[thomas_howland]

It's far from "government barely existing". They exist in minimal form solely to extract resources from any remaining piece of value in the city. Eg:

"Then earlier this year, he got a letter saying 333 Midland wasn’t up to code and it would have to cease operations immediately. He took care of the minor matters the fire marshall requested, like installing exit signs and extra fire extinguishers. But he still can’t get a clear answer from the building inspector about what else needs to be taken care of"

[icelancer]

"But he still can’t get a clear answer from the building inspector about what else needs to be taken care of."

This is local government at its finest. I deal with this on a regular basis. There are regulations with no clear code; when I ask for a specific contract and list of things to do, I get the runaround - but that doesn't stop them from telling me what I am doing with my building structures is not up to code.

[arbuge]

Indeed, those were my thoughts on reading this also. That building inspector sounds like he's expecting a bribe of some kind to go away.

[missingcolours]

I did some research a few years ago and HP had one of the higher revenue streams per capita in the entire state. There's lots of money in the city government, but not a lot of results, which points you toward the underlying problems.