re: This is Jackson's last chance to turn things around

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The Two Lakes Plan is going to be back later this year.



What is this? They gonna build some lakes in downtown Jackson?

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Last I heard (and it's been bantered about resulting from the 79 flood), but it's a flood abatement plan to reroute, widen and dredge but also build a resort, business all sorts of stuff east of 55 down around the Pearl but also crossing into Rankin County. They need east/corridor down that way but it's an expensive approach and I am not sure they will ever get the go ahead to do it.

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I won’t even stop and buy gas in Jackson when I pass through on the interstate.

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Hyperbole much? I went into inter-city Jackson at Poindexter Park (about as bad as it gets) with a church group last Sunday to feed the homeless. I was packing but it's not scary enough to be too scared to stop for gas on the interstate.

Man, that's really sad.

RIP Mr Snake Man

This may run long but here is my "Jackson is a shithole, but it has good bones" spill.

Priority One has to be infrastructure. Jackson schools have not been in session in over a month - they are going back tomorrow per the mayor's press conference.

The estimate to fix everything to be 100% brand new and state of the art is $2 billion. The city recently raised sales taxes to pay for it, but guess what - democrats gonna democrat and they found somewhere else to spend it. The sales tax has raised about $40 million or so.

Everything doesn't have to be brand new. There are some estimates that $300 million could bring the city even with other Southern cities. But the city leaders have been pushing for everything to be brand new.

A close second is to fix the schools and that is underway. Jackson Schools is basically an employment firm for everyone's cousin and the city has used it as a slush fund. The state board of education voted to take over the schools, but the governor and the new mayor worked out a deal so they get one last chance. It was beautiful - conservatives and liberals, black and white, working together for a common goal.

Jackson has a river that runs through it but no riverfront area. The proposed Riverfront is going to cost $400 million. The feds have already kicked in $150 million and would probably do another $100 million. This needs to be done to beautify the city.

The good - The Capitol Complex has done a complete 180 in the past couple years (after the state took on the funding) and Fondren and Eastover are thriving. The wife and I went to Fine and Dandy the other night and it was great. Beautiful restaurant, upscale and in a development that made you think you were in Atlanta or Dallas trendy spots.

The bad - there's a lot of work to do and increasing revenue is a bleak prospect. Most of the citizenry is on welfare and a lot of the real estate is state owned and not subject to taxes.

The ugly - South Jackson and West Jackson are about as safe as Port-au-Prince or Mogadishu. There's not a lot to be done.

Jackson's chance is to elect judges that will be tough on crime, elect leaders that will put the city above race, and concentrate all efforts on Downtown/Fondren/Eastover/Northeast Jackson. South and West can wait. They created this problem.

Here's a couple other things.

Jackson has a great set of museums. It might be the best set of museums in a Southern city.

Moscow, Paris, Helsinki, Jackson - rotating hosts of the International Ballet Competition. There is a vibrant arts community.

The Happy City movement a couple years ago shows off some of the best of the city.

LINK

Dale - every night on the news all you see for the first 6 minutes are the 3 people killed by gunfire (or follow up from the gun shots fired the previous nights).

It's bleeding in Jacktown every night, and the blacks are saying to ban guns and turn them over to the police dept.

It's a one lake plan, not two lake plan.

Jackson has to have flood control. Levees are just an expense, unsightly, and return no tax revenue. Combining a flood control project with economic development project means the area makes money back off of tax revenue, jobs, etc. They are looking at the trinity project in Texas.

Bless Percy. Knew him. Just someone who tried to make his part of the world a little bit better place.

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The good people in cities like these just need to relocate & let the ghettos burn down around

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They do when they can finally afford it, but the problem I’m about to speak about happens in every racial community. It’s when the good people finally have enough and move to a new area only to let their kids/relatives come visit/stay with them and cause the new area misery.

Then, the people already living in those communities start leaving in droves while property values plummet. It’s a never ending cycle.

I had an idea for Jackson since they are always complaining about lack of jail space. The city of Jackson needs to buy the old Metrocenter and turn it into a large jail. Plenty of room for the animals to roam.

And another thing, I was talking to a buddy of mine I used to work with him for a large business off Ridgewood Rd. They had to shut their building down since there was no running water. Another time they had to bring Porto potties out and put them on the loading dock. This is a large business. 150-200 employees. It’s embarrassing.


anc-

Man, keep fighting the good fight. I hope you guys can get it turned around. I’m gonna have to try that Fine and Dandy out.

The City of Jackson owns JAN and several thousand acres surrounding it that are ripe for development.