14 Carlisle Avenue
Whitehaven Executive Convention Center
Financial District
Whitehaven
Canton of Eastern March
Commonwealth of Cornavia
In Cornavia, Carlisle Avenue was a synonym for financial success and virility, for it was a street that went through the middle of Whitehaven's prestigious Financial District and which was blanked by the impressive edifices of glass-and-steel buildings housing headquarters of some of Cornavia's largest corporations, not to mention the Whitehaven Stock Exchange itself. Therefore, it was precisely the right location for Whitehaven Executive Convention Center to be based in.
A complex of buildings jointly owned by the Hamilton Palace chain of hotels and the Commonwealth Chambers of Commerce, the Executive Convention Center spanned the fifteen-floor tower housing the Hamilton Palace Intercontinental and the core of the Convention Center, and ten large halls that could be used for the organization of a wide assortment of different events. "From trade fairs to corporate conferences to state visits - the Executive Convention Center has it all", the slogan went. At least this week, even the last part of that advertising phrase held true.
For now would be the time of Whitehaven being the center of attention for the Commonwealth and the rest of the Northern Council, as the city prepared to receive the quests for the first-ever formal assembly of the Grand Council of the aforementioned organization. The effort had not been taken likely by either the Commonwealth or the Cantonal and municipal decision makers, in recognition of what kind of a spotlight Cornavia and its single largest city were being put into.
By the very least, the selection of the Executive Convention Center by Cornavia's Northern Council representative Ryan Conway would ensure that any amenities they wished would be in reach of the delegates and the assortments of aides, servants and bodyguards they would inevitably bring. Hamilton Palace itself boasted no less than five restaurants, cafeterias and bars, one of which provided an outstanding view of the entire city from its 15th floor position and held the highest possible rating in the highly rated Cornavian culinary magazine The Weston Culinary Review. In addition, the halls of the Executive Convention Center added ten or so restaurants into the offering.
In addition to that, a small casino, a communications center providing satellite phone and fax access, hotel-wide free Internet and a fully equipped spa and sauna center were available to serve the delegates and their retinues. To no small expense the Commonwealth Ministry of External Affairs had opened its coffers to make sure that the delegates themselves gained the best VIP suites with fully stocked minibars, and that the food and drink served was of the finest varieties, also using traditional Cornavian features to such a large extent as possible to market the finer features of Cornavian cuisine to an international audience.
As if the arrangements for the actual conference wouldn't have been enough to make Treasury shit their pants upon seeing the bill, the security arrangements mustered under the command of the Commonwealth Constabulary were truly massive. For the purposes of conference security, Whitehaven was divided into three zones: Zone 1 included the Greater Whitehaven Metropolitan Airport, the Convention Center and their immediate vicinity and the routes to and from the aforementioned places, Zone 2 included everything within a two-kilometer radius of the GWMA and the WECC and Zone 3 included the rest of the city. And the rules went as follows: No unauthorized traffic for Zone 1 and no traffic except by locals and those accompanied by locals for Zone 2.
As the meeting was considered a major national security event, the responsibility for its security lay with Commonwealth Constabulary Protective Services, which carried the burden assisted by the Whitehaven Metropolitan Police, the Eastern March Canton Constabulary and an assortment of local police called in from other cities, not to mention the Whitehaven Home Guard which had been activated to make up for the focus of regular law enforcement in the convention areas. Not having left it at that, Protective Services had called up the Constabulary's SRU and STARS units and requested for patrol boats from its own Border Services and official aid from the Armed Forces, which had deployed Special Forces, helicopters, patrol boats and even fighter jets to assist. Not that they could do much except in the case of a terrorist attack, which they were allowed to respond to under the Defense Conditions Act.
Though any terrorist threat was likely to manifest itself only in Northern Cornavia, numerous boreoscepticist, antiglobalist, socialist and anarchist political groups had already announced their intent to stage demonstrations in Whitehaven, and the numbers expected numbered in several thousands.
Whitehaven Executive Convention Center
Financial District
Whitehaven
Canton of Eastern March
Commonwealth of Cornavia
In Cornavia, Carlisle Avenue was a synonym for financial success and virility, for it was a street that went through the middle of Whitehaven's prestigious Financial District and which was blanked by the impressive edifices of glass-and-steel buildings housing headquarters of some of Cornavia's largest corporations, not to mention the Whitehaven Stock Exchange itself. Therefore, it was precisely the right location for Whitehaven Executive Convention Center to be based in.
A complex of buildings jointly owned by the Hamilton Palace chain of hotels and the Commonwealth Chambers of Commerce, the Executive Convention Center spanned the fifteen-floor tower housing the Hamilton Palace Intercontinental and the core of the Convention Center, and ten large halls that could be used for the organization of a wide assortment of different events. "From trade fairs to corporate conferences to state visits - the Executive Convention Center has it all", the slogan went. At least this week, even the last part of that advertising phrase held true.
For now would be the time of Whitehaven being the center of attention for the Commonwealth and the rest of the Northern Council, as the city prepared to receive the quests for the first-ever formal assembly of the Grand Council of the aforementioned organization. The effort had not been taken likely by either the Commonwealth or the Cantonal and municipal decision makers, in recognition of what kind of a spotlight Cornavia and its single largest city were being put into.
By the very least, the selection of the Executive Convention Center by Cornavia's Northern Council representative Ryan Conway would ensure that any amenities they wished would be in reach of the delegates and the assortments of aides, servants and bodyguards they would inevitably bring. Hamilton Palace itself boasted no less than five restaurants, cafeterias and bars, one of which provided an outstanding view of the entire city from its 15th floor position and held the highest possible rating in the highly rated Cornavian culinary magazine The Weston Culinary Review. In addition, the halls of the Executive Convention Center added ten or so restaurants into the offering.
In addition to that, a small casino, a communications center providing satellite phone and fax access, hotel-wide free Internet and a fully equipped spa and sauna center were available to serve the delegates and their retinues. To no small expense the Commonwealth Ministry of External Affairs had opened its coffers to make sure that the delegates themselves gained the best VIP suites with fully stocked minibars, and that the food and drink served was of the finest varieties, also using traditional Cornavian features to such a large extent as possible to market the finer features of Cornavian cuisine to an international audience.
As if the arrangements for the actual conference wouldn't have been enough to make Treasury shit their pants upon seeing the bill, the security arrangements mustered under the command of the Commonwealth Constabulary were truly massive. For the purposes of conference security, Whitehaven was divided into three zones: Zone 1 included the Greater Whitehaven Metropolitan Airport, the Convention Center and their immediate vicinity and the routes to and from the aforementioned places, Zone 2 included everything within a two-kilometer radius of the GWMA and the WECC and Zone 3 included the rest of the city. And the rules went as follows: No unauthorized traffic for Zone 1 and no traffic except by locals and those accompanied by locals for Zone 2.
As the meeting was considered a major national security event, the responsibility for its security lay with Commonwealth Constabulary Protective Services, which carried the burden assisted by the Whitehaven Metropolitan Police, the Eastern March Canton Constabulary and an assortment of local police called in from other cities, not to mention the Whitehaven Home Guard which had been activated to make up for the focus of regular law enforcement in the convention areas. Not having left it at that, Protective Services had called up the Constabulary's SRU and STARS units and requested for patrol boats from its own Border Services and official aid from the Armed Forces, which had deployed Special Forces, helicopters, patrol boats and even fighter jets to assist. Not that they could do much except in the case of a terrorist attack, which they were allowed to respond to under the Defense Conditions Act.
Though any terrorist threat was likely to manifest itself only in Northern Cornavia, numerous boreoscepticist, antiglobalist, socialist and anarchist political groups had already announced their intent to stage demonstrations in Whitehaven, and the numbers expected numbered in several thousands.