Jackson Jambalaya

But, it’s a “radical” new dog park!

Kush Nation!

So an architecture firm proposed an expensive development plan to the City which was apparently rejected three years ago. I'm missing how this is a story...

How much did Jackson pay for this proposal?

I'm afraid the dog park would be filled with pit bulls.

Just think about how much good could be done with that much money.

It's already a dog park. Didn't a couple of gazelles learn that a few years ago.

Damn Fish, for someone that has been promoting improvements to the zoo, preaching the zoo gospel for years, you should embrace this rather than ridicule it.

The purpose of this idea was to reverse the zoo entrance and make the area around the zoo family friendly; let people enter the zoo from Woodrow Wilson rather than from West Capitol; provide other family friendly activities at the zoo.

But no - you want to spend twice this much and move the zoo to a nice residential area; take away a neighborhood golf course; and reduce the size of the zoo by over half.

If your idea of moving the zoo is a good idea, then this plan was a great idea.

Myself - I would suggest that the city doesn't have $75 million for this plan, or $100 million for moving the zoo. Hate it, but its more important to fix water, sewer and roads in the city at this point.

No matter what happened, WBA got PAID to do that study & proposal.

The Park ... at SoWeJax.

Sumptuous recreational facilities for the deserving few, all just steps from historic Kenny Stokes's House.

Beautiful plan, but thanks be to God that it never got farther than a plan! Hate to say it, but there is no amount of improvements to the area around the current zoo that would draw both the number and type (there, I said it) of people necessary to make this anywhere near feasible. 30 years ago, maybe, but that's just a maybe. Wish that were not the case, but it is.

How many miles of sewer and drainage lines would $74 million repair? Asking for a friend.

I don't care HOW much money the city spends, Livingston Park will NEVER be what it once was.

Neat idea. But there are so many things wrong with this. The fact remains the City cannot afford to spend 16million on something like this. Nor should something like this cost 16million. 4million for a fitness center ? Why does the City need to own and fund a fitness center ? 400k for a sunken garden ? 2million for an "amphitheater" which looks like nothing more than a small concrete pad and some sidewalk space. 100k for a dog park ? Who's going to build a 30million water park in a City that has 100 year old pipes and can't consistently deliver water as it is, or who might not bill for water for 3 months and then send a 400k bill ?
Ideas like this are great and would be great for the Metro area, but the City needs to get its priorities straight. Unless and until you make huge strides to fix the infrastructure/water, streets, schools, and crime issues, you should not even be thinking about ideas like this.
The good news is this study was years ago and not adopted.

Neglect things until they are dead beyond revitalization, then spend more than it could ever be worth - is the most Jackson thing ever. #SmithWillsStadium

I'm fixing to get ahead of the curve and start building my new lake house at Lake Hico. Don't say I didn't give y'all a heads up.

OK, so $75 million for this project, added to the $96 million proposed improvements to the Zoo from 2016 makes a $75 million relocation look like a bargain.

Laser tag? Is that even still a thing?

They forgot to include the monorail to Metrocenter.

Now you know why they are called Dim-O-Krats.....spend money they don't have for nothing productive.

1:25 - that is, if you believe in the $75M number that is being floated - today. If renovations were estimated to be $96M several years ago, and you believe you can build a new one today for $75M, you need to buy one of those lake house lots on Lake Hico touted above.

But, even assuming that the $75M number was close to being correct, please somebody tell me why it makes sense for Jackson, or the state, to spend that kind of money for a new zoo! How about fixing the parts of the city that don't work first - water, sewer, drainage, roads, police. Then, let's remember the costs for the new libraries that are being proposed to be built. And there are those wonderful proposals to move the entire city operation into the MetroCenter to salvage those investors that poured money into it and now find a few million square feet of empty space.

No. No. Lets do something important. Lets build a new zoo.

The per capita income of Hinds County is only $38,801, which only supports basic life necessities. Over the past 40 years, Jackson has seen grocery stores replaced by Dollar Generals, students evolved into prisoners, solid families become single parent domains, and an overall decaying city. The elected officials (Jackson area local plus overall state) along with the actual metro business community (the current Metro Jackson Chamber leadership is totally worthless) to come up with a consensus, viable action plan to not "radicalize" Jackson but to resuscitate it. Jackson is on life support, and our capitol city doesn't have much more "lifeblood" to continue to exist.

How about taking that money and buying up properties around the zoo and leveling every building? There will be no crime because there’s nothing to steal and no one to buy or sell drugs, the city won’t have to immediately make infrastructure improvements, and private companies could redevelop the empty acres without the impact of higher rent on long term residents due to gentrification. Tabula Rosa. An empty area such as this would be a much more attractive area for collateral investment along an expanded medical corridor which in turn could promote private partnerships with the zoo. $75 million used in this manner is city spending I’ll support.

10:28 and 10:41 - is the problem that you cannot read, or that you don't trust Kingfish's statement in his posting this?

He stated that WBA did this study, at the request of the City, and DID NOT CHARGE the city for the work.

So, to answer your question 10:28, because I believe that KF would not lie to us about this, it was $0.00. To answer 10:41's snide remarks, no it didn't

Feel better now, 5:36?