50s: Starting with a storage ring

Chapter 590 Where is the land?
Of all the infrastructure, the tower's equipment was updated ten years ago and still seems adequate.

However, the vehicles and equipment of the logistics department are very old, some of them look like they are from World War II. They make a clanging noise when they run, which is heartbreaking to see.

After visiting all the places, Sun Zhiwei instructed the receiving team to begin organizing all the airport's assets.

He had actually already compiled the information once at the Bureau, but that was all based on data. He didn't believe that such a long-established airport didn't have something to hide.

While his subordinates were working, he followed Manager David to his office.

David is feeling very anxious and uncertain about his future, so he naturally tries his best to perform well in everything he does.

When Sun Zhiwei saw that he had actually taken out Longjing tea from China, he was also surprised. It seems that his little hobbies were no longer a secret.

Sun Zhiwei currently has no intention of replacing the general manager; he wants to see if David is a suitable candidate.

Because he currently lacks airport management talent, he is willing to keep David on the job unless he is exceptionally incompetent.

"Mr. David, you showed me the airport today, and you are very familiar with it. What do you think would be the best way to make changes to the airport, and what are the difficulties?"

David was taken aback by his question at first, then thought about it in silence for a few minutes before finally answering:

"Boss, I was aware of the airport's problems a long time ago. There are many areas that need improvement, such as hygiene, equipment, and personnel."

"The reason why things haven't changed during my years as a manager is actually quite frustrating."

"LaGuardia Airport has to pay enough profits to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey every year, and that profit is increasing every year. I simply don't have any money left to improve the airport's condition."

"Take the hygiene of the passenger area as an example. In fact, we can solve the problem perfectly by adding 30 more cleaners."

"But my annual budget is fixed, and there's simply no extra money to hire more staff."

"Moreover, airport employees are currently paid relatively low wages. For example, a security guard earns $400 a week, which is not enough to support a family given the cost of living in New York."

"I don't know if you've noticed, but now none of the airport's employees are under 30 years old."

"Most of them are New Yorkers with their own homes, so they ask for significantly lower salaries than people from out of town."

Upon hearing his statement, Sun Zhiwei silently calculated in his mind.

A weekly wage of $400 translates to an annual salary of $19,000, which is roughly the average wage in a typical U.S. state in the 1980s.

But New York is a metropolis, and prices are much higher than in other cities. The cost of living is also very high. If you want to rent a house, this salary is definitely not enough to live on.

No wonder David wants to hire locals. Locals have their own place to live and don't need to rent, so they can save a lot of money on living expenses and therefore ask for lower salaries.

From this perspective, David is indeed capable.

Suddenly, he remembered that David had jumped out and reprimanded the security guards at the security checkpoint earlier.

Looking back now, it's possible that he was trying to protect those security personnel from being fired by Sun Zhiwei.

From this perspective, David does seem to have some humanity.

"Is there anything you want to say to me about this airport?" Sun Zhiwei suddenly asked.

David was a little confused by Sun Zhiwei's question. Hadn't he been talking about the airport situation? Why was he suddenly asking this? He stopped his explanation and began to think about why Sun Zhiwei was asking him this. After thinking for a while, he realized that Sun Zhiwei probably wanted to ask about something that others didn't know.

He has been the airport's general manager for ten years. Before that, he was the head of the airport's operations department, and before that, he worked as an airport security guard.

Over the decades, he has climbed from the bottom to his current position, making him an inspirational role model for airport staff.

Therefore, he actually knew quite a few secrets that only long-term employees knew.

For example, there used to be a submarine dock in the basement of the old terminal building, which provided logistical support for British submarines during World War II.

Of course, it's unusable now. The East River outside is silted up and the water is only two meters deep, so only small boats can pass through.

There are also several old warehouses containing many old models of aircraft, both civilian and military.

Many of them were left here for maintenance when the airport was used as a military airfield.

By the time the repairs were completed, World War II had ended, and the site had been converted into a civilian airport. No one from the military came looking for the planes anymore.

He didn't hide anything from Sun Zhiwei, telling him everything one by one.

These things did indeed pique Sun Zhiwei's interest, but it was just interest; he actually wanted to hear if this old airport had any hidden secrets.

As they talked, David brought up an incident: when he was working in security, the airport manager at the time, Davis, embezzled a lot of airport profits to hoard land.

This matter was actually quite private, but he happened to be dating a girl in the finance department at the time, so he overheard it.

Upon hearing this information, Sun Zhiwei immediately interrupted him: "And what happened to this manager later?"

"Ah, him? He died in a plane crash six months later." Sensing a glimmer of hope, Sun Zhiwei immediately pressed, "What about the land he bought?"

"I don't know about that. The successor manager doesn't seem to know anything about it either, and I haven't paid any attention to it."

"However, important documents at the airport are usually archived. Do you need me to look for them?"

"Where is the archive? Let's go look for it." Sun Zhiwei had a vague feeling that there was hope.

How could embezzlement leave no trace? The manager who took over later couldn't have been unaware of it. Why did this matter simply disappear?
Seeing how interested Sun Zhiwei was in this matter, David had no choice but to take him to the archives.

The archives are located inside the old building. It's a large room that stores various paper archives and documents from the airport over the past forty years.

Sun Zhiwei didn't find it particularly strange. He had been to the archives of the KGB and the FBI before, and this small archive was nothing to mention.

Nevertheless, this archive also contains hundreds of thousands of paper documents.

If the two of them didn't know the storage rules, finding a file with an unknown name would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Fortunately, David knew the situation here. He first found the catalog at the front desk of the archives, and then found the year the manager who embezzled funds died: 1966.

When they arrived at the location of the 1966 documents, they discovered that the entire year's worth of documents occupied a filing cabinet that was 8 meters long and 3 meters high.

(End of this chapter)