Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba was not the first Jackson Mayor to lie about the state not paying its water bills. Mayor Harvey Johnson said the same thing which was not in 2010 as well. JJ busted the current Mayor for the lie and busted Harvey for the lie as well with you guessed it, a public records request. Check out this August 16, 2010 JJ post:
Remember Harvey's little threat to cut off the state's water because it owed Jackson "millions" in unpaid past-due water bill?
"Johnson said another option is to demand state offices in Jackson catch up with unpaid water bills. The mayor said state government owes the city millions in overdue water charges. Exactly how much the state owes the city was not made available at the news conference. After mentioning the debt, Johnson steered the discussion back to his appeal to the commission. “We’ve opted not to cut state government off,” he said. “But that’s not the story.”He's right. That is not the story. Its not the story because it was not true. What is the story is the Mayor attacked the state and later said he was "misinformed". No apology for being "misinformed", it was easier just to throw an employee under the bus. The embedded documents contain a listing of all state water/sewer accounts with the City of Jackson and their payment status. Page three contains the press release issued by the Mayor's office about the matter. Oh yes, speaking of press releases. Attorney General Jim Hood issued one last week that seems to corroborate what was reported on this site last week (See Jackson's Water Bonds Failure, the Rest of the Story):
"Section 44 of HB 1701, passed in 2010, authorizes the Mississippi Development Authority (MDA) to provide interest-free loans to the City of Jackson to assist in paying for repairs and improvements to the city’s water and sewer system in close proximity to the state capitol complex. The total amount of the loans may not exceed six million dollars, and the time allowed for repayment cannot exceed seven years.
However, the statute also requires the City of Jackson to submit an application to MDA for such loans, which they have not yet done. Until the City of Jackson applies for the funds, and MDA approves the application, the Bond Commission cannot act." Press releaseJJ has also learned that as of this weekend, the Mayor still has not contacted the state. The question the state is asking is why Jackson is not following the lead of other Mississippi municipalities and using the loan funds available to it (See the earlier post) through the Mississippi Department of Health and DEQ. The loans contain similar terms and accomplish the same goal. This correspondent spoke to several Democrats and they have all said the same thing. They think the Bond Commission is overstepping its authority and shouldn't be using a line item veto-type maneuver but the law is the law and the Mayor still has to apply for the loans. He dropped the ball on this one. The Clarion-Ledger can screech on its editorial page about how badly the Bond Commission is treating Jackson but Jackson still has to follow the law. What took place was the bill was signed into law, Harvey fired the lobbyists that knew the law, and no one in Jackson government bothered to actually apply for the loans as prescribed in the law.
Harvey should direct his staff to file the application with MDA as soon as possible. He should then contact the Bond Commission. Under the law, the Commission can conduct special meetings. Harvey should be prepared to explain why Jackson needs to use these funds instead of the loans available through other agencies. The Commission can then approve it, then they have a nice little press conference where Harvey, Hood, and Reeves make nice for the cameras and congratulate each other for working to resolve the problem. Its time for the blame games and media attacks to cease and for work on this problem to begin. Jackson deserves better.
Kingfish note: In case you forgot, Lumumba the Younger did the same thing last year. He told the New York Times, numerous national media organizations, and the local media for several weeks that the state did not pay for its water. Yours truly busted him on the lie with payment records obtained through public records request, forcing the Mayor to backtrack and claim he was, you guessed it, misinformed.
JJ reported on March 22, 2021:
The Jackson Mayor said "I want to correct myself on a matter. I was armed with the incorrect information." Mayor Lumumba admitted the state did pay a water bill. However, he said Jackson does not receive any payments in lieu of property taxes for all of the state property in the city to "accommodate for the lost revenue."
No reporters asked him any questions about the statements. Earlier post and video.
Meet the new boss........
23 comments:
Maybe The Mayor is smart enough not to purchase bic scrangs.....
Their level of "incompetence" vastly exceeds their level of stupidity and of those they surround themselves with, just so they can try and lay the blame on everyone but themself.
Never mind when they get called out on it and provided proof of not having a clue to what happens in their subpar administration, it falls on the shoulders of a minion who provided "inaccurate information" (meaning they made that sh*t up off the top of their head) and like the mayor are in over their head and would have trouble managing a McDonalds.
How can the stadium owe $134,000.00 in water bills?
Two pompous SOBs
Working Together Jackson is ASTROTURF.
Just proves the old saying "he passed the buck" to the next guy. Every mayor since the 78 floods have........Find me a city in America with truly safe pipes and I will kiss your...............
Jackson deserves better. No Jackson does not deserve better. They are the people voting into office such people that are bad for the city. They are the people who seem to be satisfied with a third world city. I have seen better run cities in Mexico. Also a lot cleaner city that Jackson.
According to the 2010 report, it's ironic the number of notated "Dead Meters" connected to UMMC.
Lmaooooooooo @ 0 comments
How do they know how much the med. center owes when the water meters are broken? Here is a novel idea, fix the broken meters.
Say what you will about Harvey, and he's earned most of it, he was still significantly more qualified and experienced to serve as Mayor than the greenhorn ideologue in the office now.
5:56....Bullshit. Harvey was always 5 million dollars short of doing anything before a "Study" including 8 million dollars in "fees" for the "Study" to be conducted to keep him kicking the can down the road. For that matter, they discontinued the recycling program so somebody like Chowke couldn't pick up the can they keep on kicking down the road. It's what they do.
To the moron who said “find me a city…”
Have you really been so brainwashed as to believe that it’s normal for cities in America to not have access to clean drinking water for an extended period of time? You are exactly what’s wrong with Jackson and why it has been deteriorating: citizens making excuses for politicians and blaming others.
5:39…don’t forget the broken meters and the ones that do work aren’t emptied and if they are emptied the profit likely ends up in a change machine in Kroger. ✊🏿
Hey “survey” @ 6:46, doing some planning before you spend a few million $$ is not a bad thing. You may think it’s a great idea just to spend money without plans/budgets/estimates, but a study or 2 might help you spend your money more effectively or wisely without just blowing it on a hair brained scheme that no one has vetted. But I guess you know everything and don’t need any guidance from people in the industry. Good luck with that.
Just saw news with Mayor against JPD doing their jobs in high crime areas. Well Mayor no water, is a health issue but so is an endangered life ACLU and Lumumba so LEAVE JPD the heck alone & SUPPORT their work. M-Bar with their crime will surely be calling on JPD when fights and such happen! Reality is just like apartments going into Old McRaes bldg in Meadowbrook will not help Jackson. People cannot afford high end apartments with current homicide rate as insurance will continue to raise premiums also along with NO WATER. Be for real people and VOTE OUR YOUR MAYOR!
The med center has had its own water well for years. That’s why the meters are dead.
There's an old saying: "An Engineer can do twice as much as a fool for half the money." Now, if "X" is a number, a number representing the percentage of planning and Engineering costs of a proposed total project cost "Y", you tell me, what would be an acceptable percentage "X" of total project cost "Y"? How about I make it easy for you as a multiple choice question/answer:
A) 3%
B) 10%
C) 40%
D) As much as Harvey's cronies could bill and still get paid for without the project they proposed receiving further consideration of ever being built.
I operate a metro area water/sewer utility. We have two state agencies in our service area. Both state agencies receive a monthly water/sewer bill. Both state agencies pay the monthly water/sewer bill. They are just like any private customer.
KF, you’re just a broke Joe Rogan.
9:11 AM
And you're a broke Lumumba.
@10:58 AM
I’m a broke me! I love me enough to be myself!
@9:11 AM
Hahahahahahaha.
He wants to be Joe Rogan so bad.
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