Liberty City (3D Universe)


 * This is an article for the rendition used in the GTA III Era. For the rendition used in GTA 1 see Liberty City in GTA 1 and for the rendition used in GTA IV, The Lost and Damned and GTA Chinatown Wars, see Liberty City in GTA IV.

The GTA III Era rendition of Liberty City is the setting of Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto Advance and Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, as well as playing a minor role in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The city is loosely based on New York City. The city's motto is "the worst place in America", due to the high crime rate in the city.

The city was established in 1798, being "a church, a cow pasture and three houses when the telephone was invented" according to Lazlow. The city's population in 1998, according to the game manual of GTA Liberty City Stories, is four million. Differences appear in the city between each game, with different renditions of the city appearing in Grand Theft Auto 1, Grand Theft Auto IV, The Lost and Damned and Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, although they are not related to this rendition.

City Layout
Liberty City is made up of four islands, with three large islands comprising the city's main boroughs: Portland Island, Staunton Island and Shoreside Vale, which are in turn split into districts. The fourth island, known as Portland Rock, is a district of Portland Island. In GTA III, a hidden area of the city popularly known as the Ghost Town appears, although the area can only be reached by flying a Dodo.



Portland Island
Portland Island is the easternmost island of the city and is the city's industrial sector, resembling areas of Brooklyn. There are several non-industrial districts, in particular the north and west of the island. The island houses a Liberty City Police Department police station and a hospital, called Sweeney General Hospital, in Portland View and a Liberty City Fire Department fire station located in Harwood. The island is the first area accessible to protagonists Claude in GTA III, Mike in GTA Advance and Toni Cipriani in GTA Liberty City Stories, and the only borough accessible in GTA San Andreas. Portland Island also has an elevated commuter train, known as Portland El, transporting residents to three stations in the city. The service, completed in 1930, stops at Baille Station in Saint Marks, Kurowski Station in Chinatown and Rothwell Station in Hepburn Heights.

Districts

 * Atlantic Quays is a district to southeast of Portland Island comprised mainly of warehouses and piers.
 * Callahan Bridge is the bridge linking Portland Island to Staunton Island with the Portland Island entrance to the bridge is located in Chinatown.
 * Callahan Point is an undeveloped district to the southwest of Portland Island.
 * Chinatown is a largely commercial district, with areas of industry and residential housing, dominated by the Chinese Triad gang in 2001.
 * Harwood is a largely undeveloped district located to the north of Portland Island controlled by the Leone Family in both 1998 and 2001.
 * Hepburn Heights is a largely residential district comprised mainly of apartment buildings controlled by the Diablos in 2001.
 * Portland Beach is a rocky beach district located to the east of Portland Island, with no businesses or housing.
 * Portland Harbor is a dock and shipyard comprised mainly of warehouses and a few docked freighters.
 * Portland Rock is a small island located off the east of Portland Island, housing the city's lighthouse.
 * Portland View is a small district comprised of both residential housing and commercial businesses.
 * Red Light District is a district located to the west of Saint Mark's, the district is the adult entertainment centre of the city, with no residential housing.
 * Saint Marks is a largely residential district with a number of businesses located in the area. The district is dominated by the Leone Family in 2001, although the Forelli Family are known to have once had influence in the district.
 * Trenton is an industrial district with no residential housing. The area is not controlled by any gang, although senior Leone Family gang member Joey Leone owns a garage in the district.

Staunton Island
Staunton Island is the middle island of the city, between Portland Island and Shoreside Vale, and is the city's commercial sector, based on Manhattan Island. There are some non-commercial districts in the city, centred in the south of the island. The island houses a Liberty City Police Department police station in Torrington, a hospital called Carson General Hospital in Rockford and a Liberty City Fire Department station in Aspatria. The island is the second accessible island to the protagonists Claude in GTA III, Mike in GTA Advance and Toni Cipriani in GTA Liberty City Stories.

Districts

 * Aspatria is a commercial and residential district controlled by the Yakuza in 1998, although by 2000 the gang loses its foothold in the district.
 * Bedford Point is the main commercial district of the city, being modelled after Times Square in New York City. Bedford Point is never shown as being under gang control.
 * Belleville Park is a park located in the centre of Staunton Island, with one house located in the park. The district also extends to some of the surrounding area.
 * Callahan Bridge is the bridge linking Portland Island to Staunton Island.
 * Fort Staunton is a large district of Staunton Island being developed by Colombian Cartel front Panlantic Construction Company in 2001. In 1998 the district was a largely residential district, with a small park and a number of small businesses.
 * Liberty Campus is the campus of the Liberty City Community College. The district borders Rockford, Aspatria and Newport.
 * Newport is a commercial and residential district. The Yakuza holds some influence in the district. However, the Uptown Yardies controls the majority of the area.
 * Rockford is a commercial district of Staunton Island, with part of the district being re-developed after being destroyed by Toni Cipriani.
 * Torrington is a residential and commercial district located to the southeast of Staunton Island controlled by the Yakuza.

Shoreside Vale
Shoreside Vale is the western most island of the city and is primarily a residential district, with an area of industry located in Pike Creek. The borough houses the city airport, Francis International Airport, a Liberty City Police Department police station and a hospital, called Hope Medical College, both located in Pike Creek, and a Liberty City Fire Department station in Francis International Airport. The island is the last accessible island to the protagonists Claude in GTA III, Mike in GTA Advance and Toni Cipriani in GTA Liberty City Stories.

Districts

 * Cedar Grove is a suburban residential district housing the richer residents of the city located in the north east of Shoreside Vale, which is controlled by the Colombian Cartel.
 * Cochrane Dam is a hydro-electric dam located in the north west of Shoreside Vale.
 * Francis International Airport is the city airport located in the southern half of Shoreside Vale.
 * Pike Creek is a business district located in the west of Shoreside Vale. The Yakuza controlled the district in 1998, however, by 2001 the district is free of gang control.
 * Wichita Gardens is a low-wealth residential district on the east side of Shoreside Vale. The district has a number of housing projects and is controlled by the Southside Hoods. Claude resides in the district in 2001. The second entry point to the Porter Tunnel is located in the district.

Geography
Liberty City is located in Liberty State, with links to "Upstate" being found in a road tunnel connecting Cedar Grove and Cochrane Dam in GTA Liberty City Stories. The city is also located close to Carcer City, the setting of Manhunt, another Rockstar Games title. The city is relatively flat, with hills only appearing in Portland Island (with Saint Marks and in Shoreside Vale (with Pike Creek and Cedar Grove). In GTA Advance, however, the city has no hills, although this is due to the limited capacity of the Game Boy Advance.

Politics
The Mayor of Liberty City in 2001 is Miles O'Donovan, who won an election against Donald Love after the death of the previous mayor, Roger C. Hole, at the hands of Toni Cipriani in 1998.

Roger C. Hole was elected Mayor of Liberty City in 1992 and during this time proved to be corrupt. Hole, who was being controlled by Forelli Family Don Franco Forelli, caused numerous controversies during his term in office. In 1993, three Russian prostitutes and a construction company manager were caught trying to get a government contract from Hole. In 1995, he was photographed with members of the Forelli Family whilst he was accused of securing drugs for city officials in return for sanitation contracts. Hole was also accused of sleeping with two underage girls. Eventually, his connections with the Forelli Family resulted in his own death in 1998. During his term in office, he raised taxation, reduced public expenditure, increased bureaucratic costs and kept Liberty City in the national news.

An election was then triggered, with businessman Donald Love running against former candidate Miles O'Donovan. Love received help from Salvatore Leone and Toni Cipriani, who campaigned for him, stopped the Forelli Family rigging the election and even attempt to rig the election in Donald's favour. However, after links between Love and the Leone Family were discovered, the people voted in favour of O'Donovan.

O'Donovan came to power by making numerous promises, one of which was to keep the Ferry service and another to improve the state of the Portland El service. By 2000, the ferry service was cancelled and in 2001, the Portland El service had not been improved. O'Donovan, much like Hole, is also corrupt, quickly falling under the influence of Salvatore Leone after being rescued from Massimo Torini and the Sicilian Mafia. O'Donovan, who past includes rumours of corruption, drug abuse and prostitution, also begins to introduce numerous hardware stores into the city, possibly due to his brother being in charge of the Donovan Hardware company. O'Donovan, however, does introduce helicopters for the Liberty City Police Department and in April 2001 promises to revamp the Red Light District.

Education
There are two known educational buildings in the city, a school in the Bedford Point district of Staunton Island and the Liberty City Community College in the Liberty Campus district of Staunton Island. In the beta version of GTA III, a school could also be seen in the Chinatown district of Portland Island, although this was later replaced by the Old School Hall.

The school in Bedford Point only appears in GTA Advance. The school is seen during the mission School's Out when Mike kidnaps Yuka, the niece of Yakuza co-leader Asuka Kasen.

The Liberty City Community College is based at the Liberty Campus district. The college is run by Dean Smegley, with Eric Ershwitz employed at the college as Professor for Contemporary Crime. The college was named the worst in the United States, resulting in Smegley's appointment as Dean and his changing of the colleges programme. Smegley, in 2001, announces his plans to abandon the old methods of evaluation and old subjects, planning to replace them with diplomas for new subjects and grading students on how bad they look. The new subjects include: Street cleaning, Processed Agriculture Rotation, Grill Management, Floor cleaning, Restroom Administration, Coatroom Management, Automobile Ignition Circumvention and Pharmaceutical Baking.

Media
Liberty City's media is dominated, in 2001, by the Love Media group run by Donald Love, which also controls numerous other businesses across the city. The company owns "900 radio stations, 300 television stations, 4 networks, 3 satellites, [and] 10 senators" according to a Love Media advert.

Radio
In 1998, the city had numerous independently owned radio stations: Head Radio, Double Clef FM, Flashback FM, K-Jah, Lips 106, Rise FM, MSX 98, Radio Del Mundo and The Liberty Jam. The city also had a publically funded station, Liberty City Free Radio. By 2001, the airwaves of the city had changed. Love Media purchased Head Radio, Double Clef FM, Flashback 95.6 and Liberty City Free Radio, replacing the station with Chatterbox FM. A number of stations remain outside the Love Media company: Lips 106, Rise FM, MSX FM (replacing MSX 98) and Game Radio (which replaced The Liberty Jam). Three other radio stations also exist in the city in 2001, although Claude can not listen to them. They are Liberty FM, WLLC ‘The Zone’ and Liberty Soul FM. Meanwhile, Radio Del Mundo disappears from the airwaves.

Print Media
The city's newspaper, the Liberty Tree, is in 1998 privately owned but by 2001 comes under the ownership of the Love Media group. The newspaper has been "promoting family values" for over fifty years. Adam Tedman, a report for the paper, reports that the Liberty Tree won the "Most Absorbent Newsprint Award" at the Cleaning and Tidying Association of America annual awards ceremony. In the same article, Tedman also references that Liberty Tree has a rival in the city, although he does not mentioned the newspaper by name.

Sports
Liberty City has two known sports teams: the Liberty City Cocks and Liberty City Beavers. The two football/soccer teams play at the Liberty City Memorial Stadium in Aspatria. The two are fierce rivals, with Derrick Thackery, in 1992, mentioning a match between the two on WCTRs The Tight End Zone. Another match is played in September 2001, with the Liberty Tree reporting that the Liberty Cocks won 3-0 after a hatrick (three goals) from Iranian striker Ma'am. Fans of the Liberty City Cocks can be seen around the stadium in Aspatria. In 2000/2001, the Vice City Mambas play the Liberty City Cocks, with Mike injuring the Mambas injuring the teams star quarterback.