William Tarr was amazed at the stack of letters that were piled up on the desk in the large room that was set up in the room that would normally be for the town's City Council meetings. By some lose plans, Dinosaur City was scheduled to have a seven man City Council with a small executive branch around other services. However, that wouldn't be fully set until after November of next year with the planned city elections that would set the permanent members. Until then, William found himself working alongside a group of four women who'd been like him, residents in the area that Animalia wanted to buy but didn't want to leave their homes. It was something that even had him doing some things that mayors normally didn't do.
"People sent all this in?" William asked with somewhat wide eyes as it looked like the pile of letters covered much the table with the three women there looking through them one at a time.
"And a lot of it is from outside Dino City and Glen Rose," the first woman, a middle aged blonde, commented with a chuckle as William sat down and began working with the levers on the oversized chairs that surrounded the table so that it rise up so that he could use the table effectively.
It was one of those things that often made William feel small while serving in the role. The size needs the Dinotopians had dwarfed the needs of many other Animalians and especially Humans. Dino City was built almost exclusively for the Dinotopians with as much modifications that would allow Humans to work around their own shortcomings when it came to size. With just the Human members presently at Dino City's City Hall, the chairs looked tremendously oversized. It was only when one of the Dinotopians were actually present that the size differences and the needs for them were more obvious. But that passed William's mind as he was growing a bit more used to that sort of thing now.
"And all letters about Halloween?" William asked.
"And mostly ideas for things to do," an older woman, with silver/gray hair, commented, "though much of it is based off things that Animalia and Lyre already do. Their "Spookyville" they call it now, I believe."
"And not too bad," a middle aged brunette commented, "if you take into account that some of them seem to be more excuses for "naughty" ideas..."
"Halloween should be family friendly," William answered, "if individuals want to have their own "sexy party" in private, they can do that... but our town will support decent family values."
"Agreed," the three women essentially voted unanimously.
Dino City presently had nothing that truly mirrored Animalia's "Meat Market," and there had been a complaint or two from both some of the Dinotopians and some of the people that seemed to operate along those lewder designs, William and his present group agreed that while Animalians might have full control of themselves, they seemed to not use that kind of control. William had no problem with people being attractive, but if one was to argue that they were just as moral and "in control" as the rest of Humanity, which Animalia tried to sell itself as, then there was no need for strip clubs like the Meat Market playing to carnal lusts. They would allow for a sort of bar and dance hall, but any and all paid dancers would have to remain fully clothed, and while some "teasing" would be permitted, there would be no stripping. If elections in the coming year changed the city government and they changed the law when they came into office in 2021, that was one thing, but until then, it was agreed that "morality" was not about just avoiding thievery and murder. Things related to sex was also very important. That was something that the four of them agreed on in general, and figured that given Animalian marital practices, and how loyal married or bond-mated couples, for those that didn't have any formal ceremonies, were, it shouldn't be that much of a problem.
"You also wouldn't be surprised at the number of full scale haunted house type stuff for kids, teens and other stuff," the older woman commented.
"Not to mention "Jurassic Park" as a theme," the brunette commented, "That appears in several."
William shook his head at that. The "Spookyville" idea wasn't necessarily a bad one, and Glen Rose did provide something similar, particularly for those with low incomes. It gave parents a safe place to "trick or treating" without having to worry about robbery, poisoning, or children getting lost in the dark. But with Dino City being new, outside of maybe offering some things in coordination with Glen Rose's, there really wasn't that much of a demand for many of the things that Animalia did as part of its events. All Dinotopians were converted Humans, therefore they didn't need the added lessons and information on Human society that uplifted Animalians needed, and at the same time because most candies weren't the sort that could easily be digested and no Dinotopian hatchlings yet old enough for such things, going all out on these sorts of things might not work well. Particularly as he got the sense that most of the letters from outside Glen Rose were from people looking for excuses to come gawk at an Animalian in some costume.
"I don't think we'll have the money to fund anything as big as Animalia's "Spookyville," nor do I think we should be allowing people just to come in and gawk at the people who live here."
"We could talk with Glen Rose... see if we could get them to go with a bussing idea... have kids from Glen Rose come in and trick or treat here for an hour or two," the blonde commented, "it'll help bring the two communities together and hopefully provide introductions that don't play to things most parents will be nervous about... particularly when much of the IAC seemed to include something about Animalian's desire to show themselves as it were. Share the idea as means to get the Dinotopians to realize that there is more to life and community what they seem to focus on."
"That's actually not a bad idea," William commented, "particularly when most of the people who came into the IAC were from outside the local area."
"I'd hate to just toss these ideas though... some of them really aren't two bad," the brunette commented, "I like the one that made a reference to something from the IAC... You rescuing the blue Parasaurolophus Dinotopian from a scorpion."
William remembered that. It was largely a coincidence in that a lone scorpion wandered onto one of the streets that was busy with IAC related traffic, and likely trying to avoid being stepped on. Candace saw it and gave a honking scream and jumped away. Some others scattered away and it was ultimately left to William to crush the arachnid.
"Let me guess... bugs on strings?" William asked.
"As part of a general party... yes... and we could tie that in with some things with Glen Rose," the brunette nodded, "it might mean moving things to the Dino Dome for the party... but I'd think we can manage it. Might be something that will amuse people... seeing that even Dinotopians might have things they're afraid of."