Forging America: My Campaign Manager is Roosevelt

Chapter 347 - 167: Food Chain

Construction sites across Pittsburgh were suffocating.

The state police blockade on the highways had cut off more than just supplies from Erie and Scranton; it had severed the city’s confidence as well.

Bad news always came in droves.

Ethan pushed open the office door.

"Morganfield’s made his move."

Ethan walked to the desk, his voice hushed.

"In addition to the Inland Port, our three community revitalization projects in the city proper also shut down today."

Leo looked up, setting down his pen.

They were core projects of the Revitalization Plan’s second phase.

Several local, mid-sized construction firms were responsible for the work, but the shadow of the Morganfield Industrial Group loomed behind all of them.

In Pittsburgh, it was impossible to undertake such large-scale infrastructure projects without running into Morganfield’s supply chain and equipment rental network.

His tentacles reached deep into every inch of the city’s foundations.

From the concrete mixing plants to the asphalt paving crews, even the temporary power generators on site—the shadow of Morganfield’s capital was behind them all.

Leo knew this perfectly well.

Ever since tearing up the franchise agreement in court, he hadn’t launched any retaliatory purges against Morganfield’s subsidiary companies.

As long as their bids were reasonable and they could finish on time, he still allowed contractors with ties to Morganfield onto the work sites.

Business was business, and politics was politics.

"What’s their reason?" Leo asked.

"No reason," Ethan replied. "They just stopped. Equipment failure, personnel shuffling, material shortages... They’d just cook up any excuse, park machinery in the middle of a road, and pull their workers off the job."

Leo scoffed.

It was blatant opportunism.

While Warren was strangling Pittsburgh from the outside, Morganfield was twisting the knife from within.

The old robber saw Leo’s predicament and sensed a golden opportunity.

The recent antitrust suit had cost him face, and he’d failed to secure the franchise rights. Now he was coming to collect, with interest.

"What does he want?" Leo asked, leaning back in his chair, his tone calm.

Ethan glanced at his notepad.

"His intermediary just called me."

"He said that Mr. Morganfield is deeply distressed by the current work stoppages. He’s willing to mobilize the Group’s internal strategic reserves to help the City Government overcome this crisis and resume supply and construction."

"And the price?"

"Priority development rights for eighty acres of commercial land at the port."

Ethan stated the price.

"And... exclusive first right of refusal for all Pittsburgh City Government municipal works contracts for the next ten years."

Leo’s fingers drummed lightly on the tabletop.

’What an appetite.’

Morganfield didn’t just want money. He wanted the city’s future growth potential and a long-term lock on the government’s budget.

If Leo agreed to these terms, everything he had won in court would be for nothing.

"Tell Morganfield."

Leo stood up and walked to the window.

"Tell him to dream on."

"But Leo, if the sites stay shut down..." Ethan said, his voice laced with anxiety.

"Then let them stay shut down." Leo’s tone was firm. "Does Morganfield think he has me by the balls? He’s forgotten, this is Pittsburgh, not his boardroom."

"If he wants to play hardball, then we’ll play hardball."

Leo’s gaze sharpened as he looked at Ethan.

"I’m launching a full-scale administrative crackdown."

"Ethan, take this down."

Ethan took out his notepad.

"Notify the fire department."

"The Mayor’s Office has received tips from several ’concerned citizens’ that all properties owned by the Morganfield Industrial Group within Pittsburgh city limits—including but not limited to their logistics warehouses, office buildings, and even their employee dorms on the North Shore—have severely outdated fire sprinkler systems and escape routes that pose a serious hazard."

"I want them to immediately activate a level-one response and dispatch inspection teams to investigate every single property under Morganfield’s name."

"Notify the health department."

"Send inspectors to the executive dining hall at the Morganfield Group headquarters, as well as the employee cafeterias at all their subsidiary factories."

"Check their cold storage temperature logs, the sourcing information on their ingredient invoices, and every single cook’s health certificate."

"If you find any violations, shut down their cafeterias on the spot."

"Notify the permit review board."

"Pull the blueprints for all of Morganfield Group’s ongoing construction projects. Re-verify every single architectural parameter: floor-area ratio, green space percentage, sewage pipe diameter."

"If there is any discrepancy whatsoever with the approved blueprints, issue a stop-work order and demand they tear it down and start over."

"Notify the environmental protection agency."

"Set up twenty-four-hour mobile monitoring stations around all of Morganfield’s factories. The second anything goes over the legal limit, hit them with the maximum possible fine."

"Notify the police department."

"Have the entire traffic division stake out every exit of the Morganfield logistics centers."

"I want every single truck trying to enter or exit inspected."

"Overloaded, emissions violations, worn tires, busted lights, missing reflective tape."

"Find any reason, any violation of the Pennsylvania vehicle code, and I want you to impound the truck, issue a fine, and revoke the driver’s commercial license."

Ethan stood to the side, watching Leo.

His notepad was in his hand, the tip of his pen flying across the page as he wrote.

The young mayor before him was expertly wielding the administrative machinery of the entire city.