Friday, January 30, 2015

Farish Street is an "albatross"

Mayor Tony Yarber didn't pull any punches concerning Farish Street:


Current Mayor Tony Yarber told The Clarion-Ledger Tuesday that he is not focusing on the historic district, becoming the first mayor since the city initially became involved in 1997 to offer such frank comments about the project.

"For me, Farish Street is not a lynchpin. Farish Street is an albatross," Yarber said. "Farish Street cannot be the defining two blocks of the success of downtown Jackson. It will not be. We're going to treat Farish Street like it's an old car in the front yard that needs some TLC. We're going to move it to the backyard, put it in the shed, and put some really good mechanics back there to work on it."

Plans to revitalize the Farish Street district, a historic black entertainment district downtown, have faced a plethora of obstacles since its initiation in 1997. The project has remained dormant since September 2014, when the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development sanctioned the city, JRA and developers for misspending federal funds in relation to the project..... Rest of article

Kingfish note: Nice to see someone finally speaking some damn sense. Farish Street has been nothing but a well-lit black hole for over twenty years.  Pay off HUD and move on to something else.  If someone wants to develop Farish Street, give it to him

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sure it is and it belongs to the City of Jackson.

Anonymous said...

Wow. I just ... I never thought I'd see a Jackson public official with the intelligence to say, "This is bullshit. It isn't working. Let's try something else."

This man is like a combination of Stephen Hawking and Voltaire compared to the rest of Jackson city government.

Anonymous said...

Too bad Yarber can't bring himself to say "This is bullshit. It isn't working. Let's try something else." when it comes to crime in Jackson.

Kingfish said...

JPD is out there busting their asses. JPD is not the problem.

Its not JPD who is setting low bonds, setting bonds with expiration dates, and its not JPD who is dropping prosecutions after indictment as well.

JPD arrested those indians at Jubilee a year ago. All were no billed on the gun and stolen merchandise charges. No indictment on the opium possession. That is JPD's fault?

Anonymous said...

Not all of JPD is the problem, but a lot of JPD officers are thugs as well. When my car was broken into and they stole two guns, I provided the serial numbers. I called back the next year to see if they had turned up, the serial numbers were never even entered into the system. It's like the guns were never stolen in their eyes. JPD is plagued with incompetent, dishonest officers who are bringing the entire department down.

Anonymous said...

KF, I don't know the specifics of the W. Northside convenience store case. Did JPD adequately investigate the case and provide the DA with enough evidence to indict? This has been a frequent argument (excuse?) in the past.

Anonymous said...

JPD is the problem as it is currently run. Sure there are great officers trying really hard...but they are trying really hard to catch murderers after the murder.

We need JPD to patrol, institute foot patrols, and grow their overall numbers so they can KNOW what each household is doing or not doing.

Parents cannot control their kids. They rely on JPD to show up when one of the little rappers shoots across the park.

Had JPD had 10 officers who walked that beat...that kid would have never shot at anyone.

Quit sucking JPD's nightstick and demand real policing efforts.

Anonymous said...

Problem is in Jackson we have Turn 'Em Loose Tommy.

Thankfully, up in Madison they have Put Them Under the Jail Dale.

Get a Clue Kingfish said...

There is no doubt you are Yarber's apologist Kingfish.

When has he once come out loud and clear and unequivocally for all in Jackson and Hinds and the State of Mississippi to hear "This is bullshit. It isn't working." when it comes to crime and the Hinds "catch and release" problem? When? Why is it leaders in our surrounding counties are saying it but Mayor Yarber is not?

Why hasn't Yarber called out the County Supervisors and DA and Judges? What has he done to hold them accountable in the eyes of the public?

Why isn't Yarber in front of the TV cameras right now, today, on the steps of the Capitol demanding legislative help and money for more Judges, more assistants in the DA's office, more courtrooms, more public defenders and an emergency low-interest loan to build a fucking new jail ASAP to fix the HindsCo justice system problem?

Why isn't he inside the Capital knocking on door after door asking for help? Nobody else is doing it so why isn't this new younger enlightened Mayor you are always promoting doing it?

This isn't about what JPD is or is not doing. This is about what Mayor Yarber is doing differently that all the other mayors before him haven't done.

We already know what doesn't work. Right now Yarber is doing nothing differently to address the overall crime problem than Harvey Johnson did before him. Bullshit feel-good #hashtag campaigns and happy talk is nothing more than more of the same. Yarber doesn't get a pass.

Mid-Life Lawyer said...

Isn't it amazing how grateful we are when a Jackson, MS government official tells it like it is? He has done this on more than one occasion. It's almost enough to give one hope.

Anonymous said...

Oh Lord, two guns stolen out of your car. The moonbats will have a fit over that and blame you for the gun battles to come.

Kingfish said...

Best thing for Farish Street is a match. All that historical designation crap has done is tied everything up for something that was never really that historical in nature. Bulldoze all the old stuff and start over.

However, I agree with Yarber on one thing and I'm an apologist? Ok. Actually I agree with you. He should speak out on crime. Not press releases. An actual speech. We have a DA who conducts grand jury witch hunts on the jail and sues cops who give out information about who was not indicted but drops prosecutions of drug dealers or doesn't fight low bonds for violent thugs. The judges and DA need to be called out.

JPD has problems but in case you haven't noticed, when we dig up the dirt on these criminals, we find they have been arrested before only to be on the catch and release program. All JPD can do is arrest them.

Anonymous said...

10:02

Unfortunately, if Yarber did as you suggested, he'd be accused, rightly, of grandstanding. He has nothing to gain by making enemies of other elected officials. He needs to work with them, not call them out.
The best work here would have to be done by the voters of Jackson.

Anonymous said...

I love the "old car" analogy.

I went to law school in Jackson from 1997-2000 and lived a block off Farrish St. for one year; that was enough. I love the thought of the appeal of a historic entertainment district, but that street was and is too much of a backwater to draw crowds. I'm not a baiter, but too spend money there is just pandering.

That said, Field's Cafe used to have great plate lunches and Peaches had cobbler that was like crack rock. Mmmmmmm....

Anonymous said...

Work with them? LOL Been hearing that for 30 years. ROFLMAO

Anonymous said...

Most of the Farish St area needs bulldozer therapy. And if anything would ever open there, two JPD officers on every street corner. It's the definition of a blighted urban area.

Anonymous said...

YO! KF! If you have it, please post a "follow the $$$" report in regard to Farish Street. How much, when, who's pocket, who owns it now, private $$ vs. public $$$ etc.

Anonymous said...

YO! 5 OH FO! How's that JPS education treatin to bad seff?

If you want people to ever accept you as more than a hood rat, learn english. Thug.

Anonymous said...

I would love for someone to Really follow the money!! How much money did David Watkins take from city to revitalize and then we got nothing? Why is he not in jail or held accountable?? Oh yeah, where's Ben Allen now? I see he's not giving tours of Farish St anymore!!! Why aren't we mad about the money spent and broken promises??

Anonymous said...

So Mr./ Ms. KING of FISH, the black business district of the capital city isn't historical? Wow!

Seventeen blues clubs!! said...

I've been calling BS on Farish Street for years. This was a project that was done to appease a voting demographic. The grandiose crap about there being seventeen blues clubs on Farish was something anyone but the most tunnel-visioned JFP editor could see was hogwash. Are there even seventeen blues clubs in the entire metro area?

I'm just glad that BB King's was never built. I always felt that the people pushing for that place were trying to shame King into supporting his home state when the business numbers just weren't there. It all came off like, "help a brotha out!"

I remember people predicting that tourists would come to Jackson from all over the US to visit our little Blues Disneyland. It was foolishness then and it's foolishness now.

But there's still hope. Maybe we could get Jerry Rice and Monta Ellis and Brett Favre to open a sports bar down there, and Faith Hill could open her own honkytonk, and Gerald McRaney could invest in a dinner theater. I mean, they're all from Mississippi originally, so they owe us. C'mon guys, help a brotha out!

Anonymous said...

Thanks to Harvey J for doing such a wonderful job in developing Farish Street into the quality venue it is.

Not to mention the wonderful work he gave us eliminating crime and making Jackson streets something that we're all proud of.... ;-)

Lance Stevens, attorney said...

You gotta love an anonymous dumbass that asks about Watkins spending the City's money inappropriately. The City did not give Watkins a dime; in fact, they backed out of the loan they committed to (which is now a part of a lawsuit) which would have largely been paid back by historic and new markets tax credits. So, Watkins spends his life savings (over $3M) and the City breaks the lease. Yeah, this is Watkins' fault. Go find a real scapegoat how bout it? Oh, and the project has been audited three times and nary a dime has been found to be misspent by Watkins and his business partners. Hey, anonymous dumbass, why don't you sign you name to something next time?

Anonymous said...

I bet looking at the city now you all would take back your comments of support he can't even figure out how to make the legislation pay for the roads.😳😳😳😳😳😳



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