Jackson Jambalaya

Don't people have to give deposits to get the water turned on or "activation fees" or some other similar nonsense? I don't think anyone is getting "free" water for two months. How much ACTUAL notice are people getting that their bill hasn't been paid? Does the city have a way to set bills to autodraft from a credit card?

If you cannot come up with the money to pay your water bill in two months maybe you should use the money you pay for cell phone for the water bill.
You can live a lot longer without a cell phone than you can live without water.

I bet the ones complaining the most have the latest iphones and DirecTV.

Kudos to Ms. Knight. However, she isn't saying anything profound. Basically any decent water provider follows the same principal. So she isn't some sort of visionary. It's Jackson that are the idiots. Simply you send a bill, and if the bill isn't paid, you terminate the service. Happens every day in the metro area (with the exception of Jackson). And all the water providers then have to listen to customers b***h about their water being cut off for nonpayment. It comes with the territory.

The Mayor had hers cut off a little while back at her rental house in Pelahatchie and she just wanted it cut back on without paying a late fee or reconnect fee. She just wanted it handled like she was above the rules.

"Are ya ready to vote?" With a shit eat' grin, by Rho!

Jackson would eat her alive.

KF, you've placed the blame in the wrong person(s).Don't need this woman to be in charge of Jxn Public Works, but replace the Jxn City Council with her.

Public Works has been wanting to reinstate the cutoff policy for water for some time, and is going to institute it effective September 15th. But is having to overcome opposition from (some) members of the Council - bet you can't guess which ones.

I'm sure once the new policy is in place, some will believe they can get away with bypassing the cutoff, like they could do in the old days. But with the new system now in place and operating, any f**king with the meter to turn it back on is immediately flagged. Might be a shock for many throughout the city.

Some people are poor and have a hard time making ends meet.

Why do you folks on here take time to scream at poor people?

Phones have moved from being luxury items to necessary for life for most people...even poor people. They have to be able to email or call for job prospects....its not a luxury item as it used to be....the home phone has long since been abandoned.

Instead of venting your angst toward the less fortunate....while you consider going to River Hills for drinks later....and then plan your after Sunday church meal....why don't you take some time to read a Bible.....

"Free water for all!
Free college for all!
Free Medicare for all!"
Senator Fauxcahontas Warren

12:26. Kingfish is not suggesting that she is saying something profound. He is being mildly sarcastic, that Jackson needs to keep things simple. You go on to do a nice job of spelling out his point.

No one seems to mention one thing that happened for years at the Jackson Water Dept. If someone complained enough, they just took you off the billing. How long this went on I don’t know but it’s common knowledge down there. I happened to have met a former employee who now works for another city that told us this last year.

So...at 1:34....what should the water department DO? Should ALL "poor" people get free water? Who should decide who is poor enough to qualify for this free water? And, most importantly, why don't you just take yourself down to the water department every month, ask them for a list of accounts facing immediate cut-off and ante-up the money to cover those bills? Isn't it your Christian duty to do that?

1:18, you methodology is exactly what is being used in Jackson. If you say you were having a hard time back when they were actually sending out bills, you didn't have to pay. So, few paid. And as the saying goes, Jackson ran out of other people's money. If there are no negative consequence for failing to pay for services you agreed to pay for, people stop paying. It's pretty simple human nature.

Those same people with smart phones "looking for jobs" also have an ample supply of bling, flashy cars, 50s, Jack Daniels, nose candy, reefer, and baby-mamas, etc.

Keep rewarding bad behavior and you will get more of the same.

Insanity - repeating the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

LBJ's "great society" - it never was and never will be.

THE TRUTH HURTS BECAUSE IT SHOULD!

East Rankin alum!

Interesting that Jackson is considering re-implementation of water cut offs. The entire water billing system is so completely screwed up, I don't know how they could pull it off. Free water has become something of an entitlement here.

I was one of those who didn't get a bill at all for months after the $90 million Siemens crap was installed, then I got an "estimated" bill for many months after that. But at least I got a bill. I know some folks still aren't getting one. When they finally do, I imagine it will be a whopper!

Oh and on 2 different occasions during this I called the city water department. Both times (and by 2 different ladies) I was told, "They won't cut off your water. They don't cut off anybody's water."

I actually considered not paying for water anymore, but I figured if there's one sucker out there that would get cut off, it would be me. So I pay. But many don't, and they've been getting away with it so long now they're going to raise holy hell if someone cuts them off.

This is why the mayor is always trying to drum up a federal water system bailout by making false or inflated claims about lead in the water. You can't fund improvements to the system if a large portion of the users aren't even paying for what they're getting!

Why not adjust Ward 1's water bills up tenfold to pay for all the poor "Democrat's" water bills? And while they are at it, increase property taxes in Ward 1 by tenfold to pay for the Zoo? That's only fair, right?

To my knowledge there are no people or places on a "free water" status. Former Mayor Frank Melton was caught stealing water for the Farish Street Y. Many people will "straight-line" water when the meter has been removed. This is illegal. Some meter readers were probably under-reading meters for a fee or a favor. The group that succeeded in getting the 90+million dollar system to automatically read (and bill)meters will be remembered in the history of Jackson as being the straw that broke the camels back. The whole deal had a bad aroma to it and the results have been and are disastrous. No municipality can prosper when that many have their hands in the pot.

If the mayors a$$ was not on the line for 31,500 worth of contracts already signed, bet she wouldn’t be so worried about the jubilee. KF you should be licking your chops over this storyline.