Authority

The power structure of the city is hierarchical, and much of the decision-making power is delegated to the Districts themselves at the local level. Among the corporations within this power structure, there are allies, rivals, power blocs and special interest groups of various sorts.

The City Board
The city is governed by a Corporate Board whose representatives are selected by executive officers of all major stakeholder corporations (numbering in the hundreds). Of these corporations, several dozen have sufficient investitures to wield a significant amount of individual authority.

Decisions of the City Board are advised by representatives of the District Councils, by the Council of Elders, by the reports and projections of CitySystem, and by expert consultants hired on a contractual basis as needed.

District Councils
Each District is governed by its own District Council which is comprised of three or more representatives of that district’s stakeholder corporations. Each district and has its own rules and electoral system. The Corporate Enclaves tend more toward direct democracy and their representatives change fairly frequently, while the poorer districts tend to be held with more tenacity by entrenched executives, dynasties, organized crime bosses and ideologues.

In addition to the Criminal Processing Center in the CBD, each district has its own police stations and holding facilities. These stations are staffed by Municipal Police officers who work in cooperation with (but outrank) the security forces of District Stakeholders.

The Council of Elders
Representatives of the people of Union City and conservators of the city's quality of life, the Council of Elders consists of seven popularly-elected representatives who serve ten-year terms.

Individually, an Elder has little authority compared to a District Councilor, but when voting as a bloc they've been known to sway major decisions, often serving as foils against the rapidly-increasing rates of development throughout the city. Elders tend to throw their weight behind issues of regulation, lower-class representation, division of surpluses, long-range planning and “green” initiatives.

City Governance Divisions
City Governance Divisions are run by Directors, who are elected by the District Council. These bodies implement and enforce the rulings of the Board, and hold much of the real power in day-to-day operations and decision-making. They are:

City Service Departments
Finally, city services are divided into the following departments, each with its own administrators, managers, clerks, field operatives and networked AI subsystems (parts of the overall CitySystem). All city servicepeople wear the silver CityService patch while on duty.

Corporate Hierarchy
Because the largest corporations hold the greatest number of voteshares, the de facto power structure of the city is an oligarchical hierarchy, in which a small number of powerful corporations call most of the shots, blocking certain proposals as they arise and approving others to be implemented and backed up by the force of law. Many of the most powerful corporations own scores of smaller ones, operating them or letting them run themselves, as suits their corporate culture.

It is important to note that the power hierarchy of Union City is always in flux, with some corporations gaining in power and favor while others decline, and all sorts of machinations go on behind the scenes – from the formation of power blocs and personal rivalries to corporate espionage and even sabotage. Over time, however, the same few handfuls of powerful corps tend to come out on top.

District Stakeholders
Although it is customary for member corporations within the city to deal freely with each other across the board, in practice there exist a number of “power blocs” or clusters of allied organizations which for various reasons – commercial, personal or historical – prefer to do business with each other. Over time some of these allegiances have resulted in massive joint ventures such as the Enclaves and Corporate Projects, or privately-negotiated arrangements like the reciprocal relationship between Nutrex and the Nepenthe Aqualogy. The stakeholder corporations of the various districts are listed below.

NOTE: The public advertisements and services that you see in any given district are always those of its stakeholder companies and their advertising partners; never their business rivals.

The CBD (Downtown)
The Central Business District (CBD) is owned collectively by the Union of Corporations that gives the city its canonical name: City of Union. Stakeholders receive a portion of voting power and make ongoing contributions for civic upkeep, development, expansion and UBI. Each member corporation receives voteshares and makes contributions (also known as “elite taxes”) based on position and reputation within the City Board, but the “Big Nine” stakeholders in the Civic Center easily wield the most power in the city.

STAKEHOLDERS:


 * Artificial Living Solutions (ALS)
 * CRABB Protection Services
 * Cycloco
 * Global Nation Products (GNP)
 * Intelligence Services (IS)
 * MegaMedia
 * MolRec
 * Nutrex
 * Wolfram Medical

The ENCLAVES
Populated by the richest and most powerful of the city's inhabitants, the Corporate Enclaves are vastly overly-represented in terms of corporate decision-making and budgetary expenditures. Fully automated, well-maintained and well-defended, these areas represent the epitome of 22nd-century civilization in the minds of their jaded and comfortable citizens.

STAKEHOLDERS:


 * Fresco – Artificial Living Solutions (ALS), Intelligence Services, NanoMacro, Wolfram Medical
 * Lessing Heights – 3score10, Nutrex
 * Sterlwynn Meadows – CRABB, MegaMedia, Nutrex

The PROJECTS
Ranging in living standards from quite comfortable to merely habitable, the Projects are long-standing collective expenditures by large corporations to create housing for their employees and gigworking pools; they were a major concession in the formation of the city's corporate charter. Over time many blocks have expanded into investment packages and housing developments on land leased by smaller “partner” companies, though the fact that all partners must be vetted by all stakeholders serves to strengthen existing corporate allegiances and power blocs.

STAKEHOLDERS:
 * Calibras – Ashvin, Calibration Logistics, InSituCorp
 * Hadid – Cycloco; Global Nation Products (GNP), Kimura, VacTrain
 * Midoru – Asimorph, Lifestyle Brands, Nutrex, TekTek
 * Paradi – Cycloco; Global Nation Products (GNP), MegaMedia
 * Nulan – Artificial Living, Intelligence Services

The SPRAWLS
Geopolitically, each Sprawl is divided into many smaller areas, some as small as a single building or block, and each of these areas is owned by a particular stakeholding corporation or group (of which there are hundreds, representing the lower tiers of corporate power in the city). Sprawl stakeholders participate cooperatively in the maintenance and upkeep of their district as a whole, and whole neighborhoods or individual parcels are leased out to sub-investors representing smaller “third-tier” corporations and start-ups. Relations between neighboring company-blocks can vary widely, occasionally erupting into violence or sabotage. The largest stakeholders active in Sprawl development—though nowhere near all of them—are shown below.

STAKEHOLDERS:
 * Cerillis – Ashvin, Global Nation Products (GNP), MolRec, Swoosh (through a veil of fronts and shells)
 * Sunridge – Alinor, Artificial Living Solutions (ALS), GAAU, PG&J, Safeguard
 * Whitehill – CRABB, General Entertainment, RayTek, Zir

The SQUATTER TOWNS
Of negligible economic value, the Squats have been left to lie fallow as failed investments, though some still have vague plans for their future development. Like the Sprawl districts, these areas represent pooled collective investments by a large number of corporations and individuals through a complicated series of stock offerings, toxic financial packages, debt purchases, multi-tiered asset bundles and shell companies. There are few within the city government who care about the condition of these zones, except as a source of filth and disease to be kept out of the other districts. As a result they tend to be run by an ever-shifting cast of gangs, familes, and would-be warlords. A few corporate stakeholders can be identified by occasional business or other operations within these districts, though these investments seem more research-oriented than managerial.

STAKEHOLDERS:
 * Bosing – MolRec, Wolfram Medical
 * Derova – Global Vision, TekTek

The INDUSTRIAL DISTRICTS
The two industrial districts are controlled by rival companies who are required by law to lease space to partners and client corps at reasonable rates. Rules and regulations governing the price and availability of recycled materials are enforced by the City Resources Department.

STAKEHOLDERS:
 * Hadid Industrial Park – Cycloco & partners
 * Kaishi – MolRec & partners