50s: Starting with a storage ring

Chapter 737 West Point Recycling Company Makes Another Appearance
Speaking of "West Point Material Recycling Company", it was actually just a shell company, without even a proper recycling yard.

Since Attorney Brown helped him register the company, he has only done two deals.

The first business deal was to help the Australian Navy dispose of the decommissioned aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne.
After the research team in China completed their study of the "Melbourne", it has now been converted into an aircraft carrier hotel and began receiving tourists visiting Anatahan Island last year.

Another project involved helping the Air Force at America's Kabarabark Island base to environmentally dismantle ten 'retired' Black Hawk helicopters.

He assigned these ten Black Hawk helicopters to Pinkerton Asia on Subi Island, and now the newly trained pilots are able to fly the Black Hawks and patrol around Subi Island.

These two transactions, ostensibly for recycling and dismantling, were actually disguised purchases. His true business as a recycling company was to recycle steel in the Rust Belt cities.

If we really want to make this happen, the recycling company will need to hire people; it can't be the old shell company anymore.

Waste recycling is actually a very profitable industry, it's just not very respectable.

Sun Zhiwei planned to ask Attorney Brown for help in setting up the recycling company. He hadn't considered having Attorney Brown in charge of the company, though.

When he took over Pinkerton last time, he introduced Attorney Smith to Brown. Now, Attorney Smith is learning from him, and his future looks bright.

Therefore, he figured that a waste recycling company was not something that Attorney Brown would be interested in, so he simply didn't bring it up.

The next day, when they met Mayor Gerald again, he casually mentioned the steel recycling program.

Mayor Gerald was very interested in this, because those steel relics were everywhere in Cleveland, not only taking up space but also polluting the environment and affecting the city's appearance.

If he wants Cleveland to revive, those abandoned factories must be dealt with. It's just that the city hall doesn't have the money right now; otherwise, he would spend the money to clean up those ruins.

He was more than happy to have someone willing to help him recycle these abandoned factories.

Because of this, he can reclaim a lot of valuable land for free and also have an extra income.

Of course, these scrap metals still need to be dismantled by others, and dismantling costs money, so Sun Zhiwei can't just buy them back at the market price of scrap metal.

Mayor Gerald didn't care about this; his main gain wasn't the money from selling scrap metal.

Finally, the two agreed that all the abandoned steel relics within the Cleveland city limits would be handed over to Sun Zhiwei's company for recycling at a price of $10 per ton.

Sun Zhiwei was surprised to have been able to negotiate such a low price.

However, he felt relieved when he thought about how Cleveland would acquire a large amount of idle land in the future, which would then be sold to make money.

It has to be said that selling land is truly the best way for a city to acquire its first pot of gold. Many cities in our country later obtained their first development funds by selling land.

Moreover, land prices will continue to rise, and even a city without any distinctive features can obtain funding for its initial development in this way.

The third day was the "Balloon Festival." On that day, Sun Zhiwei's whole family got up early, had breakfast, and then went to the event venue: the Central Public Square.

At this time, the event venue in the square had been set up, and the invited guests gathered together.

The Maria Foundation has a special seat in the center of the stage, where the foundation's representative is currently seated.

The event also attracted more than 10 spectators, and volunteers were busy inflating balloons in the sunshine, creating a lively and joyful atmosphere.

The sun shone brightly, and the air was filled with excitement and anticipation. To break a Guinness World Record, the Cleveland-based charity United Way organized this grand balloon launch event to raise funds for children.

Their goal is to raise $100 million while releasing 150 million balloons.

This event was not only to raise funds, but also to showcase Cleveland's vibrancy and charm to the world through such a spectacular scene.

In the very center of the square, a large square fence has been erected, and the center of the square below is the venue for the event.

There are four huge nets above the fence, which are used to catch the balloons. There are already quite a few balloons inside the nets.

Sun Zhiwei also brought his family to the center of the square to inflate the balloons with the volunteers.

Inflating 150 million balloons would take a lot of effort, even with so many people involved.

The two little ones, however, were very excited to see such a lively scene.

Recently, they have fully learned to walk, and taking them out now is much more dangerous.

Because children dart around like little hamsters, they can disappear from adults' sight in half a second at any time.

Just to be on the safe side, Sun Zhiwei had to take out two rubber bands he had prepared in advance, tie the two little ones around their waists, and then connect them to his wrists.

At the event, everyone eagerly awaited the moment when the colorful balloons would rise into the sky like a rainbow at 1:50 p.m.

Sun Zhiwei and his friends had been playing all morning and were exhausted.

Seeing that there was still plenty of time before the event, he took his family straight to a building next to the square.

There is a coffee shop on the second floor of this building. The wall of the coffee shop facing the square has been replaced with a floor-to-ceiling transparent glass wall.

Through this floor-to-ceiling window, you can clearly see the activity in the entire central square.

The coffee shop doesn't just sell coffee; it also offers a limited selection of food items.

Sun Zhiwei ordered the most expensive coffee set meal, along with a lot of food, and gave the waiter a $10 tip before dismissing him.

He brought his family here because he liked the transparent windows, which allowed them to stand at a safe, elevated position and overlook the entire venue.

Just before 1 p.m., the Cleveland Weather Center suddenly issued a heavy rain warning to the event organizer, United Way.

But the organizers have already invested a lot of time and money in this event, and there are so many spectators and volunteers looking forward to it.

Instead of cancelling the event, they decided to release the balloons ahead of time to avoid the impact of the impending downpour.

At 1 p.m. sharp, a command was given from the podium, and the four super-large nets used to intercept the balloons were opened simultaneously.

150 million balloons were released from the net and slowly rose into the air, spreading out across the square, eliciting cheers from the crowd.

(End of this chapter)