Jackson Jambalaya

Weak? Kingfish, is this even you anymore? I used to turn here for insight I didn't get anywhere else. I, too, oppose blocking streets--and I don't think that makes me "weak," I think it means I look at a multitude of factors when talking crime prevention. Number one, we need our own police chief, and we need more patrols out there.

And--"ivory tower"? Really? Dr. McLemore? Do you think the campus of JSU is that far aloof from the realities of crime in our city?

Lousy post.

my point was that academics tend to be, well, their theories don't always work in practice.

as for closing the street, I'm familiar with the area and it does give them a quick getaway. If the residents, who will be the ones inconvenienced, are all in favor of it, i have no problem with closing that particular street. Sad that its come to this point and I do see where you are coming from, but until we make a dent in crime, what are the residents supposed to do?

Yur right, Cletus. McLemore is too edumucated and should pray to Jaysus all that book larnin don't make him stuck up. Don't need book larnin to see what's right anyway. Why Cletus, I think we oughtta build a great big--what they call them doohickies, catapults?--n' send them dadburned criminals back to Vermont where they belong. Yessiree, don't need no edumucation to know that, it's jus' a fact. Praise Jaysus!

Since November 2007, Montrose Circle and nearby Rebecca Court have seen one house burglary, one theft and five traffic stops, according to the most available statistics from Precinct 4, where the area is located.

That is hardly a high crime area. What a joke. Using that criteria we need to close most of the residential streets in Jackson.

This isn't about crime. It is about the peeps in that area of Fondren who want to stop pass-through traffic in their neighborhood.

If the city is worried about scofflaws using frontage access/egress to avoid detection and arrest, then they should first close Vine @ the southbound I55 frontage. Vine is the escape route for most of the robberies that take place in the Target/Home Depot shopping center in No. Jackson.

I'm with McLemore on this one. That ain't crime happening there, that is daily life for far, far too many Jacksonians.

actually I thought the same thing when I read that in the story. However, that is only a couple of streets. There is other crime going on in Fondren and numerous residents have told me that other thieves were using that road as an escape route. I don't think all those residents just showed up for the incidents mentioned in the story. Its just like the CL to just look at those 2 or 3 streets.

Where isn't crime happening in abundance? North of Lakeland to County Line on the north & south I55 frontage there are easily a dozen streets that go directly into & out of residential neighborhoods. Why aren't we blocking them all with gates? If the city is going to protect one such neighborhood then it had damn better make a decision to protect them all.

How many streets in our poor neighborhoods that intersect with a major thoroughfare, and are used by criminals in a similar fashion to make their getaways -- which in the Fondren case appears to be more theory than documented fact, have been gated?

they should block off Waynelland dr. then.

Well, I must admit that you guys are on the ball today. I read the CL story and didnt' think it was limited to just those two streets. I'm inclined to give the residents a break and would if they were in another part of town but you guys are making some good points and causing me to rethink my position.

All the streets should be blocked off if we're going to stop criminals from using them. In the interest of cost-savings we could limit the points of ingress/egress to I-55, I-20, Highway 49, Highway 80 and Lakeland Drive on weekdays only until dark. Keep I55 and I20 open on the weekends and after hours. Just put one big fence around all of it and be done with it.

I have a real problem with closing off public streets. The residents there knew the street connected to 55 when they moved in. While it's not their fault robbers use it, to close off one public road sets a precedent to close others.

The same reasoning is used to wonder why it's allowed to "gate" the Country Club of Jackson after all this time, and why is it being considered to "gate" off Carolwood? Don't the poor people deserve the same treatment? The more you gate off and close off the more affluent areas, the more crime is pushed off into the other areas.

Any street in Jackson can apply for and go through the process of "gating". What normally happens, is responsble "get it done" neighborhoods "do", and whiners don't make the effort to.

They simply complain about the "rich" neighborhoods having these gates after making the effort, and wait for "someone else" to take care of them. Get off yo arse and make it happen.

The nimrod above wants to economically segregate the city with gates. Smacks of Safe City and their dreams of a zero tolerance lock up them black criminals forever green zone.

Keep putting up those gates. In the future it will make it easier for the tax assessor to figure out who is still here to pay the bills.

CCJ deal was different. It is not technically closed off (and, really, I don't think the Fondren one is from what I read) - it is only a gaurd tower coming into and out of the neighborhood. The residents pay for that gaurd. Any neighborhood can do that. It is only when you completely shut down access to a street - i.e., you completely gate the access road, and the only access road, that the private citizens have to pay to have the road repaved. Otherwise, any neighborhood is free to put up a guard tower, and it is still considered "open access." If CCJ wasn't having cars and homes broken into on a frequent basis, and they were, they would have never done it.