Jackson Jambalaya

The new airport in NOLA is being paid for by, wait for it.... The air carriers.

Great idea, 2:42. Harkins should have Rankin County build a new airport and get the air carriers to pay for it. Since it will be managed by the state, according to him, Southwest will come back. I'm sure that they will be willing to pitch in a bunch of the cost. Probably could get Rudy to come down and do a master plan for it - at not much cost since Madison has already paid for the templates.

A new airport will drain JAN faster than JAN drained Hawkins Field. Be careful with your bravado because the ANG would also move to a new state-of-the-art field.

is it no apparent to you that nobody gives a shit about how the airport was built when my grandpa was still in charge? move on barexamfailer

Is the airport a regional airport? Because if the answer is yes, then govern it as such. Period. Also, if I am not mistaken, the positions will be spread out over several counties. That means it is up to the county/city to pick the members, right? Than how is it a state takeover.

That is the same way it came into existence. They are just tweeking it to reflect the growth and usage of airport. I also saw where the Mayor stated, "an exclusive investment by the city." Is that so? I don't think so. What say you Fish?

It is not a regional airport. It is an airport built, owned and operated by the City of Jackson. Period.

It came into existence as a city airport. It is and never has been a 'regional airport'.

It was an exclusive investment by the city - of course it had federal matching money included, but there was no state money or Hinds County money or other county money. Read all the documents that JJ has posted and you could find this out for yourself.

If it was a 'regional airport' built with state monies involved, then there would be an argument. But just like most airports in the state (Gulfport, Tupelo, Oxford, Meridian, Hattiesburg, Natchez, Greenville, Greenwood, this could go on but this covers most of the major and midmajors) they are municipally owned.

If the state can arbitrarily take over Jackson, the question is will they take over all the other municipal airports in the state.

5:59 - I think the comment about Rankin building a new airport was a little fanticiful - just like the idea that Madison might build Rudy's folly. There is no way that the FAA would approve, much less assist with funding, another major airport in this flight zone. I assume the comment was made in jest to indicate the ridiculous concept of the Harkins bill.

Lots of work and research have gone into this report as evidenced by the links, photos, etc. Good job KF. And, no, I'm not Kingfish...not even a regular fan. Just giving credit where credit seems due.

And to the Goob at 9:49: Regional - that which serves a region.

This history has been fascinating. It is a shame with a order of the Jackson Council they obliterated the name of the Mayor responsible for bringing the airport project together. Flawed character or not he deserves the credit for what was a real power play, leadership roll, and revolutionary move at the time.

Medgar Evers was a great leader also but there seems to be many other places of importance in Jackson that could have been used to honor his memory.

"Be careful with your bravado because the ANG would also move to a new state-of-the-art field."

Yeah, like totally away from the Jackson area. They could be housed in Lauderdale County. They certainly would not spend over half a billion on a new facility in Hinds or Rankin.

Still totally unclear how Phil or the bill-writer thinks the state has claim to a municipal facility.

1. Never failed the bar because I never took it. Got it, liar?

2. No one gives a ____? The traffic says otherwise. Not to mention, more than a few politicians and other people involved in this fight have been reading these posts and told me they learned much about the history and creation of the airport.

The articles and other information posted were copied from the collection of Baxter Wilson that is housed at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History downtown on North Street. 19 boxes. While you were sneering and saying a couple of weeks ago I was posting weak material, well, I was down at the MDAH spending several hours reading through those boxes and copying what I thought was relevant. It is called research.

Try again.

""And to the Goob at 9:49: Regional - that which serves a region.

February 7, 2016 at 3:37 AM"

Goob. Any airport is regional by your definition. They all serve a region. Golden Triangle Regional airport serves the three county Golden Triangle Region. Mid-Delta Regional (Greenville) serves all the delta. University (Oxford) serves NW MS.

One of the above was built, is owned and managed by a three county regional authority. The second is owned and controlled by a city. The third is owned and managed by the University of Mississippi.

Definitions do have meanings though, but that is not the issue. Realize your eyes (and mind) are probably bleary eyed and you don't want to address the issue here, but would rather have a love-fest with KF in your adoration. But - get some sleep and leave the discussion up to folks that want to address the real question of this matter.

Interesting thoughts about the regional airports. All the other regional airports in Mississippi have boards or commissions operating them. These boards are all appointed by the entity that owns the airport - either the city, county or the combination of entities. None of them have their boards appointed by the Governor!

Wonder if they all -since as has been constantly said about Harkins' takeover that this is a regional airport - should have their boards changed to where the Governor appoints the members. I bet those folks in Golden Triangle, or Hattiesburg & Laurel, or others will really think that is as good an idea as Harkins' thinks it is for the metro area.

It is a regional airport. It serves and operates largely at the behest of a region, as do the others you listed. It's customer base is regional. Sorry you don't like the definition of regional. The definition of regional has nothing to do with who built the airport or who runs it. I don't know that ALL airports are regional and don't care. I do know that this one is.

Next, we will explore the definition of Goob. Will 1:28 please step up on stage?

If it is a regional airport, and therefore the management should be changed for the Governor to make the appointments as to who manages it, do you then agree that the other regional airports in the state should be changed and the management taken away from the current owners and turned over to the Governor? Or just this particular airport whose management happens to be in the hands of a black city?

The other regional airports in the state serves and operates 'largely at the behest of a region" as you admit. So the same concept should apply to them, shouldn't they?

I don't advocate the governor seizing the reigns and have asked repeatedly how he might be able to do that. But thanks for invoking your race-based theory, as you probably always do in every discussion. My thoughts about whether this bill and this governor can succeed in seizing the airport board have nothing to do with race. And thanks for playing, Ray Nagin.

Ok, Class of 2014 Reunion time is over. Stay on topic.

Let Rankin and Madison County take control of the airport, but make them pay the fair market value of the assets. Jackson can take that money and spend it on infrastructure!

If Jackson ever gets a dollar it will go the way every dollar they ever get, in the pockets of the city leaders.

7:27 - good thought, IF Jackson wants to sell. But a sale requires a willing seller and a willing buyer. By the way, I haven't seen anything yet that makes me think Madison has any interest in this project. They were brought in by Harkins' bill, but without any prior discussion with the current leadership.

Everyone has a price. It is just a question of whether you can afford it.

Kingfish says 'stay on topic'. Well, what the hell IS the topic? All of these Airport Threads are nothing more than race baiting by the admin who knows his hits will increase when he throws raw-race-meat on the table.

Agree with you that KF would do that to increase the hits - but this time he just got lucky. Harkins filed a bill to take over Jackson's property that has generated interest all over the state - because the bill will eventually be amended to cover all commercial airports. The fact that Harkins focused only on the one in Jackson whos Board is all black and the city is majority black made the issue one of race as well as government overreach.

So yes - it has turned into focusing on the Rankin County racist attitude toward the proposed takeover. But that just helped KF - this time I don't think it was his purpose.

Harkins filed a bill to take over Jackson's property that has generated interest all over the state - because the bill will eventually be amended to cover all commercial airports.

Bullshit. Prove it.