Chapter 2053

Kelly is actually from Chicago. Her mother was a beauty queen in Chicago at an early age, and then she met her mother, a wealthy businessman in Chicago.

Then she was born! She lived in Chicago when she was a child!

But things change too fast.

She moved into a small town with her family a long time ago. As we all know, the richer you are in this magical land of the United States, the more you have to move out of the city. In fact, in the early West, just like China, the rich lived in the city and the poor lived in the suburbs. But with the development of urbanization, the city can no longer meet the living requirements of the rich. On the one hand, the high welfare in Europe and the United States has caused many people not to work, and even some homeless people have emerged, resulting in poor environment, chaotic public security and high crime rate in the city.

On the other hand, after years of development in the city, many supporting facilities have become old. For example, the subway in the city of the United States is very dirty and messy, and the rich basically don't go to ride it. In addition, there are many gathering places for homeless people in the city. The rich can't get their ideal social humanities in the city, and they don't want their next generation to live in such an environment, so they slowly built rich areas in the suburbs. Unlike rural areas and small towns in China, the "suburbs" in the United States usually refer to satellite cities around metropolitan areas, usually with a population of 30,000 to 50,000 people. They are a certain distance away from the city center, quiet, safe, and have a good environment. There are no idle people, the houses cover a large area, have good privacy, the infrastructure is newer than the city center, and the quality of residents is similar...

It has to be admitted that the rich do have more choices than the poor, and they can choose a better living environment for themselves. The suburbs of the United States have better environmental facilities than the city center, and the environment, school districts, medical care, safety and other factors are better than the life in the city center, so of course they have become a better choice for the rich.

Of course, more importantly, the city is hollowing out.

Hollowing out refers to the decline of the central business district of the city and the outflow of population, the decrease in population in the central area of ​​the city, the weakening of commercial activities, the increase in the vacancy rate of buildings, the formation of a kind of urban hollowing out, and the slow development of the surrounding areas. The hollowing out phenomenon is very common in the United States, especially in industrial cities and agricultural areas, and is more prominent in some old industrial cities. According to the U.S. Department of Land Planning, since 2000, the population of urban centers in 39 of the 50 states in the United States has declined, and the number of hollowed-out cities in the United States has increased by 27%.

Chicago's West Side has also suffered the same problem, with a vacancy rate of more than 25%. These vacant properties not only waste resources, but may also lead to problems such as rising urban crime rates, declining social mobility, and reduced fiscal revenue. There are many reasons for the hollowing out of cities in the United States, one of the important reasons being the change in the city's industrial structure and economic model. With the outward migration of manufacturing and the popularization of automation technology, traditional manufacturing and heavy industry are no longer the main economic sources of cities. The service industry and information technology industry have become new economic growth points, resulting in changes in the city's industrial structure and occupational structure, a decrease in urban employment opportunities, and population loss. In addition, the trend of urban expansion and suburbanization has led to the outward migration of population and commercial activities in urban centers. At the same time, the infrastructure in urban centers is aging, and the maintenance and renewal of streets, parks, buildings, etc. also require huge investment. Some city governments are unable to afford these expenses due to financial difficulties, which has also caused poverty in urban centers and increased social inequality.

Chicago is the third largest city in the United States. It is located in the south of Lake Michigan among the five Great Lakes. It is an important economic and industrial center in North America. Because it is located in the earliest industrial zone in the United States, the Great Lakes Industrial Zone, Chicago's industrial modernization construction started very early, and it also undertook a large part of the economic trading activities in the United States. With the establishment of the Chicago Futures Exchange and the Chicago Stock Exchange, Chicago has become the second largest economic center in the eastern United States.

Today's Chicago is often compared to a paradise on one side and a hell on the other. In the north of the city, a typical rich area is built around the central business district. This is a gathering place for white people. It has all the landmark buildings and skyscrapers in the city. Whether it is infrastructure construction, cultural education, or municipal management, the level is very high. In contrast, the south and west of the city where blacks gather are only public housing, motels, and gangs. Children in the white area are born in spacious apartments and enjoy a good education. Children in the black area huddle in dilapidated public housing, listening to the stories of those powerful gangsters.

In short, Kelly moved to a small town near Chicago with her parents a long time ago.

Then her father died, and her mother inherited a huge fortune.

Then she met Kai, who had an affair with her mother, and then with her... Although Kelly was very unhappy about this, it was still good. Her father died early, and her mother was a typical American sweet girl, which led Kelly to be very open in some aspects.

And later her mother found a rich old man to marry, but there was no real bloody plot.

Speaking of this, Kelly also admired her mother. This woman seemed to have special abilities. In fact, her business level was average. Although her personal style was very open, her investment style was very conservative. She was the kind of person who could neither make a lot of money nor lose a lot of money.

But she always caught a rich man!

Logically speaking, a beautiful and rich widow like her was the favorite of the kind of gigolo, but Kelly's mother didn't like gigolos. She liked those rich old men.

So by falling in love with a rich old man, her assets kept rising.

Now Kelly's stepfather has gone even further. He has modified his will and left all his property to her mother.

And Kelly's mother has not only been married twice... In fact, she has been married at least six times, three of which she got all the property, and the other three also got a lot of property, plus there are also unmarried relationships. A dozen times.

This allowed Kelly's mother, a woman who barely graduated from high school, to increase her assets by at least five times in just over ten years!

In the past, Kelly had doubted whether her mother was the kind of liar who specialized in marrying, killing, and defrauding property. She felt that her father might have been harmed by her mother.

Really, Kelly had doubted it for a long time.

Later, when I met Kai, I found out...that was not the case at all. Her mother is just a bit perverted and likes that kind of old man...of course he must be rich. The bad relationship with Kai was purely accidental. After all, the old man relies on his bones and muscles for strength.

That's too far.

Talking back to Kelly, Kelly has always regarded Chicago as her hometown. She saw the city she loved become like this, and naturally she also had the idea of ​​​​changing Chicago deep in her heart... Well, actually it was when she watched Legally Blonde , I think the heroine in it is cool, and she also wants to be majestic. But it wasn't until she went to school that she realized...she was thinking too much. She doesn't have the brains to take the lawyer exam. Her mother is indeed rich, but her mother's main job is "useless study".

After all, her mother is also a high school graduate... and she is the kind of person who was happily educated in a public high school. How can she become a super rich person?

As a girl, why do you study so much? If you dress up beautifully, you will naturally make money! So I was not willing to donate a teaching building to her and let her enter the school through the back door. In her opinion, Kelly is not that smart at all and can't learn anything. Why not just spend the money and study? What book to read?

So she had no choice but to study art. According to her mother's opinion, studying art would make it easier to catch a kid!

But later, didn't she accidentally awaken her bloodline?

And then became the Chicago Trio.

Her desire to change Chicago was fulfilled at once.

But soon, she discovered that this was of no use.

She, Diana and Kathleen, the three of them went around Chicago to fight against crime, punish evil and promote good, but with little success.

What should people do?

Last time, the three of them teamed up to overthrow the Daley family. This should be able to change the corruption and incompetence of the Chicago government, right?

Useless!

If Kai hadn't come forward to help them solve the trouble, they might not be able to stay in Chicago... Never underestimate the capabilities of the government and the rich... The media can portray the three of them as superheroes, and they can also backhand them. They become super criminals.

To put it bluntly, public opinion is in the hands of others.

In fact, Chicago's problems are very complicated. Let alone the three of them, even the US government doesn't have many good solutions to it.

As the world situation changes, the U.S. government has long promoted the project of rebuilding the manufacturing industry.

Logically speaking, once large cities like Detroit and Chicago should receive a lot of benefits, and in fact they do. Industrial cities in the past seemed to be able to rise as long as capital entered the market again... But in fact, this was not the case.

These places look solid, but in fact they are not. First, infrastructure.

The infrastructure of these deindustrialized cities is actually very old. If they want to restart, they must be demolished and rebuilt. But in this way, the cost is much more expensive than building new ones from scratch!

And then there are high-quality workers...Obviously, Chicago doesn't have that advantage.

High-quality people, Chicago has them!

Low-quality black people are also found in Chicago.

But in the middle, highly qualified workers, Chicago doesn’t have them!

The decline of Chicago started a long time ago, and the industrial decline of the central region did not start with Clinton according to the Internet, but actually started after World War II. After World War II, the United States placed a large amount of military industry on the West Coast, from Washington State to the Gulf of Mexico. As a result, investment and orders in military industry and military-related manufacturing industries flowed from the central part to the West Coast. For example, Chicago completed a large number of non-military industries in the long postwar decades. Voluntary deindustrialization also caused many people to move to the West Coast.

Especially the loss of those middle-class families who are the backbone of society!

In this way, even if the government wants to revitalize Chicago, it will not be able to convince Congress. After all, Congress has other options!

After all, rebuilding the industrial system elsewhere will cost less and produce faster results!

Anyway, Kelly found out.

Things were not as simple as she thought. She had always thought that the problem in Chicago was gangs and government corruption and incompetence.

In reality?

This is a problem of the entire social structure.

What's going on with this country? Let's ask in detail!

"Can this city really be good?" Kelly was lying on the bed wearing hot pants, rolling around constantly.

She was in a really bad mood today.

This started from a small incident, she met an acquaintance.

The acquaintance was a young man whom she had helped a few years ago. Specifically, it helped him and his mother, a black mother and son. Around Christmas the year before last, she met this mother and son and was robbed.

She showed up, taught the criminal a lesson, and took back the money that had been taken from the black mother.

The little boy, who was not yet in high school at the time, was very excited and told Kelly that he would be just like Kelly when he grew up.

Kelly was very happy about this. She was still a newcomer at that time, and it was inevitable that she would be excited when she met fans.

So after returning, she used her own fund to help the family.

This was good, but until a few days ago, she smashed a gang and saw the child again.

He had dropped out of school and joined a gang. Later, she learned from the police that the kid already had a criminal record... murder. It was only because he was a minor that he was given a light sentence.

But this time, when he was arrested, he still refused to repent. Even in the court trial the day before yesterday, facing the judge and the victim's family, this guy was still fearless and even smiled contemptuously.

You can imagine the shock Kelly suffered at that time!

It's only been a few years!

Why did the little boy who was so excited to see her at the beginning become a demon?

Kelly read his file. His most recent crime was robbery and murder... a black boy who was also like him. He and his accomplices took a fancy to someone else's new sneakers, so they joined forces to rob him. Others just said a few more words, and he shot him to death.

Then he took away the boy's sneakers and jacket. When he was caught, he was wearing those sneakers and jacket...

Katherine sat on a chair not far away, carefully applying nail polish to her toenails.

She didn't feel much about Kelly's complaints.

She was already very old. As an immortal witch, she had seen all kinds of people and the evil of human nature.

"The ability of the environment to change people is terrible, Kelly. Can you imagine what you are like now a few years ago?"

Katherine asked with a smile.

"But! I obviously funded their family, so he could get a better education and escape from that gang community! He could live a completely different life from now. He could go to college, find a good job, and become a good person!"

Kelly turned over and sat up, then said indignantly.

Katherine smiled slightly...she had some guesses but didn't say them out.

That is, the transformation of the child may be due to Kelly's funding!