Jackson Jambalaya

The students don’t want to park in the ummc lot because it is dangerous. The City is installing parking meters here because it is an opportunity to stick it to the white man, again.

Baby Chok and company are going to waste more money to install computerized parking meters while drivers get their vehicles destroyed by potholes and sinkholes large enough to eat a bus. More revenue from parking meters will simply be diverted into the pockets of these corrupt, greedy thugs.

Hallelujah! It's time for the UMMC parking hogs to park in their lot at Memorial Stadium where they belong! I just hope that the city enforces this!

Hail to the modernized parking meters! The ones in Oxford work great; I wonder what’s their revenue.

If it weren't for UMMC, this part of Jackson would be like the south Jackson, McDowell road old west shooting range. It looks like slowly but surely the Jackson's leaders are looking for ways to run UMMC off. There is still some room for the med center in Madison and Rankin counties. The main problem would be that it would take longer to transport the gunshot victims.

Dumb idea that won’t even fix the problem. Just allow businesses to buy the spots and reserve them for their customers. If these folks are already going out of their way to park there, does anyone actually believe that charging them $2 will make a difference???? Government is always looking for an excuse to grow its reach.

This ought to be interesting, I’d expect the same skill and business acumen that we see in collecting water payments. My guess is that nobody will actually pay for parking once the meters break (or are broken) and hundreds of expensive pieces of equipment (the meters) will sit unrepaired and wind up collecting ZERO revenue. Good luck Jackson! But...it is the season of hope...

A new supply of money for the crooks

Milking the cash cows again now that the annexation udders have dried up.

Austin has Keep Austin Weird.
Jackson has Keep Jackson Inaccessible
potholes, near dirt roads and business unfriendly practices.

My husband works at UMMC and parks in the stadium parking lot. There is at least one shuttle running from the lot to the hospital at all times so if you are concerned by safety, then, duh, ride the shuttle. Security guards patrol the lot around the clock. You're probably safer parking there than at a parking meter in Fondren.

Instead of spending the money to install meters the logical solution is to designate the parking spaces "1 Hour Parking" (or time of choice) and strictly enforce the time limit. The meter readers would ride by, mark the tires, then check back later and ticket those in violation. This has worked well in many other locations.

Of course, they are going after Fondren.
What about the predominant black areas?

People park wherever they can get it free. UMMC should charge its staff $25/ mon. to park on the campus. As for the US highways, state highways, and the municipal artery roads, those who use them should pay for them. Those heavy trucks are not paying their fair share; nor are the daily commuters into the capital city. Nobody can police or finance parking effectively without meters and prepaid monthly parking.

@9:33 As a student at UMMC I can tell you that that just is not true. Never heard anyone say they don't feel safe walking to the parking lot. I do absolutely know people who park in Fondren all day because it is closer though.

Mayor Lumumba said the city will maintain the new system instead of outsourcing its operation to a private company.

A move that stacks the odds significantly against success.

@ 9:33
My wife and I are both physicians at UMC and live in Fondren. I find your comment to be ridiculous as Fondren is largely white but UMC is very mixed in its staff and those on campus. Better chance of being Asian that white. Don't be an idiot.

A liberal politician never found a tax source that he didn't embrace.

Tax and spend.

/s/ Ben Dover

Meters in The Fondren. Bwa ha ha.

Reading comments on this blog critical of parking meters in a CITY just reminds me of how backward and redneck so many in our state are. We will never get off the bottom. My God do you hillbillies EVER get out?

My mother used to work at UMMC. Two years ago she was carjacked in the parking lot. She took the shuttle, approached her car, and a black male came out of the shadows and pulled a gun. He only got away with her purse and phone.
We were lucky, it could have been much worse. UMMC should do something to actually provide security for the students and employees.

Attn 2:28 Have you been drinking that Ole Miss cool-ade again? Are you really believing the stuff they preach at OM about civics? You need to graduate, get off daddy's payroll and actually learn something about the reality of life.

Just as blacks protest and complain that cops target high crime black areas, I will be protesting this tax on white businesses.

Jackson leaders need to respect our white dollars.

How about starting by fixing and emptying the money from the meters downtown? Every time I try to put quarters in one, its is inevitably jammed with quarters and therefore out of service. It makes me question whether this is really about revenue, as some others have posted.

Everyone knows a parking meter has an inherent liberal bias.

Nary a meter in The Madison.

@6:56 AM - true, and no drive-by shootings, no crooked city hall, no crooked school district, no constant bond sales, no potholes, no broken storm drain covers killing people, no politicians waving the race card, no mismanaged police department, no racist mayor...

If they're smart, they'll install meters that take alternate payments as well, like Android Pay, Samsung Pay, Apple Pay, SNAP Cards, TANF Checks, AFDC etc.

Given that it's Fondren, maybe they should take Bitcoin and Ethereum.

The "people" of The Fondren rally around the mantra "Keep Fondren Funky", so let's have them determine the bound-aries of what is and what isn't funky and self impose an additional 1% sales tax on funky goods and services and a 2% sales tax on funky food and beverage. Does that make sense? At least as much sense as attempting to resolve a parking problem for the merchants of The Fondren by creating revenue for The City of Jackson? Is this "Phase 1 test" to determine whether or not "Phase 2 success" of installing parking meters around the Jackson Zoo would work to save the Zoo?

Shoot the goose that laid the golden egg!!

Jacktown should hire a relative, err, consultant, to study the parking problem. A report would be written according to confirmation bias.

Yeah, that's the ticket.

Reading comments on this blog critical of parking meters in a CITY just reminds me of how backward and redneck so many in our state are. We will never get off the bottom. My God do you hillbillies EVER get out?

I was a fan of the painted catfish in The Jackson. Will be a great contest to see the designs painted on these meter-posts. Southern Living magazine will be here in a flash. And of course we'll need brass rings welded on these posts for all The Fondren poodle-people to attach their pups while shopping for candles and roach clips.

Thinking ahead, here....Can these meters be calibrated so that, upon expiration, they play maybe a Barbra Streisand or Justin Beiber song? Something gentle to remind shoppers to feed the meter?

(Sing it with me now....Lovely Reetah Meetah Maid....)

The elite of The Fondren should be happy, as meters will keep out the riff raff (if the meter maids dare enforce them). But there is nothing like parking meters in front of your house to make property values tank, though just being in Jacktown doesn't help either.

Wait...parking should be FREE - everywhere, and shouldn't the mayor be trying to remove barriers to freedom of movement within the city? It seems to me that having to pay for parking is less inclusive, and would be an economic barrier for some. I say remove ALL of the parking meters and reserved parking throughout the city!