Jackson Jambalaya

Yawn....

Walter Michel should be run out of town on a rail for getting this mess through the legislature. It is nothing more than giving home owner associations, which is a fancy word for NEO-NAZIS, the power to tax, when they should be stripped of powers rather than given more.

Too many HOAs have shown to be mismanaged in rencent months, purely because they are more intersted in the color of one's bird house rather than the financial condition of the HOA.

This is a classic example of welfare for the wealthy

$200,000.00 earmarked will be gone in a month. Then they raise the fees, and raise the fees, and raise the fees. Needless to say, the city will neglect doing its part. Don’t believe one second that these assessment figures are permanent, I don’t care how it reads.

They need to spend it all on security-

Oh yeah, this can't miss!

Let's revisit this in about 5 years and see the magnitude of this cluster! These types of things look good on paper, but when you get that many personalities involved - residential property owner personalities, where lots of emotions are involved - holy cow! That's not going to be pretty.........

This great, Let's get even more hard earned money from the dwindling number of tax payers. This should not result in more folks leaving. Staw-Camel

So the GBF is excited to announce that people living in their area get to pay more taxes to the tune of $1800 for and average 300k home. Man that’s awesome. And JACKSON is to collect the taxes and distribute them to the CID. JACKSON is going to distribute the cash huh? Man I can see where people would be crawling all over that with delight. Hey honey there’s a new communist organization that wants to raise our taxes and all we have to do is shell out a couple grand a year and we can say we’re so grateful.

Idiots! Reminds me of a South Park episode.

A fool and his money are soon parted.

The Towering Inferno was a great flick.

After this passes Belhaven can be officially referred to as Suckerville, Mississippi.

If they agreed to pass it who cares if you don’t live there. Good for them. The sad part is how bad it is needed for basic security and road maintenance which is part of their wasted tax dollars. Maybe it will make the streets passable.

I could not afford to live in Jackson if I wanted to.

I cannot imagine how wealthy these people must be to afford the Insurance, Taxes, car alignments and repairs, replaced stolen items, security cameras, private schools and now CIDs.

I almost feel stupid having to remind these people that whatever amount they raise through this farce will be exactly the amount the city will not budget for any work in the area. Do they really not know this?

Of course since the residents are 98.2% democrat, progressive, socialists...the deserve what they get.

I hope every resident gets a Stokes plastic cap worth a dollar.

Good idea 3:41. I'd start with an electrified, Jurassic Park-styled fence along with watch towers and snipers.

It’s too bad the name of each persons city doesn’t show up with each post. 95% of you all don’t live there so what do you care?

Attn 6:06 I resemble that statement, I live in Gluckstadt.

All HOAs and similar “organizations” should be outlawed and disbanded. The general population is too stupid and or apathetic to run them. Of course that could be said for government as well.

Perhaps 6:06 ... but I can honestly say that some of the most intelligent people that I know (Doctors, Attorneys ect.) refuse to leave Belhaven for various reasons.


Over the years every one of them have had expensive items stolen from their yard/garage, and two had their homes burglarized.

Oh well ... that's none of my business.

If they like this area, more power to em'.

" All HOAs and similar “organizations” should be outlawed and disbanded."

On paper HOA's sound like a great idea.
And they are ... most of the time.

What's that very old neighborhood in Madison, (on the Rez) that used to make the news every month ?

"Natchez Trace" something. (That lakeside subdivision) where an elderly HOA prez went crazy and started casting fish hooks at the neighborhood kids trying to enjoy a Summer afternoon on the water ?

The same stuff almost happened in a similar (albeit early 1990's) development almost next door.

Often these HOA officers prove the Napoleon complex is real.

Here's a great opportunity for Lyin' Lumumba to resolve his issues with Kenny Stokes by demanding that IF Belhaven is granted a CID, then so must Vernon Addition; there will be NO extra monies collected from the residents of Vernon Addition to "fund" their CID, in fact, 80% of the monies collected from the Belhaven CID will be spent on improving Vernon Addition CID, as the two will be "Sister CID's". Right? (Special Note to Belhoovians: That's effectively how it's going to work anyway. Right?)

Wait.....where can I buy a stokes hat for $1? Heck I’d pay $100, and sport it everyday.

This is an idiotic idea, if only because of what Baby Chock had to say about it two or three months ago, as reported in a television news report. In Chockwe's little mind, if the residents of Belhaven raise taxes on themselves for this purpose, that wi;; justify the city reducing spending on the area. I am a resident of Belhaven and am against the notion for other reasons, but this reason is the clincher. My fellow residents will be fools to vote for this proposal in light of Chockwe's attitude. And we can be sure that successors in office will have the same attitude. So, in other words, if residents here vote for this proposal, what they will be voting for is to increase their taxes but getting no benefit from doing so. The sad thing is that Belhaven has a gracious plenty of people who will resort to magical thinking to ignore or minimize Chockwe's position. We do have some well-intentioned idiots living here.

Can you say budget supplant? I know you can, right?

Oops. That would be Virden Addition, not Vernon. My apologies to Kenny.

Not long ago you were people were moaning 'As Jackson goes, so goes the state' and you were begging people to get involved in the salvation of the city.

Now you're singing the tune of 'If you don't live here, shut the hell up!'

You people with your cases of Chardonnay and your bacon-wrapped fillets are truly a trip.

Sad, in some parts of the country this would work well but not in Jackson. Jackson is dead, dead,dead and nothing will bring it back. This will always be a part of the city and more regulations will do nothing about the real problem. The City will alway own the streets.

I was concerned that the residents of Belhaven would pay the additional taxes and the city of Jackson would simply figure out a way to misappropriate these funds and the people paying the taxes would get nothing. After thinking about this I'm sure nothing like that will happen. This should work out well.

3:56, it's a maximum of $6 per every $1000 of assessed value of a parcel, not $6 per true value. Assessed value is 10% of true value if you file homestead exemption. So, if a home has a true value of $300K, then its assessed value is $30K, meaning their additional taxes via the Belhaven CID is $180......not $1800.

The Belhaven residents aren't even smoking reefer to fall for this; they are dropping acid.

/s/ Mayor Chowke Ben Dover

So let me get this straight? Belhaven is voting for a tax increase to be earmarked for their immediate area, but Chokwe and company are going to be the ones to collect and dole it out? And they did this willingly? Hell, he cant even bill the city's largest customers for water and then lies about it on tv, what makes you think you are going to get your money back to use for projects? You would be better off letting Ridgeway Lane & Associates handle the money. He hates rich white and thinks they owe the community something. I can't wait to see the improvements!

Some of this money needs to be put aside and turned into a trust or long term capital holding vehicle so that eventually in a generation or two this CID is actually self sustaining.

Otherwise this is stupid.

actually, the Hinds County tax collector will collect this along with all the other ad-valorem taxes that are levied in the county. So it will get collected. Now, how it gets spent, God only knows. If the COJ collected their own taxes, I can't imagine how f'ed up that would be.

Attn 8:56 I want some of what you are smoking.

My only hope is the extra security can finally help JPD shut down that drug house operating on the 1100 block of Lyncrest.

It’s amazing how little you all have to do that you have time to bitch about a tax that most of you will never pay because you don’t live in the neighborhood.

Grow up.

Attn 10:32 it’s amazing that you are wasting your time by telling others they are wasting theirs.

How to keep Belhaven safe:

1) put a big ass fence around it with key code access and a guard at each entrance.

if that doesn't work

2) move.

I live in Belhaven and I have questions that I don't know where to get the answers for. How does one get on the "ruling board" of the CID. It seems to me to be a self appointed cabal. Did no one hear Mayor Lumumba say on TV that whatever funds raised by Belhaven would free up funds for the rest of Jackson? That can't be the end goal of this project. In the general vote to come can all registered voters vote, not property owners? Then it is a done deal. Those who rent, single or apt., won't pay the tax, so vote it in. If you couldn't tell. I am totally against this plan.

All of the above comments about the problems or issues with a HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION are interesting, but as applies to Belhaven, irrelevant.

CIDs, Community Improvement Districts, are available for Homeowners Associations.

As 4:46 asks above, how does one get on the "ruling board' of the CID? If it is a Homeowners Association, you get to vote on those members.

But, the folks trying to get this extra money, from the city collecting taxes that they get to spend, they are not elected by anybody except by their friend in the NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION that they run.

Belhaven is not eligible to participate in this new scheme. That, of course, doesn't bothter those in charge that see the opportunity to make everybody in the neighborhood to pay into their private purse. There are many voluntary members who pay dues to the NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION. And it is doing good work.

But - because they are not a HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION that has mandatory dues, their funds and ability to do their personal projects are limited.

So, they want to try to slide by the law and use this Walter Michel bill to tax everybody - in other words, make everybody pay dues to their private piggy bank so they can spend it where they want to.

Neighborhood resident, and typical democrat mindset, Senator David Blouont expressed it clearly a year ago. Several neighbors have been contributing to projects to beautify the neighborhood and they are tired of supporting these projects while others are not. So, they want everybody to pay into them - whether they support them or not.

Good typical democratic thinking - make everybody pay for what some folks want.

That works in a HOA, where when one purchases their property they agree to the terms and conditions that the board selects ---- but at least they get the opportunity to vote on those that are spending the appropriated dollars.

But with Belhaven, not being a HOA (as the law clearly requires) you don't get to vote on who spends your tax dollars.

As a minority (white) voter in Belhaven, I do at least get the opportunity to vote on my Jackson city leadership. Granted, I never win, but I do get a chance to vote on how my very expensive property tax dollars are wasted.

But with this attempt to raise my taxes - I won't even get the opportunity to vote on who decides on which consultant gets the benefit of these raised taxes. Granted, Marshan Crissler, nor Socratees Garrett will get this particular windfall from the dollars expropriated for my remaining in the radical new city, but someone else's favored consultant will reap the benefits.

Thanks Walter. You along with David Blount (D-MS) did great in increasing taxes on those few of us conservative Republicans that choose to try to remain in the city of Jackson. Great job.