Jackson Jambalaya

I'm familiar with the term self-serving, but what the hell is self-seeking? Doesn't that require one to sit atop a Tibetan mountain, cross-legged and chant OOooohms?

Choke-ums handlers fail English class yet again.

So what was the settlement?

Who is the black blogger?

It appears the Siemens debacle and the extreme shortfall in city revenue has kept hizhonor on the defensive for most of his tenure. Now we will see what Antar looks like when he goes on offense. Cooperative economics and revolutionary movement of da people. Forward! Get ready Kushites!

The $90 million settlement is HUGE! This money will probably be almost half of what is needed to get the zoo back up and running.

That's what you call a win -win!

Lol. Meanwhile the usual suspects move on to the next bond fund bananza. I guess we know where the zoo reopening funds are coming from now.

He wins the battle of public perception Kingfisher, his comments will be heard across the area. Maybe 500 read your blog.

In Jackson, it’s always someone else’s fault.

So when do I get my tax money back?

Sounds like by the tone mayor duckweed is about to lose his mind when there is criticism of his failed leadership.

Oh also 3 more jactown peeps died today from gunshot.

NEXT..

Is this net of legal fees ?

I hope those water meters work under water.

Ok, time for US attorney to step up and put someone else from Jackson in jail that’s not involved in Project EJECT.

" This is the end of the beginning "

???

Not trying be snarky.
But what the Hell does that mean ?

In the future major corporations will refuse to contract with the City of Jackson because a dispute over their performance will be adjudicated in the defendant’s hell hole judicial system operating in Hinds County. Corporate wealth distribution by judge and jury.

$90 million doesn’t come close to covering the lost revenue and the cost to fix the system. Jackson could have gotten far more out of a settlement but everybody knew a water bond default would happen in 2020 without a settler. Something is better than nothing.

@5:48 - I was wondering that too.
@5:58 - Agreed. The price of COJ doing business with anybody just went UP.
And Siemens does water systems all over the country and doesn't have problems except here. Wonder why.

If Antard only knew how many comments about him you don't approve.

@6:06
Municipal incompetency + judicial wealth redistribution.

Get ready for four more years of Mayor Lumumba next year. He's going to ride this well earned victory lap and parlay it into a landslide re-election.

Meantime while everybody pissing and moaning your auditor Shadrick has busted another public official!

https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2020/02/19/former-mississippi-police-chief-accused-selling-confiscated-cars-keeping-cash/4811096002/

The auditor's demand letter for $6,940 also alleges that Brewer undercharged the buyers for a total of $2,730, although that amount is not part of the criminal charge, the statement said. The demand letter's total also includes interest and investigation charges.

The letter is a civil action, and "the criminal charges do not just go away” if Brewer pays the total, said Logan Reeves, a spokesman for White.

They were talking about Othor not you Kingfish

Great to settle with Siemens. But hope the subs that ripped the city off aren’t off the hook!

6:06, actually multiple towns in Mississippi have successfully sued Siemens for the same thing, but all were a much smaller scale.

I can see them now. Rubbing their palms together. Smacking their lips. Smiling and laughing. Can’t wait to get some of this money for a grass roots community program or one of those juicy city contracts where they make something worse instead of fixing something. I hear the song Happy Days Are Here Again playing in the background.

Chock-way is especially pleased because a portion $30 million attorneys fee which will be deducted from the $90 million settlement will find its way to his re-election campaign account.

So is this the end of matter? No criminal charges?

That $ net of legal fees?

Wonder what the actual recouped money is for the city minus attorney fees? Wonder if Siemens and the named individuals are paying the city's attorney fees? Wonder what the settlement amount breakdown of each individual party such as Socrates, Marcus, Hersey Meters, ect is.

The answers to all the above is probably sealed and their publicists are in overdrive protecting their clients. Don't you agree, KF?

There will be lots of patronage pals lining up at the settlement trough. Pay up Baby Chok.

"This is the end of the beginning..."

Did he plagerize Sir Winston Churchill?

It’s open bar time.

Doubt BabyChok ever seriously goes after the subs because to do so will expose that Chokwe Sr. was the person who issued the marching order to move the water dept Accounts Receivable function, and the jobs that went with it, to Detroit, Michigan. BabyChok would have to answer why they can process water bill collections in Detroit but not right here in Jackson. Now the bill submittals go to Memphis. Why is that BabyChok? Why aren't those jobs going to job needy Jacksonians?

Honest question for Kingfish or anyone else:

It was my understanding that Seimens (or an approved Seimens contractor) was not allowed to install and calibrate the system as the City Council/Mayor wanted their friends to get that contract. True or false?

If true, then why is Seimens at fault for a dime when the equipment was not set up correctly?

I know you will never post this because you're a hypocrite and not interested in the truth but your fee-based spin. You protect Chris McNeil and his political cronies in Flowood who caused all this. What about his $1M+ commission? You didn't add that to your list of fees collected on who got what because you didn't want to disclose and expose your buddies. Shame on you as you don't practice what you preach. Everything you said above about the protecting the corrupt can be said of you and you know it. Look in this mirror, pal.

Zoom out 6 months says........where will the money be then?

So that’s when I said, “Hold up, how can it be stealing water if it’s a flood?”

Yep, he’s talking specifically about you. Stop censoring comments, I’m sure that all adults can handle criticism regardless of race.

I bet the water bonds get redone. No way baby chok pays a bill on time.

It cracks me up when people who obviously read this site put down on the readers of this site. Many of those same people then post comments critical of those who post comments.

I'm not even sure what "the battle of public perception" is, other than maybe a bullsh*t slinging competition. In that arena, I think Mayor Labamba can dance with the best of 'em.

@6:06, What are you basing your statement on that they don't have any problems except in Jackson? They had to pay 1.6 Billion in fines for a massive bribery scheme. You don't think that's a problem?

Let call a spade a spade.
This was a big shakedown by Jackson against Siemens.

I thought he was talking about the black blogger since he also mentioned the thing about black businesses.

Woo, hoo, new cars for the city "leaders," trips to Paris, or maybe Sydney to study their water billing system, remodeled offices...

Happy times are here again.

The mayor should work with the City Council setting up a committeeof internal city personnel and external friends, sorry consultants to determine how best to utilize this money to help improve the city. I would expect they could come to a conclusion on the project in 24-36 months.

Too quick. Smells fishy. This type of litigation takes years. Must be trying to get something done before Feds come in and claw back from the city, the mayor, or his “disadvantaged” and “marginalized” black subcontractors whose shell companies made millions off the tax payers and funneled the actual work to Richard Rula in Florence.

Money should be used to build a statue in honor of Chokwe and fund picnics and bus trips hosted by Stokes. No need to fix the third world streets.

The only thing that saved Big Chok from federal prison was his death. When the FBI brings the documents to a ferdeal grand jury, they have boxes full of evidence. There presentation was spot on.

I love reading the racists' post on this blog. Reminds me of why I left Mississippi and why Mississippians are their own worst enemy. To sum up the comments so far:

All problems that Jackson faces are the result of black people.
Black people don't deserve to have money.
Black lawyers don't deserve to get paid for their work.
Black businessmen and women will only fail.
Black politicians are totally corrupt.

Meanwhile a bunch of white career state employees and do-gooders get popped less than two weeks ago for the biggest heist in state history! And they were stealing money from the poorest Mississippians! You can't make this shit up I guess, which is typical for my poor home state unfortunately. Keep on talking though. See what that gets you. 150 more years of the same old shit sandwich. Eat up good ole boys.

Did anyone else notice that Baby Chok refused to take questions from the media? Gee, I wonder why?

Follow the money.

Time for a huge bbq party.

Fantastic work by the Mayor and the lawyers representing the City in hitting Siemens between the eyes, resulting in a $90 million settlement. As KF points out, the Mayor inherited this mess when he took office and now something good has finally come from it.

It is amazing that some of the haters on here try to actually criticize the work that resulted in this $90 million payday for our City.

Does this mean the Saint Paddy's parade is safe for now?

Well Well, we still have a problem. The meters still can't be read, the subs that got millions didn't install tower nor software to read the meters. So when do they ask the taxpayers for more money to fix the problem problem?

Why show taxpayers come to a community meeting and you ask us how the money should be spent? How about get the problem fixed with the money.

Siemens had problems in many other cities.

I don’t know where you idiots get your info. I assume you just make it up.

Congratulations Mayor. Great work on behalf of the citizens of Jackson.

So to summarize, the city gets back $90million, Marcus Wallace(MAC & Associates) and a host of other minority contractors still get paid along with the bond pimps & consultants, and we still have shitty, non functional water meters that aren't reading correctly. Am I correct?

If truth be told, and it seldom is, we should regard this as a stalemate, not a victory. That is, unless you are one of the hustler sub-contractors who still walk away with millions of dollars for hustling the system. We, the stupid taxpayers are basically back where we started from years ago (minus legal fees). We have a broken system that needs fixing and a shrinking tax base. Now our mayor announces that we will fix everything and there is a "new day" in Jackson, Mississippi. Sound familiar?

Second verse...

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If..Jackson, floated a bond for the original funding...and the settlement is for the SAME approximate amount......THEN, the city does NOT have "free" money. It is a wash!!

Good for you 9:50 and good riddance. Take your stupid beliefs to somewhere else and help put that city under.

Look at any DemocRat controlled city in Mississippi and they are all mirrored images of Jackslum!!!! Why is that, why is that in Detroit, Baltimore, Cleveland, and St. Louis???? Seems to be the trend incompetence, corruption and murders on a daily basis wherever you pee on a regular schedule.

Sure is funny that all us who live in "red" controlled area are doing well. No water/sewer problems, better than good schools, roads you can drive on, almost NO crime and functioning neighborhoods.

Again glad you decided to take your self serving, failing ideology elsewhere. Your voting groups has fuk'd up enough of this state.

1. Fully staff JPD - lower crime will stop the bleeding until taxpayers return

2. Use some of it to leverage street paving and water/sewer repair

3. Create a rainy day fund to weather budget shortfalls to where the infrastructure budget doesn't ever have to be neglected again.

The city council approved the order to authorize the hiring of Lightfoot, Franklin and White at their 5/14/19 meeting. The contingency fee agreement was for 33.33% of net recovery, or 40% of net recovery if their expenses ended up being more than $1mm. Not bad for 9 months of work.

and 9:50 p.m. calls out racism with the most overt, completely racist post of all. Congrats, 9:50, you won, I suppose. Just what you won is a matter worth considering.

This is not windfall but the money should fix the water system that was supposed to have been done to start with. Every dime of this should to into broken water system. That should be how legally this money is directed.

I am with some of the other posters. Sure $90mil is the recovery amount. I would like to know the following:

1) how much was paid in the total contract?
2) how much was still owed on the total project? Was it paid off entirely/bonds/other fees?
3) Are the contractors going to be held liable? Seems this was a "kush" gig for friends of the Lumumba family.
4) How much was charged to get to the recovery of the $90mil?

How are people not in federal prison for this type of negligence and mismanagement?

@ 10:13, like i said, biggest heist of the past decade was done by the republicans good ole boy network, which was revealed by White and associates a couple of weeks ago. Jackson is in such bad shape because the middle and upper class, which happen to be white in this state, abandoned it. All because they didnt want to send their kids to school with black kids. The reason those other cities you listed are doing so poorly is because the manufacturing jobs that were once there all went overseas. Who legislated the policies that shipped those jobs elsewhere? It wasn't the dems my friend. It wasnt black people or poor whites either.

Also for the record I net more than $500K a year, employ 10 people and have a business that nets $10 mil annually, all done from arguably the best and riches city on the west coast (and it aint in the Bay Area either for what it's worth).

I could do this all in Mississippi, but I don't. It's beyond hope. That's on you. Been on you since 1865 and 1964 and every other year you treated a group of people like second class citizens, all while expecting them to perform at your level.

kingfish hit it on the head you other people are just flat out idiots. Harvey Johnson is responsible for this siemens mess. Stop being racist and due your research....

Reimburse the 1% STC for the funds the City "borrowed" to keep PW afloat.

If you want truth and insight into the big picture of all of this, find Melvin Priester's editorial comments.

Huh, when I first read the headline, I thought the city had settled another suit with former sheriff Victor Mason. I guess you spell that Siemens differently.

"due" your research? Who's the flat out idiot?

@11:54 AM - don't move here. Stay on the left-coast with your kind. But before long your company will be a communist collective.

If you move here you would be nothing but a carpet bagger spewing your left-coast socialist dogma. Bless your heart.

Oh, to net $500k you must gross $1mm due to the taxes. Fun, huh?

Othor Cain, Jackie Andrews, Socrates Garrett, the Anderson family, et al, all had to be mad that he has pissed in their fruit loops. I have no problem with minority set asides, but only if they are not enriching a small group of crooked power brocker instead of the people they were meant to empower. These fools that were shoved down Siemens throat have been sucking at the overflowing teet of the minority set aside for years. Can we please get oversight to ensure that future projects are not marked up by 15-30% by a "middle man" peddling his "set aside". Then he takes his 15-30% cut and walks away? Work to ensure that the minority working man gets the job, not a political power broker who forms a damn LLC, every time a contract comes up in order to get a set aside. Except for the entitled assholes at MCEC and New Learning Resources, who deserve a special place in hell for stealing TANF from the poor, nothing is worse than a small group of fraudulent power brokers raising the cost of business at the expense of the poor taxpayers of Jackson. I don't care if you are Red, Yellow, Black or White; stealing from the poor should be a capital offense.

@11:54
Being a janitor in California might pay better than Mississippi but the cost of living is a lot higher. You are also small enough to fly under the e-Verify radar. Don't brag too much. Your day will come. By the way, the new coder from Mumbai left a mess for you on the unisex toilet.

"By the way, the new coder from Mumbai left a mess for you on the unisex toilet."

This is exactly what I'm talking about. You have zero self awareness. Homophobic and xenophobic. You hate what you fear and you fear what you don't understand. You dont understand that this "coder from Mumbai" wouldn't set foot in Mississippi. He doesn't have a reason to (what tech jobs are in Mississippi) and doesn't want to (intolerant dick heads like yourself). You and your kinfolk are happy with that, but don't realize that he represents a thriving economy, an expanding industry. This is why Mississippi has a brain drain. It's why it can't attract good jobs. Fools like yourself. Smart people get tired of it and leave for greener pastures.

My taxes aren't that much higher than they would be in Mississippi anyway. And I'm happy with how my tax dollars are spent. We have a great public education system (the Univ of Cal system is probably the best public system in the nation top to bottom), great roads, great healthcare, and a good social safety net.

Ms takes all it's money and blows it on kemper coal plants, beef farms, private prisons and private welfare systems. Keep those tax breaks up though. It's been working well for the last 20 years haha.

@ Holier than thou 7:29, California is not what you are projecting. What about the homelessness crisis, junkies living and dying in the streets at historic levels? Is that part of the good social net? If you don't like it here, deuces. Yes we, Mississippi, have our problems, but you couldn't pay me millions to move to California(sans a few small parts), to deal with those wackos. Can you explain why a lot of Californians are leaving and moving to many historically conservative states such as Texas, Colorado, etc at breakneck speed? Im curious to know if its the severely inflated cost of living, or the extreme liberals that are pushing even the more the moderate left leaning people out of there.

@ 10:21:

Colorado voted dem in 2016. Texas is turning purple and most california folks are moving to the bigger, solid blue cities in both of those states. They're not fleeing bc of "librul" policies in Cali, but the cost of living, which is high I admit. They also leave for those places bc they are very similar to CA: diverse, progressive, and an expanding tech market.

I never said California was perfect or heaven. But they take a much more pragmatic approach to their problems then Mississippi.

And that "if you dont like it here, deuces" attitude has resulted in a huge brain drain for Mississippi. It's a serious problem if you havent heard.

12:32 I lived in California for 21 years and the one word I never heard before your post was "pragmatic". California? Rich? yes, liberal? hell yes,
diverse? absolutely, open minded? no doubt. But pragmatic? California has been wealthy enough to try just about anything, no matter how crazy, or hair- brained the idea might be. Sometimes it's a fun ride but it's getting more and more expensive and a lot of middle class people are getting out. The state is changing and won't be able to afford the crazy San Francisco ideas
in the future. Some people hold their noses and come to states like Mississippi simply because the cost of living makes your retirement money go so much further. Eventually we'll all have to bail out California.