Grand Forks

## Grand Forks Metropolitan Area 'Grand Cities'

* **Population:**426,146 (2070) - Greater Grand Forks Metropolitan Area
* **Government:**Chief Administrative Officer, Colonel (ret.) Taggart Boone, appointed by the Region 2 Commissioners, Captain Phillip Carson (UCAS) and *Isáŋyathi* Rides-a-Horse (Oceti Sakowin). The CAO overses the whole Metropolitan Area, both within the Zone  and East Grand Forks, which lies on the other side of the river in the UCAS, appointing Deputy Administrators for each of the areas. An advisory Board operates day-to-day operations in Grand Forks proper, while an elected City Council runs things in East Grand Forks.
* **Territoriality:**Technically, Statistical Region 2 of the RRDMZ is part of a jointly-administered territory of the UCAS and the Sioux Nation. However, the enitrety of the Metropolitan area is divided into plots owned by extraterritorial entities, so that it is more of a corporate reserve than a part of any nation or sub-national entity (such as the RRDMZ). Among the larger extraterritorial tracts are the Sikorsky-Bell Drone Factory, which supplies the nearby UCAAF base, the Altru Hospital Campus (owned by Sanssentia), The Simplot Complex (a production facility owned by Crystal Agricultural), the MUND (Military University of North Dakota) Campus, which is granted extraterritoriality by stint of its function as a military training facility, a Horizon customer service and distribution center, among others. However the largest extraterritorial holding, and the largest employer, in Region 2 is still the United Canadian and American Air Force, which works out of the Grand Forks AFB west of town.
* **Law Enforcement:**Outside of the Grand Forks Area, Region 2 of the RRDMZ is still the jurisdiction of the Joint Enforcement Group, the so-called Zone Patrol. In the metro, just as the single largest holding is the Air Force Base, the single largest security force is the UCAAF's SECFOR, which has sole authority within the Grand Forks AFB and its lands, which includes the Grand Forks Airport. Outside the Air Force holdings, a number of different companies hold the contracts for the various corporate fiefdoms, with Lone Star  (seen as politically neutral) as the the most common service used, with the Sioux-based Eagle Security coming a close second, although Borderlands  and Knight Errantare also well-represented.
* **Transportation:**Transportation within Region 2 is handled by Grand Cities Transit LLC, a corporation set up by the Red River Development Group  and benefiting from the Group's extraterritoriality, working in conjunction with Zone Area Transit and Winnipeg Transit.
* **Demographics (by Metatype):** 65% Human , 10% Elf , 9% Dwarf , 8% Ork , 7% Troll , 1% Other
* **Demographics (by Citizenship):**[of SIN -holding population] 59% UCAS Citizens, 21% Corporate Citizens, 16% Registered Members of Recognized Tribes of the Oceti Sakowin, 6% Other (\*SIN-holding citizens are estimated to encompass 71% of actual population)

As sister cities along the Red River of the North, Fargo  and Grand Forks have always been like twisted mirrors of each other. Both sit along the Red, and have been subject to its wrath, both served as a destination for Anglo refugees, both were occupied during the Third Ghost Dance War. But there has also always been a tension there, an opposition. When the River rose in the 1990's, Fargo withstood it and Grand Forks flooded and then burned, nearly totaling it. On the other hand, when the River rose up during the Awakening, it was the engineered and fortified Grand Forks that survived and the bustling, growing Fargo that was smashed into the ground and needed to be rebuilt.

As the last safe place left standing along the Red River, Grand Forks was the first destination for refugees fleeing out of the newly-formed Oceti Sakowin, not just individual Anglos, but corporations fleeing with their assets before they were nationalized. The wealthy, those with money, seeking the protection the USAF (as was) could provide, with their employees. Which is how Grand Forks ended up the crazy quilt of corporations that it is today.

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