Serena Telegraph

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Serena Telegraph
Corporation Info
CEO/Founderpowerminer01
Founded15 february 2020
HeadquartersRepublica Mall, Serena
Parent CompanyPiron Incorporated/Piron PRESS
SloganYour news source in Serena

The Serena Telegraph dives into the real stories of Serena City and the global news stories from all around the MRT

2021-04-01

Serena Republica: A year in the making

Serena Republica, the beating heart of the city is soon to celebrate it's first year as a new downtown! Read an in-depth interview with the city's mayor detailing a year of rapid construction, transport projects, politics and the future of Serena.

Serena Republica as seen before the rapid 2020 developments

Serena City - One year: 29 sep 2019 - 29 sep 2020 reads a plaque on the tricolour Serena monument crowning the grave of Watchfield's former tram station. The stylistically elegant sculpture reflecting the city's flag is displaying the result of a long creative maturation process, a literal milestone to celebrate a long running city building project. Serena Telegraph got to interview the city's mayor who spent most of the session reflecting on the past and disclosing visions for the future.

It's a nice spring day In Serena Republica and we meet mayor powerminer01 at the locally renowned Penguin Café, a site where many of the city's local politicians, now housed in the new city hall across the street, congregate during both on and off hours. The café is squeezed between Serena Avenue running east towards the east MRT station and the small plaza by city hall, where another tricolour monument has just been erected. We sit outside to enjoy the fresh air from the park nearby, a crown jewel still under development which supplies the glass dressed city hall with midday light. Serena Republica has existed in material form for about a year, and it all started with the building we now get our lunch from. Powerminer reflects on his sorroundings: "I got hold of some old documentation and I couldn't believe my eyes" Less that a year ago, Serena Republica was but a dream drawn out with orange and green blocks, proposing a detailed plan which has never been seen since. "I recall the vision was persistant", the mayor continues; "I think the idea of the city name 'Serena' must have appeared in my conciousness around 2016, a time when Watchfield was hardly developed". The mayor gazes through the windows, through the café floor and onto the dark prismarine building behind us, a residential palace which belongs to some of the earliest upscaled buildings in this part of the city. "I remember wanting to terraform this particular part of town for a long time, beginning with the terracotta and prismarine buildings lining the MRT tracks which cut through the downtown area of the city. I still live in that green house and I love the view from my balcony!". the mayor continues with engagement; "It's almost a better view than my new office in the new city hall, though I like that I get to work so centrally and enjoy the atmosphere that this new downtown emmits."

We talk about some of the architectural highlights of the 2020 building boom of Serena Republica and instantly get stuck on talking about the ambitious mall project. "Republica Mall was to Serena Republica what Prismarine Plaza was to Watchfield"; the mayor comments "It was an experiment in mixed-use buildings albeit a lot more ambitious and focusing on pure commerce and business as the development plans of yesteryear had been a bit too heavy on residential-only buildings."

Republica Mall was a bold experiment developed together with Piron Incorporated, who's headquarters incidentally are connected to the mall. The two buildings share a metro station and Piron owns several of the office floors built on top of the mall. Still in construction is a hotel to be run by Milton Hotel Group which is connected to the mall through another office building with a cinema and a bowling alley on the two bottom floors, effectively creating a streetlong interconnected building for commerce, tourism and business.

"This monster of a project is the commercial centre of the entire city and just happened to turn out really great!", the mayor comments. "The fact that is became so interconnected was just a strike of luck not at all forseen in the initial plan for the area, and it is a fact which is being taken into account as the city's growing metro system is still being developed under our feet."

We discuss the metro system for a bit and the mayor concludes that half of Serena's 2020 development is largely invisible as it became the starting year for the city's third transport project (preceeded in 2015 my a malfunctioning tram system and in 2017 by the integration into the Xilia Regional Buses network).

The 2021 metro map detailing possible regional connections to neighbouring towns along with the new Midcity Line.

"A few days ago, the preliminary metro map for 2021 was published by SLT. City Hall has steamrolled forward with a vision of Serena being more in sync with the region. We have started to open dialogues with nearby towns to discuss possible integrations into their respective transit systems, though as of this interview, no plans have been made yet."

What is a given however, is the making of the new Midcity Line as disclosed by SLT. This line will serve as a complement to existing stations aswell as extending the possibilities of expansion of the system as the city grows.

"Something few people outside City Hall knows is the more explicit political reasons behind the Midcity Line."; Powerminer explains; "It was something which was clear from the start as the first plans of the metro system saw the light of day, and it involved the challanges of connecting the old town, Watchfield to the system. Because of the somewhat large stations in comparison to the small scale of the old town, no implementation of metro would be ideal and that became very evident when the residents of Birch Hill started to protest the plans."

Birch Hill is for the record a small, yet highly influential neighborhood today part of Watchfield. The majority of resitents in that area are low- to mid-income earners who frequently commute to and from work all across the region, using the regional buses and the MRT. These residents expressed loudly their dissatisfaction with the fact that they had been seen as less of a priority that more affluent areas such as Prismarine Plaza. A political dispute, involving local partisan conflicts, lobbying on the part of both Piron and various unions, the decision of connecting Birch Hill to the metro network became a high-profile matter for the elected administration of the city.

"It was quite an ugly conflict at times, but after nearly a year of debate we reached a conclusion which came to benefit everyone involved. Thanks to the Birch Hill residents we were able to see the need for transport in a more nuanced way and it eventually led to a creative way to utilize existing stations and apply the lessons from that case to other Watchfield related issues with the new metro system. The Midcity Line as it is planned to date is better than anyone could ever hope for, especially considering all the plans that City Hall has for the south of Serena, an area which has remained difficult to fit into the larger plan involving transport until now.

We continue to discuss the future of Serena, beyond the incorporation of the old and the lessons from the Republica project. Around january this year a brand new suburban area north of Glass City started to spring up and another, part of Serena: Evergreen District is about to be built in the south.

"Right now there are so many projects going on at once that it's hard to keep track, and it might be necessary soon to look for other engaged town officials to keep this project running", the mayor says. He looks tired, yet inspired to continue to slowly realise the vision that is Serena. Rumours about Serena applying for Senator rank has been circulating for some time, but the mayor neither confirms of denies it, stating that Serena might get to rank up some day, but that he is in no hurry.

"I like to work on this as long as I am engaged", he adds; "and I see a rankup to be more of a bonus than a goal to strife towards at this point."

He stares at the newly erected Serena monument which will hopefully have a plaque in the beginning of June, celebrating six years of slow and steady growth.

"Weather or not this city will ever rank up I will still continue to work on it and if the server, and my interest in the project persists six more years, I'll be sure to celebrate accordingly"

-Serena Telegraph, Serena Republica

2020-02-15

Serena Daily says "Hello world!" Today marks the date of the all-new news site bringing you closer to the stories in Serena City. First out is an interview with Mayor Powerminer 01 on the future of the town:

IN FOCUS: Serena Mayor, powerminer01 talks about big developments in Serena City

Serena Daily had the chance to sit down and talk to Serena Mayor powerminer01 about the recent developments all around Serena City. We meet him in his office in the old city hall of Watchfield, which in the coming months very likely will be a ward of the larger metropolis of Serena City. The old town hall stands proudly on the hill on the northern edge of the old town, presenting a view of a skyline which, in the mayor's own words has "sprung up like a forest" Watchfield is in the middle of a booming region, not far from Central City. Watchfield has always been a town of modest proportions in comparison to the neigbouring cities of Xilia and Cornus in the east, along with Radiance Square just across the A8 highway. "I think the vision for Wathchfield was always a vision of something smaller, something graspable," powerminer continues at his desk, "but the overall ambition in the region is really infectious" Wathchfield has really sprung up since it was founded in june of 2015, much of the landscape in the vicinity has been completely transformed. "Watchfield has become clustered over the years", powerminer continues, "Lots of different areas has grown independently. I sometimes feel as if the city is too clustered, yet, It's rather the result of extremely organic growth." Wathcfield grew very quickly in 2016, something which might have affected the clustering. "Before I knew it, the city had no one center", the mayor adds, "I believe it was the idea of renewal, the idea of wanting to make something better. I believe that the eastern expansion is an example of that vision of making a better city than how it started." The eastern expansion of Watchfield, soon to be known as Serena Republica, was according to the mayor the vision of making new, more city-like central district. The buildings, like the palace-like residential buildings and the new public library are upscaled in comparison to the more modest town houses of old Watchfield. Powerminer argues for the divide of the city into separate wards just because of this difference in atmosphere between the different areas which have grown, sometimes far apart from each other. "I believe Watchfield, under the new name, Serena, will be regarded as more coherent. The new city hall, along with the new courthouse have been more contextually planned in the context of the rest of the city. Most of Watchfield has been more or less completed for years, and I think that part of the new larger city will lift the old town up". Powerminer explains the plans of connecting the whole city in a more flexible way. "Currently, the road connections between the new and old city are few. Most of the old city is very well supplied with public transit, thatks to the very well planned bus network by autobus22, but in the long run, these street buses need to be complemented with other connections all over." Powerminer continues by showing the plans for the new metro. "I think a metro system like you see here brings stringency to the whole city. Currently only two stations are done, on the northwestern edge of the yellow line. I intend to first construct metro stations in the old town to make sure all those areas become part of the intented whole. There is still much work to be done, but I believe that this transit system will be a vital foundation for the transision from town to city in the coming months" Powerminer looks tired at his desk. Lots of things needs to be finished before the official transition into Serena City can begin, but he says that he is hopeful for the future. "So many success stories have taken place in this region", he says, "Whitechapel has always been a big inspiration for taking this town to another level and Radiance Square is hopefully soon to reach Premier, not that Premier would be reachable for Watchfield of Serena today, but Senator would be fun."

Serena Daily, Watchfield