Hood Council Note: Budget

Should we publish the budget? Time moves by so slowly here in the hood and we keep a budget for each simweek. I suppose publishing it won't hurt-it will help residents realize where the money is going and how much things cost. That would help residents be more trusting of the hood council and our desicions to better the hood.

Hood Council Note: Stock Market

Should Apple Valley create a local stock market? That was the question posed to me. It would help business owners with limited funds, but there is a loan program for them-which reminds me, should we manage business loans the same way as mortgages (using Monique's bill payer system). That would help in terms of new deals which have a tendency to wipe out old accounts and loans.


I'll did a survey amoung small business owners and found out the following:

-there are 5 community businesses owned by residents
--The Toy Shoppe
--CupaJava
--Herendez Art Gallery
--Tati's
--The Farmer's Market
--Fresh Flora



-there are 2 municipal businesses owned by the hood
--The Centre
--The Medical Centre


-there is 1 homebased businesses
--Apple Valley Historical Church Gift Shop


The municipal and home-based businesses had no desire for shareholders. Of the community lot businesses, there was little desire for shareholders. Mostly the businesses operate with business loans.

--The Toy Shoppe-$0 loan
--CupaJava-$0 loan
--Herendez Art Gallery-$0 loan
--Tati's-$10,000 loan
--The Farmer's Market-$3000 loan
--Fresh Flora-$12,000 loan

Total: $25,000 in business loans



At this time do not recommend a stock market, instead a simple listing of businesses and thier customer service scores and rank would suffice. This is done with the Yellow Pages service from Simmerville.

Hood Council Note: Hood Employees

The hood has several employees-most are paid according to a basic salary and fee, but others (like the pastor and teacher) are paid differently:

The Centre
Bank Teller (fair salary scaled based on skill/badges)
Newspaper Editor (fair salary scaled based on skill/badges)
Welcome Center Cashier/ Travel Guide (fair salary scaled based on skill/badges)

The Medical Centre
Medical Center Director (fair salary scaled based on skill/badges)
Nurse (fair salary scaled based on skill/badges)

AV Historical Church
Pastor (flat salary + benefits)

AV Secondary Academy
Principal/Administrator (flat salary + benefits)

The hood has numerous job openings-thinking about giving talks and assesment tests to the teenagers and university students to help them realize where they would fit into the hood's economy. Will talk to Rayne about this venture since it falls under her duties.

Hood Council Note: New Lot

The Garden Association met with me today. They presented a proposal for a botonical garden. The garden would reside on a lot as small as 2x2 to as large as 3x3. In addition to the numerous flowers, plants and walking paths, there would be a greenhouse (with a space for weddings), stage for performances.


The club even had a mock-up design of the garden with a japenese garden, country cottage garden, space for the stage, and coffee shop.


They emphasized that this would not duplicate the purpose of Celebration Park in that the botanical gardens would be mostly educational, an area for beautiful weddings and special events such as concerts. Which Apple Valley does need.


I reviewed thier proposal and looked at some numbers. Also I have determined a suitable location for the site-and the site is now nearing final construction.

Hood Council Note: Financial Director Update

Update on Plans-need to start thinking about new set of plans now that the new deal is signed.

Local businesses and associated laws

• Establish a program for New Small Business Owners:
  Give new business owners $1000-$3000 credit towards purchase of a community lot.
  Help business owners network with other small business owners in other hoods, perhaps the resurgance of the Small Business Conference.

Implement taxes and welfare support

• Establish a program for Mortgage Loans:
  Borrower must provide at least 10% down paymentLoans must be paid off within 42 simdays (six simweeks) Payments will be daily.


• Increase rental fees:
  Increase rental fees on the Starr Grey Townhomes (two-2 unit townhomes on McIntosh) due to promixity to main strip.


• Change tax structure:
  Instead of $750/simweek per residental lot, increase it to $750/simweek per family. Removes loophole where families in multi-family housing paid less in taxes than other residents.

Manage the local real estates and architectural planning of the hood

• Decrease number of multi-family units from 10 to 4


• Build mixed income housing area:


• Renovate Pavilion


• Build Celebration Park II


• Revamp Celebration Park I


• Combine Celebration Park I and II


• Expand Modern Sculpture Park


• Renovate The Core

Hood Council Note: Mortgages II

After much complaint, the mortgage system has been altered.

After investigating the options and noting current technology Apple Valley will use the following system for mortgages.

Residents will use the Monique Payer/Payee Bills/Book for mortgages.

Mortgages will have a daily payment and must be paid within 42 simdays.

Families must have a minimum of 10% downpayment for thier home.

Current interest rate for all loans is 5%

The total amount of the mortgage will be calculated as:
( Amount of house - downpayment ) * (1 + interest rate)
(§20,000-§2,000)*1.05=§22,500 mortgage

The daily payment is calculated as:
mortgage amount/42 (rounded to nearest §10)
§22,500/42=§540 daily payment

The mortgage amount, interest rate and number of days remaining for the mortgage will be noted in each household's "bio" screen and maintained by the Financial Director.

All families that have mortgages less than five simdays old, their mortgages will automatically be recalculated using the new system.

Families are encouraged to meet with the Financial Director at the bank in order to discuss affordability based on daily salary and current debts.

Hood Council Note: Mortgages

A Mortgage system has been approved. After investigating the options and noting current technology Apple Valley will use the following system for mortgages.


Residents will use the Monique Payer/Payee Bills/Book for mortgages. Mortgages will have a daily payment and must be paid within 21 simdays. Families must have a minimum of 10% downpayment for thier home.


The total amount of the mortgage will be calculated as: ( Amount of house - downpayment ) * (1 + interest rate). The daily payment is calculated as: mortgage amount/# simdays. The mortgage amount, interest rate and number of days remaining for the mortgage will be noted in each household's "bio" screen and maintained by the Financial Director.


Families are encouraged to meet with the Financial Director at the bank in order to discuss affordability based on daily salary and current debts. Interest rates are based on your financial history and ability to pay.

Hood Council Note: Bank

Finally, the bank is complete...well, at least the construction is. There's the main lobby, ATM, and a small cubicle/office to meetings regarding financial discussions (college funding, mortgages, etc). In the lobby residents can also pick up bill payment invoices and books to keep track of regular payments, such as taxes, tithes, etc. Checkbooks and investment silver and gold will also be sold.

The bank offers these services:

Savings/Checking Accounts

Checkbooks (available for small fee, can send a check to sims in the neighborhood)

Mortgages***

Loans***

Credit Cards***

ATMs and Online Banking

Automatic Payments

***more information later***

We will open the doors soon, but we need to find a banker to manage it. I suppose I could do it, but...I'm not sure if I'm ready to leave my job yet.

Hood Council Note: I'm the Financial Director

Since I have an anti-aging wavier, I now have the lifetime (or as soon as my wavier expires or I chose not to) position of Financial Director.

This term I plan to:

Local businesses and associated laws
Establish a program for New Small Business Owners:
Give new business owners $1000-$3000 credit towards purchase of a community lot.
Help business owners network with other small business owners in other hoods, perhaps the resurgance of the Small Business Conference.

Implement taxes and welfare support
Establish a program for Mortgage Loans:
Borrower must provide at least 10% down payment
Loans must be paid off within 21 simdays (three simweeks)
Payments will be twice a week (simTuesday and simThursday)

Increase rental fees:
Increase rental fees on the Starr Grey Townhomes (two-2 unit townhomes on McIntosh) due to promixity to main strip.

Change tax structure
Instead of $750/simweek per residental lot, increase it to $750/simweek per family. Removes loophole where families in multi-family housing paid less in taxes than other residents.

Manage the local real estates and architectural planning of the hood
Decrease number of multi-family units from 10 to 4:
Condemn and bulldoze the Fuji Flats (three two unit multi-family units)
One lot is ready for demolition, give other families 3 simdays (until simMonday) and $1000 for inconvience to find new housing (total $4,000)
Would decrease rental income for the hood, however would promote home ownership
Still maintain the Starr Grey Townhomes (two-2 unit townhomes on McIntosh) and AVBH (4 rooms available for rent)

Build mixed income housing area:
Build three small lot homes on Fuji Court. At least two homes must be at least two bedroom and one bath, less than $15,000, other must be bewteen $15,000 and $30,000. At least two homes one story, one home two story.

Renovate Pavilion
Renovate skating rink so more sims can enter rink to skate.

Build Celebration Park II
Small grill area, playground, bathroom on 2x3 lot

Revamp Celebration Park I
Demolish grill and playground area to create more open space. Add chess set, focus more on the lake and fishing activities

Expand Modern Sculpture Park
Demolish small 1x3 lot and build on larger 2x3 lot
Buy Euphoria from Tatiana Garris, use additional land space for the new park
Will increase value of new homes on Fuji Court


Renovate The Core
The Core is too bulky and hinders views of main street (McIntosh)
Demolish 2nd level.
Create 5-9x8 office spaces for the following retailors: The Green Paw Pet Shop; Gears & Beyond; Snips; Wearable Art; I-Scream Icecream & Pizza
Retailors are paying for renovation-no funding needed from hood council, only approval on final design.

Hood Council Note: Hood Council Report

The new term will begin soon and Ayanna asked us all to submit a council report of our tasks and recommendations.



My goals for the term:

• Build upon the current business laws: done, a very intensive law has been drafted and approved



• Revisit taxes and find an easy system to deduct taxes and fees: done, taxes are now taken every simMonday. Residents must obtain thier payment invoices by this simFriday and set-up the payments to the hood council. This makes the payments automatic, need to determine where the payments will go.



• Establish a program for Small Business Loans: not done



• Build a Community Memorial Gardens: done and successful



• Revamp Celebration Park: done, but a bit crowded with the new features, may have to build a second park

Recommendations:

• Might need to divide tasks a bit more. It is difficult to manage the real estate of the hood, especially things like parks, however do not see a clear way to divide the tasks as of yet, except to have more resident input or maybe hire a part-time consultant to control the real estate issues of the hood since this isn't a full time issue.



• Financial Director Tasks: Oversee hood finances, implement taxes and welfare support. Coordinate local trades and import based on needs of the community, oversee local businesses and associated laws, collect taxes and fees from residents.



• Real Estate Consultant Tasks:Manage community lots, construction of new homes and destruction of homes. Manage the local real estates and architectural planning of the hood, including any community lots, general beautifying and landscape community gardens, recreation areas and health of animals and native plants.