Leo and Sarah spent a week completing a fifty-page federal grant application report.
The report had only one core objective: to persuade the bureaucrats in Washington to invest federal funds in Pittsburgh's working-class communities.
The report contained the history and data compiled by Leo, demonstrating Pittsburgh's contributions during the two World Wars and revealing the staggering unemployment and drug abuse rates currently afflicting the community.
It also included charts and stories created by Sarah. She turned the most authentic citizen accounts from the Pittsburgh Heart channel into a part of the report, putting specific faces to the cold, hard data.
Ultimately, the report proposed a clear city revitalization plan. The first step was to use the grant money to completely renovate all public facilities in several southern working-class communities, including the Steel Worker Community Center.
Leo printed it out and bound it neatly.
He submitted the report, which held all of their painstaking work, through the official electronic system to the federal agency in charge of this special fund—the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Then came the long wait.
A day passed. No response.
Three days passed. Still nothing.
A week passed. The report had vanished without a trace.
Leo started trying to call.
He found a public inquiry number on the official website of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
A dispassionate-sounding operator answered the phone.
When Leo explained why he was calling, the operator transferred him to the "Urban Development and Reconstruction Fund" project office.
A staff member in the project office answered and told Leo that applications for the Pittsburgh area were handled by the Mid-Atlantic Region's office.
He gave Leo the phone number for the regional office.
Leo called the regional office.
The person at the regional office told him that all special fund applications related to "traditional industrial communities" were processed by a dedicated review panel.
He then transferred Leo to this so-called review panel.
After that, no one ever picked up the phone.
It was always a recorded voice message.
"Hello, you've reached the special fund review panel. We are unable to take your call at this time. Please state the nature of your inquiry in a message, and we will get back to you as soon as possible."
Leo left one message, then two, then three.
He never received any reply.
He felt like a soccer ball, being kicked from one office to another by this massive bureaucracy.
Eventually, he was kicked into a dead end made of voicemail.
"Welcome to Washington, kid."
Roosevelt's voice was tinged with mockery.
"Here, the only destination for those pretty reports and application forms you write is the shredder in the corner of some office."
"You have to understand, in Washington, documents don't walk on their own. You have to find someone—a person of flesh and blood, with their own political needs and personal calculations—to sign off on your report and clear the way for it."
Leo felt a wave of helplessness.
"But we don't know anyone in Washington."
"Then we'll find someone," Roosevelt said. "Someone who needs us the most right now."
Roosevelt had Leo start analyzing the few Federal Congressmen who represented the Pittsburgh area.
Pennsylvania has seventeen seats in the House of Representatives. Two of these Representatives have districts that cover Pittsburgh City and its surrounding areas.
One was a Republican, whose district primarily consisted of the affluent white suburbs of Pittsburgh.
"He's not our target," Roosevelt said dismissively. "He and the voters behind him would prefer it if those poor, Rust Belt communities just disappeared off the map."
The other was a Democrat.
Leo quickly found his information.
Representative John Murphy.
Sixty-two years old, a veteran politician who had been on Capitol Hill for over twenty years.
A moderate within the Democratic Party, he rarely took a stand on any radical issues and was skilled at playing the mediator between the two parties.
His district was a "deep blue" district, primarily composed of the urban working class and ethnic minorities of Pittsburgh.
In the elections of the past few decades, he had been easily re-elected every time.
But recently, things had started to change.
On a local political news website, Leo found an article analyzing Representative Murphy's election prospects.
The article pointed out that in the upcoming Democratic Party primary, Representative Murphy was facing a strong challenge from a far-left, progressive candidate.
This young challenger had the support of the American Democratic Socialists and was extremely popular among young voters and in university communities.
Meanwhile, Representative Murphy, having been in a "deep blue" district for too long, had lost his former edge.
He was severely out of touch with the young voters and the working class in his district.
It had been a long time since he had secured any significant federal investment for Pittsburgh.
His voting record in Congress was also leaning more and more in favor of big corporate interests.
The latest polls showed his support in the party primary was less than five percentage points higher than that of his young challenger.
His electoral prospects were in jeopardy.
"A perfect target."
"What Murphy needs most right now isn't more campaign funding; he has enough donors behind him."
"What he needs most right now are votes. He needs an accomplishment to prove to the increasingly disillusioned working-class voters in his district that he's still working for them."
"And you, Leo, can deliver this coveted accomplishment right into his hands."
「In the Mayor of Pittsburgh's office.」
Mayor Martin Carter Wright was listening to the weekly work report from his chief of staff, Mark Jennings.
At the end of the report, Jennings mentioned something casually.
"Mr. Mayor, regarding that Wallace fellow from the City Revitalization Committee, my people report that he's been calling the Department of Housing and Urban Development in Washington constantly. It seems he's trying to apply for some kind of federal funding."
Carter Wright scoffed.
He took an expensive Cuban cigar from its box, cut it, and lit it.
"Let him be," he said, exhaling a thick cloud of smoke. "A greenhorn who can't even find his way around City Hall wants to take on Capitol Hill? If he can squeeze a single penny out of those Washington tightwads, I'll drink the entire fountain in front of City Hall on the spot."
"You're right," Jennings said with a laugh. "Should I have my people keep an eye on him?"
"Of course," Carter Wright said. "Keep an eye on him. Just make sure he doesn't stir up any trouble in Pittsburgh. As for Washington, that place will teach him the meaning of true despair."
Leo was completely unaware of Carter Wright's arrangements.
He and Sarah were trying every method they could think of to get ahold of Representative Murphy's recent schedule.
Finally, they found the information they needed on Representative Murphy's official campaign website.
Next Monday was Labor Day in the United States.
Representative Murphy would be returning to Pittsburgh to attend a large Labor Day family barbecue co-hosted by several major local unions.
It would be his most important public event for winning the support of blue-collar voters.
"Here's our chance."
Roosevelt's voice echoed in Leo's mind.
"Get your speech ready, kid."
"We're going to appear before him when he needs us most, in a way he can't possibly refuse."