Jackson Jambalaya

*Poof*

Dead people are killing us.

Was told that cemetary deal is costing $6 million

too many dead lunatics to move. dam.

Whoever found the remains should have called for more dirt. I sincerely hope that 150 years from now I am not stopping the construction of a hospital that will actually help living people.

That's around eighteen Dollars per square foot? Wow! Such stratospheric prices usually are only commanded by downtown office buildings in booming cities like Detroit. As they say, "Demography is Destiny."!

Amazing that a state agency like the DOR would risk criticism, by locating outside the state's capital. And for UMMC to pass up a bargain basement price like that tells me Jackson is POISED to join a certain elite tier of American cities - a tier occupied by Detroit, Camden, and Gary.

Jackson's voters should give themselves big pats on their own ample backs, for electing, over and over, such great leaders.

Even when they're giving buildings away the numbers downtown just don't work. LMAO Did those 25,000 people Ben promised were moving downtown show up yet?

5:39, the numbers downtown DO work (quite well, in fact). It's just that, since people don't HAVE to be near government or other similar businesses these days, they're willing to pay DOUBLE rent (or more) to (a) be 10 minutes closer to home (lame excuse) and (b)avoid being panhandled every day or (the perception of) worse........the REAL reason.

5:31 "Demography is Destiny" Perfect.

Um, excuse me. The reason DOR didn't work out was because Philip Gunn didn't want it moving from the district he represents (so hard to imagine that a politician would be self serving). The reason UMMC didn't work out was because of the costs associated with the dead bodies they dug up under UMMC's campus.

In other words, the issue was not local politics, not city voters, not downtown, not the city.

I would ask if you always spout off about stuff you have no clue about, but I learned to lower my expectations real quick after reading all the comments regarding the Senate race on this site.

Panhandlers downtown? No way. The only thing downtown is goodwill ambassadors asking visitors to share some of their earned goodwill.

Philip Gunn is self-serving but, of course, David Blount is not.

Wow...fiscal prudence by UMC. Who'da thunk it!

Did those 25,000 people Ben promised were moving downtown show up yet?

Ben the Prophet will say anything to sell his poultices of half-truths and obfuscations to the unsuspecting.

Each downtown worker contributes $125 weekly to the downtown economy? What a bunch of poppycock, especially for state employees. If Ben is that out of touch or dishonest, Lord help us.

This is simple. The graves were an unexpected and as yet undefined budget blow at a time when UMMC is working hard on its rating. Nothing more, nothing less.

Nothing an earmark couldn't fix.

8:27 "rating"? What "rating"?

I believe ole Ben and Duane would say anything to keep their jobs. They are both doing such a great job.

Why not move the graves to the paupers grave yard at Raymond near the County Farm - dress up the cemetery and let the progress continue??? Ashes to ashes - dust to dust - life is but a vapor only but for a short time.

Has Duane O'Neill done anything in the last 10+ years to earn his $300K+ salary?

This state worker spends as little as possible working downtown. Maybe out to eat once a week. There's nowhere to shop, just eat.

Duane O'Neill follows the Cochran-Work-Model. Do something once every ten years and draw your pay, including an annual bump.

" Can't never did do nothing"

Didn't y'all's mamas tell you that?

Maybe mama did and you didn't understand that people who are pessimists aren't successful in life. You can't let the difficulty of a task or the possibility of failure deter you or give up


And, pessimistic people just aren't fun to be around. I feel so sorry for your families having to live with your negativity.

11:22 duuuuh, that's the point. it will cost the med school the $6 million to move the graves that would have paid for the building. soooo, no new downtown building, moving the graves is the priority.

12:34, that pay is well over $400,000 per year..

Read history of the asylum. Everyone knows those bodies were buried on that campus. Where do they think they buried them? Read old articles of the asylum history. This is no surprise. Why do they act like this is a shock? Hell, there's probably some grant for archaeologists to "study" the deceased. I say we move them to paupers too. If folks cared about their family that was housed there they would have given them a proper burial but they didn't! I am disgusted with this crap!

Never mentioned in detail what ummc wanted this building for....that's lot of taxpayer's money! I smell politics!

Just as slavery was once an accepted and legal practice here and throughout the world, many institutions and villages had paupers' graveyards and made sure such people/bodies were properly buried on state cared for property. It was humane and honorable.

Don't try to make some butcher-shop house of horrors out of this century old situation.

Besides, this is where Khayat and Jones buried Colonel Reb too. R.I.P.

What a lot of people seem to be missing is that six million Dollars is not a lot of money anymore. Apparently, you can barely move an old graveyard for that kind of money.

To phrase it differently, the Landmark Center is for sale so cheap, the building costs less than what it can cost getting a new site READY for construction (Other surprises one might encounter when building would be underground aquifers, bad soil, discovery of this, discovery of that... Happens all the time. You EXPECT costs like this to pop up.).

All costs considered, I just paid more per square foot for new CARPET in my office, than is being asked, per square foot, for Landmark. My carpet is nothing out of the ordinary. And yes: I know how to divide 'square yard' by 9 (although what I did was add and divide the checks written to the movers and to the Designer, by the number of square feet).

CHEAPER THAN NEW CARPET: That's what a steal Landmark is... except that it's in Jackson. And apparently, being in Downtown Jackson is now so inconvenient/treacherous/maddening/dangerous/depressing that many workers will quit their jobs, rather than work there.

We moved ourselves and our offices outside Hinds County just before 'Frank'. Even then, we were losing key hires, because they or their spouses hated and/or feared Jackson. Others interviewed with us, but were horrified by Jackson. I have no idea how many bright young things never interviewed at all, because of the city's shortcomings.

Our experience is hardly unique. And in aggregate, all those negative experiences begin to explain why Landmark is for sale at a price lower, potentially, than just the 'site work' for a new building.

My guess is that the newly-discovered graves are being used as an EXCUSE, by UMMC: too many people may have loudly stated, "I'm NOT workin' down there!". That's a pity. It's a pretty building. But the inconveniences and dangers inherent in getting TO the building are apparently the (real) deal-breaker.

Surely the reasons you were losing key interviewees was because of your own business's inadequacies. If people aren't willing to work in Downtown Jackson, it's because they don't want to live in the metro area, so moving to Rankin or Madison County wouldn't have helped it. Sorry, but you were so obviously full of bull s*** there. Downtown is not dangerous despite what you may think, and UMMC is so close to downtown that some people would even classify that area as part of downtown. The reason the deal fell through was because of the unexpected (there was no reason to foresee that) costs associated with a freakishly weird story about old asylum patients being buried underneath the property. Your attempt to make it into something more is a waste of your time. Get back to work, you have better things to do.

ROFLMAO Downtowners are desparate. UMMC is now in downtown? Fondren is right next to UMMC. How 'bout Fondren?

2:17 is right on.

As a UMMC employee, I would have gladly taken the Landmark building over the Medical Mall any day. I think most would agree.

Maybe they can locate next to Boo Noble's $1.6 POS on state street

Uncle Ben Cheerleader says the "average worker downtown" spends $6500 post-tax dollars annually downtown on parking, food, fun and sundries.

Looks like ol' Ben is sufferin' just like ol' Thad.

Six Million Dollars? Were they bringing in a hundred archeologists from Denmark and paying them 100k a year to sift for bone fragments? Holy Shit. There's nothing left there but some wood chips and scattered bones. Maybe not even wood chips. You could hire a friend of Robert Graham who owns a Dozer and move the bones for a hundred thousand and some change.

bone collector is SPOT on and had a great idea. Hire Graham-the-legend's buddy Airwaves...I hear they're looking for some 'work'.

What is "spot on"?

7:53. A goobs term for exactly.