OHMIGOSH!!! The State is going to take over Jackson. STOPTHEMADNESS!!!!!!! STOP THE PRESSES!!! STOPITALL!!! Give Sam Hall a beta blocker cocktail before he has his second meltdown in a month. The local media breathlessly "reported" on State Representative Mark Baker's "plan" to write a bill that will have the state take over Jackson. There is just one problem: There is no plan nor is there a bill.
A debate about the airport takeover bill broke out between State Senator Josh Harkins and GOP Elder Pete Perry on Facebook on May 4. Mr. Harkins and Mr. Perry traded licks back and forth over the bill until the discussion turned towards Jackson itself. Then Mr. Perry said forget the airport, perhaps the state should take over Jackson itself. Mr. Baker jumped in and said heeeeeyyyy... how about I just draft a bill that does just that. That is it. Then someone in the media saw this exchange a week later and went all Nancy Grace on it. The Facebook exchanges are posted below.
Pete Perry:“If you look around, there’s a lot of green around here. What we want to see is what other airports have done,” Senator Harkins said. “They have developed around the airport. If you look at airports around the size of Jackson, whether it be Baton Rouge or Little Rock, there’s development all around there.”
At first it was about the high cost of flying. Now its about the undeveloped land - but the interesting thing is that the undeveloped land is not a part of the airport itself, its just land that is owned by the City and surrounds the airport.
Which is it, my friend - the cost of flying, or the "lot of green around it"? If the issue was the "lot of green", why didn't someone, or some governmental body, offer to purchase the green area. And that would provide Jackson with cash that - hopefully - they would put into those other areas that you correctly mention needs their attention.
Josh Harkins: Pete, do you think it is going well? And if you honestly answer yes, then I respectfully disagree. What is being taken from Jackson?
Pete Perry: Control of its property.
Josh Harkins: no they still have 5/9. that is control
Pete Perry: You own real estate. How would you like it if someone came in and said you could still own it but they were going to manage it because they didn't think you were doing it very good.
They don't name the 5. Somebody else gets to name them
It sounds good that 'they have five'. Put that same theory to our real estate - your bank gets to name three; you two, and somebody else four. Would you feel that appropriate
Josh Harkins: Are you saying that the Gov and Lt. Gov would appoint people that are residents of Jackson and would quietly have ulterior motives to harm Jackson?
Obviously we will agree to disagree. I still love you Pete!!!
Then the knuckleheads turned towards discussing Jackson itself. Now the fun starts.
Pete Perry: No. I don't think so. And I think they would appoint someone better than the current leadership of Jackson. But, the Gov and Lt Gov weren't elected to run Jackson. While I think the current leadership is way deep over their head, they were the elected leaders. If you had a bill to take over Jackson totally, I would probably help lead the parade. But the one part of Jackson that is running reasonably well (not because of the board, but the ED) is the airport. Take over the wastewater treatment facility and I will help - cause it isn't being run responsibly.
Everybody is entitled to be wrong every once and awhile. (I notice you never answered how you would feel about someone else coming in and managing, without compensation, your real estate properties, although I am sure I know the answer.)
Josh Harkins: I paid for any and all of my privately owned property 100%. The state has not spent one penny maintaining my property. Airport can't say the same. Apples to oranges
Pete Perry: Josh, I know you have paid for your property, and further, I am not in the group saying that your promoting this bill has anything to do with your business interests. But - I would say that the comparison is apples to apples. So far, nobody has shown me any pennies that the state has spent on maintaining the city's property at the airport.
But besides that point, your property is yours to manage. Jackson's should be Jackson's to manage.
Then Mr. Baker poked his head into the discussion:
Mark Baker: Pete: if you think what we dos with the airport is so bad, you're going to really hate it when we pass a conservator law for municipalities like we have for school districts. Fair warning, they get it together or we will.
Pete Perry: Mark Baker Wrong!! If the legislature were to bring up such a bill I would come help lead the parade. I believe that they are incapable (under current structure) to get it together and if they don't your suggestion is the only answer I can see as well. I would be glad to come testify if it would help. Take over the entire city and get it under some kind of reasonable management. My objection to the airport bill is that it only takes one little segment of the problem - and far from being a failure in operation compared to the rest of the city - because it is an assistance to others (governments, not individuals) while not helpful to the city.
i wouldn't hate the conservator approach - knowing what I assume would be the process, I would love it.
Mark Baker: I'm going to start drafting something this summer. I'll send you a draft for review.
There you have it. Three knuckleheads goofing around on Facebook. Mr. Baker died laughing for a solid minute when I asked him about this "story" yesterday and said the exchanges between him and Mr. Perry were made "tongue in cheek". There is no bill written. He is not drafting a bill nor plans to do so this summer.
The media took a late night discussion on Facebook where three friends were giving each other grief and turned it into a major story even though there was nothing to it. Only one reported spoke to Mr. Baker. The legislator said he was "considering" such a bill. The media of course, fell for it all. Ooooh I love to dance a little sidestep... JJ learned it was a joke yesterday but chose not to report it until this morning for one good reason: Why get in the media's way when they are making complete fools of themselves?
Kingfish note: It is interesting that Mississippi has no municipal bankruptcy law or conservatorship. What happens if a city does hit the wall and implode? Serious question. Are there any remedies in state law to deal with such a problem?
27 comments:
Oh, I did read that there is no bill but I also no longer believe that an idiotic idea won't get traction in our current legislature or with our current Governor and Lt. Governor!
As we've seen, it only takes one idiot to find enough other idiots to believe the unbelievable these days. And, the politicians who are into winning and losing rather than governing will call the idiots their " base".
We can't have our elected officials working together to solve problems.
And, we certainly can't have elected officials assuming real leadership which would involve working to win support for a good idea! They would rather use their time and energy to raise money for themselves or dole it out to supporters.
And, I expect there are a few old boys out there who read this exchange already imagining the opportunities if their cronies were in charge.
Greed trumps all these days!
Actually the remedy is on a case by case basis: http://www.mssb.uscourts.gov/media/1511/07-50141-npo_53_20070612.pdf. Marion, MS tried to file Chapter 9 and Meridian objected based on the fact that MS did not have a provision that allowed a filing. However the MS legislature apparently did allow a filing in the 2006 session. It is cited in the above decision that did not allow Marion to file - See H.B. 1616, 2006
Reg. Sess. (Miss. 2006).
I think the legislature could fix it next session.
OK....I'll ask it here. I thought all cities in Mississippi existed as a result of a "charter" granted by the Legislature. I was always told that all municipalities and counties were "creatures of the Legislature." True or false???
This all plays right into the hands of the Tribal Council and the Jackson Junta. The low information crowd will be fed the grape Kool-Aid. They'll arm-up and be ready to roll. Rocks and bricks is about to be throwed and highways will be unsafe for travel.
All the Churches Chickens will be turned into command-posts. The racks of odd-sized camo at Wally Worlds are all sold out. Black berets by the car load are arriving at the Harvey Johnson Memorial Train Station.
The emphasis has changed from inefficiency and mismanagement to notices on light poles stating that the white man is taking over the land of the Sioux. Salter and Wiseman will swing by Oxford and pick up Mitchell. Family members of Goodman and Schwerner will head to Jackson. Dan Rather, Shepard Smith and Brian Williams are headed this way on contract.
Loretta Lynch has been notified and will issue decrees. Storm-troopers will occupy courthouses and federal buildings and the ACLU will be camped on the Rankin side of the Ross Barnett, demanding the name be changed to Wiley Evers Tillman Stokes Henry Memorial Lagoon. Old flags will be furled and new ones unfurled.
WLBT's 'Mic On The Skreet' will join in. The paper will plaster impending doom across the front page. Bennie will cancel an island trip with Rangel and head South. Hodding Carter and Henry Kirksey will rise from the dead.
The fix is in. White troops are about to march on Jackson. The Harbor is occupied and plans to replenish supplies will cause the City Council to fire the first volley. Jackson can NOT be taken. Chimneyville is staged for unrest and the ammo counter at Academy has fallen. Feel and Tater have been spirited away in long black cars to locations unknown. They must be separated by a distance of ten miles minimum in case tragedy befalls one of them.
Federal troops are camped to the north at Tougaloo and to the east at the Yarber-Bryant Airport. War is on.
The bill cannot become law. Gallo is locked and loaded and Perez is guarding The Green Room door. Larry and Kent have gone deep into their bunker. Shit is about to get real folks. Berry's Fish House has boarded up and every boat at Bass Pro has been stolen. Priester has misplaced his Buddy-Holly-Glasses and must depend on Yarber to get him into the tunnel. Barrett-Simone-Simone-Barrett and Stokes are jammed into the same stall at Target. Black helicopters have landed at Memorial Stadium and Kingfish is in a VW bus getting his ass out of town as quick as he can. The Pearl is flowing north and this is gonna be big.
Unlike the US government, the City of Jackson cannot print money and sell debt to the Chinese. We have seen MANY large and small municipalities hit the wall due to bad management and poor investments. Jackson will fail, just a matter of when now. The tax base is gone. Even Yarber admits it. And no one has the courage or leadership skills to cut to basic services and start the discussion of letting parts of the city that can no longer be serviced allowed to merge with other communities or separately incorporate. Happened in Atlanta. The streets are wagon trails and we get boil notices regularly. There is NO MONEY to fix the infrastructure. They can't float a bond because NO ONE in their right mind would buy it. The solutions are obvious, now the 5 stages of grief: 1. Denial, 2. Anger, 3. Bargaining, 4. Depression, 5. Acceptance. I would say many on the City Council are in the Anger stage. By this time next year most will be in to full blown bargaining.
Would love it if it were true.
8:50 AM - my wife and I have not stopped laughing. Funny funny stuff.
Since we have long ago concluded that Jackson's leadership now makes it fair game for discussion of "takeover". Let's begin an even better discussion. Takeover of Mississippi by the federal government. After all, how long has the Mississippi legislature shown itself completely incapable of running a state in the 20th and now 21st century. Mississippi is last in everything worth talking about and seems satisfied as long as the "good ole boys" keep their positions on the plantation. The feds could still appoint Mississippians to do the management, but at least the appointees would be more qualified. It's not about takeover, it's about good government.
Perhaps our legislators shouldn't be making inane statements on Facebook.
9:33 sounds almost verbatim like Stamps.
Sam Hall will bite on anything these days. He should be tested for rabies.
9:33, good idea. I prefer to be governed by people bright and capable enough to spell two letter words (like "do") correctly. Unfortunately, the thirty hissing possums are even worse at managing our tax-payer money than they are at spell-checking their posts on facebook. Here's looking at you, Rep. Baker.
Some people just don't need to use Facebook. At the very least they should get one of their grandchildren to teach them how to adjust their privacy settings.
@8:50 I'm still laughing... but then suddenly I realize that in this age of media control / social media group think, your little story isn't that far from how things work now-a-days... :sigh:
Municipalities and instrumentalities of the State are not permitted to file for relief under Chapter 9 of the Bankruptcy Code absent specific legislative authorization.
Nor are the municipalities or instrumentalities permitted to pass or implement some other measure that would accomplish the same effect by a different name.
Too bad it was in jest. Someone please tell me why this is a bad idea. For months - no years - this blog has been covered up with people blabbing about the incompetence of Jackson and its lack of leadership. Obviously the voters of Jackson aren't in a mood to change the style; maybe the individuals, but not the overall approach.
So tell me. Why shouldn't the city be taken over and put in the hands of someone competent to run its business?
When the Pearl flows north and the blue-eyed paint horse is at city hall, the end times are upon us. It has been written my brothers. Mock me at your own peril. Bayatas Bachum - Protectus Nachum. The smoke is in the eastern sky.
Relax people. Just give Jackson a few more years and it will be a dusty spot on I55. Right now the city is trying to sell houses for $50 and lots cheaper than that. Even if they find buyers the money will go into some elected official's pocket. You know you will have quality home owners when they pay $50 for a home.
Let the people of Jackson ruin their city. They do not care. Why should the people who do not live in Jackson care?
If it were such a joke why would this clown say he was "considering" it while on record with a reporter? Got an answer for that KF? We thought the airport takeover was a joke until it was signed. Don't trust any of them.
Don't ever doubt a politician. Just look at all of the fool ideas they have come up with so far.
Have you ever wondered which politician came up with borrowing money just because they couldn't balance the debt?
How about the politician who cam up with the idea to borrow more money even though we couldn't pay back what we had already borrowed.
How about that genius that decided to borrow money from SS.
Now the good part. Have you ever wondered why people would continue to vote for these people?
Why would a suburban politician give a care about Jackson? No small history of Rankin Reds hurting Jackson. Daryl Dedmon was simply ahead of his time.
" Have you ever wondered why people would continue to vote for these people? "
I'll take "because the voters want the handouts to keep coming" for $200, Alex.
5:37, I agree. It is sad when people will sell the future of their own children for a few govt. benefits.
I'm looking forward to the bill being filed, and I hope passed. As a taxpayer of Jackson, I can't wait to have someone with some management sense spending the money rather than pocketing what they can and spreading the rest among their campaign contributors and church members.
Jackson needs help - just as many big cities (and yes, for MS Jackson is a big city) do. But there is no way to help them as long as its leaders don't want to do the things necessary to get the city under control.
There is "$x" of money and lots of needed expenses. Someone needs to prioritize the expenses and spend money there, and not everywhere. Downsize the city employees, don't furlough all of them. Have honest budgeting and transparent and truthful spending. Stop the requirement that any contractor or vendor has to share the pot with a few favored 'minority' contractors who are not adding anything to the net value of the product.
All reasonable ideas? Seems to me so. But there is no way Yarber is about to do anything along this line - he's too busy with his 'friends' in his new apartment at the King Edward and attending non-reported campaign fundraisers put on by the newly favored engineers.
Everybody should take a step back and encourage Baker in this concept. Structured right, it might be a saving grace for the capitol city.
@ 7:16
You should just ask the people who live in Belhaven. They seem to think they've got it under control and apparently plenty of money.
Anonymous at 6:30 offers: 5:37, I agree. It is sad when people will sell the future of their own children for a few govt. benefits.
6:30 - It's not exactly a recent development. Where have you been since February, 1964?
7:20, part of the time I spent fighting to protect the people in America. The rest of the time I spent working paying taxes into a system that took those $ and gave them to people who would not work or fight for their country.
I have to explain my madness. I was raised to be proud of my country. I was raised to work for what I wanted and my family needed. Even when I was spit on by those who would not fight for their country I still had hope.
Please accept my apology. I am tired of it. I am getting old. Politicians have spent the money I was planning to use for my retirement. Illegals receive much better treatment than our veterans.
It is becoming very hard to accept how far my country has fallen. Our quality of life is dropping every year. Our jobs have gone over seas. Our people refuse to work. We are becoming a nation of dead beats. We are so far in debt that our grand children will not be able to get us out of debt.
Where have I been since February, 1964. Hoping, praying, working, and trying to make a life for myself and my family. I do hope I have not been in the way.
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