I've been pacing back and forth through the streets in recent weeks, watching, listening and hesitating. 

When I first landed back in Philly I jumped at every opportunity to contribute to discussions, critique tall tales of adventures in mob-life and generally maintain a street presence. I enjoy the streets, it's a great place to build and test relationships. It opens up the opportunity to really know what people are made of, discover opinions and points of view that otherwise, you'd never have opened the discussion with them about. 

It also has its risks. As I told a young man from Vegas in a private conversation, your reputation is easily tarnished, maintaining a regular street presence can quickly turn against you. Every time we make a public appearance, we risk poking a hole in our reputation. It only takes one person to find one of those holes and pull it wide open, potentially destroying everything we've built. 

So what brings me out today? Well, it was recently brought to light the lack of activity from across certain cities in our world. I silently questioned this phenomenon myself, considering numerous factors. 

Are one city or family being successfully motivated through an internal incentive? It's possible. Or maybe they just 'happen' to have the more active people housed within it? Again, possible.

I disregarded most of these and just looked at why I don't make much of an effort anymore. I could quite easily maintain an appearance through making a humbling congratulatory message to the new bosses that receive authorization, or offering a tip of the hat to the story tellers that make an appearance. Or, I could really think about where my motivation comes from, and what we could do to encourage activity. 

Conclusion? Content, which probably isn't surprising or unheard of. 

It's not that there isn't any good content, I just think it could be... structured. I'm proposing that we should have some more governance over our streets. We have several city heads who have the power and authority to call for some form of organisation when it comes to what appears in the public eye.

Do I want to spend time congratulating new authorizations? Sure, but maybe we have a weekly review of the activity in that field, where people know that they can take the time to review all the changes at once. 

Do I want to sit down and listen to story time? Certainly, but maybe a regular competition or collaboration of our efforts that can be given the time they deserve to be heard, rather then disregarding as something that you don't have time for or intend to attend later.

And street discussions, there is no shortage of good, proper discussions, however there is also an abundance of repeated features. 

I'm not suggesting that every discussion is reviewed by a city head or appointed person/s, however we do have the ability to enforce that. I think we should take pride in our streets, in our line of work it should not be uncommon that what happens on the street is subjected to scrutiny and control.

Finally, there is always going to be the issue of suicidal young men and women taking a blatant disregard to these rules and not being held accountable for their actions. I think as a suggestion however, if we tidy up how we govern the streets, who's to say there couldn't be some 'divine intervention' to resolve those without a city to call home appearing on a soap box?

Appelsap started listening to what SammyGato had to say and he must say something just to start the discussion of. 

"well what do we have here, SammyGato returns to the street and has good point to get his activitie started. But to start my opinion, I also think there is a lack of activity in the streets now a days. And it seemed that it's a bit one sided.  but from my own experiance it's not that the activitie of the members is promoted but more that there are more people joining in with the streets. So they have some nice conversations between themselfs. But this can only start if the people liked to be active in the streets. "

"On the main point you make here I do agree, I find that the street is not as organised as I would have liked it to be. There some posts that are just a little bit to difficult to follow. but I've also seen posts that would fit better in a business district. but i'm going on about everything again. "

"to make my point. I totaly agree with you, the streets need to be more organised. I needed to search for the authorizations that had happend this weekend. I found them but I had to go through a large amount of topics that in my opinion could also be talked about in a bar in the business district. "

"but it's not my place to change things, but you do have a good point here. the streets need to become more open for new people. Less strange posts more rules. And yes it's me that is asking for more rules. I must be drunk or something. "

After this Appelsap takes a place next to SammyGato and hopes some other people, and also people from other cities are going to react

Why would there be? We accept the streets for the way they are, because that's the way they are. Change? No thanks.

Considering a different system isn't that alien if you really think about it. In a world without the streets, if someone gave you a nice big Godfather hat and said:

'Signore Ducard, we would like to publicly express ourselves, we want to announce things and tell stories and discuss all the issues in this world, and we want you to decide and design how we do this' 

Would you not take the opportunity to manage this as best you could?

An organised approach that would mean the content that hit the streets is worth listening to. Unless the gods have some preference that everyone can say whatever they like, in which case I've got a moot point.

I'm not saying this is the solution, but it's a suggestion that we can do things differently. 

 appelsap hears Henri and sammy talk and asking for thinks they migjht want to change. 

"excuse me gentleman, I might have a good idea. Maybe I would be a good change to add a new place for the thing that change in the world of ours. With these things I mean authorizations and protection orders. this just to let those important things be more visible. and then the street would be a place for discussions and all the other things people think the world would like to know."

I understand what you're saying, change is rarely accepted. I wasn't suggesting that it was yourself that found it difficult to accept change, more a generalization. 

We're in a position however where it's a good old 'like or lump' situation. Our leaders can dictate how and when we say things, hell, they can literally do whatever they want. Lockdown? Sure. City wide fee? Why not? I'm not saying lock us all down and tax us for breathing, these are just examples to enforce my point of 'They the biggest, they the boss.'

My point is, if the power was in my hands, I would grab every opportunity to make my time at the top memorable. We're in peaceful times and it would be a shame to spend that time doing the same old crap.

Appelsap, grazie paisano, it's good to see you out here. I have indeed been shying away. You're right on the front of introducing new faces to our streets, a little governance would reduce the bizarre and strange incidents we see. 

Dusty stood nearby. She was twirling a strand of hair around her finger as she listened to people discussing the streets and change. Smiling brightly as she approached them.

Just my two cents, but change is different depending on the person. I am sure that we could all agree that respect towards each other at times is certainly lacking. You got people taking stabs at other people's lines, and then some whining about leaders on another corner. So in a way I can agree that perhaps change is needed.

Do I think we should stop people from speaking their minds? No. That would get boring extremely fast. I do think that perhaps we need a face lift in the way of standards for the streets. I love listening to people's tales, I love sharing my own. I get a little bored of authorization speeches though but others enjoy them. We all aren't going to like or enjoy the same things so certainly topics should not be what is controlled.

What I feel needs changing is the standards of which the leaders hold their members to in terms of speaking to each other in the streets. I get it, we are not all going to get along but surely we have no need to act like fools?

Perhaps it is just my thoughts on the matter. Thank you for allowing me to share them.

Flashing a smile she steps back a little bit.

Grazie, Tommy. 

You mention that 'everyone has a right'

The rights we have are there because we're allowed to have them. The rules that have governed how we operate for years have been in place for so long, that we accept them as the status quo. In response to your comment that 'everyone has a right', have you considered what we don't have a right to, and why?

I'm not calling for rebellion, again just making my point. Recently LA was opened up to an environment with altered rules, regardless of the outcome, it was a good example of people trying new things. 

The how and why this happens, if it happens, is up for debate. My intention today is to push the understanding that we can make changes and see what the appetite is to make it happen.  

Dusty, thanks for sharing your opinion, as I've said, accepting that we could change something is the first step. 

"I'm not really sure what you're asking for exactly, Sammy. I'm interested to know how you think this regime should control things out here and to what extent this could potentially make things better. People have recently complained about certain cities not being seen or heard out here and another about a possible decline in activity overall."

"If you have an idea that would improve the standards without killing off the freedom of access, then I'd like to hear it, without a doubt. If it means bodyguards on every corner and we are controlled in what we say and do, then it may be a bit of a stretch. If it means more people come out here and add to the already Chicago centric atmosphere, then that would be a good thing."

"I personally think though, more should be done to address the lack of activity from across the nation, than trying to stifle the efforts for those that actually do step out here. If you feel the content isn't up to a certain standard, then let us know what you're looking for by example. If you feel the content of a speech or the information regarding activities of individuals isn't to your liking you can simply move on and find another topic of discussion or ask another story from your source."

"I feel we need more people pushing the emphasis on the importance of street presence. If more people came out here, you'd naturally have more content to sift through as you did your daily rounds. If the current content isn't to your liking, then there's really only one thing to do... Be the change you seek in the world. Otherwise, what's the difference between putting restrictions on street presence and Prohibition?"

Ciao Sereno, my motivation for this train of thought came from searching for my own reasons for not being able to maintain a regular street presence. Time is always a big one, if anyone would ever use time as a reason for not being able to appear regularly and effectively, I would understand. Any solution I could conjure to resolve the time issue seemed to conclude with how it is organised. Would a structure or plan that can be anticipated and planned around help people focus their attention on the discussion points better?

I liked Tommys point which is essentially saying that new faces should be allowed to make their own bones, their own errors and be judged for it, and in consideration of that, it changes my proposal a little.

Looking at the activity in our streets, it's very easy to just see a blur of discussions. You can get the feeling you don't have the time to listen to all of them, maintain a response if you do partake and decide to put your time to better use.

My objective here is to propose ways to increase activity. Would making it easier to differentiate between the content encourage activity?

To quote your own words back at you, SammyGato:  "Finally, there is always going to be the issue of suicidal young men and women taking a blatant disregard to these rules and not being held accountable for their actions. I think as a suggestion however, if we tidy up how we govern the streets, who's to say there couldn't be some 'divine intervention' to resolve those without a city to call home appearing on a soap box?"

These young men and women who lay their life on the line to say what often times needs  to be said and the unsung heroes of this thing of ours.

Maybe you don't remember the Winter of Discontent, and the misruling oppression that plagued these Streets, but plenty of people do, and they furthermore understand that it could only have been those without a city to call home that could have spoken out.

What's next?  What next in your seemingly insatiable thirst for oppression of a degree of free speech on these Streets?

WHAT NEXT?

"Come stai Sammy? Thanks for the insight there. Maybe another avenue to walk down that separates the discussions from those telling stories of recent business related events? That could make it easier and more efficient to stay informed. An avenue to walk down for discussions and conversations and one where you can hear the latest stories that may effect business or if you simply enjoy that kind of entertainment."

"I also 100% agree with Tommy here. It should be handled at a grass roots level, within the families and in a systematic fashion. What we hear out here on the streets is just the end line of the equation. We should be tackling the source, which is the education and training the newer members have access to."

"If something were enforced at this level, it should be mandatory for a family to have certain systems in place to educate members on what this part of our business is all about, and how to best approach it and with what attitude. A guiding hand is better than hand cuffs in this situation, I think."

I agree with Sereno, another wise man who o typically have many agreeances with. If we are to do anything, let's sit down and discuss a standard for training and growing our young mafioso. Let's hash out a plan designed to brighten this world instead of making it dark and uninspired. It starts with us who have the power to voice our opinions and implement changes. We are responsible for teaching and educating before sending them out into the world. If we set the standard and give the knowledge collectively as the young ones first enter the nest we will not have to sit and debate about who or why someone deserves to die due to something they've said or how dirty our streets have become because of people vomiting nonsense. Will it happen? That's the nature of the beast, yes but can we put forth a clear cut plan that leads to accountability being less argued because the standard is clear? Yes. Gentleman, I'm free when you are. Reach out to me if you desire to work on arerranging further discussions. Tommy hands each man a card with how they may contact him before tipping his hat and heading on his way

Sereno feels a pulling of the heart strings as he listens to Tommy. An inner light sparks and he is moved by the mans passion. As he retrieved the card he gave the man a serious nod. Serious in the sense his face had a look on it of someone who was ready to take action, for war, to do whatever the fuck needed to be done. He gave the card a good look then slipped it into his trouser pocket.

More micro-management from city heads? Not for it at all, we already get 'Godfather's' that aren't really Godfathers given that they all take orders from a city head still, we have none right now, but CH will follow Duplicity no matter what, LV will follow Seph and we will follow Voodoo regardless of whom attains the rank of Godfather. So almost every decision is taken by the person at the absolute top and those below are afraid to even make a decision in some cases before consulting the city head. Even leaving governance of this to 'select group' I wouldn't be for (even if I was part of the decision making) either.

Honestly, I don't see this as anything other than stifling. The content will severely dwindle if we begin to start moderating what people say because there is always going to be an opinion that is different to the original speech maker which in turn either waters down what someone wanted to say or because they're having to water it down just don't bother.

Your ideas to improve the content is commendable because being completely honest... looking and listening around our fair streets there does seem to be a lack of credible content, however I feel you're going about this totally the wrong way. Doing it your way I think will lead to a lot of mobsters simply being told 'yes' or 'no' as to whether make a certain speech so they will learn absolutely nothing from it. Going to the opposite extreme we could just hold mobsters accountable for their speeches and allow them to learn what they did wrong. If a mobster continues to make speeches when previous ones continue to fall on deaf ears then someone from their family should tell them to shut the fuck up and why perhaps?

We really don't need to setup a 'quango' to deal with this issue, upper structures just need to do their jobs properly. If I ever get the privilege to run my own family, I'll be sure to walk any and all family members through where and why they went wrong in a speech, but I'd certainly never want to discourage them from it in the first place. Who knows, maybe they'll get it right and go on to become one of the most respected street speakers of all time? But I'll never know if every idea they have they have to run it by me (or some moderators) first.

Accountability, not moderation.