50s: Starting with a storage ring

Chapter 617 First Step Goal Achieved

“You see, we’ve got the same idea.” Of course, Sun Zhiwei’s thoughts didn’t actually align with Mayor Ed’s.

He was watching Ed's lip movements closely, and he repeated the words 'traffic jam' together.

He started a little slower, but sped up in the middle and finished reciting at the same time as Ed, making it sound like they were speaking in unison.

It's a little trick, but it can often quickly build rapport with strangers.

"It seems you've also thought of this: no matter how beautiful I build LaGuardia Airport, it has a fatal weakness, which is poor traffic."

"But the traffic problem is not something I can solve, so, Mr. Mayor, I need your help."

When Ed heard his words, and his own experience confirmed the truth of the matter, he began to seriously consider it.

"James, how many roads lead to the LaGuardia Airport terminal now?"

"There is only one lane, and it is only a one-way two-lane road. When the car reaches the terminal, it always has to stop to let passengers off."

"But this makes the already narrow roads very easy to get congested."

“This is indeed a problem that must be solved.” Ed agreed with Sun Zhiwei’s statement, then got up and walked to the wall next to him.

There was a map of New York City there, and Ed located LaGuardia Airport on the map and then studied the roads leading there.

Sun Zhiwei followed along and began to study the material, offering his own suggestions and explaining the advantages and disadvantages of each one.

In fact, when he was making the plan, he had already been evaluated by professionals, and the experts gave him several solutions.

Now, he was telling Ed about the feasible solutions that the experts had discussed.

Today he only gave Ed a general idea; Ed would definitely discuss it with his staff afterward, and these suggestions would become Ed's thoughts during the discussion.

First, the simplest solution is to widen the road, increasing the current two lanes to four lanes, or even six lanes.

When this road was built, some green belts were left on both sides. They could all be demolished and rebuilt into a highway. This method is the cheapest and fastest.

Initially, this method should have been effective in alleviating traffic congestion, but as the number of passengers at the airport increased, problems still arose during the second phase of the project.

Secondly, the flow of passengers from the several terminals will be diverted, and an alternative route will be chosen to lead to the terminals behind them.

There are a few other options. One is to draw a side road from the adjacent road; however, this is essentially the same thing in a different guise, as these roads all pass through the already congested main roads of Queens.

Alternatively, a bridge could be built across the river directly to the northern part of Queens, and then connected to the Bronx via the Whitestone Bridge, which would at least separate the flow of people from one large area.

The ideal solution would be to build a new dedicated airport expressway connecting the major districts, thus separating the flow of people heading to the airport from the general flow of people. This would be a permanent solution.

However, Sun Zhiwei did not dare to mention this method.

Everyone knows the cost of building a new highway, especially one in the main urban area. He wondered if Mayor Ed had the vision to undertake such a large-scale project.

After Sun Zhiwei had given all his suggestions, he took his leave.

The goal today is to get Ed's approval for his airport expansion plan, which would then necessitate the construction of corresponding supporting projects at the city hall.

Now that his goal has been achieved, he naturally has to leave.

This is not something that can be settled in one go. He will likely be called in several more times before a final supporting plan is finalized. Only after the city hall has finalized the supporting plan can he use the city hall's support to persuade various airlines to pay.

This is a series of interconnected steps; it cannot be rushed, nor can any mistakes be made.

So, after leaving City Hall, he put the matter aside and began to focus on the acquisition of Pinkerton Detective Agency.

The current shareholders of the Pinkerton Detective Agency are divided into three categories. One category consists of descendants of the Pinkerton family, but these shares are not held by one person.

Several descendants of the Pinkerton family each hold a portion of the shares, which were previously held on their behalf by the person in charge of Pinkerton Company, thus ensuring the family's say in the company.

But as the shares were divided generation after generation, they became fragmented, with some being sold off and others being distributed too loosely.

Surprisingly, not a single member of the Pinkerton family in this generation is interested in the detective profession.

Therefore, Rex Acosta, the current chairman of Pinkerton, is only a minor shareholder.

Rex Acosta was the only one among the many shareholders who was interested in the detective industry.

He and a group of shareholders, whose ancestors were detectives at Pinkerton Detective Agency, belonged to the second category of shareholders.

The third category consists of small, scattered shareholders who later purchased stocks through various channels for speculation or investment.

Once this situation was understood, the acquisition process began.

The acquisition team assembled by Huang Mingyu was once again led by lawyer Orphine Smith, whom he was familiar with.

Attorney Smith hadn't originally intended to come; he was currently representing Sun Zhiwei in a lawsuit—the same case involving the former manager of LaGuardia Airport who embezzled public funds to buy land.

The evidence for the case has been collected, and we are now awaiting the trial.

Sun Zhiwei had practically dragged him over, since he hadn't seen the abilities of the other people, and he had always found Attorney Smith quite useful.

The saying goes that it's better to use someone you know than someone you don't, and Sun Zhiwei was never stingy with money when it came to hiring people, so he always paid Smith a high service fee whenever he needed him.

Smith, this lawyer, has a common problem among American lawyers: he loves money and will do anything to distort the truth for money.

Therefore, in America, wealthy people consider lawyers to be good people. Because they only talk about money, not feelings.

Of course, Attorney Smith is a seasoned veteran with undeniable experience, but it's impossible for Sun Zhiwei to give him enough trust.

So he called in another lawyer to learn from, the young lawyer Quasimodo Brown whom he had used once before.

Back then, Attorney Brown did a pretty good job helping him apply for the West Point Recycling Company. The key was that the kid was young and obedient, which was quite rare.

This is probably because he encountered setbacks everywhere after graduation and was toughened up by society before he finally matured.

Brown was still a little incredulous when Sun Zhiwei called him over.

Although last time he felt that this Mr. James was an opportunity for him that he had to seize.

That's why he used all his skills to complete Sun Zhiwei's request last time.

I didn't expect the opportunity to come so quickly.

(End of this chapter)