Jackson Jambalaya

The Queens has had enough and don't mind saying so to City Hall.  Leaders of the Queens subdivision  paid a visit to Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba and the City Council on March 19.  Neighborhood leaders such as Doris Devine made it clear they were fed up with the lack of progress in fixing Jackson's problems.  She even complained about a city worker asleep on the job.




Queens Terrace neighborhood President Michael Starks called out the Code Enforcement division.  "I'm tired of them putting stickers on vehicles, knowing they don't run, knowing they haven't run in six to ten years.  It's time to move them out, Mr. Mayor," said Mr. Starks.  He complained about a lack of response from the Public Works Department when he complains about a ditch flooding the neighborhood.  He said "We're behind you, Mr. Mayor, but it's time to do something."

Other neighbors complained about the city's failure to raze burned out houses, clean ditches, and repair the crumbling roads in Queens.   Mayor Lumumba said (22:00) their community has "been neglected" as have others in Jackson and promised to make improvements to the neighborhood.

Mr. Starks and his neighbors have been standing up for their neighborhood for quite some time.  Queens Terrace is off of Clinton Boulevard by Flag Chapel Road in West Jackson.  WLBT reported in 2011:

Residents of a West Jackson community are fed up with the continual deterioration of their neighborhood. They called a host of city and county officials to the Triumph Village Church on Queen Mary Lane to see first hand the blight folks who live in the Queens-Magnolia Terrace community face each day.

Frustrated with inaction on the part of officials, they also called 3 On Your Side to help them take back their neighborhood.

Johnny Gilmore says he is a taxpaying citizen of Jackson who does his part to keep his property up to standard, but he says the value is rapidly going down because of blight like this abandoned, burned out, overgrown house next door.

Gilmore says, "Politicians are aware of it, they've been out here, they've seen it. We've taken to various houses that you've seen today."

On Monday evening, Gilmore and other members of the Queens/Magnolia Terrace Neighborhood Association took those politicians to task and challenged them to fulfill campaign promises and do something about the problem.

Michael Starks told the crowd,"But I want them to know we're taking a stand. We want to live just like they do in north Jackson."

Ward 4 Jackson City Councilman Chokwe Lumumba said, "I just wanna say I appreciate the kind of turnout that brother Starks was able to get at this meeting."

Michael Starks is president of the Queens/Magnolia Terrace Neighborhood Association.

He said, "If you own property on the Queens/Magnolia Terrace, you're on call. We want you to know, you're on notice, that we will be coming, sending you a letter, writing you a letter, knocking on your door and make sure that you clean your property up, bring up to standard just like everyone else in the neighborhood."...

Kingfish note: Make no mistake, this was the Mayor's base telling him to make things happen.... or else.