Jackson Jambalaya

that requires everyone to give up control of their little slice of pie. while it would work, it isn’t going to happen here.

I like the coalition idea. Just without Hinds and Rankin County. Why do we need them?

Okkkkay! Let's start with the airport. How about a regional authority? Oops, that's already been shot down. How about regional wastewater? My bad. I forgot that has been flushed. A regional tourist marketing board? Not going to happen. Too many hands in the dough. Hell, Jackson and Hinds County can't even agree on a proposed parkway. Too many connected people are making their livings off of the various commissions, agencies and boards. A junket to Paris anyone? Good ole Ted wasted his breath on this one. He should have done an editorial on the restarting the Farrish Street project. Ugh, what happened to these grand plans.

And let's face it. Jackson isn't exactly a tourist destination. Ask youself, is there a market for three convention centers? But the big deal killer is every city has its own "tourism tax" that they ain't gonna pool.

He is dreaming. Jackson is not a destination. Why would people from anywhere come to Jackson for a convention? Seriously? Jackson ain't Orlando, people, and the zoo doesn't make it anymore inviting!

The GM is correct, in that where is the Jackson leadership? They isn't any - they moved.

There are some very good examples of of Metro cooperation with the best being the Metro Planning Organization with in the Central Miss. Planning and Development District. It has good structure, policy, planning, and construction funding. All State and Federal spending must following the regional plans and policies that are adopted.These organizations are in all parts of the country and required and certified by the Federal DOT. They are locally controlled but must meet and followed many requirements and have much oversight. Local officials come together as a group every month or so and make regional decisions. I have seen this model work for all types of services in other places where I have lived.

Good luck with this idea...even though it's the right thing to do. Just look at the airport and the push-back there for trying to include Rankin and Madison. Look at how Jackson and Rankin are dealing with the wastewater issue (West Rankin Water Plant Fight). Unfortunately, those who see everything through racist colored glasses can't see from any other perspective. Just watch a Jackson City Council meeting or two and you'll see what I mean.

I'm a Jackson resident and unfortunately this will never happen due to Stamps and mostly due to Stokes... Kenneth stokes is much smarter than he appears (thankfully) however he isn't smart enough to see and understand what other cities and metro areas are doing together. Look at Chattanooga and Atlanta new Orleans etc... he is the one eyed man in his own land of the blind and therefore is reelected... not bc he's a good leader. So no this isn't going to happen. He's too concerned with minority participation rates.

Maybe we could model the cooperative effort on convention centers after the regional airport governance restructuring. /faaaaaaarrrrrrrrrt.

This guy makes too much sense. How long until the city leaders run him off?

He spoke a little early. Monday 9/30 is International Blasphemy (Rights) Day.

@ 7:24

Good point.

You do your thing, we'll do ours.

Of course, you don't get to do anything without bowing to the queen.

Just as the Titanic has listed heavy to the port side, the captain sent out a distress call suggesting other ship-lines should quickly contribute to the expenses of the trip and invest in its ownership.

Ted is living in a dream world. First, there is nothing in it for Madison and Rankin counties. Second, Jackson is flat broke.

Why would we need Madison? All they can offer are Costco, Lowe’s, Dicks and a Chick-fil-a.

As someone in the convention industry, he makes valid points but is wrong overall.

First, Jackson Convention Center suffers from not having an attached mega hotel and parking garage. Not a 207 room Westin, but a 500 to 750 room tower. People do not want to have to walk from the KE, Westin or Marriott to the convention center. They would if there were a huge hotel and some entertainment amenities around it. The Convention Center also suffers from using national management companies for sales and audio-visual which makes it more expensive to run.

The Rankin convention center is going to be much smaller with only 200 rooms. They are looking at a niche convention market. Other than the onsite hotel, there is nothing nearby for overflow. As long as the Convention Center is limited by a lack of hotel space to actually draw 1000 plus attendee conferences, they will suffer. The Rankin facility is not competition except that the Jackson Conv Center limits itself. The big drawback of the Rankin facility is that it is off the beaten path. 90% of its business will come from local companies or small associations in Mississippi.

The trademark doesn't have proper hotel space available either. It's one plus is that it will be state-run so the overhead cost will be manageable compared to the other properties. IT will keep doing what it does now. Daytime - drive in, drive out functions.

And this is where Madison is missing out. If Ridgeland or Madison were to put a 100,000 sq ft flex-space convention center with a 500 room hotel along the I-55 corridor, then we could talk about competition for the Rankin facility and the Jackson Conv. Center.

Right now the Beau Rivage is the only facility that can handle a conference for around 500 attendees that has the hotel space onsite. And even that is pushing it if the conference needs several breakouts.

It's amazing what can happen when people work together. Too bad Madison, Rankin, Jackson, and the State could never work together, or at least one would think it could never happen based on the commentary on this website.

Building a convention center in Madison, Flowood or anywhere in the JACKSON MSA will ultimately not succeed because this is not a DESTINATION area.

Crabs in a barrel.

@ 9:31 you hit the nail on the head. Except for smaller, more localized conventions & conferences, there is NOTHING to draw a larger event to the Jackson metro area, period!! About the only thing in MS that even comes close is the Gulf Coast, and that's even debatable.

8:39am.

“The Rankin convention center is going to be much smaller with only 200 rooms. They are looking at a niche convention market. Other than the onsite hotel, there is nothing nearby for overflow.”

What are you talking about? There are several very nice fairly new hotels in the Dogwood area just down the road from the convention center that could easily take care of some overflow. I can think of at least five. Plus there are other hotels on Airport Road.

I keep hoping to see true leadership from the 3 counties who could work together. But what I see is that all 3 counties can't get past the past.
And the airport is not an example of leadership. Springing a joint commission on Jackson through legislation and lawsuits is not working together.

7:44 am Madison,Canton, Pearl and Brandon aren't destinations either. Jackson , at least, has some historic interest as well as colleges, universities and hospitals that MIGHT could help with developing a market if we could get the hotel built. Also, like in Biloxi, all convention centers will struggle if they keep using the same high priced/bad food vendors ( $70) for a couple of gallons of coffee?

The insanity is that we aren't Mississippi first people.

What a waste of taxpayer dollars to build these two convention centers. All three will fail as there's not enough market for ONE as long as Mississippi hasn't gotten it's act together.

It seems already bankrolled some architects already. But, have any of us seen any feasibility studies by those without an interest in the projects?

It's the corruption killing us. KF, I hope you will follow the money on these projects, including the taxpayers forced investment from projects with improbable returns to us.

Who wants to go to Flowood and eat at those awful chain restaurants. It’s s Western Sizzlin kind of town.

When I had to host meetings in Jackson, I moved them to Vicksburg. If only to keep the people attending (from out of state) safer.

12:19: The Flowood convention center won't fail. It is the rignt size and has the backing of the "tourism tax" that is applied to all food and lodging. It also has a golf course and, of course, the City of Flowood isn't broke. There is a bustling retail complex which could easily be called an attraction. And the state-owned TradeMart is designed for trade shows and similar events, not conventions. The odd duck is the City of Jackson's center which due to its ghetto location would never support a large hotel. The vacancy rate when there is no convention would be astronomical. The city cooked the books on revenue projections to sell the plan. It ain't the hotel that is the problem, the projections were totally unrealistic.

I long for the good old days growing up in West Jackson in the 60' and 70's. Moonlight Madness at Westland Plaza. Hot Donuts from Harlows. Shopping at Zayre's on Terry Road. Pickup Football at Hughes Field. Sorry. Wake me up.

I’ve worked at various large corporations in the last couple of decades, some international, some national (none in Jackson, thank god). Every time we have out of town coworkers come, they have always been warned to stay out of Jackson at all costs. They never eat in Jackson, or stay in Jackson hotels. Why in the world would the convention center be any different?

Wonder how many Golfers last week stayed in Jackson Hotels. I know some golfers on tour stay in host homes or rented houses. Dod any stay in Kenneth Stokes district.

Change first the state flag. Who would come to this state for a meeting or would organize a meeting as long as we advertise our backward values with a confederate flag?

There is a process for State and National groups to pick locations for conferences and Jackson will never be selected and that has be the case for many years.

Hey 8:22, don't forget our 4-star restaurants: Burger King and Wendy's.

Come to Jackson,if you get shot don't worry,UMMC is well established to handle any gunshot wounds you could have.

Mississippians want to be a fish, whether a big pond or little, better chance in small one. Look how many counties & small towns we have. Being a county supervisor or a city mayor is a sought after position. MS has one city in 6 figures, and it is dying. We have an institution of higher learning in every wide spot of the road, but yet the most uneducated. Mississippians want to get their corrupt hands on taxpayer dollars.
The only thing MS has over other states is the highest per capital of black people.

@4:43 is correct. The state flag is the problem. I know that the NFL wanted to host the Super Bowl in Memorial Stadium, the NCAA wanted to put the Final Four at the Coliseum, and The National Homebuilders Show (which draws 100,000 people) was looking at Jackson instead of Vegas. But all 3 backed out because of the flag.

9:38 Are you a fiction writer or do you just have a very vivid imagination?

12:42 nailed it. I'm no fan of the flag, but too many clowns use the flag as an excuse to hide the myriad of problems. Whenever people come to Jackson on business, I tell them to stay in Flowood or Madison. Why risk your life in Jackson?

KF: Can you dump recaptcha and use a service where we type in letters like other blogs? Recaptcha is the worst!

He is evidently a racist. You can see it on his face.

Population growth rate in Mississippi is 0.30%. We are ranked 40th in the nation. Currently, Only a small number of people want to be here or come here. Once the polar icecaps melt, Jackson will be a coastal city and all these issues will be resolved.

1:50 and I are on the same page! I remember moonlight madness! KF can you possibly dig up some old clips of that? Dang, Jackson was GREAT back then! I sure miss it...will somebody please wake me up?

He starts out by saying something like, just when Jackson is on a roll. WTF? What is he seeing, I'm seeing no momentum whatsoever, maybe he means rolling off a cliff?

Every single one of the comments above proves one thing: People don't attend business conventions to learn best practices, how to improve business models or how to improve in their personal profession.

They attend conventions in order to have fun, spend money, eat at nice places, engage in off-time adventures, drink a lot, stay out late, drag in late, shop and take relatives a nice gift on return.

Why the hell do you think every major club and business membership group in the Metro heads to Destin or the Mississippi Coast or the casino resorts in Philadelphia?

Having a large concrete shell within which to hold meetings, with donuts on the back table, is not nearly enough to draw a crowd. Other than a crowd of flies.

Still waiting for an investigative reporter to expose the convention center gold rush duping C.H. Johnson pulled on numerous cities across the United States. It has to be one of the biggest municipal con jobs in our history.