RyansWorld: Baltiwashington

'''Special Note: Please note that this scenario is meant to be read as entertainment, not as an accurate prediction of the future. Also note that the viewpoints and opinions that may come across in this scenario are not necessarily the viewpoints and opinions of the author.'''

Baltiwashington is a merging of Baltimore, Maryland and Washington, D.C into a single municipality with a single mayor and city council. While Baltimore and Washington, D.C. were on the verge of bankruptcy as separate cities, they are financially solvent as one single political unit. Washington will be a major government town for North America (second only in importance to the capital). As a metropolitan city, it exists in the Canadamerica and the Conservative Christian America timeline as Baltiwashington.

Property taxes are flat and averaged out throughout the entire city; meaning that a posh real estate district pays roughly the same in taxes as a slum area.

The Icelandic and Irish embassies are located in Southern Baltiwashington; sharing a luxurious and futuristic 100-storey building with a hotel, several high-rent apartments on the 42nd floor and The National Institute of VanGoethemist Studies (the study of former Wikipedia user/ROM hacker/Future Wiki user Ryan VanGoethem).

Summary


Most people will live in the Baltimore/Townson section (which will be the Northeast's first green city by 2025 providing free mass transit for people ages six months to sixteen years of age). Westminster, Ristertowns and Bel Air and most other places will become mostly farmland with only Wal-Mart ultramarkets as the major source of human development. Due to the Ebola outbreak of 2015 along with subsequent outbreaks of swine flu and SARS, unprecendented innovations in labor-saving technology were introduced. The capitalist system would bring its inevitable end due to an "economic plague which started sometime in the year 2037." Many nearby hamlets were abandoned as people chose to live more urban lives to required less fuel usage. Wages shot up and laborers could move to new localities in response to wage offers.

While Southern Baltiwashington will be seen as a "natural treasure to behold" and a "magnificent pearl for the rich," Northern Baltiwashington will be seen as an "old and decaying remnant of pre-21st century life." The population of Baltiwashington will have 2 million people by 2050 and will stabilize at 3.5 million people by 2075. By the end of the century, Baltiwashington will be the fourth largest city in Canadamerica beating Los Angeles. The twin cites of Baltiwashington will be Windroit, Chicago, Antarctica City, Dubai Internet City and Rotterdam, European Union. By 2050, 50% of the residents will not be affiliated to any religion with 20% being Hindu, 15% are Buddhist, 10% are Sikh and 5% are Jain. All the religions of Native Peoples throughout the World and the religions of East Asia have been abandoned, normally for Atheism. All Christians, Muslims, Mormons, Baha'i's and Jews (followers of the Abrahamic Religions) have also given up their religion. Because of this, Israel is slowly taken over by moderate, Atheistic Palestinian leaders and becomes a puppet stated called the The Secular Republic of Israel having lost it's majority Jewish population.

Global warming will create a natural greenhouse-like environment in the area for growing tropical plants like bananas. Cuban-style all-inclusive resorts will pop-up within 20 miles of the city; they will operate from the week after Easter Sunday until the roughly the week after Halloween. Light spacesuits will be mandatory daytime uniforms for people who live above the 49th parallel; non-compliance can include costly fines and/or a lengthy period of quarantine. Travel insurance for out-of-country tourists must cover treatments for either sunstroke, skin cancer and/or heat stroke as a part of their coverage. Tourists who don't have that level of coverage could be paying more money for hospital treatments than their budget will ever allow. Meanwhile, Canadamerican healthcare coverage will completely cover treatments for all residents of Canadamerica.

American football will make up the bulk of the Baltiwashington's sporting life with the Baltiwashington Blackhawks and the Baltiwashington Redskins making strides in the NFL. As a result, the Baltimore Ravens move to Vancouver and become the Vancouver Salmon while the Orioles move to Omaha and become the Omaha Sounders. Coincidentally, the city would also lose its rust belt status by 2034 due to the influx of home-based businesses from the formerly autistic people who were cured back in the year 2025 thanks to nanobots.

Would you live in this version of Baltimore/Washington, D.C.? Yes, I would like to live in this version of Baltimore, Washington, D.C.. No, I would find it to be too stimulating for me. No, I would find it to be not stimulating enough for me. Yes, but I would have reservations about certain things in this city.