Downtown Jackson Partners press release:
"Downtown Jackson Partners and the Jackson Chamber of Commerce will hold an informational event regarding the possibility of a major arena in downtown Jackson, tomorrow night, Tuesday, November 16th, from 5 p.m. until 7 p/m. at the Jackson Convention Complex. The announcement is below, and attached is a “preview” of the agenda.
North Little Rock’s Mayor Patrick Hays (the home of the North Little Rock/downtown Little Rock 18,000 seat “Verizon Arena”), its Executive Director (and Mississippi native) Michael Marion, and the selected facilitator of the “Arena Feasibility Study”, Russ Simons with “Populous Sports” will be the featured speakers, and will explain these possibilities, our challenges and the economic impact their arena has had not only in Metropolitan Little Rock, but for the entire state of Arkansas.
This event is free of charge to the public.
44 comments:
Dat dayum great news! I will be there. I hope we can pull this off.
We need this BIG TIME.
This looks very cool. I think it would be great! I just wish there was a lake somewhere around there...
:)
Don't we already have a coliseum? Do we need two?
Yeah a piece of crap 55 year old facility that can't attract decent entertainment, and holds 10,000 people max. Liquor and beer are taboo, as the state runs it. Dressing rooms are HORRIBLE.
Location, location, location. Downtown Jackson is the wrong location for an arena.
I suppose there are other areas where it could feasibly be put but I can't think of a better area than downtown. Just my personal vote. And yes, the coliseum sux.
I am so for this. Anyone who isn't is extremely uninformed...and a little idiotic. This will be perfect to help downtown grow and prosper! So looking forward to this
3:37, I suppose you would prefer it to be built in a cow pasture in Pearl?
I sincerely hope this project gets done, but I will not be surprised in Harvey gets in the way and ruins it, much like he did with the baseball stadium.
Careful Shoe Girl your intelligence is showing.
Alright, I'm just going to say it. I would think about maybe putting this where our investor folks failed; Ridgeland. I wouldn't recommend a coliseum. I would recommend an amphitheater much like Chastain Park in Atlanta. At a minimum its feasible and located in a fairly accessible area, relatively safe, and ultimately profitable. Once the idea of actually getting entertainment folks back to the metro area works, then we can consider tearing down the eyesore and doing something new.
I'm sure I'm gonna catch flack for this, but I'm only wondering why the heck would I ever invest in downtown when we STILL cannot attract true arts outside of the state of Mississippi? Last international arts exhibit of worth was the Royalty of Norway if I remember correctly, and it was marginal.
The royalty of Norway? Musta missed that one? Chastain is very over rated, B grade" intertwinement" and boorish drunks is all I've ever encountered there. The new amphitheater in Alpharetta is much nicer. Regardless, an arena in Jackson would-be the bomb! Downtown makes the most sense as the hotel rooms and entertainment are and will continue to be concentrated there for a long time. The ole coliseum is for tractor pulls, monster trucks, dixie national, red neck rock venues and things best kept separate from Alcohol. They can also flood it for bass fishing tourneys. What "never" happened to Paul Ott Karuth? I always thought he was soooo sexy! Well as a fisherman goes anyway.
And clarify true arts? I can't recall much true art in any recent exhibit I went to in this burg, ie Atlanta! And if it ain't here then where in the tall pine iz you gonna find itsz.
Oh and again, really grateful for my lsu buds wiping up on bama! But as it is now shaping up....I don't think it much matters anymore. Regardless college footballs hishtry is bout to be made, one way er nuther! Yep, he went to auburn!
Pay attention 10:30, i am not sure what in the hell you are referring to when Jackson is one of four city host in the international community for the International Arts Ballet. I encourage you to buy a ticket to it next time.
If we put in in Ridgeland, can we have a nice picture of Sweet Peppers from the road? I am sure glad Wrigley Field and others didn't go for the first suburban deal. Would Wrigley be by a big parking lot and a Bass Pro Shop and would you like it as much if it was.
Wrigley Field isn't anywhere near downtown Chicago. It is obvious that you haven't been there.
@12:05 and was referring to @8:17 and not @10:30 for clarification.
Ballet. You are right, I'm sure all the folks from the country and downtown came to see it.
Wrigley Field is five miles from the Loop...in a city the size of Chicago, that is pretty d@mn close to downtown.
Wrigley is to downtown Chicago as Tougaloo is to downtown Jackson. There goes the argument that the Civil Rights Museum is too far away.
Metrocenter is only 5 miles away from downtown. That is easily a better location for a new Arena and will do far more for the redevelopment of Jackson than placing it downtown. Metrocenter offers far superior interstate access to all points on the compass.
Yeah, lets compare Jackson's infrastructure and neighborhood layout to Chicago's. That makes a lot of sense.
Yea.. you folks are dreaming. Jackson needs an arena. A town that has water outages on a regular basis, doesn't keep its infrastructure up, waste its money, taxes already high as hell, people that can ARE or have ran from it to the suburbs as fast as they could. And y'all think they need to spend 150 million on something that .. 1.) Might loose water at anytime. 2.) Will loose money cause Harvey and Fatboy Stokes would be running it. Etc, etc., etc.....
Will Kenneth Stokes require entertainers appearing at the new arena to provide their own armed security for the entire downtown area when they perform? Just wondering. This would be a great thing for Jackson. It would provide an air conditioned facility for Kenny to pass out backpacks and No. 2 pencils to the kids, and Chuck Labamba can use it for his next light bulb distribution project. As far as water and infrastructure goes, they can require the developer to dig a well and install a giant septic tank.
Well, maybe you should spend less time being "Ticked off in MS" and more time on your spelling lessons. It is "LOSE"...not "LOOSE"..
When you are using repitious dialogue to make a point, AT LEAST spell the words correctly....if not, you LOSE all potential credibility.
repitious
Yikes!
To 7:39: IIRC the Ballet last summer was just about sold out for all performances for two weeks, and the area was full of out-of-towners (and out-of-countriers) for the whole time period. It's a surprisingly little known fact that museums and cultural activities generate more revenue for towns than professional sports events (hmm, just maybe, I'm not sayin' but I'm just sayin'- maybe the ballet crowd is a tad more likely to go to Nick's or Bravo or the Fairview than to pound down jello shots until they collapse.
HA HA HA! Perhaps I need to get my shoes into proofread class.
R E P I T I T I O U S
:)
Just kidding you, Shoe Girl. I'm an old geezer former English teacher....old habits die hard.
I am on the pro Jackson side! Ridgeland? Huh? Ridge, Madison, all of them up there have no room and no infrastructure at all to build something like this. If I am correct they are all starting to "eat their young". They're crushing each other out now and running into communities that want to be their own small towns. Only thing going up in south mad of any scale from nowmon is gonna be taxes! It happened here in atl and it will happen in the out lands of the "J". Sure as shootin.
And yes 12:22pm, your are correct! Museums are critical to a regions culture and the one in Jackson is quitemrespected in then region. A lot of peoplemfrom atl have been there and remarked how they remember whe the High museum was young and how this one reminds them of those early years. The MMA hasnaquired some fine worksmof nineteenthcentury art and the statemartistsmwork ismexceptional as collected. The Inc is the envy of the region as relates to dance. Jackson is on the radar screen fer sure!
Remember the immortal words of DJP Generalissimo Ben Allen: "What something costs is irrelevant"
Across America, states and cities have heaped on the debt to build facilities aimed at luring tourists and conventioneers away from other states and cities. For instance, cities have been waging a two-decade-long “arms race,” as University of Texas public policy professor Heywood Sanders puts it, to expand convention centers, and have been funding them through billions of dollars in municipal debt. The result: a market with perhaps 40 percent more space than demand warrants, underperforming facilities, operating deficits, and little economic payoff. Washington, D.C., spent $850 million to triple the size of its convention center; its business has since eroded. Indianapolis is in the middle of a $275 million expansion of its convention facility; the center is struggling even to hold on to its current business. Chicago has shelled out $1.5 billion to expand McCormick Place; business there has fallen by a third since 2000, from 3 million visitors a year to 2.1 million. The Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida, which officials expanded at a cost of $748 million in 2003, suffered a record $18 million operating deficit last year.
The Muni-Bond Debt Bomb
The same thing is about to happen in the muni-bond market: Nobody has paid any attention to credit quality because everyone believed the states won't allow cities to go bust. As a result, a truly stupendous amount of money has been lent to cities – cities that have no hope of ever repaying the debts. Specifically, municipal debt now totals $2.8 trillion – roughly 22% of our country's GDP. That's an all-time high. The amount of debt owed by cities has doubled since 2000.
~~ snip ~~
What about all of the stadiums and arenas built over the last 20 years? Politicians love to build these things as part of citywide "revitalization" efforts. But paying for them? That's somebody else's problem. Take the Meadowlands – the football stadium built nearly 40 years ago. It was torn down last year, but it has never been paid for. The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority (aka the State of New Jersey) borrowed $302 million to build it and never repaid the debt. Today, it owes more than $800 million and spends $100 million per year on interest for a stadium that no longer exists.
The next phase of the debt crisis is here
"What something costs is irrelevant", DJP Generalissimo Ben Allen, November 2010
4:55, great source. They also argued once that Austin, Texas, isn't thriving. A blind and deaf person might buy that.
They also argued once that Austin, Texas, isn't thriving.
Have a link or merely shooting off your mouth again.
"What something costs is irrelevant", DJP Generalissimo Ben Allen, November 2010
Well lets really talk shop. Dell. Oh wait, in my memory, yes, I do remember WorldCom. Wait. There is the sound of silence.
$61,585 raised today by "non-believers"!. Campaign started 4 days ago.
Costs ARE irrelevant, but are relative to wealth created. Economics 101.
I agree. If you believed all "the sky is falling because some investors are dumbasses" like 4:55, 5:04 and 6:36 (you know, the guy that talks to himself over, and Over and OVER) Trustmark Park would still be a weed field.
PESSIMISM NEVER WON A WAR.
PESSIMISM NEVER WON A WAR
No kidding. I remember when then Councilman and radio talker Ben Allen, before his 'near-stroke' drove him from office (wink, wink), boldly predicted over the radio airwaves at WJNT that as long as Tim Bennett was involved there would NEVER be a ballpark built in Pearl. Whiffer.
LMAO. HE IS OBSESSED!!!
Hey big time. Why don't you run for office wink wink?
Candy ass anonymous NOBODY.
I'm somebody, and damn it, people like me; oh and the money that drips from my wallet. Sycophant!
I love this wierd little, FRIENDLESS phucker. He is a HOOT.
How 'bout you?
Hey little loser! Cat got you wierdo loser toungue?
And for the record...
1. I would love to see a venue that attracts TALENT beyond the definition of what MS defines as talent...in other words, talent beyond MS talent. Truth be known, the blues in the Delta is a gift. You deny it, you don't promote it and you fail in bringing anyone here beyond Clarksdale b/c it's a special place you do not want to promote beyond the Delta. Then again, I, personally, can't stand the talent there, but do appreciate the lost world.
2. I am a fan of two lakes, or one lake or any development in DT JAX. The selfish rantings across all media, societies, have's and have not's is ridiculous. Frankly it holds this city back.
3. I am not a fan of entities blocking progress of society in general. When anyone takes a side for their own activist issue... in my mind you are irrelevant and not progressing any pro-Jackson (or suburbia) discussion.
4. I believe that progress takes a healthy dose of economy. If you think otherwise, you are selling me something. Money is the catalyst for investment and ultimately progress. I know a bullshitter when I see one.
5. I believe that everyone, inside and outside the city would benefit from an investment in an arena, inner city and suburbs. The only hang-up I have is the local inability of the PR/Marketing/Church groups to promote any culture beyond the invested, ingrained, incestuous community.
Churches continue to fail the community messages they preach, when what is needed is a face of investment for the strength of the future of His plan, they preach what? The size of the Church should not result in the lessoning of culture.
Disagree, please disagree, but realize, you sow the seeds in your judgement.
Geez...I could go on, but then we might all agree to disagree.
I am a fan of rejuvenation of this city, unfortunately I feel the haves want what they have and the opposing forces, the don't haves, will and always will pursue the resulting imbalance that results in...
Net?
Imbalance and no-win, no-win, no-win. Sad.
I'm just commenting on the reality of Jackson. I have no real stake, I just wish you all would really have a discussion where you wanted this city to succeed.
I wrote too much. Had to post here in response, my apologies KF.
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