Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba wants $47 million from the Legislature to repair and improve Jackson's water treatment plants. Well, if the Mayor goes a beggin' for money, he should hope the Governor and Legislature overlooks a certain little scene from last summer. JJ reported on July 2, 2020:
Little Lord Lumumba's little friends in the Poor People's Campaign compared Governor Tate Reeves to the KKK as he stood next to them at a press conference this morning at the Capitol. Governor Reeves stirred their outrage after he vetoed a "water forgiveness" bill this week.
Dear Governor Reeves: If the Jackson Mayor and his friends are going to compare you to the Klan and the Citizens Council, don't give them another dime. Period. There is a reasonable debate to be had over whether water bills should be forgiven. However, there is no excuse for this Klan crap. The Mayor's defenders will say he didn't say those words. True enough but he didn't disavow them either.
If your goal is to stand up to The Man, get on MSNBC, and impress Bloomberg, mission accomplished. If your goal is to get money to help Jackson, well, scenes such as this one are not exactly a good idea. Allowing your followers to start throwing klan crap at the Governor won't exactly get what you want, if what you want is to help Jackson and not yourself. The Governor and the Legislature don't have to give Jackson anything not required by law. No one is saying grovel. Disagreement is fine and is an expected part of politics. Garbage such as what took place back in July is over the line. Take some advice from Jock Ewing:
Right?
31 comments:
As I posted on an earlier topic ...
To quote Kim Wade:
"This Mayor has lost his rabbit mind"
Where is the $90 million the City just collected from Siemens settlement- Hey Chock- even after you paid your out of town lawyer $30 million, you still should have more than 47!!
Okay, enough of this bullshit. I understand discretion, but when citizens needs are at stake, personal feelings need to be stuck up asses. Sometimes our own. Stop stirring the pot with this bullshit. You live here and we need help, Fish. Jesus, what's the point?++
Government is supposed to serve the people. There are things they can do to help. We need it. Why does this have to be such a shit show? Fuck Lumumba, fuck Reeves, fuck 'em all. It's time to get down to business. As a taxpayer, I don't care who's to blame. Make my shit work consistently. Work your shit out behind closed doors. Everyone grow up.
Government is supposed to serve the people.
Well in Jackson it ain't doing that. Our shit hasn't worked consistently for decades.
@8:00 PM - Pretty soon it will be water under the bridge.
Jock Ewing - they just don’t make men like him anymore. There was only one thing in the world that scared him and that was Miz Ellie. Though, the world could stand some J.R.‘s too - take no crap, give no flips. Dang, Friday nights in the 80’s really were the best - The Incredible Hulk, The Dukes of Hazzard and Dallas. This is also why Gen X is the last gear generation.
(I truly don’t give 2 hoots about Jxn and their self caused disasters, other then the fun of the comments. Thanks for bringing back some awesome memories, KF!)
Give me one friggin reason why the tax payers of Los Angeles should pay for our water system? Give me one friggin reason by the tax payers of New York should pay for our water system? Give me one friggin reason why the tax payers of Gulfport or Tupelo or Meridian or Canton or Vicksburg should pay for Jackson's water system?
Wow, 8:00, that was one mature, thoughtful comment. Let me ask you, do you think throwing more money at Jackson under its current government is going to make your "shit work consistently"? You don't seem to care or even understand how or why we have come to where we are, you just think that somehow or another your "shit will work consistently" if only the State ponied up some money. You seem like the kind of guy who thinks the way to fix an engine that doesn't run is simply to put more gas in the tank.
8:00 Do you really think Lumumba would take $47M to advance the interests of Jackson? Advance his own interests and the pockets of his supporters, yes. If you want your water to work properly then move to Terry, Clinton, Ridgeland or Pearl. The water systems in those towns are immune to the "climate change" that wrecks Jackson's water system.
Chickens have come home to roost. Time for some tough love.
The national press may be lapping up the tired argument about needing to take care of the 'capital city' but outside of Jackson that bellyache is nothing more than background noise. The race card isn't working either. There's little sympathy for Jackson outside of Jackson.
Let me ask a few questions, because I've been researching extensively today because I'm bored.
Why do neighboring cities have water? Is the governor giving them money? The answer is no. So if Brandon and Ridgeland and Flowood and Madison can provide water without state or federal assistance, why can't Jackson do it?
You may say that the above examples have a better tax base. Maybe the 4 successful cities above are propping up their water/sewer department with tax money (I don't believe they are - but let's consider that possibility). If they are funding the water department with tax revenues, then how are the private water associations such as Fannin Water and Bear Creek providing water? Because they aren't municipalities and don't get any sales tax or property tax revenue. They are providing water service strictly out of the sales and collections. That is also how Entergy and Atmos and Centerpoint operate. They don't get sales or property tax revenue to run their electric or gas utility.
You may say that the private water associations have a higher water rate. A google search of all of the water associations and cities in the metro area quickly show that is not true. I see that water rates in the metro area appear to generally be a function of number of customers and density. So it appears the larger and more dense the provider, the cheaper the rate. This means Jackson should actually be the lowest rate in the metro area.
I go to church with the manager of Bear Creek Water in Gluckstadt, and I've asked him before if they got any tax money, or any "free" government money. He told me that they do not. How do they provide water at a cheaper rate than Jackson, all while getting no grants from the federal or state government, and getting no tax revenue such as sales tax and property tax?
In that same church are two Ridgeland aldermen. How does Ridgeland charge a lower rate than Jackson and still provide water? Because both of those aldermen swear to me that they aren't operating the department with sales tax or property tax revenue. They swear they are operating it from the water and sewer rates and collections.
Is it age of the infrastructure? Do the newer cities run their system cheaper or better? I don't know. But I do know that I live on the city of Ridgeland water system and I had water all during the ice storm. And I think my city of Ridgeland water bill isn't extremely high. A quick poll in Sunday school last Sunday resulted in my Ridgeland water bill being similar to those living in Madison on City of Madison Water, or in Gluckstadt on Bear Creek Water.
"The poor only exist to scare the hell out of the middle class".
LOL @10:26 I see what you did there. Funny af.
Should Tate retract every bad thing he has said about Biden if Mississippi were to accept disaster relief from the feds for a future event?
Because I have a feeling you guys are employing a very apparent double standard.
Jackson leadership has arrogantly mismanaged resources and deserves nothing from the state. Everything else is noise.
I'm not sure what aged well, but seems like 50% or more of the threads for two weeks is about this dumb ass Jackson water situation. You're going to lose audience if you don't take note of the boredom, Kingfish. In short...Who Cares?
Tate: “How about $20 million and you sign over the airport?”
Day 14 of asking where is the distilled water in Madison proper?
Kingfish,
I listened to what the Mayor said on the video, at the tail end of a press conference of the poor people’s conference that he attended.He did not engage in name calling. He simply asked the legislature to override the Governor’s veto of a bill regarding Jackson water bills passed unanimously by both the Senate and House.
The City’s water system is an asset of the State of Mississippi, operated by one of its political subdivisions. The mayor’s request to the State of $46 million for repair funds for the water system, posted on this blog a couple of days ago, ought to be considered by the legislature. It’s not like the legislature doesn’t earmark millions of dollars annually for local infrastructure, as evidenced in recent bond bills. The legislature is free to attach reasonable conditions on any funds given to Jackson for water system repairs. These improvements will benefit not only Jackson residents and businesses but the tens of thousands of people who work here as well.
It will be difficult for The Mississippi Development Authority to recruit new business to the state when a google search pulls up national news stories depicting serious water infrastructure problems in the state’s largest city.
All I know is when I was growing up if I asked for something I might be given it with stipulations. If I didnt want to abide by the stipulations I didnt get the money. Little Chok wants to makes to ask for help and then tell everybody in the room how it is going to be. Sorry he who has the gold makes the rules. I do think the airport should be in play. The Jackson airport should already be double what it is but mismanagement.
Give a city a fish and you feed it for a day; teach a city to fish...
No more free shit! Jackson broke it; Jackson fix it. Quit electing progressives!
TERM LIMITS ACROSS THE BOARD!!!!
The mayor’s request to the State of $46 million for repair funds for the water system, posted on this blog a couple of days ago, ought to be considered by the legislature.
So if you were sitting in the Legislature Sam, knowing what they know and having observed over the past 5, 10, 20 years what they've observed, you'd take that simple list and hand out money? You're a smart guy but if you'd accept that list without some heavy vetting and analysis then, I guess, I'm glad you aren't serving in the House right now.
Next.
INSTANT POLL
If you own a home in Jackson, would you...
a) Sell it and move elsewhere
b) Stay in Jackson because you love the City
Brice Wiggins is beginning to look like a glutton for abuse and punishment.
6:32 a.m., I think you confused the current president for the former. It was the former president who withheld federal aid from those who offended him.
Good work, 8:26 a.m. Now please fix Jackson's homicide problem.
The legislature writing a check and dispatching it over to Chokwe's office would be just like the federal government years ago sending millions to Idi Amin. And we all know what became of that money.
If the legislature does give in and make taxpayer money available to the city, the city can NOT be allowed to determine its use, the schedule of projects, the awarding of contracts, the employment of project managers in white trucks or the setting aside of any part of the money for other/future use. The state should keep a tight watch on the money and decide where its spent.
Could we start with Jackson matching up meter serial numbers to bills? Get that done and we can talk about what comes next. It seems like Jackson needs a step by step plan that they have to participate in and learn how to at least run a water dept. The City of Jackson has proved itself inept on so many levels that you cannot just hand over the money.
I can't believe I wasted 10 mins of my life reading the Donna Ladd NBC op-ed. Jackson has been a tragically mismanaged city that drove people like me out for wanting dependable water and not wishing to get carjacked. It is still America and if I don't like Kenneth Stokes style leadership I can leave. Don't blame me if you can't flush your commodes.
She leads the reader to conclude that she grew up in Jackson which she did not. Before leaving the state she grew up 90 miles away. She's done little over the past 20 years to demand forward movement on repairing Jackson's infrastructure. She talks over and over again about holding Jackson government accountable but that is all talk. Face it, her article isn't really about the water problems. Her only objective is exploit the plight of others to play the race card. She's far beyond egomaniac. She's not influential.
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