeep, travel taxes, and full access to all the businesses and dining options in our city. This pass WILL NOT allow you to shoot at any of our sleeping bums.

The cost of this pass will be $400,000 per family. It will be collected each Sunday by one of my captains. 

Premium Chicago City Pass- This is our all inclusive pass that gives your family full access to the city of Chicago. It includes everything in the Basic pass, as well as access to all of our sleeping bums.

The cost of this pass will be $750,000 per family. It will be collected each Sunday by one of my captains. (This is also the pass each Godmother and Godfather family will receive, compliments of Chicago).

Individual passes are available upon request, in the event your crewleader does not choose to pay for the family pass.

Individual Basic Chicago City Pass- $100,000

Individual Premium Chicago City Pass- $150,000

Individuals will need to contact the captain who is dealing with their city directly to set up a personal payment schedule.

Your city pass will need to be renewed on a weekly basis (each Sunday), and you'll be sent a reminder each Friday by one of my captains so that you are aware of the expiration of your weekly pass. Remember, this pass is optional for all families, but there will be penalties for families who travel to Chicago and have not purchased a pass.

Since we here in Chicago would prefer to benefit financially for mistakes rather than dispose of rule breakers, we're instituting a three tiered policy to deal with offenders.

First Offense: You and your crewleader will be given a warning in writing, and a fine of $100,000 will need to be paid directly to me.

Second Offense: You and your crewleader will be given an additional warning in writing, and a fine of $250,000 will need to be paid directly to me.

Third Offense: You and your crewleader will be given a final warning in writing, and a fine of $500,000 will need to be paid directly to me.

If you are caught traveling without a pass after your three warnings have been issued, we reserve the right to dispose of you in the event you travel to Chicago again. Also, if fines are not paid promptly within 48 hours of a written warning for an offense, we reserve the right to dispose of you. 

We're building in these fines to encourage families to at the very least purchase the Basic Chicago Pass, so there will be no issues at all in regards to traveling here in the city. We feel these fees are reasonable for the services we are providing.

My captains will be handling all communications and payments with the families eligible to purchase our city passes. They will be working with the following cities:

KingBenny- New York and Philadelphia (pending occupation)

Gina_Zagaria- Detroit and Los Angeles

-Skittles- Las Vegas and New Orleans

If anyone has any questions regarding the Chicago City Pass program, feel free to contact me directly with your questions and I'll answer them as best as I can.

I would just like to clarify "access to our sleeping bums".

That refers to shooting at unsponsored inactive people in the city of Chicago. It DOES NOT refer to any sponsored member of any family that may be inactive in Chicago.

I apologize if this was confusing or unclear.

This looks pretty solid, I like the tier/package effect to this.  I was all ready to write out a check until I saw that it did indeed get better by virtue of the fact that I don't have to pay!  Ohh memories of when I was actually charged a bill to something. 

Based on an agreement Godfather Premier and I made in regard to our city taxes, Los Angeles will be given permanent complimentary Premium Chicago City Passes in return for the city of Chicago to have free passage through Los Angeles.

One thing I did notice however, was the three strike policy.  New York has never much cared for 2nd or 3rd chances, if it should please Godfather Sidious, I would much like for him to mail me directly if any New York families have not paid for a package and their members still wander into Chicago.  Not only will the 100k fine be paid, but let's just say there won't be a 2nd or 3rd opportunity for that person to be wrong again.  I feel the amount of city taxes, in the end, may cancel one another out, but many people who offer protest don't see a positive side to what they bring.  For a long time, Godfathers have been charged with the duty of protecting smaller crews within their city, having several taxes in effect leads to these smaller crews developing a better sense of organization and responsibility outside of a Godfather's protective umbrella.

An Excellent idea Sidious I am very  proud to have you as my Godfather.

Applauds his Godfather.

A very detailed plan, Godfather.

I just have one question. Since my family can travel at will, say my captain has not paid for a premium pass and has a troublemaker or sleeping bum in Chicago. If none of my immediate members are able to fly in and take care of this problem child, will my captian be able to fly into the city to take care of the issue?  Or would he have to leave the business up to you and yours to take care of it?

Thanks for bringing up this question, Godmother.

I have no problem with leaders dealing with their family rule breakers in my city. If families choose not to pay for a city pass, I understand and respect that choice. If someone from their family drops the ball and doesn't follow their orders NOT to travel through Chicago, then I'd have no problem with them coming in and handling their family business, City Pass or not. I'm not looking for gun fodder here, just trying to keep earning a living.

My main objective with this plan is certainly not to keep people from traveling through my city, or creating hostility between Chicago and families from other cities. I am very simply trying to profit from the hand I've been dealt by living in the Midwest, which is being a "travel hub" between the East and West.

While I fully understand Detroit and New Orleans are in the same position as I am in regard to being a "travel hub", I am also planning on putting my earnings from these city passes to use and provide a service to those who come to the city. This will include have EXTREMELY active jails in the city, so people wishing to perfect their jailbreaking skills will have a place to do so. In addition to that, those who purchase the Premium pass will have access to the unsponsored sleeping bums that line my streets.

I hope that clarifies things a bit more for everyone.

A great plan indeed Godfather. I look forward to working with you on this initiative.

I have question as well, Godfather Sidious.

Now you have established the rules for Chicago's businesses and I'm curious to whether this tax would apply to those who happen to live outside Chicago but have a business in the city.

Now I've not had the chance to take a look at Chicago's business district and I'm unaware if there are any current non-Chicagoan who operate a business in your city so if not, what about future openings?

Would they have them pay the flat tax or would you offer a discount?

Rourke calmly poured himself a glass of gin as he listens to Sidious propose a new tax for his city. Although Sidious had been "controlling" Chicago for quite a while, Rourke felt pleased to see Sidious ascend to Godfather and officially lay claim to the throne. He made a mental note to send Sidious flowers as a form of congratulations. The two men didn't talk fairly frequently after Rourke demolished Sidious in their modeling walk-off in the middle of the streets. It was fairly one-sided with Rourke winning easily. Rourke chose not to speak up in the middle of the previous street discussion as it would have ruined his fairly legendary model pose. As Rourke ruminated over this experience, he began to drift off....the bottle of gin overflowing from the glass as Rourke continued to pour. Sidious walked up to Rourke and snapped his fingers in the man's face. He spoke directly to Rourke:

"I believe you came here to say something? Surely you didn't come here to pour good gin all over the Street?"

Rourke looked down at the wasted gin and a small tear fell from his eye to the ground, splashing in the middle of the fine gin. He spoke to Sidious:

My apologies, sir. I was caught up in a happy reverie of better, more modelriffic times. I must say that I support your initiative and I look forward to seeing the city of Chicago prosper under stricter financial guidelines. As a man who supports free enterprise, I am very impressed that you wasted no time in instituting a tax shortly after your ascension to Godfather. You have always struck me as a proactive man with clear direction and I am happy to see you continue to lead Chicago in a solid direction. Congratulations on the tremendous honour of reaching Godfather and I would love to have you as a guest of Chez Rourke should you find your way to Detroit. Good day to you, sir.

Rourke turned to walk away, but remembered one last comment to make:

And by the way, Godfather Sidious, thank you for making my family exempt from this tax. My favorite taxes are the ones that I am able to enjoy without payment!

Rourke firmly shook Godfather Sidious' hand and headed to find a local florist.

Rufus comes out to hear what is said and feels he has one thing to say on thie way things are going... Long gone are the days where family heads would do all they can to get people to come visit there city it now seems its the age of pay or stay out here come the days of the tax and we all know where this leads to, such a real shame.

I would just like to clarify "access to our sleeping bums".

I'm surprised you haven't been asked to clarify things even more so! That is quite the provocative statement sir. You could attract a completely different sort of clientèle with leading promises like that.

It is the main reason I've been perched in Chicago since Sunday.

~T~

Hi Godfather Sidious.

If i may have a moment of your time i just had one question.

If i pay for the basic pass for the whole family, but certain individuals in my family takes pleasure and wants to help rid your streets of homeless bums. How much would it cost them?

Would it still cost the the full $150,000? or would it be cheaper since i have paid for a basic pass for the whole family.

I think that is a wonderful question, Don Heat, and one that I'd like to further clarify.

If a family pays for the Basic City Pass, individuals who choose to purchase a Premium add on may do so for $50,000.

Now, there are pros and cons to purchasing individual add-ons to the Basic City Pass for families. One pro may be that it would be more cost effective if your family is currently only employing a few hired guns. The con to this would be that I'd need to know who the individuals are that would be paying on their own, thus supplying me with valuable intelligence on who each families hired guns are.

Ultimately, the decision will be up to each individual leader, but I can't help but to recommend the Premium Pass in this case. Yes, I'm a businessman and that increases my profit, but that isn't the main reason. I personally feel the extra fee to keep your shooters anonymous is more than worth it.

Hopefully this clears up the question you had.

I've received a good deal of feedback in regard to my City Pass program, and would like to announce a few additional offers to families who are considering purchasing a pass.

If you purchase a Premium City Pass between now and August 31st 00:00 MR time, the cost will only be $600,000 per week. Additionally, it will stay at this price for as long as you continue to consecutively renew your contract with Chicago. In the event you choose not to renew for a week, but choose to resume at a later date, it will bump back up to the regular price of $750,000.

Another point that was brought up to me was new families that form, and how they would be able to financially afford paying for their city pass during their beginning stages. As I've stated already, it isn't my goal to keep people from the city, so any new family that is authed will be given a complimentary Premium City Pass for the first two weeks of their existence. Upon the expiration of this complimentary pass, these families will also be eligible to renew their Premium pass for the special discounted rate of $600,000 (and may operate under the same rules as those stated above).

I hope this break in price will encourage families who are on the fence about choosing the Premium City Pass to take advantage of this introductory rate.

Though it doesn't directly concern me, I personally feel some clarification would be needed here:

For all other families, there will be two different types of passes to purchase:

For example, if we take New York; Brandon_Heat and Otis_Driftwood are the captains of Deimne and TM respectively, so to all intents and purposes they would be qualified as the same Family, all be it operating in HQs across the street from one another. Therefore, would TM's Family payment cover Otis too, who I assume acts on TM's wish and behalf as a Captain? Or in this instance is the definition of Family solely taken to mean a group of Mobsters working out of a single HQ?

I think the main issue here is that I've been totally misled in regards to access to sleeping bums in Chicago.

~T~

Thanks for the question, Noah.

In this case, I'm counting each individual HQ as eligible for purchasing a city pass. While I respect the fact that these units are working together, but in separate headquarters, I think it is just easier to count each HQ as a single entity in this situation.