City Redesign

The North of the city has been completely redesigned. I put in all new Fachwerks, rebuilt the city walls, added spires for the walls, rebuilt all the roads, terraformed the land, and added many trees. It completely transformed the space. The restaurant really integrates well with the other structures now.

I didn't get around to naming the lots, writing down their size, or making a map. That will have to follow at a later date, perhaps Tuesday.

I also rebuilt all the "LEGO" structures on the North and South of the square. They are constructed from pieces of the new Fachwerks, rearranged to make novel structures. They're still temporary, yet good enough to leave for a while until the other parts of the city are complete. If you'd like, we can move our meeting place into one of the buildings and we can raze the dome.

Suggestions are welcomed on the new layout and structures.

~Ulrika~

The place looks absolutely stunning! And, imagine, trees on the city streets!

In an earlier post ( /103/0c/45450/1.html ), I suggested a possible re-design of the tops of the city walls, to become a promenade where citizens can walk and talk. Is this something we can do?

Sudane

My, Neualtenburg has trees! This immediately caught my attention Lovely!

What a wonderful work, Ulrika!

I also like Sudane's suggestion.

I wonder if Urusula Zapata would be willing to redesign the furniture at the restaurant/bar - that's the most used regularly used structure in Neualtenburg (every Tuesday, the Thinkers' meet there at 2 PM PST)

And we definitely should get someone to work on the MoMA - but this time to use it, not to let it stand empty. I offered it publicly to a group of artists/event hosters who were complaining that LL did not "promote" the fine arts properly. Perhaps I could try to contact them again...?

Lovely place - lovely work. I am impressed by all people in SL that does all this. Sl are full of great surprises! Love it!

Maybe time for me to contact the Swedish Tourist board or our Statsminister for money/time to build our Gamla Stan (Old town in Stockholm) as a promotion for us.-)))

http://www.photo.net/sweden/stockholm/gamlastan

Midsummer party will be at my place in SL (I do some decorations)... but sadly I am myself at a midsummer party in the original place in Sweden: Dalarna.. ((

Read more about our old dresses... Folkdräkt called:

http://www.sverigedrakten.se/story/SWEA-story.html

Yes. This is a marvelous idea.

~Ulrika~

Here's a list of all the lots in North section of the walled city with their areas.

~Ulrika~

V2-001 480
V2-002 240
V2-003 144
V2-004 144
V2-005 144
V2-006 144
V2-007 144
V2-008 144
V2-009 192
V2-010 192
V2-011 144
V2-012 192
V2-013 144
V2-014 224
V2-015 144
V2-016 336

Lots: 16
Area: 3152 m^2

Thanks, Ulrika! That's a great help for the land revenue planning.

Sudane

I wanted to ask your advice for the name of a new governmental structure. It will be a building right off the Marktplatz (town square), that will hold our official texture packs, fachwerk accessories (doors, flowers, standard signs), and our new trees. I'd also like to sell some items related to the city there as well that could only be purchased by Neualtenburgers, such as additional fachwerks and modern structures (for those with the modern theme outside the walls).

The question is, what to call it. Any suggestions?

I was thinking something like "Infrastructure Office", "Supply Office", "Land Management Office", or "Real Estate Office". Hmm.

~Ulrika~

I like Supply Office. Or, how about General Store, or Commissary? (I presume there's German versions of those).

BTW, I think its a great idea. Being the capitalist that I am, I am somewhat of the feeling that the store, or office, should be privately owned, but "franchised" by the City: authorized to sell and distribute items promoting the City, and furthering its aims.

That way, Neualtenburg collects its monthly land fee, and its sales tax, but the entrepeneur has the incentive, and reaps the benefit, of an aggressively successful enterprise. The entrepeneur gets value from selling "official" Neualtenburg materials, but in exchange must supply the floor space for the items which are free to Neualtenburgers.

And, another BTW, why not sell to outsiders those materials which are free to Neualtenburgers? Its like all those Budweiser tee shirts that Americans pay hefty dollars for. Publicity for the city that others actually pay for!



Sudane

*
Das Architektenbüro.

Yes! I agree. One clarification, are you saying that those who sell should pay land-use fees in the store or is a tax on sales sufficient?

Yes.

I plan to sell all my content to both Neualtenburgers and the greater SL. Those who have their "Neualtenburg" group active will be able to buy items at a discount in world.

~Ulrika~

My model is the concept of the Neualtenburger as one who has purchased a share of the coop. That share provides the land that their house, or shop, or both is located on. If they decide that they will have a shop there, then the Neualtenburg-approved vendor that they must use will, of course, remit sales tax to the City.

So. The "owner" of the shop pays their monthly land use fee. And, the vendor that they are required to use remits sales tax to the city. You could say this is double taxation, but it's not tax on the same thing. I feel its a very fair way to structure things.

Sudane

Agreed!

As long as we're on the subject, should we selectivley require sales to exist in certain spots depending on one's zone? Options are:

1. Everyone can sell in their homes. Everyone can sell in a common central area.
   
2. Those outside of the city walls (OTW) can sell only in their homes, while those inside the city walls (ICW) can sell at home or in the a common central area.
   
3. The OTWers can sell only in their homes, while the ICWers can only sell in a common central area.
   
4. No one can sell in their homes and must use a common central area.
   

~Ulrika~

Lots of interesting issues!

My priority is that owners "In the City Walls" (ICW) can sell from their homes. The concept of the medieval shop, with the home in the back, or upstairs, is a very ancient tradition. It would be extremely interesting to see if that can work in Neualtenburg.

With that, to me, as a given, and, I suppose also that everyone, even the "country folk" from "Outside the Walls" (OTW) should be able to "set up stands" in the common areas within the city, then the only remaining issue is whether or not OTW citizens should be able to sell from their homes.

I pass that issue along to others . I would be happy either way.

Sudane

I agree. I'm of the mind that everyone should be able to sell out of their homes with a city vendor. I'd also like for there to be a central area for sales too, provided it looks good.

~Ulrika~

I'm open to modifying the city walls, although I want to make sure we stick to a look consistent with the walls around Rothenburg (they have walls that vary from quite tall to knee high). Once the area outside the walls starts to build up, I think prominent walls will help provide definition to the center of the city that would otherwise be lost.

Keeping that in mind, if someone wants to throw together a couple of prototypes, we could drop them in place and we can see how they look.

~Ulrika~

I think I'm a bit confused...

If I understand you correctly, the City Centre (inside the walls) is to be a mix of commercial and residential (besides "support" structures, of course).

So, people living there would be able to do both. It makes some sense. The higher payment would be seen as a "commercial license to open up shop". Also, we mustn't forget that the telehub drops people right inside the Marktplazt, where I expect the major shops to be. All that makes sense.

Originally, I also thought that people outside the city walls would be the same mix. This was one of the original ideas - the "privilege" of owning a share of Neualtenburg also allowed you to sell things. Rentees and "other citizens" would be able to use city vendors inside the walls to sell their products as well. Share owners would sell their wares for free; the others would pay a sales tax,.

Over the time, we redefined "citizenship" in Neualtenburg to mean "ownership of a share", and renting has (at least for the moment) be abandoned. It makes sense to me that the "zoning" in Neualtenburg should change as well.

So, I'd agree with the following ideas:

- the City Centre is commercial/residential. Shop owners should be encouraged to open up shops in the ground floor, facing the streets or the Marktplace, and eventually having their living quarters on the first floor;
- outside the walls, it's a residential area only. No vendors/clubs/casinos/malls allowed, although you may host events at your home;
- all citizens are entitled to display items in the city vendors. If you own a shop in the City Centre, you put up your vendors inside your own shop; if not, there will be a "common vendor space" for the residential citizens to sell their items.
- the City will not charge for vendors set up on the "common vendor space"

So, what about sales tax? Will that be forfeited, since all citizens will be paying for their share anyway?

And, of course, we should discuss where this "common vendor space" is going to be. It could be just vendors around the Marktplace, or a special structure built just for that purpose...

It seems to me that this agrees with everything so far, except over the issue of selling from homes outside the walls. Gwyn makes a good point. I don't think it's that critical that citizens be allowed to sell from their homes outside the walls, and it certainly would contribute to a more civilized environment. So, I'd guess i'd say that I'd prefer that position, rather than allowing vendors in homes outside the walls.
I presume you mean that sales tax should be eliminated since people are paying a monthly fee for their land.

I feel that a sales tax is fair, despite the fact that those collecting the sales tax are already paying the monthly fee for their occupancy of the land. Everything in the world of finance is a matter of balance. One tries to balance the burden of the need for revenues on the various sources that can best handle it. We've concluded on an initial monthly fee per square meter based partly on the needs of the coop, and partly on how much people will pay and still find participation attractive. We've concluded that a monthly fee for property inside the walls should be higher by one third than outside the walls because this area may be more desireable; possibly because one can sell there. I feel that a person who experiences sales of their goods will find it easier to pay the sales tax than if that same amount of revenue were generated by increasing the monthly fee to everyone even more.

Now, for full disclosure, I should say that in RL I am adamantly against the sales tax, VAT, wherever and whatever its called. It's a unfair piling of the tax burden on the lower echelon of the society who must invest a larger percentage of their income (larger than the upper echelon of society) in goods and services to which a sales tax applies. And, it's a rip-off to business owners who must collect the state's taxes for them. In my RL personna, I've been "mental" over this issue for years .

But here in Neualtenburg I feel the situation is somewhat different. Looked at from the point of view of the survival needs of the City, which will need far more revenue to survive and prosper than simply the monthly payment to the Lindens; and from the point of view that pretty much all spending is discretionary, sales tax as an important source of revenue for the City makes sense to me.

Keeping in mind also, that as the finances and the business of Neualtenburg become stable, our projection is that all "tax rates" will be able to decrease, I'd strongly urge that we collect sales tax on all sales in the sim, as well as the monthly fees for participation in the coop.

Sudane

I would be willing to redesign if someone had some ideas for me. Or I would be willing to let someone else design/build the new furniture for the restaurant. My SL time has been very limited lately, mostly just the DJ stuff, but I still love Neualtenburg. You guys have done a great job with the city redesign. I love all the colors in the houses and shops, the trees and the whole layout.

Beautiful!

Urusula

I was inspired by your amazing work on the restaurant! It's truly a city landmark and personally one of my favorite structures.

~Ulrika~

Given that the rest of the RA members were killed, when Jesse crashed back in 03 (March ), I'd say that we have a consensus. I'll add the no-retail-outside-the-city-walls clause to the covenant.

I plan on turning the large double-wide structure on the North of the Marktplatz (town square) into a retail store. We should have enough space so that everyone will be able to sell their goods there.

Great discussion. I support the sales tax as well, given that the vendor infrastructure is a mighty time- and resource-consuming beast. (Although, I have an idea about that. I'll discuss it more later.)

~Ulrika~