Council items of interest

The upcoming City Council meeting will have more than a few items of interest to South Jackson. Under the consent agenda:

Item # 6:

ORDER authorizing the Mayor to execute a contract with Kathy McColumn d/b/a Therapy First Outpatient Rehabilitation for a Storefront Improvement Grant in an amount not to exceed nine thousand three hundred fifty dollars (Ainsworth, Melton) (01/29/08)

I am certainly glad to see this and hope more businesses do the necessary paperwork to get these grants and spruce up. It's only a good thing for South Jackson when we see someone trying to beautify an existing business instead of moving.

Item #17:

ORDER authorizing the Mayor and the City Clerk to execute an Interlocal Cooperation agreement between the City of Jackson and Hinds County for the following units; SWAT, Child Protection, Narcotics and Gun Interdiction (McMillin, Melton) (01/29/08)

Has anyone seen these interlocal agreements? Have the issues of intermingling of funds been properly addressed and have attorney generals opinions been sought in these matters? Personally I believe these issues need to be discussed openly and at length before the city goes down this path. However in Camelot all is perfect and as usual only a couple of lone voices on our city council speak out. They are not heeded and a few years from now we will have many of them explaining how they didnt understand the full ramifications of their actions. Actions which are not being discussed in a transparent fashion by the Council or the Mayor.

Item # 19:

ORDER authorizing the Mayor to execute a professional services agreement with Asset Property Disposition, Inc. to provide consulting services on the Farish Street Historic District Housing Development Plan (Armstrong, Ainsworth, Walker, Melton) (01/29/08)

Haven't we already paid enough consultants?

Item # 27:

ORDER authorizing Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwall & Berkowitz, PC to serve as bond counsel and Stimley-Brown Law firm, PLLC to serve as underwriters/disclosure counsel for the restructure of the 2002 General Obligation Refunding Bonds payment due on May 1, 2008 in the amount of $5,314,400.00 (O’Reilly-Evans, Melton) (01/29/08)

Why are we paying the city attorney again?

These are just a few of the items on the agenda. It really is in our best interest to get our hands on these agendas and see exactly what our City Council is up to. Having all the city council meetings at 6:00 in the evening wouldn't be a bad idea. It would certainly allow citizens greater access to government. Click on this link to see the entire agenda. http://www.jacksonms.gov/assets/CityCouncil/CouncilAgendas/012908.pdf

Just The Facts Please!

I'm nominating Sgt. Jeffery Scott for a Jackass Award! His comments to the media about the people responsible for a recent holdup in NORTH JACKSON on WATKINS DRIVE, leave something to be desired.

Sgt. Scott found it necessary to make the following comment: "they live in South Jackson but they come to North Jackson to do their dirt"

What the hell does where they live, have to do with the crime they committed? Perhaps our former Commander (Orange Young) had simply done a good job of letting the criminals know that crap wasn't going to be tolerated over here and Commander Jones is continuing the legacy.

First the Ledger says crime is worse in other areas of town and then Sgt. Scott makes a point of saying the criminals came from here to commit there crimes? Hee Haw Sgt. Scott, Hee Haw!

Forming Public Opinion

As the world turns here in South Jackson and we enjoy lazy Sunday mornings, the good folks over at the Clarion Liar are busy doing what they do best. Making sure you don't have a clue about what really goes on in your city and how the powers that be ensure you never will.

WLBT did a story which I posted about here, which was titled "McMillin Sees Improvement in JPD". No I'm not discounting there may be improvement but in the same story Bert Case reported on a Saturday night where there were only four patrols instead of thirteen in Precinct 2. You know precinct 2, it covers a large portion of West Jackson. Remember those folks, our neighbors to the west whose crimes are always said to be occurring in South Jackson?

Well I waited for the media to jump all over Chief McMillin about that in the manner they would have jumped on Chief Robert Moore, Johnson or Chief Shirlene Anderson. No such thing! I'm not against McMillin so don't take this as a McMillin bash. It is not. What I want to see is some actual reporting by television and the Ledger.

After failing to report that story, the Clarion Ledger came out with a piece that talked about crime being higher in Precint 4 than any other area of the city. Imagine that! Crime is actually higher in a precinct that is not South Jackson? Can you believe it?

Then they came back today with a piece that said since JPD overtime budget was so high, Chief McMillin was going to concentrate on placing patrols in the worst areas. Remember the worst area? It was precint 4 according to the first piece by the Clarion Ledger.

So there you have it. First they bombard you with stories of the crime in West and South Jackson, then in order to ensure you don't get upset about not having proper police protection, they tell you crime is actually higher in precint 4. After that they come back with the story that patrols will be moved to higher crime areas to help and combat the overtime budget at the same time.

So sit back and feel safe my friends. The Clarion Ledger will be sure to ignore any problems you have in South Jackson because after all, crime is higher in Precint 4. Haven't we been telling them that all along while they were having the South Jackson bash?

Precinct 4 Story
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080120/NEWS/801200365&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL

Jackson's Overtime Dillema
http://search.clarionledger.com/sp?aff=100&keywords=crime+highest+in+precinct+4

Is She For Real?

"If property values have gone up or properties have been improved, you would probably see a reflection of that," Ward 7 Councilwoman Margaret Barrett-Simon said. "I think our commercial indicators have been good. And I think you will see additions to the tax rolls in the next two years, especially with these properties coming on line downtown, the ones that are under construction." Margaret Barret-Simon

This was Councilwoman Simon's statement to the Clarion Ledger about the reappraisal of property in Hinds County. Hinds County had a delay in reappraising property because of a lack of staff in the Tax Assessors office. Now that it's time to reassess taxes, Councilwoman Simon says she thinks our commercial indicators are good? What the heck has she been looking at lately? Even with the new developments in downtown Jackson the outlook can't be that good unless they know something they aren't telling us. How do you lose as many businesses as we have in Jackson, replace only a few and come up with a good tax base?

It never fails to amaze me how politicians talk constantly about waning business and the effect crime is having on business, yet when it suits their purpose the outlook seems great. As far as those new developments downtown, by the time we get through giving them breaks for coming, we'll be paying them to do business with us. The City has given tax breaks for over 10 years to some of these new developments so how does Councilwoman Simon figure we'll have some actual additions to the tax rolls in two years? Yes they'll be on the tax rolls, yours and mine as we pay them to turn profit.

I also thought Doug Anderson's comment for the article was very telling. Here's the former President of the Board of Supervisors saying anytime you reassess taxes you have an increase. Anytime? So all that crap about dwindling property value related to crime doesn't mean anything if you're the tax man, just if you want to refinance or sell your property. If they come up with tax values that aren't supported by real world numbers, the citizens should sue them for attempting to defraud the taxpayers.

Read more about it in the Clarion Ledger Article Below.


http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080114/NEWS/801140328/1001/news

THE JUDGES OF HINDS COUNTY

If a tree falls in the woods, does it make a sound?

If a woman falls at the feet of her lover, blooody and lifeless, does she make a sound? Apparently not because the screams of women like Doris Shavers, Heather Spencer and Latasha Norman were no more audible to the ears of the judges of Hinds County than the sounds from the inside of their coffins.

No longer able to speak for themselves even their memories are silenced as judges pay little more than lip service to their defense.

Heather Spencer was attacked with a flashlight for no apparent reason, her head requiring several stitches and George Bell got a trip out of the country. He later finished what he started and murdered her. George's mother, Robbie Bell, has been indicted for accessory after the fact. She's alledged to have sat with Spencer in her home for an entire night after the attack that took her life . She did not call police and the autospy revealed Heather lived several more hours after her fatal attack ended. Which judge will finally hear the call that never came from Robbie Bell? A call signaling Heathers need and her own?

Doris Shavers opened her home to an ex boyfriend and gave him a place to live because he was down on his luck. For her trouble she was shot in the head as she combed the hair of her 12 year old daughter in preparation for her daughter's birthday party. Her daughter will never be the same. Every year on her birthday she will remember the sights and sounds of her mother's death. Will the judges of Hinds County?

Latasha Norman never said a word. So says her Uncle Matthew Norman. Norman told reporters Latasha lived in his household on weekends and during summer breaks. He stated they never knew anything about any domestic abuse occurring between Latasha and Stanley Cole. Latasha finally spoke out in the form of charges against Cole for striking her in the parking lot of a Pearl restaurant Oct. 9, 2007. In less than a month she would be dead. Initially he was ordered to be held without bond, so what on earth made William Barnett decide the man who killed her, then rode around with her body for two days before dumping her like trash, deserved a bond at all? The slap in the face was the $250,000 bond that was set. For the mere sum of $25,000 Stanley Cole can walk away and never be seen again. Probably the last sound Latasha made was the gurgling of blood from her stab wound. Can you hear that Barnett?

Something's Afoot

As we all know the Mayor is having some unfortunate health problems. A few things look kinda funny. For one the Mayor's attorney instead of his doctor has been making all the public announcements regarding the Mayor's health. The Clarion Ledger reported today that Robert Walker and Goldia Reevies had said the Mayor did not wish them to make any announcements at this time regarding the problem.

It seems on the surface as if we are in for another bumpy ride. Without a doubt the Mayor has real health issues, but the handling of this latest situation by Danks instead of his city staff makes me wonder if there won't be a change in the top office of the city pretty soon.Today Ben Allen was seen going into the offices of Dale Danks in downtown Jackson. Now surely there are reasons for Ben Allen to go there since he is after all the new head of Downtown Jackson Partners, but if you look at recent events there is surely enough for a conspiracy theory.

First Ben Allen quits the council for health reasons saying the job is too stressful, but he's healthy enough to take a job heading up DP.

Then the Mayor appoints Sheriff Malcolm McMillin to the position of Chief of the city.

Many of his first acts, designed to improve JPD also have the effect of setting people who are friendly to the likes of Ben and Dale into positions of authority.

The Governor (with Chief McMillin standing by) announces three million in grant money for the development of metro task force. Hmmmmmm.......

Robert Schuler Smith who is definitely an Ed Peters person has already made moves to get rid of many people in the DA's office who might shed light on any shennanigans that go on.

Mayor Melton doesn't even seem to be communicating with his best friend Frank Bluntson. That really is unusual.So if something happens to Mayor Melton or he needs to resign for health reasons, who do you think might actually become the interim Mayor? How soon would they hold a special election?

The picture is growing stranger by the day and while all of this may work to the benefit of the city as a whole, I can't help but wonder how many old cronies will get even richer off the backs of Jacksonians while the streets of South Jackosn continue to go unpaved and developments are slated for every area of Jackson except South Jackson. After all you can rest assured none of the folks mentioned above, reside in or really care about the residents of South Jackson.

The Fat Lady Has Sung!

The Clarion Ledger is reporting that Former District 71 Representative John Reeves has decided to drop his petition to keep the house seat. To this I can only say thank goodness! He is reported to have said he wanted Representative Wooten to be able to take her seat without a cloud hanging over her head and that he would probably do some lobbying now. Congratulations to Representative Wooten! Now on to the problem with his next career:

First Trent Lott now John Reeves. IT IS WRONG for a former representative or senator on either state or national levels, to to profit from the relationships they formed by directly lobbying the people with whom they supposedly served the public trust. At least within the first few years after leaving those positions! It is no different than any other job which requires that you not go after their customer base when you quit or are fired. Usually these stipulations are good for at least a year. In the case of politicians it should be much longer.

Now there's no doubt in my mind many would still find a way to lobby indirectly. We can't legislate that away but at least it would be a bit more difficult. Think about this......a politician serves for a number of years and discovers the inner workings of the house or senate. While serving they are privy to information about deals that are made. You know the kind, "vote for my bill and I'll vote for yours" Usually the "I'll vote for yours" means, "I'm voting for something I don't necessarily agree with but it won't have a seriously negative impact on my constituents". These types of deals can come back to haunt the person still in office.

This is just the sort of thing a former politician can use to his or her advantage when they are lobbying for a particular bill. The sickening part is they get paid to do this. First they gain this inside knowledge while being paid by taxpayers to serve, then turn it into individual profit. They shouldn't be allowed to lobby the political bodies they worked in for at least FIVE years.

South Jackson? Well I will be very interested in exactly what initiatives John Reeves will be lobbying to have passed and who they will ultimately benefit. I'll lay you 10 to 1 odds, it won't be South Jackson.

Never Thought I'd See The Day!

The associated press report on the State Civil Rights Museum included a statement from Representative John Reeves which is disturbing on its' face.


“I never thought I’d see the day in Mississippi where people are stumbling all over themselves to build a civil rights museum,” said Rep. John Reeves, R-Jackson. “Times have changed around here.”

John Reeves

What does this have to do with South Jackson? Well John Reeves has been our representative
for a very long time and the fight is still on. He still has a petition before the legislature hoping they will seat him instead of Adrienne Wooten who has now won the seat twice.

Let's face facts. The face of South Jackson has changed. Our councilman, Marshand Crisler often points out the many things that are done to us that wouldn't have been thought of in years past when the area had more white residents. A comment like this from our representative is likely to sit badly with black residents of the area. I would like his comments on this statement because it would be interesting to see if he meant the change was bad or if he was happy to finally see the day come. This statement highlights an attitude that many black residents of the area felt Rep. Reeves held anyway. A racist attitude. The paper should have called him on the statement and he should respond.

Read Story Here: http://www.mississippilink.net/index.php?id=698

Housing Shortages and the New Legislature

I was reading on the Clarion Ledger this morning about the difficulties to be faced in the upcoming legislative sessions and I some questions came to mind.

One of the tasks facing the session will be problems with housing shortages on the Gulf Coast. With all of the wide open opportunity to housing there I wondered why Clarence Chapman wasn't building on the coast instead of adding additional housing to an already overcrowded South Jackson? I mean doesn't it make sense? The Gulf Coast has Go Zone monies and housing tax credits would be nearly as hard to achieve there as it would be here. Sounds like a larger plan was afoot when they decided to build over here next to some of our nicer communities.

We've got all this vacant housing and yet somebody decided we needed more homes? Mr. Chapman explains how they're going to keep up the housing for 15 years, even changing lightbulbs for the residents in the lower income section of the property and then the residents of those properties can buy after 15 years at a 50% reduced market rate. I don't know if I would buy a house after renting it for 15 years. Hopefully after 15 years I could afford a larger place, so what happens to those homes?

A visit to the MS Home Corp website yielded some interesting tidbits. The qualifications to get the tax credits are pretty restrictive for the developer and really limits the type of tenant they would want to have in the area designated for low-income households.

Income limits for tenants are around $18,000 and no more than 30% of their income can be devoted to rent. This is for a family of 3. What that really boils down to is HUD subsidized housing. A family of three can barely survive on $18,000 and if $435 a month goes to rent and then they pay utilities, more than likely this family would be using HUD. If their income goes up beyond the limits they have to be offered housing in the regular part of the development. My fear is the housing will be offered but at such an inflated rate as to encourage them to leave alltogether!

The developer will also have a problem here. If tenants income rises, their residency is no longer considered as part of the basis for him receiving the tax credit. So what is the incentive for actually helping families develop if you're going to lose money?

Residents of Carriage Hills and all those other nice little neighborhoods along that area should really be taking notice, but unfortunately when folks are comfortable they often don't see the forrest for the trees.

To learn more about housing tax credits and the ways they will lower your property values visit this link: http://www.mshomecorp.com

Fill The Beats Or Beat It! (Precint 2 Uncovered)

WLBT's Bert Case reported Chief Sheriff Malcolm McMillin believes JPD is improving. You can view the video here http://tinyurl.com/274x5h


There are more than a few things about this story that amaze me. Here's a list....

• The story was supposedly about beats in precinct 2 not being covered but little attention was given to the actual subject
• The title of the video on their site is "McMillin Sees Improvement in JPD" How does having only four officers to work an area that requires nine an improvement? Not his fault, WLBT put the title on the story.
• Image after image of young black men being taken into custody and running from police was shown throughout the video. That type of reporting is one-sided and sensationalist.
• McMillin's excuse for an officer working a wreck in Byram was weak at best.
• Portions of the video showed JPD officers being sworn as deputies so they can work the County, but NOWHERE was it mentioned the County officers would beef up their patrol of Jackson! Isn't Jackson where the crime problem is happening?
• If we can't afford overtime we certainly can't afford to have our officers work anywhere except Jackson!
• McMillin is allowed the opportunity to explain problems like these, where former police chief's were simply hammered for the problem in the first place. Does this mean the media is now concerned with the real problems faced by the Jackson Police Department?
• Not one second was devoted to the number of crimes which occur in Precinct 2 or what the lack of nine patrols in the area on a weekend night would mean for citizen safety. Hello! Safe City where are you?
• No one asked why some of the extra patrols given to North East Jackson for stop sign bandits weren't pulled over to Precinct 2 to help cover the officer shortage.

Bert this was a terrible, one-sided, racist bunch of reporting. Jackson deserves better from the media and it's new police chief.