This is going to sound really bizarre, but it’s true: Jackson’s future prospects are better than they have ever been in 30 years. It’s just like one of my favorite maxims: It’s always darkest before the dawn.
Yes, I am aware Jackson has made national headlines over the past few months for its water crisis and then its garbage crisis. None of that is good and has done a huge amount of PR damage.
But as a result, we now have a second Jackson police force under state direction and funding. And the richest government in the history of the world is now rebuilding and funding our water and sewer system to the tune of a billion dollars.
As publisher of the Northside Sun, I have been begging on these pages for the state leadership not to wash its hands of Jackson. They have finally listened to my plea and are getting involved in a big way.
This is as it should be. Unlike many states that have multiple large urban areas, Mississippi has only one big city, Jackson, and it’s located smack dab in the middle of the state. Jackson is the center of our state in every regard. As Jackson goes, so goes the state of Mississippi.
Ultimately, the reputation of the state of Mississippi will rest on the reputation of outside visitors to Jackson. Jackson is where outside visitors fly into or drive through. Jackson is where residents throughout our state come for dining, movies, shopping and recreation. Just look at how many hotels Jackson has.
Jackson does not belong just to Jacksonians. It belongs to the entire state.
Emmerich News runs 19 websites across the state. In fact, it is the biggest news network in the state, by far, producing nearly 1,000 local articles per week. We have invested hugely in our websites which have cutting edge features. As a result, our web traffic is exploding.
One of the new cool things we are able to do is instant statewide polls. Albeit, they are not scientific but I believe they are accurate. In fact, our results have been almost identical to much more expensive and fancy polls.
One of our statewide polls asked this question: Should the state continue its efforts to take more control over Jackson? There were two choices: Yes, the capital city belongs to the whole state and needs help. No, leave Jackson alone to sink or swim.
The “yes” voters won 1,007 votes compared to 493 “no” votes. This is huge. It means people throughout the state are buying into the concept that Jackson is Mississippi’s only major city and it belongs to the whole state, not just a fringe radical political element.
None of us operate in a vacuum. We all are answerable to others, whether it be our boss, our spouse, our friends, our customers or, most importantly, our God. As a publisher, we are answerable to our readers for accuracy and responsibility. If not, we go out of business. Simple as that. We strive day in and day out to acknowledge that reality and live up to that standard.
When Jackson’s current mayor, Chokwe Lumumba, declared he would make Jackson “the most radical city in America,” many of us, including me, attributed that to political posturing. Surely he didn’t really mean that? It’s just campaign pablum.
Same with all of the Free Republic of Cush talk. You know, that weird fantasy of creating an independent nation out of Jackson. Chokwe’s father was into it. And so is Lumumba. Nutty stuff, but surely just a political maneuver to corner Jackson’s hard-core left-wing voters.
This notion was underscored by Lumumba’s hiring of Robert Miller, an excellent public works director who did a great job during Lumumba’s first administration. As a result, the mayor was re-elected.
Then the proverbial material hit the fan. Miller left when Lumumba failed to disclose a scathing EPA report warning of an impending water crisis. Lumumba filled new positions with academics with little or no real-world experience. The mayor ramrodded his favored garbage company despite city council opposition. The twin crises of water and garbage bloomed, shining a glaring light on Lumumba’s incompetency. Throughout it all, Lumumba turned up the political rhetoric, and like Bilbo, played the race card at every turn.
Just one small problem: Municipalities are creatures of the state legislature. The Mississippi constitution does mention counties, but the legislature gets to draw their borders. Municipalities barely get a mention.
It was improbable that a conservative, Republican-dominated state government would stand idly by and watch Jackson go down the tubes. Lumumba could have probably gotten away with the “most radical city” mumbo jumbo, but when crime skyrocketed, the water became unsafe to drink and trash piled up in the streets, the state legislature sprang into action.
To be sure, state government can be as screwed up as local government. State involvement is no silver bullet. But what the state does bring to the table is money. Few government problems can be solved without money and the state is currently flush with cash.
And cash is just what Jackson lacks thanks to suburban flight, which plagues many cities. Downtowns are older than the suburbs. The houses are smaller, older, need remodeling, etc. In a state like Mississippi, with unlimited land, why not just build in the burbs. The tax base erodes. A vicious cycle begins.
An infusion of state funds breaks this cycle and can turn Jackson around, which is crucial to keeping and attracting young college graduates to Mississippi. Getting crime under control is step one. Getting the One Lake plan done and creating the biggest urban park in the country is step two. There are so many possibilities.
We have all watched the effects of the vicious cycle. But there is an opposite to that: The positive cycle, which may have just begun.
