Recap of last week's discussion, Live feed of today's discussion posted below.
Mayor says Council questioning contract because Richard is black.
Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba wrangled with the City Council over the garbage contract yet again last week. No votes were taken although several rounds of heated rhetoric were exchanged.
Mayor Lumumba placed the contract on the agenda for to answer any questions the City Council had about the contract. All members were present except Kenneth Stokes and Angelique Lee.
The Lumumba administration recommended hiring Richard's Disposal of New Orleans. His bid will require residents to use a 96-gallon garbage "cart" provided by the company.
Most of the discussion focused on the cost of the carts. The administration said the city anticipates spending $798,210 on carts. The contract is based on 45,000 accounts. However, Councilman Aaron Banks repeatedly questioned that number. He asked why the contract was based on 45,000 accounts when Waste Management said there were 53,869 customers. The administration said the higher number was based on Waste Management invoices and that it included vacant houses. The city will spend an additional $148,999.20 on carts if the contract was based on 53,869 accounts.
The actual cost per cart is $56 but the city will pay $16.80 since it is buying in bulk. A customer will get a free replacement. However, the second replacement will cost $90. Cascade Cart Solutions of Michigan will provide the carts.
Councilman Vernon Hartley said the "number one thing I am hearing from constituents is don't screw this up." Councilman Bryan Grizzell chimed in "I am so frustrated colleagues" as he made it clear he wants to approve the contract.
Richard's Disposal President Alvin Richard said "If you guys don't want me here, then I don't wanna be here. It seems like the problems you are talking about are your problems, not my problems. If you don't do this soon, I will have to back out." Mr. Richards said he spin up a new operation in Jackson in less than two months.
Mayor Lumumba said the "only bona fide concern I've heard is the cost of the carts" as he finally raised his voice. Chief of Staff Dr. Safiya Omar followed his lead and berated the City Council for daring ask who the EBO contractors were.
The City Council will address the garbage contract today. The City Council rejected the contract 5-2 several weeks ago. However, the administration said today's vote is not on a motion for reconsideration but is for a new contract since one line regarding extra costs was removed.
Note: Watch the City Council discussion live. Starts at 1:20.
Wow. Mayor Lumumba said the City Council members are questioning the selection of Richard's Disposal because Alvin Richard is black.
The administration said the contract is $100,000 less per month for the bid with carts than the bid without carts.
44 comments:
I'm still not past his news clip stating these unprecedented days of cold are the reason they don't have water and nobody could have ever predicted such extreme cold in Mississippi.
But I guess opinion is fact now and nobody questions him so good luck with the trash problem that was not even a problem.
Jackson already has out-of-control crime, third-world water service, and leadership that is totally uninterested in doing anything about either. Antar seems determined to add another third-world problem: Garbage piling up on streets and sidewalks because it isn't being collected. Once again, with emphasis: If you have the means to move yourself and/or your family out of Jackson, and stayed anyway, you chose this. Good luck.
Hey Mayor , there are available records for the winter season going all the way back to when yo grandaddy was born ! Those four mild winters we had mid 2000's aren't an excuse you fugging moron. 1980 ponds froze 6 inches thick .....1983 ice storm.....1999 ? 1990 snow/ice storm .....and plenty more.
Lumumba can't manage his way out of a paper bag and yet his administration knows for a fact that there are exactly 8,869 vacant houses in Jackson?
Changing a line item is a ploy.
Mayor Exaggeration is at it again.
I do not understand the "carts" factor. Waste Management is perfectly capable of collecting garbage without requiring a particular type of "cart." Why would the City even consider a proposal that would require it to spend almost $1 million on garbage cans?
I do not want a 96-gallon Lumumba cart in front of my house.
Water weighs eight pounds per gallon. That would mean a cart left open in the rain filled with water weighs over 700 pounds if they don't self drain. This is going to impact low income elderly and disabled people that can't afford to hire someone to move a possibly several hundred pound can once a week. Statistically the lower income elderly and disabled people in Jackson are mostly black. Why would the city pay more money to have a disparate impact on elderly black people? Even if filled with garbage alone twice the weight for once a week pickup will impact those that are mobility impaired.
In most towns, the "carts" are sold as a way to save money on the contract over the long term. The trucks can pick up the cans with a mechanical arm, thus cutting down labor expenses. Somehow, Jackson is being upcharged for this.
I have a very hard time believing there are only 53,869 garbage contract addresses in the City of Jackson. Seems low to me.
Give me a cart and I'll guarantee you it will be festooned with anti-Lumumba graffiti for display at the street twice weekly.
The race comment is so stupid. The city council is primarily black.
My problem is one that will be common. I am 77 years old and have severe arthritis. How am I going to move a 96-gallon cart? If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
a tie for the win-
I noticed that the stock market started going up when this Jackson trash mandate failed!!!
12:30 PM wins the internet today.
I don’t mind the carts. The cost is going up anyway and we are still getting two days of service.
“I have a very hard time believing there are only 53,869 garbage contract addresses in the City of Jackson. Seems low to me.”
You are correct! It does seem low. Actually it’s probably accurate due to the large amount of multi family housing ( rental apartments ) in Jackson. Also, families have been leaving Jackson for years. Between the vacant homes and rental apartments… the actual number of residential single family homes must really be that low. Sad
Jackson has zero basis for trusting a New Orleans outfit to provide reliable service. I think most prefer:
Twice per week pickup;
Use homeowners' existing cans;
WM to continue;
Send Lumumba to NOLA in a 96 gal container.
If Richard’s is actually capable of providing trash service in the city, why not choose their No cart option and save the citizens $1.242mm a year? That’s an extra $7.452mm over the life of the initial 6 year term of the contract. Over $7 million so we can all have matching oversized trash bins!
Guess the council looked up customer reviews before voting....at least 3 of them did at least.
https://www.yelp.com/biz/richards-disposal-new-orleans-3
1:55 pm comment summed it up perfectly.
We're at the center of Dante's Inferno, the most hellish part of Hell. Here are the worst traitors of human history: Judas, Brutus and Virgi Lindsay. The punishment is ironic, but effective: the traitors are permanently frozen, up to their necks in a frozen lake.
What did she get for her misdeed? She represents a mixed race ward. The only good that could possibly come from the Mayor's playing the race card would be to enhance Virgi's chances for getting black support at election time. O tempora, o mores! But why would she want to run again? Who wants to serve alongside the Child King?
I regularly fill up extra trash cans with limbs and leaf debris which Waste Management discards without issue. Since the Mayor is hellbent on this vendor who will provide a 96 gallon trash can, will this particular vendor also discard limbs and leaves set out in other trash cans?
Nobody has mentioned the subcontractors chosen from the city's preferred list.
"Chief of Staff Dr. Safiya Omar followed his lead and berated the City Council for daring ask who the EBO contractors were.;
This stinks to high Heaven. Maybe Virgil could clue us in...no, she's shifted to the Mayor's team.
Evidently my neighbor Virgi Lindsay needs to replace her old garbage cans with those expensive 96-gallon monsters.
No respect for the Mayor of the city yet citizens expect him to respect them.
He doesn’t know any of you.
If Richard's is doing such a great job in New Orleans, then why has that city's mayor suggested it go into the trash collection business itself?
Aaron Banks is a wimp, maybe even a eunich, for abstaining.
Of all the issues in a public works department (water, sewer, drainage, streets, large limb pickup, garbage), garbage pickup is by far the easiest, especially when outsourced. Amazing that these clowns are screwing it up. It’s so simple.
I don’t want a 96 gallon cart. But I do want one of those black hats that says “STOKES”. I would pay good money for a hat like that.
Jackson continues to be the laughingstock of their suburban neighbors. They can’t perform basic government. Should I laugh or cry?
"Evidently my neighbor Virgi Lindsay needs to replace her old garbage cans with those expensive 96-gallon monsters."
She's awful.
stokes has been taking good positions recently. what kind of alternate reality has happened that i’m siding with Stokes??
he actually seems to care about the city and recognizes the mayor for what he is.
he couldn’t be a worse mayor- he should run
5:31 What are you talking about? He never comes to work sessions, does nothing, and provides useless sound bytes. That man has been on city council since 1988, if he wanted to run for Mayor he would have a long time ago. Y’all have got to stop saying someone is doing good work just because they don’t agree with the mayor.
602 - yes. He doesn't come to work sessions, and he often bails out on meetings.
But, as 531 referenced, on tough and important issues lately he has been on the right side of the ledger. That in and of itself is a nice benefit, even if it is because he is doing so in disagreement with "Lying Lumumba".
If it makes you feel better, then I would suggest that the words "doing good work" be removed and just compliment Stokes for speaking up and speaking out against the idiocy that the Mayor is proposing.
It is difficult to fathom why the mayor persists in pushing to approve the disposal contract proposal submitted by the New Orleans based waste management company. Even more confusing is the reversal of some city council members who voted for the contract this time. Even a cursory look at the reputation and reviews of the company recommended, reveals nothing that would warrant them even being considered. It should not be about the race of the contractor, but their proven ability to do the job, based on history. What happened to ...if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Most seem to agree that Waste Management is doing a creditable job. Mr. Mayor and city council members, don't mess with one thing that is working in Jackson.
This comes down to one thing - the mayor doesn't want a very capable contractor that's doing a great job for a reasonable price (Waste Management) because it's not black-owned & operated.
@1:58PM
"If Richard’s is actually capable of providing trash service in the city, why not choose their No cart option and save the citizens $1.242mm a year?"
Because hiz hona the maiur will get most of that @1.242mm a year in hiz pocket!
The fact that Lumumba is so insistent on directing this contract makes me extremely suspicious of his motives.
Pssst, Virgi. They aren’t going to approve the Belhaven initiative in return for your vote. You are being used.
Why did Virgi L change her vote??
6:21 No, he hasn’t. He hasn’t made great decisions, because he doesn’t vote on them. What council meetings are you guys watching? Again, you can not like the mayor. Saying Stokes “has been on the right side of the ledger lately” doesn’t matter if he doesn’t VOTE. In your own comment, you said he doesn’t come to work sessions nor council meetings. Are you drinking the Stokes press conference Kool-Aid?
Lumumba fears Stokes. Comments from Emperor's straining apologists here more proof.
No one wants to use a prescribed can. Drive around any neighborhood on trash day and you'll see very, very few people with just one trash can on the street. This is just more insane incompetence from a corrupt administration. Waste Management is about the only thing that works in this city, so naturally Lumumba and his band of fools want to screw that up also.
I think most citizens of Jackson can agree that residential garbage collection is one of the only bright spots in this otherwise disastrous city. I'm sure they let their councilman know this. It should be no wonder that the council is hesitant to fix what's not broken when everything else is broken. But the mayor says it's all about race. That's his life and he may never change. But the council SHOULD listen to their constituents and be answerable to them even if the mayor is not.
I have to agree with @8:25 - but when garbage collection is a 'bright spot' for a city, you know you've got problems. Who knows, maybe they'll figure out water billing one day.
Chowke can screw up a wet dream.
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