Jackson Jambalaya

Nobody seems to be adhering to Michelle's health and eating tips.

Classic. It's called deferred maintenance, they're too busy talking to their boo to work

I give them credit for having those 3 shovels neatly arranged and waiting for participants in the summer jobs program to come along and use them. Only a month to go......

they all have there obama phones at work.

Resemble WPA Workers

You are a blogger, and can do what you want, but this is such a stupid, pointless post. Everyone uses their phone from time to time during their workday. I guess everyone needs clicks.

How many workers does it take to fix a pothole? 8, 1 to fix the hole and 7 to lean on the shovels. This has always been a running joke for road maintenance crews. City, state, county, Private sector. That's a good looking mini ex though, first class. That orange paint costs dolla dolla bills.

Thanks for the stupid, pointless comment @9:25 AM and, more importantly, thanks for helping KF pay the bills!

What do people expect? Just driving down any Jackson street will tell them what the workers spend their time doing and it isn't doing what they are paid to do.

Really, this is noteworthy? Manage your expectations and save the faux shock for something worth it. They're public service workers. You ever work on a Jackson city street all day? I have and liet me tell you: there's not a lot of motivation to get after it.

Yup. The extra 250-500 clicks will make a huge difference.

Based on 9:54's comment, somebody in a position to do so should motivate them.

This seems unfair to paint a broad brush to these guys. I have seem PW Employees on Christmas Eve at 11:00pm in 20 degree weather fixing a broken pipe in my neighborhood. They deserve a lot of credit for fixing all the pipes that have been NEGLECTED by city leaders for all these years. And no, I'm not with the JFP. I'm a life long NE JXN resident.

This is what the City with Soul looks like.

Whatever happened to self motivation? Desire to do a good job. Pride in your own work. I do projects all the time for other people, dont get paid, but have self satisfaction in being the best i can be and doing a good job. I guess that wears off after a few weeks.

Obviously this was a tongue in cheek post as when I posted a pic of a JPD cruiser at Krispy Kreme a few years ago when we all do cops go through a lot of crap in doing their jobs.

I've seen public works employees out there fixing busted pipes on Thanksgiving Days when everyone else was at home enjoying the turkey and Dallas Cowboys. They do the real s*** work no one else wants to do.

Not an unfair characterizing of most municipal road crews. Over 50 years ago I had a summer job with Hinds county patching potholes. First day I was swinging a pick with gusto and the foreman stopped me and said "slow down, that ain't how we do it". From then on it was me pick other guy shovel lean on handles tell a story. I will say later I was sent to a paving crew with a different foreman and it was full speed all day.

This is the most ridiculous post you have made in a while - and that's really saying something.

Without some more information about what else was going on, this implies a lot that may be totally unsupported. Ever watch a crew doing their repair jobs on a water line? Probably not.

The backhoe operator (1st picture) often doesn't have anything particular to do while repairs are being made 'in the hole' - or many other activities. But, the operator is needed to be available when the hoe is needed. While he is not, what is wrong with him sitting on the outside of the machine - and even on his phone.

The others - were they through with the process? Cleaning up? Shutting down? Or, were they waiting on a truckload of fill dirt to dump? Or maybe, waiting for the pump to empty the hole?

I have no idea what else was happening, and these pictures don't give those answers. Far be it from me to defend the city's capabilities, or these (or other) city workers. But, I have watched them work many times - plenty of water breaks in my area - and have seen them in a hole filled with water when it was freezing cold. Have watched them work on a line throughout the night.

During any process, the entire crew is not busy the entire time. There are times that five/six workers are needed, and ten minutes later only one or two are busy. What do you expect those others to do while waiting on a process - move to another area, just to come back in a few minutes?

Get a life. There are plenty of real abuses and wastes in our fair city - without any additional information, this is not one of them.

How can you defend this?? I've been to 3rd world countries with better roads. This is why they should contract out the work. It might cost more but it'll be done right and timely.

And kf, you need to post something about the private company building the apartments downtown and getting robbed at gunpoint numerous times and over $10000 of materials stolen off job site.

11:20, for the additional information you desire just drive down any Jackson street.

@11:20 we could be wondering about the who spent time designing Tyrone Lewis's valentines day billboards, or what consulting firm is being taken to lunch by Yarber and Assoc, or where the absorbent fees to get paper copies down at city hall goes toward...but we're not. I know we shouldn't pick on Jackson since it's all the "republicans"(code word) fault.

"Over 50 years ago I had a summer job with Hinds county patching potholes."

WHAT!?! But potholes and road paving is only a problem of the last 20 years of black leadership! OMG my heads gonna explode!

"I am lazy." - 9:54

They are tired of people bitching about the pot holes coming back and are waiting a few hours for it to return after their stellar repair job. Smart in my book. Don't be so negative KF.

How do you know they didn't find a problem and are calling their supervisor or road manager or foreman to find out how they want them to handle it? I work for a company that does road work and we get calls like that all the time from our inspectors or construction crews. You do not know to whom they were talking.

Reading and posting on JJ = leaning on a shovel.

I have not - and will not - defend Jackson's management of the city, especially its infrastructure. Didn't do that in my comments. But I did say that two pictures of some public works employees who at the time didn't have their shovels in the dirt digging or the backhoe running was not indicative of the comments and assumptions that were being made about their work effort.

You want to post a picture of the Mayor, or the Council, doing anything and I'll agree right away that the pictures are of individuals who are not doing their job.

While these two pictures might fit the description and KF's implication in the post - I don't know. But I have seen plenty of public works employees doing exactly the same thing as these two pictures, and I would not have done what they had to do before and after the time shown in these depictions.

These comments are ridiculous. Commenting began at 9:00 this morning and have continued well into the work day...which means that they're no worse or better at their jobs/taking a break/loafing than the lot of us.

Bunch of keyboard gangsters. And not even very good at it.

C'mon, guys. It's just funny. Lighten up. Good grief.

@2:01 - not all of us have a job. Maybe we are just jealous.

Just want to throw out a possibility based on a crew that was on our street last week. All on the job had been working, but they had to stop to wait on a piece of equipment (the only one of its kind owned by the City) and its operator to finish at another job. One he arrived and did his part, they commenced with the rest of the job.

Reading and posting on JJ = leaning on a shovel.

Pretty funny......

"WHAT!?! But potholes and road paving is only a problem of the last 20 years of black leadership! OMG my heads gonna explode! "

No, it was about 20 years ago with a change in city administration that they stopped keeping up the roads. 50 years ago they were keeping up the roads.

It is a big job looking for pot holes to repair. Why not just pick a spot and wait. The pot holes will show up sooner or later.

they fixed a busted water line in my neighborhood on a saturday, and were still working at 9:30 that night.....And I saw them that day doing exactly what the pictures showed......should have immediately gone to get them some gatorade!! i will next time

These guys have been working on this hole for a WEEK. As of today, 4/26, the job is still not done. The sawhorses were left in the middle of the intersection for a day or more, posing a hazard and inconvenience to motorists.

Hole might be filled but it still needs to be resurfaced.

In a REAL city, it would have been done within 24-48 hours.

No, 7:58. Obviously you know not of what you talk. Assuming this was a utility repair, as it appears to be, once the utility line is fixed, you don't resurface the area immediately after. The fill dirt, even though it is tamped into place needs to have a time to settle prior to the resurfacing.

12:08, How long do you think the dirt has to settle? Nothing has been paved in Jackson in many years. Think that is long enough for it to settle?

"They're public service workers. You ever work on a Jackson city street all day? I have and let me tell you: there's not a lot of motivation to get after it."

The immaturity, dishonesty, and poor work ethic expressed in that post largely explains the reason for the pot holes and the rest of Jackson's situation. Many of us were taught that goofing off on the job is the same as stealing from your employer. Your "motivation" to do the job is your paycheck. You have an unwritten contract with that employer: to give him a full day's work for a full day's pay. If you don't like the pay and conditions, you're free to find another job. Many employers claim that the reason they give jobs to illegal Mexican workers is that they have a better work ethic. They're willing to pay them the same wage as citizens because they get more work out of them. Young workers especially cause a lot of accidents in the work place because they are texting excessively and not paying attention.

Those pictures say everything a person needs to know why Jackson is in the shape it is in. Not just the workers spend their time like those in the pictures. A picture of the elected leaders would look pretty much the same.