Huns Valen
In all of Sansara, water sims have filled in former voids absolutely EVERYWHERE... except for one single place in the "old neighborhood," the very first sims which date all the way back to late 2002/early 2003. This is the area just to the north of the original Ahern welcome area.
The locations would be the voids adjacent to Shermerville Central, DarkWood, Shermerville NW, Auda, Fuchsia, Celadon, Brown, Aqua, Gray, Tan, Kissling, Lusk, and Ahern. (Draw a rectange from NW Pepsin to SE Kissling and you'll cover all of it.)
There are two store sims in this area, Cayman and Edge, both open to the public. Before anyone says, "oh, but we couldn't possibly move them" -- they are currently isolated; and if they wish to stay that way, fine. There's plenty of room in the void nearby for them, barely a kilometer away. I doubt their presence is a serious deterrent to repairing this situation. Even if it is, LDPW can still fill in the void locations that wouldn't edge-connect with them.
The use of this project would be to revitalize the old neighborhood, fill in the one and only eyesore void inside Sansara; and especially to encourage more water and air traffic through that corridor, which would further connect the water sims to the north and west of Sansara with the water sims south of Bay City which run down next to the vehicle park and terminate just west of Abbotts. This would invite more boat and airplane traffic, drawing interest from boaters, GTFO! couriers, pilots, and more generally people who enjoy exploring. The new shoreline would have attractions that people could enjoy walking around for hours, whether or not they arrived by vehicle. We'd also see to it that the new areas are lit up very nicely to make them attractive by night, adding a touch of mystery and romance.
My personal interest would be seeing water access open up to Gray, home of Kazenojin Executive Airport. That's the oldest airport in SL (we won that land in a contest at the end of beta in 2003, and have maintained it ever since -- but it's sadly isolated from the many water sims nearby. Does that seem right to you?)
I also see numerous void-adjacent For Sale plots in the area which are probably going to stay that way until they get abandoned. I think they'd be FAR more attractive if they bordered navigable water, rather than being next to an invisible brick wall. (Who wants that? It's depressing! This is why water sims exist in the first place.) People who would never consider buying those plots today might become interested if there was some access from the waterways.
In the case where Cayman and Edge remain where they are, these locations, which don't edge-connect with either, would receive new water sims:
  • South of Fuchsia
  • North of Miramare Bay
  • North of Lusk
  • North of Kissling
  • South of Aqua
  • South of Brown
In the case where either or both of Cayman and Edge move somewhere else, OR agree to connection, then (up to) the six void positions edge-adjacent to them would also receive water sims. That would mostly or fully fill in the current void.
I'd be happy to work with LDPW to put together a development plan for the area, specifically focusing on how to bridge the different terraforming styles:
  • The other side of the Kissling hill (to the west/NW/north) would be a fantastic place for some mountainous hiking trails.
  • To the west of Tan would be a blend from the Kissling hill to the shores of Gray. I'm thinking this could be like a river delta, with a bunch of boardwalks and other paths, lit up all nice at night.
  • South of Fuchsia, continue the riverland theme, joining Auda. Continue all the way down to Miramare Bay with mostly just water, with an archipelago similar to Blake Sea - Sirens Isle. (Boat people LOVE archipelagos, especially with seating. That sim is NEVER empty.)
  • North of Ahern and Lusk, continue the landscape and waterways. Add a boat dock to the Ahern lake to give visitors to the welcome area "something to do." A boat rezzer on the dock.
  • Carve out a small river going from the Ahern lake, toward the southeast, crossing through the northeast corner of Murray and then joining the Rizal lake. This would connect the Ahern lake and new water sims to the north, to the currently mostly-isolated lakes of Murray, Smith, Kapor, and Rosedale; and encourage water transit all through that corridor from Abbotts, which has a major SL Coast Guard installation. (I'm not currently affiliated with them. It's just that they drive SO much traffic.)
  • The sim immediately north of Ahern could have a small museum of curiosities from alpha through the end of the first year (?/2002 - 6/2004.) This would be appropriate, as Ahern was the main welcome area in 2003.