Smith's Monthly #6

by Smith, Dean Wesley

  There were now more than sixty patents pending for various ideas developed in the buildings, the electrical systems, the wind tunnels, the solar arrays, the water systems, and the rest. These would be buildings like no other buildings in existence, and that took new inventions along the way to accomplish.

  Big Ed had no doubt that if this worked, he and Carl and the investors would be very rich just from a few of those inventions.

  Outside, the early fall weather was giving the city a break from the hot nights of violence, with a touch of chill in the night wind off the lake. But it was only early September, and there were still many hot nights remaining before they were through this summer of death.

  And the newscasts made it clear that the violence still continued.

  Through more than fifty holding companies and more investors than Big Ed wanted to ever think about, Carl had bought enough square blocks of the city to hold twenty-five of the four-block square complexes. All but two had the zoning worked out. Six were on the sites of old steel mills and factories, so they had cleanup issues that would take a year or more, but those would be ready in time if this first complex worked as planned.

  And Carl had the multiple corporate structures together for the next steps in the process. The important step, as far as Big Ed was concerned.

  During the last two months, another of their companies, again with the help of start-up capital and investors, had bought and refurbished an entire manufacturing plant on the lower South Side. It was being retooled right now, with production starting within another month.

  It was so exciting to be so close to getting started, Big Ed almost couldn’t sleep. And that was very rare for him. Normally, things didn’t bother him much. But this project was different, very different. He was risking everything on this, and he knew it.

  He and Carl stood staring at the model delivered by the architects.

  “It sure doesn’t look like much,” Carl said, shaking his head.

  Big Ed had to agree. It didn’t look like much at all. Just skeletons of four buildings. The third and fourth floors of all four buildings were connected over the streets, then again on the tenth and eleventh floors, then again on the twenty and twenty-first floors, and then on the top five floors.

  Those connected floors were solid and had walls on the outside so he and Carl couldn’t look inside the model. But the rest of the building looked unfinished. Plus with no structure but pillars and a central utility core, all four buildings looked like they were sitting on two-story-high stilts. The entire thing was just massive framework and utility areas and elevators and staircases. You could see completely through any open floor.

  “You have the contracts for the tenants done?” Big Ed asked, staring at the model.

  “They’ll be on your desk by the end of the week,” Carl said, “and we can go over them. My office is double-checking them now, assuming the funding works.”

  “Will the contracts stand up to challenge?” Big Ed asked, never taking his eyes from the model.

  “They will,” Carl said. “And all the security regulations have been researched and opinions given. We’re clear under the Jobs Act. And all zoning restrictions have long since been cleared as well on all the sites.” Big Ed didn’t hear a moment of hesitation in that answer, so he nodded and turned to his friend. “Construction on Complex A starts in four weeks. Still think we can keep a lid on this once we start building? A lot of people now know what we’re doing.”

  “All we can do is try,” Carl said, shrugging. “But not that many have the full picture yet. We have all the land purchases well hidden under layers of companies, and the production plant ownership is so deep, no one is going to trace it to you or me or anyone connected to any of these sites. Besides, this idea’s so crazy, who’s going to believe it, anyway?”

  Big Ed laughed and went back to staring at the ugly frame of the model. Carl did have a point.

  Crowdsourcing a building to save the world was just flat crazy.

  April 2017

  In the end, it cost Big Ed just under sixteen million of his own money to design and build Complex A and invest in all the various companies involved. A minor amount compared to the total cost of the four-building structure. Yet it had strained him financially and if this didn’t work, he was going to be back looking for a job.

  No one really had paid much attention to a massive construction project going on in a burnt-out neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago until all four buildings started to climb above ten stories in their framework. And the third and fourth floors of all four buildings were connected over the streets below forming two-block-long tunnels. That was hard to ignore by even a press used to ignoring events on the South Side.

  And when people noticed, reporters starting digging into the construction and the project.

  But they learned little. Carl and his team had everything covered and blocked. And none of the investors were talking, which surprised both Carl and Big Ed. It seems the people who had tossed money at one stage or another of this project believed in it as much as they did.

  The four buildings reached their full height of forty floors with the news doing weekly reports on them and adding nothing new. The plans were on file with the city, but all the plans showed could be seen from the street, for the most part.

  They were called the “Buildings of Mystery” by the press. Big Ed and Carl and the hundreds of investors in the various projects just called it all Complex A.

  Now, Big Ed stood with his friend Carl in his media room in his penthouse apartment, again staring at the television that had forced him into action the year before. Carl stood beside him. Both of them just stared at the screen, hardly moving.

  The press conference was about to start about Complex A. It would be now or never. Were they both going to be broke and laughed at for building a massive eyesore, or maybe, just maybe, had they done something that actually might help save the city—and the world?

  This was the turning point.

  The smiling man who walked onto the stage and faced the cameras was Devon Conrad, the president of the board of directors for the Complex A corporation, named simply Complex A Incorporated. Big Ed and Carl had helped put him in place not only for his passion for the project, but his ability to speak to the media.

  They had booked the big and plush Hilton Chicago Grand Ballroom for the press conference, and set the stage perfectly to showcase something of this size.

  Devon turned to face the cameras with a smile that seemed to be reassuring instead of condescending. He stood six feet tall and had the square jaw of a superhero. His dark silk suit shouted that he was a man with more money to spend than he knew what to do with.

  In reality, Devon was personally rich, and he’d been an investor in a number of the companies before Carl and Big Ed offered him the front position on Complex A. Now, like Big Ed and Carl, he had money in all the companies.

  Devon and Carl and Big Ed had gone over every word of Devon’s speech and planned out where they thought there would be troubles. Devon was as prepared for this as he could be.

  Devon started the conference with all the basic thank-yous that the press had come to expect, then made a motion and a drape moved back beside him to expose the model of Complex A.

  Big Ed’s stomach twisted.

  Carl said, “That thing is truly ugly, you know.”

  Big Ed said nothing. To him it was a thing of beauty, a thing of his dreams.

  The model looked exactly as the four buildings did from the street. Four building frames connected on varied floors over the streets. Big Ed had to admit, it did look half-finished to the normal eye. But he hoped the world would love the look as much as he did when this press conference was finished.

  Then Devon started to talk about the violence on the streets, the children dying for no reasons, and behind him on a huge screen images from newscasts flashed past, detailing out quickly what everyone already knew: The streets were not safe for a normal family
to live and raise children. Period.

  “So how does a building complex like this help the crime issue in this and other cities?” Devon asked as the news feed stopped.

  He paused for perfect effect. “In Complex A, we give families a completely safe place to live, to raise their children, to shop, to work, and have their children go to school. All without fear.”

  There was a murmuring among the reporters, looking first at Devon and then at the framework of the four buildings.

  Devon smiled and moved a step over to the model. “Notice how the building is up on its frame with nothing on the two ground floors but the central core?”

  He tapped the empty space on the lower two floors and a knocking sound echoed over the quiet. “There will be bulletproof glass all the way around the base of each building. The only way into each building complex will be through a series of doors leading to a security station in the center of one building. No guns or drugs will be allowed in any building. Everyone entering the buildings will be scanned and searched. No exceptions.”

  Again the crowd of reporters started to erupt, but he held his hands up for silence and surprisingly to Big Ed, they honored him. Devon was good, of that there was no doubt.

  Devon pointed to the two floors that spread through all four buildings and were closed in except for windows. “On the third floor will be grocery stores, clothing stores, and a few restaurants. The fourth floor will contain schools for all levels, from preschool through high school. The residents of the four buildings will be offered jobs in all aspects of the businesses and schools on the two floors and they will be paid fair wages.”

  Devon pushed on before anyone could interrupt. Big Ed and Carl and Devon knew this was a critical point. Devon had to keep going now, or all was lost.

  Devon pointed to the next two series of closed-in floors going upward. “These will contain community areas, indoor parks, playgrounds, and so on.”

  “Then he pointed at the top five closed-in floors. “Of course the roof will be open park area and gardens, but the five floors below will be hydroponic gardens watered by cured wastewater in each building. Each building will grow more than enough fresh food for all residents year-round and be able to sell the extra to local markets for a profit.”

  “Don’t stop now,” Big Ed whispered to the big screen and Carl only nodded.

  Before the reporters could break in, Devon pushed forward. “The third floor from the top will be laced with wind turbines and electrical storage areas. Since the wind in Chicago seems to always blow one way or another, there are over three hundred various sized electrical turbines that will generate electricity around the clock.”

  Big Ed could tell that Devon now had the full attention of the reporters trying to grasp an entire floor of electrical-generating wind turbines.

  “On all areas of all four buildings,” Devon said, gesturing to the outside areas, “that get sunshine at any time of the year, the sidings are designed to be solar panels gathering electrical energy. Between wind and solar, each building will generate so much power, it will not only supply all the energy needs of the residents, but each complex will sell power back to the main grid. Each building will sustain itself from the power sold and make a profit after city and land taxes—”

  The room exploded in a thousand questions being shouted all at once.

  Big Ed glanced at Carl.

  Carl smiled. “Here we go. The key to all this is now. We’re either going to save this city or go broke very quickly.”

  Big Ed just nodded, almost afraid to speak. He wanted to sit down, to make himself relax, but he just couldn’t do it. Everything turned on what Devon was going to say next.

  So he just stood and stared at the screen, his hands at his sides.

  The reporters were shouting, but Devon just stood and smiled, holding up his hands for silence. When he could finally be heard he said, “I’ll answer all your questions shortly, and we have packets with all the details to hand out to everyone to make sure all facts are correct. But…you haven’t heard the best part yet.”

  The reporters all fell silent.

  Devon smiled and pointed at the model. “Aren’t you wondering why the building is nothing but a frame?”

  His question sort of just hung there.

  Big Ed had hoped for that exact reaction.

  Devon took a square block from under the podium and held it up for everyone to see.

  “This is a modular, three-thousand-square-foot apartment,” he said. “It can be designed to contain two, three, four, or five bedrooms. It will have two and a half baths and a large kitchen and dining area. There are many designs to choose from for each one.”

  On the screen behind him, suddenly different apartments floated in and over each other showing living rooms, modern kitchens, bedrooms, family rooms, and so on in many varied colors.

  Devon smiled. “These apartments are the size of apartments many of the rich people of our fair city live in.”

  He walked over to the model and slid the apartment block into one side of the building. It clicked into place.

  Then Devon turned to the camera, looking suddenly very serious.

  “Each apartment will be completely owned by a family. They will pay no electricity, no house payment, and if they choose to work so many hours in the shops or restaurants or schools or security or gardens or utility areas of the building, they will not even pay tenant’s fees.”

  Before anyone could shout a question, Devon went on. “Their families will be completely safe inside their homes. All windows are bulletproof, as are all exterior walls. Each apartment will have a view. There are no halls in this complex. Each apartment opens onto a large open public area in the center of each floor. The apartments are only positioned around the outside of each floor.”

  The room started to erupt one more time, but Devon used the command in his voice to silence it. “Please hold on for one more important fact.”

  Right there, Big Ed knew he and Carl had picked the right man for the job.

  “Each apartment unit for all of Complex A is in the first stages of production, built by a plant right here in Chicago. Each apartment will be modular construction, built in the factory to save costs, and then raised into place by cranes. But before we can get a family moved in, the family must first buy the apartment. Of course, we know the families that need protection from the violence of the streets are the families that can least afford to move. And our desire is that every apartment be paid off completely on the day that every family moves in.”

  Devon stared at the reporters. Then smiled again.

  “We have over two hundred families signed up to move in now, with hundreds and hundreds more in the process. Complex A can hold around six hundred families. But each of those families need help, help from everyone out there who wants to see kids grow up without being shot, to live free of violence, to get top educations, and live to be productive citizens of this wonderful city.”

  Devon smiled. “The apartments are going to be sold at cost to each family with no profit at any step. Let me repeat that. No profit at any step will come from the sale of the apartments to the families.”

  He paused again for a moment, then went on. “And with the modular construction, the costs are very low. Some families have agreed to sell their homes for payment on an apartment, others who are only renting have no way to pay for an apartment. And that’s where we all can help.”

  Again Devon got serious.

  Big Ed waited for it, wondering if this was going to work or not, his stomach so cramped up he felt like he was going to be sick.

  Devon looked into the camera. “Each family approved for an apartment in Complex A has been set up on Crowdsourcing Help to help fund the apartment.”

  On the screen behind him, a URL address appeared in large letters for the site they had created just for this project.

  “There are videos and background information on each family on each project. All the details are there.
Also each family has a donation fund set up at all local banks to help as well. Any extra money raised will be moved to another family. No one will make a profit from the funds donated.”

  Again, Devon paused and the reporters, shocked to their cores, all stood there silently, letting him finish. “For years we’ve all wondered how to save the children and innocents of this city. Now we have a way to not just sit in front of the televisions and wish we could do something. Now we can actually do something.”

  He stared directly into the camera as if talking to everyone watching. “You can help a family get into a self-sustaining apartment and into a new and safe life, with great schools and great jobs. But many need your support.”

  Devon looked around the shocked room. Then he really hit them with the final punch. “Over the next two years we will build at least two dozen more exactly like Complex A on the South Side of Chicago. All will be four-building-construction, all holding around six hundred families per complex.”

  On the screen behind him was an artist’s rendering of the South Side of Chicago with towering complexes going off into the distance surrounded by green parks and wide roads. It looked almost like a scene from a science fiction novel instead of something that could happen in just a few years.

  “The land has been purchased and the plans are under way for all of the new complexes. The buildings alone will supply over one third of all the power needs for the entire city.”

  Devon let that sink in, then hit them with his final punch. “In the very near future, families in this city who used to be afraid to walk outside their own home will live in safety, their children will go to great schools, and well-paying jobs will be available to anyone in the building in all areas of life.”

  Devon smiled. “Before I take any questions, I want to make one thing very, very clear. The residents of each building can come and go as they see fit, go to school where they want, move if they want. But no drugs or guns will ever be allowed in any of these buildings. At least the children in each building can play in safety, go to school in safety, and the entire family can live and work in safety if they so choose.”