If I'm remembering correctly, as of a year ago, Mississippi was one of the few states left in America that doesn't pay its capital city back for public services (water/sewer infrastructure, police/fire, etc). All those public buildings in downtown Jackson are off the tax rolls and do not contribute to the infrastructure that they daily use. Other states have recognized this and rectified it over the years, but our state never made that decision. It's not the only problem, but it's a major one that cannot be ignored.
LOCKED - Question for the Jacksonites
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If I'm remembering correctly, as of a year ago, Mississippi was one of the few states left in America that doesn't pay its capital city back for public services (water/sewer infrastructure, police/fire, etc). All those public buildings in downtown Jackson are off the tax rolls and do not contribute to the infrastructure that they daily use. Other states have recognized this and rectified it over the years, but our state never made that decision. It's not the only problem, but it's a major one that cannot be ignored.
I'm sure if the state had been giving Jackson money for them so graciously hosting the state government through the years...the money would have been spent wisely*********
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You can go from Downtown Brandon to Flowood to Madison and not even get close to Jackson.
I would hope everybody, especially people that live in the suburbs, is pulling for Jackson to improve. The better Jackson is, the better the whole area is.
Jackson area folks cannot seem to understand this. It is like they do not understand how the rest of the world operates. No reality.
Or perhaps they just do not want to think about it?
The easy way...... not that anything is easy in Jackson.... is to extend 220 over down lake Harbor Dr / Spillway Road all the way to 471 they expand 471 over to Brandon.
Yeah I know there are several right of way issues but if they did that with a frontage road on each side it would solve the issue. The only other option is to do the same thing to 471 but cut over to 1-55 north of the Rez....
Yeah I know there are several right of way issues but if they did that with a frontage road on each side it would solve the issue. The only other option is to do the same thing to 471 but cut over to 1-55 north of the Rez....
There are definitely people in Mississippi that are unreasonable about what they expect from a city and actually do (inexplicably in my mind) associate things like casual chain restaurants with being a "nice area", but let's not act like the Fondren area and downtown are up to snuff. Jackson has big city crime and small city/large town amenities.
It sucks because I'm not sure what politically viable route there is to fix it, and it's really bad to not have a decent capital city or to really have any decent and decent sized city in the state. The coast is nice and a decent size, but it's still not going to attract young graduates the way a birmingham or even memphis will because it's just a collection of decent sized towns and lacks a central city with the associated employment opportunities.
Jackson has and has had a huge advantage by having the state government there, but that's being squandered by the poor leadership that has been and will continue to be in Jackson. At this point, I'm not sure even solid leadership can reverse the decline. We'd need a huge private employer to come in and act as a partner to the city and/or we'd need the legislature to dump a bunch of money into jackson, which will be a bitter pill for a lot of legislators to have to tell their constituents that they're dumping a bunch of their tax dollars into a city that had more advantages than any other in Mississippi, essentially rewarding the people there for being morons and voting for corrupt leadership.
Why don't you give us an example of a place with Jackson's demographics and political base where the surrounding area was able to come together and lift the troubled area up without said troubled area helping itself. What the hell are we supposed to do about Jackson voting strictly based on a candidate's color and being a Democrat with no other qualifications even being considered.
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Can you do it quickly? Such that they could actually operate as a somewhat cohesive work/live/play environment? Or is it a major pain in the *** that is doable as a commute but not something you're going to do on a regular basis such that population in Madison would contribute to traffic count in Flowood/Brandon and vice versa outside of work commutes?
Thank you. I wish there were more like you.
We must support and be a part of the solution for our core communities and their schools, businesses and neighborhoods or we are never going to begin to turn around the brain drain and the further decline of this state.
Disclaimer: I'll take Highland Village and Lemuria over Renaissance and Barnes & Noble any day.
Consolidated metropolitan government: the City and County of Hinds. See Denver, Nashville, and San Francisco. There are others (in the south even).
Jackson messed up by not getting the baseball stadium. I really think that would have helped revitalize downtown.
This sums it up in a nut shell. There is no reason to connect these suburbs.
They need to fix the existing streets before a redneck expressway is even dreamed about. It’s just not functional and the City of Jackson would take a knee diverting potential 7 Eleven customers ...Hey we can get to this Freds in 10 mins instead of 15mins....
The leadership in Jackson is a great example of how big of a ******** it has become and will be in the future. Jackson is nothing more than an infrastructure nightmare and the potholes have birthdays....The tax base is on welfare.
It would take a NFL franchise and a 6 Flags before we start talking about revitalization. Minor League Baseball aint going to do it.
A whole lot of industry is the best cure. Someone in Jackson needs to invent time travel. Make Jackson the international hub for time time travel and the money will flow. Otherwise, I see no other means of getting enough high paying jobs into the city to gentrify. Until someone can attract some fortune 500 sized business/industry, government will be the big business in Jackson and that is no recipe for success.
If the Continental Tire Plant in Clinton is the catalyst for growth this town has been looking for (and I think it is), Jackson will be almost completely surrounded by strong growing suburbs.
Montgomery, AL is very similar. So is Birmingham, albeit bigger. I already posted this once.
My solutions:
- Give up on the Jackson city limits as far as industry. They are not coming. But we can mirror the cities above my investing in a good entertainment district in the downtown. THAT is viable. All industry and jobs are going to the suburbs at this point, see Continental and Nissan. Jackson can't police the whole city adequately, but it can police a small area.
- Some people are going to have to invest back into downtown. Someone has to make that sacrifice.
- One political side is going to have to back down and be willing to work with the other side. No more hostile takeovers. Take the airport for example. Josh Harkins and Chockwe Lumumba need to sit down together over lunch and talk respectfully to each other and find some middle ground. State takeover isn't viable, what happens when the state's demographics change? Federal takeover?
You just sent a cold shiver down the spine of anybody invested in the county of hinds outside the city limits.
You're talking about the county along with Jackson, CLinton, Bolton, Byram, Edwards, Learned, Raymond, Terry, and Utica. Are those areas really going to be able to provide the votes to offset the idiocy of Jackson voters? I have no clue but would have guessed not.
You can give up on the school part. I have seen gentrifiers in many different cities, but I've yet seen the ones who make the ULTIMATE sacrifice - sending their kids to the urban public schools. Are you willing to do that?
They had 16 years of do nothing or caricature leadership...
From 1997 through 2013 the mayor was either Harvey Johnson or Frank Melton. That's 16 years of absolutely nothing of value being done in the city. You don't climb out of that hole overnight.
The one guy that finally gets elected and seems to be creating some momentum dies in office after a year and then a younger Harvey (Yarber) gets elected. I'm holding out hopes for the younger Lumumba, but I think he's going to prove to be more ideals and less practicality. His father understood this.
The momentum is there, but without some serious monetary assistance, the city is just going to physically crumble in on itself.
From 1997 through 2013 the mayor was either Harvey Johnson or Frank Melton. That's 16 years of absolutely nothing of value being done in the city. You don't climb out of that hole overnight.
The one guy that finally gets elected and seems to be creating some momentum dies in office after a year and then a younger Harvey (Yarber) gets elected. I'm holding out hopes for the younger Lumumba, but I think he's going to prove to be more ideals and less practicality. His father understood this.
The momentum is there, but without some serious monetary assistance, the city is just going to physically crumble in on itself.
Elephant in the room brother - what is the difference in Denver, Nashville and San Francisco....and Jackson?
It is still and always will be a race issue. Neither side trusts the other. This is why St. Louis and Birmingham are so fragmented. Atlanta would be the same way but there is so much going there that no one cares. Everybody is making money.
Chockwe Jr has made some good hires. He certainly has some learning on the job to do but I think he will do well, at least a glimmer of hope I have not had in a while. He is less on the radical crap than Chockwe Sr, which is normal for younger generations. I did not like the way he handled Trump's visit, but he's far from the only one with that opinion I suppose. There are more important issues facing Jackson than that.
A baseball stadium wouldn't solve the massive crime problem or the hinds judges that are paid off by the gangs and drug thugs. Or the dumbass city leadership that would end up making sure a unqualified minority contractor built the stadium, and shoved half of the cost back into said leaders' pockets. Jackson really is run like a third world country. I have clients all over the city, and that feeling is unanimous
Which is a shame because schools are the one thing that could actually turn Jackson around. If families could stay and not have to pay what, $14k per year per kid to send them to school (or pay $7-8k and drive their kids out of the city for whatever private schools are nearby, just guessing at their tuition), I'm sure lots of people that work in Jackson proper would love to not have a 45 minute commute.
Even if the state passed a voucher system, I'm not sure Prep and JA and St andrews wouldn't end up just providing a more expensive education with nicer facilities.
So racism IS our core problem. I respect your honesty.
We need only to look at our state flag for the affirmation of this truth.
It takes about 15 minutes or so to get from downtown Brandon to Spill way road. Then depending on traffic 5 minutes down spill way road to old canton road. Two minutes to the Trace. Then get on the Trace to Clinton. I don't know how long that takes.
I have timed the trip from Brandon to the Buffalo Wild Wings. 20 minutes or so.
Of course. I understand both sides' positions too. However, at this point, I do think changing the flag would be a great chance to finally reach across the isle and clasp hands.
I'd really like to hear where the people calling Jackson a ******** live. Please list your place of residence at the bottom of your post. I think that would make for a good laugh. I also think the legislature passed a bill last year that makes the state foot the bill for some of the infrastructure improvements stretching from downtown to UMC. The infrastructure issues don't get fixed in a day but it appears the right things are finally at least in motion. I will never agree with everything the mayor does but he is intelligent and has (for the most part) made good hires, especially his public works director.
Do you think building it outside of Jackson helped?
Look around Trustmark Park now. None of that would have been there if not for the stadium, and the partnerships formed between the owners, the city of Pearl, Bass Pro, and Bill Yates. All of that (and the resulting sales and ad valorem tax revenue) could have been located within and poured into the city of Jackson and Hinds County. It would have given them a fighting chance to slow the leakage 10-15 years ago.
Exhibit A in what should be a criminal case against former "leaders" in this city. Thanks, Harv.
Look around Trustmark Park now. None of that would have been there if not for the stadium, and the partnerships formed between the owners, the city of Pearl, Bass Pro, and Bill Yates. All of that (and the resulting sales and ad valorem tax revenue) could have been located within and poured into the city of Jackson and Hinds County. It would have given them a fighting chance to slow the leakage 10-15 years ago.
Exhibit A in what should be a criminal case against former "leaders" in this city. Thanks, Harv.
you really want to get into comparisons of Jackson vs people living along 302 in Desoto county? Tupelo? Starkville? Gulfport? Nashville? Huntsville?
Would there have been available land near the proposed downtown location?
I'm not disagreeing that having the minor league team would have been good for jackson, but most of the pearl development seems to be more contingent upon being on a major interstate pretty just about on the intersection with a major north south thoroughfare. Not sure anything like that would have happened in downtown Jackson.
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