Agency 2: Commercial
Commercial is the second agency in the community. Part of the Village Bureau, the agency is tasked with developing and operating commercial rental space.
By virtue of its architecture, the community’s physical campus has extensive commercial space. Village buildings’ podium floors, each of which contains at least 8,000 square feet of commercial space, hubs, mirrored industrial zones are all available for hire to participants.
The Commercial Agency develops the foundational work for apartment buildings. It also builds apartment buildings’ podium floors, after which the Residential Agency builds the 4 apartment floors above it. The agency also builds and runs hubs and mirrored areas, which are industrial buildings in the industrial zones outside the community, and gardens.
The agency is part of the Village Bureau, with other agencies being Residential and Mediation (agency 1), and Enterprise Assets (agency 3). The Village Bureau represents the first point of a participant’s contact with the community, and the point where they are given the necessary social and economic/ business tools to live and work in the community.
The first 12 agencies in the community belong to the Human and Financial Capital Department. They control all aspects of capital and its access by participants.
Duties of the Commercial Agency
With the agency presidency providing the necessary strategic direction, which is implemented by the village presidencies, the agency performs a number of duties as detailed below, with the help of its automated system and contractors.
- Commercial rental space development and maintenance
- Commercial space leasing
- Storehouse
Developing commercial space
the community’s physical campus consists of 960 apartment buildings, 24 public buildings, hubs at intersections, and a 15 – acre storehouse, which houses a stadium, a farmers’ market, and concert, opera halls. All these buildings are mirrored outside the residential areas, creating industrial blocks.
Apartment buildings podium floors
Every apartment building has five stories. The first floor, known in NewVistas as the podium floor, is exclusively used for commercial activities, while the next four floors have apartments. the podium floor provides extensive commercial opportunities. The front side faces the breezeway, and after, the village square (street). This side favors businesses that rely on walk-ins and presentation, such as restaurants, delis, grocery stores, and items rental stores.
The back of the podium floor, which does not face the street, but rather, another apartment building, there is ample space for storage. This space includes part of what in the upper floors are apartments, and the playground. In total, the podium floor is more than 8,000 square feet (64*132), and has most businesses that people in the apartment building need.
Because of the strategic value, the podium floor’s rent rates are significantly higher than apartments.
The Commercial agency, which develops the podium floors with loans and investment form the Capital Bank, closely controls tenancy of podium floor space. It aims to create an optimal mix in every apartment building, village, and the whole community, so that everyday services are easily accessible. For instance, a podium floor can have a deli, mule apps rental services, and a grocer, among other services. Due to the expense and pace limitation, the mule apps business may rent additional space at the back of the podium floor to act as storage.
While the agency owns and maintains the floor, it does not do so directly through its public officials. instead, it contracts businesses which offer property management services to look for tenants, handle janitorial duties, and regular routine maintenance. These businesses, known as are paid by the agency per square foot contracted.
External blocks
Outside the community, there are logistics and industrial blocks, as well as intensive agricultural activities, including vertical farms, CAFOs, and green houses.
All industrial production happens in these blocks. Strategic grain reserves are also here, using moden storage and management methods.
While the Commercial Agency also controls tenancy in the industrial blocks, it also works to have the industrial blocks mirror the community’s dominant economic activity. For isntance, a community that is heavily involved in oil mining will have more refineries, plastics factories, and similar industries, while another that is more focused on grain production will have factories producing animal feed, processed food, ethanol, and others.
Mirrored blocks are very near the apartment buildings, making accessibility easy – on foot, or by using the mule. However, there is a large easement at the perimeter of the residential areas designed to effectively eliminate smells, dangerous chemicals, and unsightly structures from the community.
Contractors, besides covering maintenance and leases,assist participants who lease space to optimize their value. These contractors are engaged by Commercial village presidency for that specific mirrored village, such that the village presidency in village 1 will engage a contractor to handle mirrored village 1.
The Commercial Agency builds the assets it is meant to using loans from the Capital Bank Agency. The village where an asset, such as an industrial block, is developed, is responsible for repaying the loan. Once the loan obligations are settled, the agency owns the assets.
Hubs and streets
10 apartment buildings that make up a village front a street. Each building is 66 feet wide. Therefore, from one end to the next is 660 feet.
Hubs form at the intersection of two streets. In the community, some of these hubs will be a small downtown or commercial and social center, where things like a small market, a number of shops and restaurants, are located. Others will have an emergency room unit, or small clinics. Most of the time though, these hubs will just be parks – with just empty spaces, manicured gardens, and a few seats.
Hubs are the responsibility of the Commercial Agency. The agency develops and maintains these spaces through contractors. Even in instances where the spaces do not have any buildings, access will be charged a small fee which will go towards maintaining the gardens and also contributing to the agency’s revenues. The hubs will also be used to host events such as weddings, on lease form the agency.
In the community, streets are not roads where vehicular traffic dominates. instead, it is a village garden. The street is 132 feet wide, and, from one intersection to the next, 660 feet. streets will also be parks, with fruit trees, manicured gardens, and other things as the community may see fit. The work of developing and managing the streets is the agency’s responsibility.
Storehouse
The community storehouse is a 15 – acre complex that includes several social amenities. At each of the four corners, there is one of the following: a theater, a concert hall, a recreational center, or a sports items store. In between these, there are large retail stores. Together, these amenities make the storehouse the commercial hub of the community, where people hang out in large numbers, do shopping, and find recreational activities with others whom they may not be from the same branch or village.
Within the storehouse, there is a stadium and a farmers’ market. Large sports events, concerts, and rallies take place here.
The construction and management of the storehouse’s facilities is a shared responsibility between the Commercial Agency and the Sports, Arts, and Leisure Agency. The Commercial Agency in charge of the farmers’ market, retail stores located in between the social facilities, and commercial space in the stadium.
The Sports, Arts, and Leisure Agency, for its part, is in charge of the stadium-proper, the corner facilities (theatre, concert hall, opera house, and sports store). The facilities are developed and run by the two agencies in coordination, with capital from the Capital Bank and loans advanced by the bank.
Through contractors, the Commercial Agency runs these facilities. The contractors in turn lease the space to tenants, and coordinate regular maintenance, including cleaning and routine repairs. The agency periodically handle more intensive repairs and maintenance as needed.
How the agency works
Background on presidencies
Every presidency in the community presidency is a four-member entity whose members represent one of the four major demographics, known as divisions: partnered males (A), partnered females (B), single males (C), and single females (D). However, a president serves the whole community in their role, rather than only their own demographic. Presidents’ diversity and commitment to serve all is provided for in the community bylaws and ensures that all access services without any discrimination.
These four major demographics are evenly split in ordinary society, with each group accounting for between 23 and 27% of the population, and with regular fluctuations as people’s status changes. The community appreciates that discrimination across all social categories happens based on whether a person is partnered or single, other social categorizations notwithstanding; partnered males are likelier to dominate other demographics, especially single males and single females. Partnered females are also likelier to have better outcomes in careers and leadership than single females.
The community’s infrastructure promotes equal access to economic and social resources and opportunities. The composition of the community as a whole and those who serve it in the community public service is closely monitored to prevent numerical domination, which can lead to nepotism or unequal access.
Besides taking into account whether a person is single or partnered, the recruitment to be a participant, and to serve in the public service carefully considers other social categorizations, to ensure racial, ethnic, religious, and sexual groups are well represented in the community as they are in the society in which a community operates. These considerations inform the constitution of the community public service. The diversity in community public service, which is provided by bylaws, is aimed at creating a community that is blind to all other considerations besides service to participants. The service is therefore designed to be free of discrimination.
Agency presidency, bureau board, and demographic presidencies
The Commercial Agency is served by an agency presidency, comprised of 4 presidents from the four major demographics 3, which handles strategy formulation and adjustment, as well as formulating and communicating operational procedures for the agency. Additionally, the presidency also facilitates the setting up of the agency’s automated system and adjusts it as necessary to better achieve its goals.
Members of the agency presidency work on a full-time basis. They are usually participants who, whie not retired, are not actively engaged in running their business. To be eligible to serve as an agency president, a person has to be between 50 – 68 years old at the time of assuming responsibilities.
As part of the Village Bureau, the agency presidency forms a bureau board with agency presidencies serving the Residential & Mediation and Enterprise Assets agencies. The board acts as a check and monitoring tool for individual presidents and agencies, especially when decisions have far-reaching implications for the community.
Within the bureau board, three presidents from the same demographic form a demographic presidency. There are four such presidencies in the bureau. The demographic presidency performs an advisory role to presidencies and agencies regarding a particular demographic; it does not have operational or executive authority. that cut across the three agencies. The demographic presidency also plays an important role in the mentorship and training of new presidents.
| Demographic presidency A | Demographic presidency B | Demographic presidency C | Demographic presidency D | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agency presidency, Residential (1) | 1A | 1B | 1C | 1D |
| Agency presidency, Commercial (2) | 2A | 2B | 2C | 2D |
| Agency presidency, Enterprise Assets (3) | 3A | 3B | 3C | 3D |
Each agency, on top of being served by an agency presidency, is also served by a trustee presidency, and a regulatory presidency. Together, the three presidencies form an agency council. The council, comprised of 12 members, meets every month, on the last Friday to discuss important agency business.
Limited partners, branch presidencies, and village presidencies
The Commercial Agency has close interaction with participants as it helps them set up and run their business. This necessitates the presence of branch captains and village presidencies, who help participants get services from not only the agency but other community agencies as well. The branch presidencies (captains) while being a service extension of the Residential and Mediation Agency, serve as an interface between participants and all community agencies.
Limited partners and branch presidencies
Limited partners and unit
A limited partner is the basic unit in the community. A limited partner, usually above 18 years old, but sometimes as young as 16, has been admitted into the community and has invested $20,000 as partnership interest, for which they earn a return from the Capital Bank Agency, which invests other community agencies. This is regarded as one unit of partnership interest. Over time, a limited partner can add more units of partnership interest, as their business prospers. The more partnership interest units a limited partner has, the more the return they receive from the agency.
A dependent is a minor, or a person living with a disability, under the care of a limited partner, and who has, in any of these cases, given their power of attorney to the limited partner. In some instances, a dependent may be a fit adult, who for various reasons is supported by community agencies, and assigned by contract to a limited partner. Limited partners are responsible for any legal agreements that their dependents enter into, either with community agencies or other participants. Together, limited partners and dependents are referred to as participants.
Participants who are dependents, because they are still minors, can start a business when they reach 12 years of age. This allows them to save up and invest $20,000 into the community by their 18th birthday, and possibly as early as 16. Limited partners and their dependents reside in apartment buildings (village buildings). Each apartment building has five floors, with four containing apartments. An apartment building also forms a branch.
Captains and branch presidencies
Of the approximately 100 residents in a branch, around 40 of them are limited partners.They are divided into 4 units, each of which has 10 limited partners and their dependents. The limited partner membership in a unit is diverse, containing different social groups that are reflective of the society within which a community operates.
Additionally, a unit contains members of the four main demographics: partnered males (A), partnered females (B), single males (C), and single females (D).
The 4 demographics in the branch form 4 groups, as follows:
- Group 1: partnered males and females
- Group 2: single males and females
- Group 3: partnered and single males
- Group 4: Partnered and single females
Within each group, there are different subsets, known as classes, based primarily on age. There is a class for Nursery (0-2), toddlers (3 – 5), young children (6-9), pre-teens (10-12), teens (13-18), young adults (19-31), adults (32-72), and empty nesters (73+).
| Meeting week | Class 1 | Class 2 | Class 3 | Class 4 | Class 5 | Class 6 | Class 7 | Class 8 |
| Week 1 and 3 | All partnered adults | All single adults | Teen boys and girls | Pre -teens | Young children | Toddlers | Nursery | |
| Week 2 and 4 | All males | All females | Teen boys | Teen girls |
Further details on the composition of units, groups, classes, and branches, and their meeting schedules, is detailed here.
Recruitment and diversity
Captains are responsible for recruiting limited partners into the community through their council and by extension, branch. A captain does not recruit limited partners only from their demographic. Instead, they work to ensure that their recruits are diverse, considering social categorizations, gender, and social status, in addition to demographic groups.
Captains work in concert with their fellow captains in the branch presidency, and other presidencies in a village and district to ensure that the district is as diverse as possible. They are guided by present data on how diverse their district, village, and branch are, and what needs to be focused on to improve. They are also guided by community bylaws, which expressly require diversity as shown by demographic data about a population from which the community intends to recruit limited partners.
The captain serves as a service extension of the Residential and Mediation Agency, though they also act as an interface between participants and other community agencies. For agencies that do not have operational presidencies, such agencies in the Economic and Public Administration Bureaus, captains come in handy in helping participants navigate these agencies’ automated system and other relevant tools used by the agency to deliver services.
The automated system is designed to help participants with all the help they need in matters related to various agencies, including the Commercial Agency. However, should they run into problems, captains assist them in navigating the system, or direct them to relevant contractors who help them at a fee.
Village presidencies
Each village is served by three village presidencies. Each presidency serves an agency in the Village Bureau. There is a village presidency for residential and mediation, commercial, and enterprise assets functions. Village presidencies are the operational presidencies in their agency. They implement the agency’s policies and strategies, as set by the agency presidency. They also report back to the agency presidency on issues that they deem need to be changed in the agency’s operations.
The three village presidencies that serve a village, each comprised of four presidents, come together to form a village board. The village board helps individual presidents in decision-making that impacts the whole village, mentorship, and orientation of incoming presidents. Three presidents on the board who serve the same demographic also form a demographic presidency. This is better illustrated in the table below, showing an example of village 1.
| Partnered males (A) | Partnered females (B) | Single males (C) | Single females (D) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Village presidency, Residential and Mediation | 1(1)A | 1(1)B | 1(1)C | 1(1)D |
| Village presidency, Commercial | 1(2)A | 1(2)B | 1(2)C | 1(2)D |
| Village presidency, Enterprise Assets | 1(3)A | 1(3)B | 1(3)C | 1(3)D |
Where: 1 – village number
(3) – agency served
A – Division
Automated system
The Commercial Agency uses an automated system to perform the bulk of its duties. Contractors who engage with the agency also do so through the system. The automated system is designed to maximize the abilities of cloud and big data computing, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to synthesize information and help the agency make accurate observations and decisions.
The agency collects vast amounts of economic data from other agencies, participants’ businesses, and even the environment within which the community operates. All this information is relevant and is not mutually exclusive. The agency relies on the system to make sense of this information, while also offering important services to participants. These include training sessions and guidance on navigating the community’s econosystem.
Contractors
The Commercial extensively works with contractors, who are limited partners working as consultants, so perform many of its duties. Contractors help build the agency’s assets, including buildings. The agency also contracts experts to set up and maintain its automated system, and to draw its strategy and policies. Training modules that the agency recommends to incoming and existing limited partners are also developed by contractors engaged by the agency.
Limited partners may find difficulty accessing the agency’s services. In instances where the automated system is unable to assist them and the captain or village presidency has not found what they need from the system, they are referred to contractors who are experts in specific fields relevant to the agency’s duties. The contractors are paid by the limited partner for assistance. They are accredited by the agency, to ensure professionalism, and to enable the agency to improve its operations and have the system offer more holistic services to the community.
Inter-agency cooperation
The 24 community agencies form three columns of 8 agencies each. There is loose collaboration between the agencies in a column. The Commercial Agency is part of the second column.
The Commercial Agency works with the Life Planning Agency (5) to advise limited partners, who insure their businesses with the agency. The Commercial Agency also provides information that the Life Planning Agency uses to price insurance policies. The Capital Bank (agency 8) grants the Commercial Agency the loans and capital investment it needs to develop assets and initial operations.
Presidencies’ offices, meetings, and quarterly conferences
Offices
The Commercial Agency presidency has permanent dedicated offices in District Building 2’s first floor, on the western side. Facing them on the eastern side are the permanent dedicated offices for trustee presidency and Regulatory Bureau’s operational presidency serving the agency and District 2.
Trustees and the regulatory operational presidencies alternate their offices. Trustees have the offices in building 1 on Mondays and Wednesdays. Regulatory Bureau operational presidencies use the offices on Tuesdays and Thursdays, as shown in this timetable:
| Building 2/ Commercial | Building 14/Legal Affairs | |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | Trustee presidency | Regulatory Bureau presidency |
| Tuesday | Regulatory Bureau presidency | Trustee presidency |
| Wednesday | Trustee presidency | Regulatory Bureau presidency |
| Thursday | Regulatory Bureau presidency | Trustee presidency |
The first floor’s layout is as follows, including other public servants who serve District 2.
Village presidencies have offices in the district building of the district they serve, on the third and fifth floors. Villages 1 and 2 use offices on the 3rd floor, while Villages 3 and 4 use the 5th floor. The office layout is as follows, in this case, district 2’s 3rd floor.
Working hours and meetings
Agency presidents, trustees, and regulatory agency presidents work in their offices on a full-time basis. To allow for this, they are required to be at least 50 years of age, be experts in NewVistas concepts, an be semi or fully retired from their business. This allows them to dedicate much of their productive time to serving the community.
Other presidencies work from Monday to Thursday, from 8 – 8:45 AM. their offices are converted for this purpose, and can thereafter be used for other activities, such as office space for participants, hotel rooms and hospital consultation rooms. On Thursday, each presidency (four presidents serving A, B, C, and D) meets for a 45-minute meeting from 9:00 to 9:45 in the morning.
On the last Friday of each quarter, between 9:00 AM and 12:00 PM, each demographic presidency meets. The three-member presidency discusses common bureau matters that are of interest to the demographic they serve. On Saturday, again between 9:00 AM and 12:00 PM, the whole board meets, where the presidents present their input from the previous day’s demographic presidency meeting, and prepare for the quarterly conference. The aim is to have a cohesive presentation during the quarterly conference but tailored to specific demographic interests.
Quarterly conferences
Quarterly conferences are held on the last Sunday of each quarter, from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM, with a lunch break in between. During quarterly conferences, each demographic presidency sits together in the same row.
Quarterly conferences are held in District Buildings 5 and 17. Each building has a lower and higher assembly court. The different demographic groups use the assembly courts as follows:
| Building | Assembly court | Demographic |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | Lower court | Partnered males (A) |
| 5 | Higher court | Partnered females (B) |
| 17 | Lower court | Single males (C) |
| 17 | Higher court | Single females (D) |
Each of the four assembly courts has seats for 480 presidents representing the respective demographic. In the diagram below each of the 4 courts is illustrated. The ceiling of each court has an elliptical arch that enables agency presidents, who are the only ones who make a presentation during the conference, to speak without the need to amplify their voices. The 480 seats are easily rotatable to enable presidents to face whoever is speaking.
Each of the four courts has an identical arrangement and number of seats. The exact arrangement of each court can therefore be illustrated using one court, in this case, building 5’s lower court that is used by partnered males (A).
Within an assembly court, the 480 presidents are arranged in terms of demographic presidencies of 3. The Village Bureau’s demographic presidency for partnered males (1A, 2A, and 3A) sits in the highlighted seats. Various villages’ demographic presidencies also sit on the same row.
Some additional notes/definitions from an earlier version of this page:
- The Commercial Agency uses web-based consulting to enable participants to quickly access the information they need. Research has shown that this mode is similar to, if not more effective than, in-person or classroom learning and consulting (see Means, B., Tokoyama, Y., Murphy, R., & Baki, M. [2013]. “The Effectiveness of Online and Blended Learning: A Meta-Analysis of the Empirical Literature.” Teacher College Record, 115, 1-47).
- In modern human resource management, organizations prefer having automated systems that give the personnel the lead in processing their issues. The community’s systems are geared with such a concept in mind (see Seethamraju, R. [2014]. “Effectiveness of Using Online Discussion Forum for Case Study Analysis.” Education Research International).
- For the economy to be at full capacity, there needs to be a perfect mix of conditions. These include accessible and operational financial and physical infrastructure, access to quality human capital, and the opportunity for participants to acquire the skills needed to take advantage of available economic conditions. The Commercial Agency facilitates participants’ access to economic opportunity and assistance, as well as to opportunities to improve themselves to compete favorably (see Mishel, L. Here’s How to Achieve Full Employment. 2015).
- Industry experts have increasingly highlighted the importance of attitude and values, sometimes even over skills. When accepting a participant into the community, it is important that they have the right skills required to increase their chances of success. More importantly, however, they must be ready to use the chances provided to them by having the right attitude and work ethic (Davis-Staffing. Value Attitude over Job Skills).
- A credit rating usually shows how financially responsible a person is. This measure is employed in the community because financial performance is one of the main requirements for success in the system (see Sanghvi, D. Credit score could impact employment prospects. 2018).