Jackson Jambalaya

MHB should have sued for the report.

clarion ledger was there

First story on website said "WLBT reports" and then posted what WLBT reported. They just rolled out a full story written by a reporter present.

Target? What Target? There is no Target and with the way things are going, there might never be a Target!

And, on the "cleansing" of the county seat - the only "cleansing" that needs to go on is the people she worked so hard to get elected and then they turned on her because they are self-centered also! She doesn't need to worry about the county seat - it is none of her concern. She is only mayor of "Madison, the City" not "Madison, the County"!

Ridgeland and Madison should leave Madison County and form a new one. Say...Money County.

Mary Hawkins Butler continues in power because people are either too dumb or too lazy to pay attention to the fact that they are being lied to. Do you actually believe the reason Target is delayed is due to a "hacking Scandal"?? If so, you've got problems with realizing when people are lying to your face.
Mark my words, Target is looking outside the city of Madison for a new location.

Ahhhh, the usual Madison haters and Mary haters come out from under their usual rocks, including Kingfish. She has every right to question the Lost Rabbit secrecy as well as what goes on in the County as a whole. Apparently a few of you gumps don't realize the money Madison, the City, pours into Madison, the County.

Kingfish; Who gives a flying shit who was there first or at all and who posted first? Only you?

Target will save the city of Madison just like Whole Foods in Jackson

To: 4:06

There are none so blind as those who cannot see! Did you ever see the movie, "Stepford Wives"? Madison the City has "Stepford Residents"!

You must be a JJ greenhorn 4:06 PM. Long time readers know that KF generally supports MHB and Madison. He didn't publish this story as a criticism of her. You won't find a journalist in central Mississippi who has done more for transparency either. Look in the mirror to see the flying shit.

Sorry folks.

Target needs Madison, or maybe Ridgeland, far more than those cities need Target.

Bottom line is Target wants out of Jackson.

Mary has a problem with the truth. Remember the peacocks? It was a zoning issue...er a safety issue...er...had nothing to do with Christmas....er...wtf


She is a liar. But, she had enough clout to keep Mr Mary Hawkins out of the pokey. So she has that going for her

Amazing the haters. Mayor Mary has gumption. More so than those hating, because frankly Mary leads and brings good things to bear on her community.

I'm sure we all wish we had leadership with principle centered leadership in our communities who represent the tax base served.

Madison doesn't 'need' Target at all. Why attract more Hinds, Yazoo and Holmes tags to Madison? We need Target up in here like we need Church's Chicken, Krystal and a 'no credit check' furniture store.

Stepford, my ass. Jealous much?

12:11, the simple answer to that question would be the generation of sales tax revenue.

I wish officials would stop citing the hacking scandal as the reason for the delay. Since the first of the year - and after the data breach, Target has announced to opening of six new traditional stores in the US (Maui, HI; North Brunswick, N.J.; Santa Rosa, CA; Santa Clara, CA; Wilmington, MA; Liberty Township, OH), a TargetExpress in Minneapolis, and nine stores in Canada. (See pressroom.target.com)

Who gives a shit about a damn target. I hope we never get one. I'm with 12:11, let's keep as many hinds tags out as we can.

Target is more upmarket and attracts a better, richer demographic than WalMart which Madison already has. It is Walmart that attracts the lower end demographic, not Target.
The people who are saying we don't need Target are just apologists for MHB. It's easy to see this has been screwed up by the city and the hacking excuse won't work.

6:44. Madison doesn't care about the tax revenue. Since the 1980's, Madison has been hostile to development. The wooded areas north of 463 at I55 were slated to be developed by the Bryan properties. He had the city's blessing to go to build apartments. Oops! Sorry, we change our minds and don't care how much money you spent to date.

The only reason Madison has a walmart is because she needed the money. Remember the "Madison's not for sale" campaign? What happened? Her hubby got busted. I wonder how much money she got for surrendering,

And you can see it today. Drive up highland colony parkway from Ridgeland to Madison, what do you see at the city limits? Not buildings, but pine trees.

Why?

The same impact was seen on Hwy 51 through the mid 90's.


I was on a team that was going to get Entex (now Centerpoint) to build in Madison in the late 1980's. They picked out a nice plot to build an office and small warehouse on. They took the building plans to Mary for approval and they were promptly rejected. Then Entex moved to Ridgeland. Bye bye sales tax revenue....at a time when the city was too poor to fix the potholes on their roads (I blew out a tire after running into a pothole on Hoy Rd.)

/I was in the city chamber of commerce when it formed and remember reading how the only thing being proposed in the city were gas stations at the time. It was laughable

///You have to ask yourself "how much better would things be if the city weren't the obstacle to progress"

Who is the developer of Lost rabbit that got the benefit of this deal?

I am a home owner in Madison for twenty years and I appreciate everything the mayor has done for the community and our property values----I am glad Entex moved to Ridgeland and I don't give a rats ass if we never see a target----Keep up the good work mayor

To: 12:11

If you do not understand the term "Stepford" try "Sheep to the Slaughter" or "Pied Piper" - understand now????

Well 9:38, a few years, a few more people, and a few crappy roads later, yes, I believe Madison does need the revenue.

Madison has very subpar amenities. No walking trails, no parks like the Ridgeland or Flowood. No bike paths.
For those of you apologists or maybe just on the payroll who say such things don't matter, they add up to a quality of life.
Every young family I know that moves into Madison County is moving to Gluckstadt. Get ready to be annexed Gluckstadt. Madison needs the tax revenue all your rooftops and businesses will provide.

"How much better would things be the City weren't the obstacle to progress?"

You got to take the bad with the good. Ridgeland's philosophy is if you will build it, that city will permit it. As a consequence, about 50% of its residents live in apartments. It's a serious problem. If it affects the tax base. It seriously affects the schools. It affects the climates at the retail business establishments. (When was last time you walked through Northpark mall? I went to Dillards right before Christmas. It was dead but the stalls in the middle of the mall selling bling jewelry were hopping.)

By contrast, MHB has kept out the riff-raff. The average Joe who doesn't make his living by marketing a new development project every year understands that. The average Joe's perspective is about where he/she is going to live and raise their children over the next 20 years. Keeping the riff-raff out has made the City of Madison School system the best in the state.

And now, guess what? Everybody –Ttarget, Sam's, Lowe's, Home Depot, Tulane, Kroger superstores, high-quality chain restaurants, great local restaurants.... all of them and many more want to come to Madison. And they're willing to build much more expensive than average facilities for the entrance ticket. The above comment that Target is considering going somewhere besides Madison is ridiculous. For Target, it is Madison or nowhere.

MHB is a pain in the rear for developers. For that, I thank God. Steam on Queen Mary.

Let's see where Target ends up. They are known to be looking elsewhere outside Madison.
Go ahead and try and sell everyone on how great it is to have a new Taco Bell and Longhorn steak house, but that we really don't want that Target. Gotta keep out the riff raff. Riff raff never goes to Taco Bell!
Right.

"How much better would things be the City weren't the obstacle to progress?"

You got to take the bad with the good. Ridgeland's philosophy is if you will build it, that city will permit it. As a consequence, about 50% of its residents live in apartments. It's a serious problem. If it affects the tax base. It seriously affects the schools. It affects the climates at the retail business establishments. (When was the last time you walked through Northpark Mall? I went to Dillards right before Christmas. It was dead but the stalls in the middle of the mall selling bling jewelry were hopping.)

By contrast, MHB has kept out the riff-raff. The average Joe who doesn't make his living by marketing a new development project every year understands that. The average Joe's perspective is about where he/she is going to live and raise their children over the next 20 years. Keeping the riff-raff out has had many positive benefits, chief of which is the City of Madison's School system is now the best in the State.

And now, guess what? Everybody –Target, Sam's, Lowe's, Home Depot, Tulane, Kroger superstores, high-quality chain restaurants, great local restaurants.... all of them and many more want to come to Madison. And they're willing to build much more expensive than average facilities for the ticket for the ticket to be here. The above comment that Target is considering going somewhere besides Madison is ridiculous. For Target, it is Madison or nowhere.

MHB is a pain in the rear for developers. For that, I thank God. Steam on Queen Mary.

Every young family I know that moves into Madison County is moving to Gluckstadt.

There aren't doing so because they are anti- MHB. That market is hot because of 1] new house pricing (lots of product in the current sweet spot) and 2] Germantown HS.

I love hearing Mayor Mary talk...sounds and even looks a little like Dolly Parton (expect for the obvious). I live in 39211 but admire her passion for her city. No billboards, no apartments, brick buildings etc...very impressive.

So many Jackson and Ridgeland losers are just jealous of Madison-Get a life!!!

... and no Ben Allen.

Madison haters is just John Bell Crosby posting. JBC hasn't gotten over the fact he lost and is upset he isn't our little fat mayor, and that he couldn't hire Honni Bunny from Kroger to be city manager.

Aside from the bigtime crooks,I suspect there are three kinds of people haunting any forum where they can post, desperately trying to hurt Queen Mary's Reputation. I'll invent three examples to typify... Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

First, there's Donny-Trey. He went to Ole Miss, and barely made it through something like Business Administration. Or maybe he flunked-out. He partied when he should have been lifting weights, an so doesn't look hot enough to sell insurance or medical disposables, and so his parents set him up as a 'Developer'. He's not doing so well, and Madison won't let him build the cheap, ugly garbage he builds in Flowood and Byram. He'd make more money building that crap in Madison. But he isn't allowed to. He's bitter and desperate.

Then, there's Donny-Trey's Mom. She's part-owner in a building supply company, and teaches Sunday School at a snooty and MUY-righteous church in Jackson. She's miffed that her precious underachieving baby isn't allowed to build his ugly crap in Madison. So, among other things, she has a "blog", making fun of Madison buildings - comparing them to things she's seen in Europe. Her "humor" and other attacks become more threadbare by the day. She lives in Madison (she hates it, but it's safer than Jacktown), but we wish she'd move back to where she belongs.

Then, there's Donny-Trey's little 300lb. Secretary, Pammie-Dawn, who secretly is in love with him, and envisions his wife's leased BMW SUV going over a cliff, then rushing to Donny's side, to stand by him and prove her undying luuuuv, in his hour of need. In the meantime, she defends her Fantasy Future Husband, by going online and trying to use the anti-Mary 'points' she's picked up, listening to Donny when he's on the phone. She doesn't understand any of it, and so her posts don't make a whole lot of sense. Mostly, she just sounds bitter, deranged, and pissed.

9:28 And they're all house poor, cant afford the shacks they're living in, nor the 3 car payments, and their teens sports car. Customary dinners are bologna sandwiches or Vienna sausages. Entertainment is charged on credit cards, cards maxed out on clothing. Can hardly pay their cable bill and utilities each month. But they snob you in public. It's a vicious circle living the high life.

The desperate trashing of anyone who brings up valid questions about how the city of Madison is run is sad. If people start asking questions and demanding answers it could get to be a problem for those in power who think they can get away with such lies like "Target isn't building in Madison because of a hacking scandal."
I live in Madison. I have every right to my opinion and my questions.

Folk in Hinds County don't need or want the opinion of Madisonites. We are aware of the board of supervisors, the mayor of Jackson and his administration, Bennie Thompson, and the Dimocraps. With Madison's surrounding areas it is a wonder it has survived as long as it has, and will eventually hit skid row. In addition to that, the dimocraps have the stars aligned to see that happens.

9:28 PM -

You are concerned about Queen Mary's reputation??? Don't be - that ship has sailed!!!

You non-Madison gumps have no clue. Target is as meaningless to Madison as tits on an alligator. And we did not then nor do we now need the wooded area at 463/55 developed for apartments or anything else. We actually have a tree removal ordinance. What a concept.

The crap post about Target demographics is hilarious. We simply do NOT need to draw traffic from surrounding counties. If we in Madison need the cheap shit Target sells, we can drive to Target. After all, we pay high-dollar for gas up here so the drive won't matter.

If you live in Flowood, Clinton, Pearl, Jackson or Canton, just stay put and continue to enjoy your city hall fruit basket turnover. We're quite satisfied up here in 'The City'. Same mayor forever and same police chief for over 20 years. Stick that up your Stepford noses.

Madison will collapse. Madison is sliding into the reservoir. The democraps have a plan of destruction. Jackson State, by court order will annex Madison. The Queen is corrupt. Madison is starving for a larger tax base. How many yards of bullshit does that dumptruck hold anyway?

Never have needed your guidance or wisdom and don't now.

Jealousy gonna eat yo ass up, chumps.

Fantastic post,February 2, 2014 at 5:26 PM!

That same goober has been obsessing over that stand of pine trees for quite a while, now.

Those of us who live and pay taxes in Madison LOVE the trees. We want MORE trees, not fewer. Scummy people hate trees. Upscale people like them. That's why expensive communities populated by nicer people are referred to by journalists as being "leafy". The term "leafy suburb" denotes privilege.

'Tree-hating Goober' had an unforgettable post, a while back, bemoaning that instead of being "greeted by businesses" at the city's entrance, one was, instead confronted by trees... or something like that. Fool, the sight of a forested entrance to a city says EXPENSIVE/exclusive/privileged/planned.

People offended by trees and forests are encouraged - URGED, even, to take their scroungy asses back to wherever they came from, and stay the hell out of Madison.

You last two commenters sound like a couple of immature wannabes

They actually made perfect sense.

Or is this where I ask, "Wannabe what?"

"Our school district"?? The schools in the City of Madison are a part of the Madison County School District. There is no City of Madison School District. And if Queen Mary doesn't like what ultimately develops in Lost Rabbit, the City of Madison won't be required to annex the area. This woman is just blowing smoke because there's something happening in south Madison County that she can't control.

Eventually, everything changes and this will, too. Nothing lasts forever and neither will the power and control structure that presently exist in Madison. North Jackson and the element that is commonly present on County Line Road is slowly working its way into South Madison County, Ridgeland and Madison. Ridgeland in dealing with it in an intelligent manner and will be able to work with it; Madison, on the other hand, will be reduced to constant chaos. Mary and her followers will finally realize that her "My way or the highway rule" no longer works. What will they do???? They will learn to live with it!!!!

How typical. Now that Target is slipping away and looking elsewhere, the line of bs we are all supposed to believe is that the City of Madison doesn't need Target.
The City does need the tax revenue that Target will provide. Many Madison residents would like to have somewhere else to shop.

Let me back up a few posts and attempt to understand.
"... the element that is commonly present on County Line Road is slowly working its way into South Madison County, Ridgeland and Madison."

Really! So, Whattaburger, payday loan, abandoned restaurants and mattress companies, a car dealership abandoned for five years until recently, chicken franchises and Krystal are 'working their way toward Madison'.

Wait for it. Toot the horn and sound the bell when they get closer. Mount your pony and sound the alarm! "The County Liners Are Coming! The County Liners Are Coming". lol.

Every community has it's good points, I reckon. Ridgeland does have nice walking and riding trails along the Natchez Trace. Probably 5% of the population utilize them, but they are indeed nice.

Flowood has a five square miles dedicated to store fronts if you can negotiate the traffic with ingress and egress. Pearl has the outlet mall area and Bass Pro, Gluckstadt has Krystal, Flora has a wings and burger place and Jackson has Whole Foods.

But, on the whole, I believe Madison continues to be the flagship for quality of life as far as lack of crime, lack of apartments, outstanding police force, no panhandling, medical facilities, improved traffic flow, schools, churches, uncongested airport, restaurants, colleges, bricks, bridges, ballsy city officials and planning. The operative word has been planning, a concept that has totally eluded nearby communities.

Madison does not have apartments, one hour traffic congestion to get into and out of town, blighted areas populated by pawn shops, nail salons and loan sharks. Although it has some, it doesn't have more potholes than pavement. It doesn't have a lot of things some of the other burb areas have, thank God and it's working with a plan, not a haphazard land development non-strategy that has six heads.

So, at the end of the day, choose what you like and avoid what you don't like or get somewhere in the middle.

Why don't you pro madison county folks just come out and say "we like it because there are more white people here"

As a 39211 resident, I can honestly say I would recognize this lady of she hit me with an architectural brick. The ego of so called local celebrities

7:50 quit drinking, read your post, and try again tomorrow.

Madiso City is fine, Ridgeland is simply going through the transition that all adjacent suburbs to abused Metros do - decent minorities don't want to live on Bailey Ave. either. Admire them for that.Flowood and Pearl are working and surviving in a fast changing world. As to the politicians, for the most part we should say "A pox on all your houses" and decent folks who can give up the profitable grind and gain some satisfaction from actual "public service" should be elected. Finally, I for one would find a hole in my life without the obligatory two hits and 15-20 minutes a day with KF. Quality of life you know!

Who the hell is 'Honey Bunny'?

11:45; You left out that Ridgeland is also going through some gut wrenching times trying to figure out how to reverse the apartment saturation crisis it's city fathers allowed to creep in like kudzu.

And the hand-wringing over the decades of absent code enforcement and lack of planning. That's transitional too?

Take a ride up 51 starting at the prior furniture place that used to be a funeral home that now sells mattresses across from Interstate Batteries.

Look to your left, your right, your left, your right. On your left is a huge lumber-barn. There's a double sliding-door open to the elements and inside I hear they sell headboards and pasteboard dressers and such. Over there is another hamburger joint. To your left is a grouping of junk car dealerships (imports they call them), a window tint place, don't forget the carwash, bail bond company, vacant building that used to sell sausages and green meat, a flower shop, a honky tonk for motor scooter riders, a closed boot shop, another car lot that used to sell sports memorabilia, a field that used to house a million tons of concrete bridge beams, three to six auto parts stores (one that used to sell ammunition), a closed down building that once sold day old bread............

Planning and zoning at its very worst. 'Going through the changes that all suburbs do'? The hell you say. This is the result of a forty year transition.

February 3, 7:44

I try to all of the time. Kingfish always blocks it.

Well Shadowfax, when you actually grow up and follow the rules, your comments get posted. When you don't, they don't. Maybe one day I should put all of your rejected comments into one post so everyone can see why they are rejected. Its quite obvious.

I'm not shadow fax. Maybe, *gasp* there's another one or two uppity racist white dudes in madison county.

I say post them. Then we'll see who the real fool is. I suspect it's the blog owner. The man complaining of being rejected just told you he is not who you claim he is. I think the person you refer to has been deceased for a year at least.

More chants of racism. I for one don't care what race those who live around me are. What's racism got to do with wanting a decent place to live, relatively crime free, sensible community restrictions and standards, good schools and nice places to eat and play?

I suspect the Anonymous @ 4:54 PM is a real intellectual in their own mind.

I shore wish I had me a dollar for ever time the Kingfisher posted as anon.

February 5, 2014 at 6:17 PM = newbie who hasn't a clue about JJ