I immediately said to him: "Well, let's see if I can trouble him to take my mother to the cemetery today. I'll just drive my own car."

He said: "What's the matter? I'll call him right away. Mayor Feng, you were so kind to him in the past, so it's his duty to do something like this."

He immediately called his brother, and then said to me: "He said he would drive a car licensed by the province, but the car was empty anyway. You are an old leader there, so there is nothing wrong with using the car, right?"

I shook my head and said, "Just use my car, this is not good."

Immediately I returned home and said to my mother: "My driver will come and drive my car to take you to the cemetery in a while. This will make me feel at ease."

The mother said: "You kid, why are you bothering others when you are celebrating the New Year?"

I said: "He is my former driver and the brother of my current driver. It doesn't matter. We have agreed that he will come over in the afternoon. I left the car keys at home."

Mother sighed and said, "Okay. So that you don't have to worry about us when you go to work."

This made me feel a little more comfortable.

According to the division of labor, during the day today I went to visit the workers who are still working on the front line on behalf of the municipal party committee and government, and Secretary Rong went to visit the police, armed police officers and soldiers.

In fact, this was a condolence show, and people from the city TV station were following the whole process.

They talked about the same thing everywhere I went, but what interested me the most was paying careful attention to the progress of the project. Halfway through, I received a call from the director of the Veteran Bureau, and he asked me to attend the retirement event that was about to take place.

The opening ceremony of the cadres football match.

He said to me on the phone: "Mayor Feng, those retired comrades very much hope that you can participate in their event. They also want to chat with you and make some suggestions on the work of the government. There is no way, I am also influenced by

They entrusted it."

I looked at the time, and I was already tempted, because I thought this was a rare opportunity to have a heart-to-heart talk with an old comrade. So I asked him where he was.

He told me that it was right next to the square in the city center.

I quickly finished my condolences to the workers on the project in front of me, and then immediately rushed to the place he told me.

When I got there, the director of the veteran cadres bureau greeted me warmly, and some retired veteran cadres in sportswear also greeted me warmly. It was obvious that they were very happy to have my arrival.

The place in front of me was an open space without hardening. This was the first time I heard about the sport of croquet, so I asked about the project.

A retired comrade told me that croquet is an outdoor ball game played on flat ground or lawn, using a mallet to hit the ball through an iron gate. It is also called croquet. Croquet takes up less space and saves money.

It is very safe, the technology is simple, the game time is short, and the amount of exercise is not large. It is suitable for middle-aged and elderly people to do physical exercises.

The director of the old bureau asked me to kick off the ball, which completed the opening ceremony. I looked at the situation on the field and still didn't understand how to play this sport.

The old comrade who just introduced me to this sport gave me a demonstration: turn your back to the wicket, spread your legs, and then use a mallet to knock the ball into the wicket. He also briefly told me

Action essentials.

I thought it was quite fun, so I immediately went there to kick off the ball. The people from the TV station filmed me with a camera at close range. I followed the action instructions that the old comrade just described and gently hit the ball with a mallet.

, the ball went straight towards the door, and passed through the middle of the door.

The people around applauded enthusiastically.

I was thinking: This sport does not seem to have much technical content, and the amount of exercise is not large. It seems that it is really only suitable for the elderly.

Their competition officially started, but I didn't have much interest in this activity, and immediately started chatting with some old comrades.

They were very polite to me, and there was a kind of flattery in their politeness. I couldn't help but smile bitterly in my heart. I knew very well that what they respected was actually my position. The respect for officials is something that many of us have in our hearts.

Things. Including myself, for example, when I am in front of Secretary Fang, I can't help but show a kind of awe for him in my heart. In fact, I also know in my heart that my kind of awe is more

It's for his job.

Now I understand that this veteran bureau chief completely deceived me, because it is impossible for these veteran comrades to take the initiative to give me any opinions. However, this veteran bureau chief understands my inner thoughts relatively well.

, he knows what I need most.

I said to them: "I feel very honored to be able to participate in this activity of your old comrades today. If you have any difficulties in the future, you can come to me at any time. And I very much hope to hear more from you old comrades.

Regarding your opinions on our work. You have worked in Shangjiang City all your life and have made important contributions to the construction and development of our Shangjiang City, and you can see more clearly the problems we currently have.

I think we have one purpose that is completely consistent, that is, we all hope to build our Shangjiang City better. Therefore, I hope to hear your opinions on our work, which will be beneficial to our next step.

Please improve the work. Please.”

Having said this, I bowed my hands to them.

Perhaps my sincerity impressed them, and they immediately talked to me about some issues in Shangjiang City.

An old comrade said to me: "Mayor Feng, we have so many laid-off workers in Shangjiang City, what will they do with their lives in the future? The subsistence allowance alone cannot solve the problem. Today's prices are getting higher and higher.

As far as I know, there are some laid-off workers who go there to pick up some free vegetables when the stalls are being closed, and it is difficult for them to eat one meal of meat a month."

I was a little surprised, "Didn't they give them a buyout of seniority wages when they were laid off? It shouldn't be that difficult, right?"

They answered me: "They have all used it to raise funds. Now that the fund-raising company cannot pay the money for a while, they have not withdrawn."

I suddenly remembered this matter, and secretly felt that something was not quite right about it. But now I have not investigated the situation of that company, so it is not convenient for me to give a clear answer. I said

: "I will immediately arrange for people to investigate this matter. Regarding our laid-off workers, the municipal party committee and the municipal government have made some plans. On the one hand, we must encourage laid-off workers to start their own businesses. On the other hand, we will definitely take measures to increase employment.

In addition, we are also planning to open a night market after the Spring Festival. The employees of the night market can only be laid-off workers and are completely tax-free."

At this time, an old comrade said: "Wouldn't it be better if we started this matter during the Spring Festival? Everyone has nothing to do during the Spring Festival, so there will definitely be a lot of people visiting the night market."

I explained: "You are right. But we also have our own difficulties. On the one hand, the demolition work has not been completed where we plan to open the night market. On the other hand, we citizens of Shangjiang City are not used to going there during the Spring Festival."

Eat outside, and laid-off workers mostly sell cheap goods. Not many people go to buy such things during the Spring Festival, right? During the Spring Festival, everyone is used to eating at their own and friends’ homes, and maybe people go to night markets to eat.

Not a lot. The opening time of this night market is also very important, we can’t let them lose confidence from the beginning. Don’t you think so?”

The old comrade nodded and said: "It seems that Mayor Feng has thought much more carefully than we have."

At this time, another old comrade said to me: "Mayor Feng, our people in Shangjiang City originally had low incomes, but now so many houses have been demolished to build commercial housing, although the state has provided the same for the demolished houses as new houses."

Compensation for area, but the new houses built by developers are all large in area, so many years of savings will be spent all at once, and many people will owe a large amount of debt. I don’t know if you think about it.

Have you experienced everyone's feelings? Some people may have gone too far: This is simply taking away the people's wealth. But it does reflect part of the reality."

I smiled bitterly in my heart: This is indeed what the developer did deliberately. Just imagine: if half of the new houses built are used to repay the original area that was demolished, how much money will the developer make? Moreover, if the common people are

The purpose of squeezing out money is to stimulate domestic demand in a place, which in the long run is also for the development of a local economy. This is also a good thing for the government. But such words cannot be said, because

Most ordinary people cannot understand this knowledge about macroeconomics, and the more such questions are explained, the more likely they are to cause misunderstandings.

I replied: "You can take a look at the situation in other counties and cities around our provincial capital. They developed earlier than us, and now most of the citizens in those places have lived in new houses, and their lives have also been greatly improved.

Big improvement. Everyone knows the situation in Shangjiang City. Poverty is our current situation, so we must change this situation. Maybe our people will suffer certain losses in the process of change, but from now on

In the long run, everyone's wealth will definitely increase. For example, a citizen of ours used to have a private house of fifty square meters. After the current situation was demolished, the new house built gave him the fifty square meters, and then he used his own money for many years.

He bought the extra area of ​​​​a house with his savings. On the surface, it seems that he no longer has a private house before, and now he doesn’t even have a deposit, but have you ever thought about it? Has the total value of his house increased? Recently we have

The price of houses in Shangjiang City has increased a lot, right? If you calculate it this way, hasn't his deposit increased in value several times? In the final analysis, it is the wealth of our citizens that has increased, is this a fact?"

Everyone said that my analysis was very reasonable.

In fact, I can't help but feel ashamed in my heart, because what I just said is indeed correct, but there is one thing that many people don't pay attention to: their property has indeed increased in value, but that is their life necessity. If a person

If a family does not have excess real estate, then no matter how valuable the house is, it is just a house. They cannot sell it to rent a house or sell it to live in the countryside. In other words, the increased value of the property is ultimately just a house.

A piece of "real estate" cannot really be converted into usable wealth.

Of course, this is an exception for those who need a bank loan to start a business. However, I believe one thing: there are only a few people who really have the courage to take out a mortgage loan on their own property and then start their own business.

Regarding this issue, our government functions in this way. After all, we have not harmed the interests of most citizens. Moreover, this is also a stage that local economic development must pass through.

I continued: "The ultimate goal of our large-scale transformation and reconstruction of the city is for the economic development of our Shangjiang City. As our economy develops, there will be more foreign investors, and we will create more jobs for our laid-off workers."

Channels will also increase as a result, which is a virtuous cycle. In the future, when our city is built, many people will definitely come to us for tourism and consumption, and our various industries will

It will inevitably flourish. Therefore, the ultimate goal of what we do is to pursue such a virtuous cycle. As you may have seen, our government is completely sparing no expense in creating our investment environment. We are transforming Binjiang Road. In the future,

It will become a beautiful park, and our city center will become a unique ancient cultural street in the future, which will also be the business card of our city. In addition, we will also renovate the river that runs through the city.

, its two sides will also become a place for citizens to relax and entertain. In the future, when everyone lives in such a city, the happiness index will also increase a lot. This is also benefiting our future generations. So, even if we are now

It’s worth paying some price. Do you think so?”

They were all intoxicated by the wonderful prospects I described, and couldn't help but applaud.

But then I suddenly realized that I couldn't let them put forward more opinions in this way. And I also found that I was actually very afraid of them asking sharp questions. If that was really the case.

If I did, I would probably be unable to step down because of this. It is precisely because of this that I kept beautifying myself and defending the opinions they raised.

Therefore, I now realize that my so-called desire to hear their real opinions is really an unrealistic fantasy.

So, I immediately chose to leave.

I took the person in charge of the department below to the square. I saw that there were many businesses doing activities here, and the welfare lottery draw was also in full swing.

Several rows of sun sheds were set up in the center of the square, and they were full of people selling lottery tickets. Of course, there were also many people who went there to buy lottery tickets.

On the rostrum in front, the host's encouraging words were played. They were telling everyone that there were many big prizes in this batch of lottery tickets. The first prize was a car worth hundreds of thousands, and the second prize was a car worth hundreds of thousands.

Fei’s electrical appliances and so on. Those prizes are placed under the podium, which is really eye-catching.

The people following me encouraged me to buy lottery tickets. When I saw the huge crowds of people here, I immediately became interested, and I was also very happy: it seems that the method we adopted is very good, at least it can save the citizens from the lottery.

It was tuned at home.

The lottery tickets cost two yuan each. I bought five of them for ten yuan, but I didn't win any prizes. Secretary Xiao Xu and the driver also bought ten yuan tickets. Their luck was better than mine, and each of them won.
To be continued...