Jackson Jambalaya

Is this the same thing as the Court House Raquet Club?

It is okay to send employees all over the country to meetings and then tell others oh sorry we have to cut jobs. Look at the layoff notices coming 3/15/2017. Or the trips to HaWAII in December. Or maybe the current people in ORLANDO for the week. Enough is enough. It is time for a full review of UMC spending.

Why don't you friggin' pick up the phone and make a call? I'm really sick of the people on this site who can't figure out something for themselves. Kingfish, Kingfish, please answer this question for me.....

It is time for a full review of UMC spending.

+1,000,000

Agreed! We need full congressional oversight of that place. Too much wasteful spending by unqualifieds. You could offer them savings opportunities everyday, and they couldn't figure out how to institute, or it would take years to implement. Way too many cooks in the kitchen, and most of the cooks couldn't boil an egg.

The Northeast one has continued to be ridiculously crowded when tennis players are around. Don't know how that one was supposed to be compete with Megabus of "Wellness" places like Planet Fitness on the elliptical and basic strength training machine end, though. Tennis, swimming, serious strength training, whatever. Then there's all the Orangetheory and Crossfit silliness for people who want to feel exclusive or into something more special than everyone else.

The entire State of MS is in a financial free-fall and if the you think the UMMC fiasco is isolated....I've got some land on the Pearl River for sale.

Many physicians at UMMC will be asked to take upwards of a 5-10% paycut. It's
not the VC...Dr. Woodward...fault...she is just trying to make ends meet.

The winner is John Black....how much did he write off on his taxes to offset
his CG's. The loser is the State of MS and whoever signed off on this deal...

Not a CPA or tax lawyer, but whatever "gift" Black gave would have been offset by the amount of debt on the properties. UMMC is the one stuck with that debt.

All you members better pay attention to the last paragraph. Sounds like they'll keep billing you and roll you in under another club if you don't request cancellation in writing.

I worked once for a large manufacturing firm that owned its own trucks. The trucking component was a large money-loser so they finally shut it down and contracted shipping out. They weren't in the damned trucking business, they were in the manufacturing business.

Likewise, the state's teaching hospital in Mississippi has no business pretending to be in the fitness business. Let the private sector handle that.

And we all know the other three facilities will be closed by the end of the year. I would cancel now and find a new gym.

So, they buy a bunch of fitness centers without legislative consent, and subsequently have been asking the taxpayers to fund operating losses for something they never should have bought in the first place. Buying them was bad enough. But, we have been eating losses, too? Those things should easily have run at a profit.

UMMC along with WF&P and several other state run departments are in direct competition to us "The Taxpayer". We struggle to make ends meet and the State run businesses have an endless supply of tax dollars.

UMMC waste Millions of Dollars on commercials, travel, expense accounts, fuel, construction, leases and much much more.

Dan Jones left that place in shambles and a goof troop for administration. Looks like he is doing the same in O-Town. Whatever he touches turns sour. You reap what you sew.

Dan Jones left that place in shambles and a goof troop for administration.

+1,000,001

Regarding Dan Jones....what is 'O Town'?

Word is the Lakeland pool needs $2 million plus in repairs. Wonder how long until they close it? I say Fall 2017

O Town is the city what has all them purdy gurlz

you reap what you SOW.
You can rip what you sew, but, not reap what you sew.

Between this sweetheart deal and the NCAA investigation, lawyer, defense costs, and Hey-Hugh's exorbant salary, the U of M is costing the Great State of Mississippi some serious coin.

UMMC is the biggest waste of money for our state.

The deal that brought all this was a sweetheart deal of one frat brother to another that was almost in bankruptcy, the past owner worked a deal where he got a management contract so he could walk away from his debt. The gyms became tax exempt and all that tax revenue was lost, the Byram location was closed earlier but then sold to an individual who reopened it, the new owner of the Burma location had to hunt down some of the equipment from some state (umc) personnel. These should have never been bought by the state, another example of bad crony capitalism.

Biggest waste of money is in Stankville.

I thought Heir Jones left O-town three years ago. Do they still have him on payroll up there....sorta like they kept the Nuttster around after firing him?

Don'tchu worry your little petty self about Stankville. The press hasn't been camped out there for three years running.

I remember when Northeast Courthouse and the adjacent Super Jitney were poontang central. The Jitney had even Singles Nights. There was no way you could lose money either place. Sounds like Northeast Jackson just officially became Regular Old Jackson.

Jones is back at UMMC, as the interim chair of the department of medicine and the endowed chair of obesity and something another. His legacy continues...

6:33, one of the biggest problems in the state retirement system is people retiring and drawing a check and then going back to work for the state part time. Really bad in the school systems. "Consultants" are raping the taxpayers.

4:48 AM - That area of NE JXN has been "Regular Old Jackson" for about 10 years, maybe longer. The LeFleur East wagon-circling is all that remains of shrinking 39211 clout.

@ 8:41 nailed it.

I grew up in that area in 80s/90s. I frequented the NE Courthouse many times as a youth and spent nearly every day at the pool in the summers. In high school, we cruised NE Jackson and hung out in the K&B parking lot on the weekends.

I moved away in the early 2000s, but by the time I came back in the mid 2000s that area had really started to deteriorate. JCC is still holding strong even with the Dollar General across the street, but overall the Northtown/Lake Trace area went down pretty quick. I think the tornado that came through in 2008 or 2009 put the final nail in the coffin.

Our child is on the competitive swim team at the old Courthouse locations. Everyone is assuming that we will have to move to the already crowded Lakeland facility, which is in great need of renovation. Aquatics is the only thing keeping the Lakeland facility from being a money loser, or it would be just as bad as the ones in Byram and Madison that have closed down.

Some hot shot will think they can make money at the Northeast location and buy it and be closed within 2 years just like Byram and Madison.

The truth is, the great gym expansion of the last 15 years is starting to claim its victims. The little 24 hour gyms started popping up and people left in the name of convenience. Now the mega Planet Fitness and their brilliant business model of going in and getting abandoned large storefronts for nearly nothing and charging $10 a month to the masses is delivering death blows.

Theres a small contingent of people who don't want to be around the Carnival cruise ship of gyms that are supporting the places like Crossfit and OrangeTherapy and their high prices. That's fine, but the facilities in between - the Baptist Healthplexes, the YMCAs and the Courthouse types are losing out to both of those groups.

KF- When are you going to do a story on Ole Miss' sanctions?

UMMC pulled the same stunt in Byram in 2015, with Sen David Blount's help the GYM at Byram was able to find new owners and is still open.

The Aquatics program at the Lakeland Courthouse is trying to hold on, but is rapidly deteriorating. That pool was once top of the line, but time and no money have almost killed it. It is in need of at least a million and a half for repairs, and people are leaving for the cheaper and trendier gyms.

I think the only thing attractive about the Lakeland facility is the Olympic size pool, but it is well past its prime and once the repairs on that start, the costs will be astronomical and UMMC won't be able to sustain. #34 mil shortfall and trying to tend to the insured/uninsured trumps gym memberships, pool repairs and elliptical machines.

The writing is on the wall. UMMC should go ahead and close and focus on dealing with the good ole boy politics and corruption that started this all in the first place.

If the Courthouse had not been GROTESQUELY MISMANAGED, from roughly the time they added the Bastibawl Cotes, it would not be losing money.

Opening all those satellite locations (and they've had a BUNCH of those, including one Downtown, done all in 'Sensory Deprivation Gray'), instead of focusing on upgrading the original location, was a huge mistake.

As it is, the Lakeland Courthouse has the best pool in town, and the best weightroom in town.

Unfortunately, the gym has been used as an employment opportunity (or employment RUSE, since they don't seem to have been doing much) for a certain someone's ne'er-do-well offspring (something which was NOT corrected, in the transfer to UMMC). So, basically, the one thing that needed most to change, has not changed.

This seems like a dynamite opportunity for that group that wants the $50 mil aquatic center in Ridgeland. But the Lakeland pool from UMMC because you know hey would sell. Instead of $50, invest $3. Win/win

2:17 says:

As it is, the Lakeland Courthouse has the best pool in town, and the best weightroom in town.


Having the only 50m pool in town doesnt mean its the best. It is in BAD shape. While it serves a good purpose for practice. Its an embarrassment to host meets at. The Flowood YMCA is pretty much the best pool in town, and if you are just a lap swimmer for exercise, then the Madison Healthplex beats them all now that they got rid of their swim team taking up 5 out of 6 lanes.

As for the Ridgeland Pool project - that's dead on arrival. I can't believe the nerve of them to throw that out there. Tupelo has the nicest facility in the state (nice enough to host USA Swimming Sectional events) and it was only $9 million. Guess more people have to be bribed in the Jackson area.

If they are going to spend $35 million, you might as well look at $45 million and build what Birmingham built. A facility like that could host every high school championship in basketball, volleyball, swimming, track and such.

http://www.birminghamcrossplex.com/

the Healthplex pool is deserted and poorly run. They can't even keep the chemicals right - we had to leave because our suits were bleached out, our respiratory system was dying, and our skin was burned. That's what happens when the staff doesn't do what they are supposed to and take care of the pool. And if I have to see some fool named Bo talk about swimming in the mornings there one more time, I might go mental. He has been trying to grow the program there for two years. It isn't working. BO don't know jack about public relations

The Courthouse should bring back the legend, Gordon Weir, to fix all of this.

Thankfully, all of the scheduled tennis matches for the Spring will still be played as scheduled at the Northeast Courthouse. Losing this tennis facility, along with the one at Cypress Lake a couple of years ago, will make finding a court to play on during league times even harder than it is now.

Closing the NE Courthouse is a racist move.

"the Healthplex pool is deserted and poorly run. They can't even keep the chemicals right - we had to leave because our suits were bleached out, our respiratory system was dying, and our skin was burned. That's what happens when the staff doesn't do what they are supposed to and take care of the pool. And if I have to see some fool named Bo talk about swimming in the mornings there one more time, I might go mental. He has been trying to grow the program there for two years. It isn't working. BO don't know jack about public relations"

March 10, 2017 at 4:49 PM

Well that explains the extreme chlorine vapors! There have been times, when air coming into the Cardio Theater from the Pool has made my throat feel raw.

And the chlorine smell - even in the parking lot across the street - is so strong, I've learned to park my car where it's not downwind from the pool. Chlorine is corrosive, and I don't want it aging the polymers and metals (and microchips) on the car.

I thought all you prissy types had your own damned pools. What other reason do you have for those brick walls with pineapple adornments out in the back yard?

The link for the Birmingham facility referenced above shows that it is not open to the general public or teams for practice or recreation. It is for competition use only. In any case, Mississippi would not get any NCAA swim or track meets due to the state flag, so there would go one big revenue stream. Again, it's not open to the public or for practice, regardless.

'Big Revenue Stream'? Bullshit!

>>>>UMMC waste Millions of Dollars on commercials, travel, expense accounts, fuel, construction, leases and much much more.

And they went with an out of state company for their commercials. They fired the local one not too long ago.

Just read that about 45 percent of Planet Fitness' profits came from selling equipment to franchises, and opening new locations generally. So I don't know if the business model is all that "brilliant." The Jackson area YMCA had a location opened in an old storefront right next door to the current Planet Fitness location in Jackson, for crying out loud. It closed around the same time that UMMC took over the Courthouse locations. (The Downtown location had been fixed up pretty nicely, btw, but the Northwest one went downhill.)

Where will all the women in tights go to get ogled now? There are only so many Krogers.

Good Lord, there's the grocery store pervert again at 5:15.

"Squeezing The Melons.. said...
Where will all the women in tights go to get ogled now? There are only so many Krogers."
March 13, 2017 at 5:15 AM

You haven't lived, until you've seen the Hippopotameshas up in the Frontage Road Kroger, in from Yazoo City for the day, waddling around in their Cheetah-print Jeggings.

Wow! I think someone has some insider information and knows what they're talking about. Whatever happened to the PEER Committee at the legislature? Shouldn't they be looking at stuff like this?

Anonymous $JustSaying said...
"The deal that brought all this was a sweetheart deal of one frat brother to another that was almost in bankruptcy, the past owner worked a deal where he got a management contract so he could walk away from his debt."
March 9, 2017 at 9:38 PM