Deleted my older post as I got off topic toward the end.
Anyway, those Riley events you mention should feel disconnected from the main story because they are. Those are some of the "Sandbox Events" which exist to flesh out the... sandbox. I created these are small, internalized, three event story lines that progress to sex scenes in the game. I chose to do it this way because the demand for sexual content in the game outpaced what I believed should be in the main story. It was something of a dilemma, and I didn't want every other main story event to be about sex - and not for any high minded reason. It was just impossible to pace out sex scenes with every character and the main story together. The sandbox events separate these two features, providing build-up of the sexual content while also allowing the main story to only include sex scene when they would be appropriate for the characters.
You can actually skip all but... two of them, I think? The very first hike with Harper, and Riley's very first rain day event are easily triggered because they unlock other parts of the story, they're literally impossible to miss, but the rest have to be found. This used to be more of a challenge, but I made them trackable with the new navigation system due to feedback. They're something akin to side quests. You do as many as you like and then continue on with the main story.
As for why there's no supercrime spree, it's explained, mostly through the Detective and the protagonist, that the city is a dead-end. It's a tourist trap with nothing to see. Missus Powell is there in semi-retirement and focused on opening the Academy. This is why the Detective is so confused as to why all of these villains are showing up, there's nothing to steal but knick-knacks. That is, of course, unless the target were someone instead of some thing.
I don't want to diminish your critique. If I could, I would go back and written certain things differently. The pacing could be improved in various places, but I'm on a limited schedule and the content has to come out. "Fixing" things like this are nightmarish, because the removing and rearranging of events takes up a monstrous amount of time. There are plans for a combined team event in the future, but that will be for one of the biggest events in the game. In the mean time, it's just more economical to have Kelly give you updates on the city.