The incompetent are usually threatened by the competent and former Jackson Mayor Harvey Johnson is no exception. The father of the Siemens sell-out is disgusted, yes, digusted by JXN Water Manager Ted Henifin. Lacking all shame, Hizzoner said that and plenty more in a public comment he submitted to the EPA.
The EPA asked for public comments on whether Jackson's water receiver, Ted Henifin, should take over the city's sewer system. JJ is weeding through 721 pages of comments and posting the more notable ones. Read Mr. Johnson's comment that is posted below.
Talk about chutzpah. You simply can't make this up. What was said about Louis XVII? Something about learning nothing and forgetting everything?
As usual, Harvey Johnson shows he is incapable of taking responsibility for anything. It is a talent rivaled only by his current successor. However, such behavior is to be expected as it was Harvey Johnson who blew up Jackson's water system ten years ago.
It was Mayor Harvey Johnson who conjured up the $90 million Siemens project in 2012. Siemens promised to replace Jackson's water meters with new-fangled models that would yield $123 million in savings through more accurate billing. Dazzled by the nine-figure savings, Election Man conned the City Council into issuing a no-bid contract to Siemens at the end of 2012, six months before he left office.
Unfortunately,
the Siemens deal turned into a Predators Ball of sorts for Jackson.
The Mayor's financial consultant roped Jackson along into this bad bond
deal as he walked out with a $182,000 fee. He recently pleaded guilty to fraud on
a bond deal while the SEC permanently revoked his license. As bond
pimps raked in fees, the Mayor and the City Council forced their "contractor" buddies down
Siemens' throat under the guise of minority participation. Unqualified contractors were added to the project, driving
up costs while lowering the quality of the work. As is too often the
case in Mississippi, quality is ignored when pockets are stuffed and the
Siemens project was no exception.* Indeed, one Harvey crony said to yours truly during Harvey's last week in office that the Siemens deal was their last chance to get paid and get paid they did.
Thanks to Harvey's Siemen's project, accounts receivables skyrocketed form $25 million in 2013 when meter
installation began to $55 million in 2018. Water sales plunged from $70
million in 2014 5o $48 million in 2020. Cash on hand disappeared as it
fell from $13 million in 2014 to $0.0 in 2017 where it remained until it
received a $14 million infusion from the Siemens settlement. The
result was a water/sewer system that went from making a profit of $7 million per
year to losing $10-20 million per year, effectively crippling system
finances. No money means no new employees, no parts, no maintenance.
As residents received crazy bills or no bills, the Yarber and Lumumba administrations cut off the cut-offs for non-payment of water/sewer bills, sending the water/sewer system into a death spiral that led to its collapse a year ago.
Fortunately for Harvey Johnson, one doesn't go to jail for mere incompetence. How Hizzoner must resent Ted Henifin as Jacksonians discover what competent leadership truly is.
JJ is tempted to say Harvey Johnson should just shut up but what he really needs to do is just go to hell and that, my friends, is the bottom line.
* Mayor Lumumba called out these shenanigans in the Siemens lawsuit:
18. As a further inducement for the City to enter into a contract with Siemens, Siemens also misrepresented its commitment to hire qualified, minority-owned subcontractors under an Equal Business Opportunity (EBO) plan.... As part of its pitch to secure a contract with the City, Siemens represented that it would utilize minority-owned businesses to carry out 58% (more than $52 million) of the $90 million project cost. However, Siemens never intended to hire qualified EBO subcontractors to actually perform the work. Instead, Siemens conspired with its co-defendants and used a pass through scheme in which it hired sham subcontractors and middlemen to inflate its EBO numbers and deceive the City's residents. Focused only on generating a multi-million dollar project for itself, Siemens drove up the cost of the project by using unqualified pass-through entities selected on the basis of their political connections and influence rather than their qualifications, thereby depriving qualified and competent EBO contractors the opportunity to perform the work in accordance with the law and the representations made by Siemens.
43 comments:
Kingfish has never seen an African American Mayor of Jackson that he didn’t hate and target for attack relentlessly and mercilessly. This here is what you call a “High-tech lynching”
Harvey is far from a racist but he is a true moron!!!
Harvey, like the current admin, is not getting that palm greased anymore and he's big mad. The mention of race is all he/they can cry. The compentent people are in charge now... Get out of their way!!!
@12:12
You’re a real clueless twit!!! Those that call others racist are generally the real racists… why are you on his site if that’s the case?
one of the leading guys that caused the water problems is upset that a professional is fixing the water problems?
@12:12 It has already been said but the problem is nobody is getting a cut of the money anymore. The pipeline has dried up. When you say that they are not involving black owned businesses you mean they are not involving the same crooks Johnson was giving contracts to in the past for no work. Living in Jackson is embarrasing. The place is worse than a third world country.
Melton: nuff said.
Harvey: Siemens deal. Killed any and all chances at regionalization with sewer system. $5 million of sewer revenue went across the river.
Yarber: good record on crime, Hired Vance, lost it on contracts and kept trying to stuff them with his friends. Project managers, anyone?
Lumumba: Lost water and sewer systems, Record murder rates in Jackson for three of five years as Mayor, state had to expand state police to cover Jackson.
and Ditto had the worst crime before Lumumba as well as getting rid of the monthly maintenance fee for the water system.
and who was it who went with the membrane system? When was the colonial leak reported? How many valves were cut off and no one bothered to inventory them?
Harvey could have had the economic development of the Braves stadium in downtown Jackson if he had returned their calls. He’s pathetic.
This is why you don't interview the losing quarterback in the Super Bowl.
Upset that the half-Mayor is getting all the glory and attention, Harvey Johnson rushes forward to remind everyone that he was incompetent too!
When did we get to a point in modern society where racism is okay as long as it is a certain group committing the racism?
There are lots and lots of competent experienced minority contractors with political connections who can fill big jobs requiring technical expertise in Atlanta, Chicago, New York, LA, Washington D.C. etc.
Jackson MS? ...not so much. But that ain't the politics, that's the facts.
The politics say ignore the facts, get the money, Harvey.
In fact some of those contractors left Mississippi for better opportunities.
Jackson's EBO program has been the focal point of graft and corruption for at least 20 years coupled with the rotten practice of contract-steering through the Mayor's hand-picked selection committees. Thank God the EBO program is now doomed thanks to Students for Fair Admission vs. Harvard.
To those thinking this is an “equity jobs program “…it ain’t! It’s about providing safe drinking water and sewer disposal…..you know, like the rest of the country. DBE’s help get us here!
Ole Harve - The literal king of grants. Nothing in his background other than grant writing.
Where do I sign up for one of his bus-tours around the city to check out the floating turds and geysers? Remember Harvey's tours?
It's been said on other posts about Jackson that Dale Danks was the last real, competent mayor of Jackson. Every subsequent mayor that Kingfish listed, including Ditto, was an abject failure. The current state of affairs in Jackson aren't all Lumumba's fault; the snowball to hell has been rolling down hill for 30+ years. And that, my friends, IS the bottom line!
Strong language there, KF, but he deserves it. What damn nerve he has to even have an opinion, much less pen a letter about it!
12:59 PM You are absolutely correct about the Braves. Harvey and Ramey made fun of the gentleman who ultimately took the Braves to Pearl.
The only thing I have nice to say about Harvey is that he has a very nice wife.
Ex-Mayor Johnson knows that his reputation for bad judgment and general incompetence will outlive him by centuries, yet he is still trying to salvage some part of his shameful bequest. It's hopeless.
There were and are dozens or even hundreds of Black men and women who could do a good job at rescuing a dying city. Their failure to organize and find the right person is the true shame in our recent past.
Many older whites wax sentimental about the "good old days" (that is, Jim Crow days) when this white businessman or that white businessman could get together with is club buddies and get the city out of this or that predicament. How about a group of white and Black businessmen/women doing the same thing? Or leave the whites out? Come on, people, let's turn this city around.
Or, bring in the Superhenifin.
October 12, 2023 at 2:01 PM
I don't know why don't you ask that question at 811 E River Pl, Jackson, MS.
Everything you need to know about Harvey Johnson's accomplishments as mayor could be seen in that familiar element to all those Marshall Ramsey cartoons about Johnson - the cobweb from his leg to the ground.
Harvey says, "The 2013 consent decree was negotiated during my administration; so, I fully understand and appreciate the need for its successful implementation. I realize that if the implementation schedule is not working, some modifications to the 2013 decree must be made."
Harvey, it's been eleven years since the consent decree where you agreed, on behalf of the city, to fix the water system. A "schedule" is not the problem. Nothing being done is the problem. It is incompetent mayors like you who are the problem, Harvey. Add in all of the incompetent do-nothing city administrators, city lawyers, etc... A few competent Directors of of the water system were hired and were blocked and denied resources at every turn, even to the point of running out of basic chemical to treat the water and not replacing a darn electrical junction box that kept half of a water plant inoperational for most of a year. The schedule was never a problem. Mayors' refusals to let the Director do basic maintenance was the problem. There is no way you can start fixing problems if management doesn't even allow basic daily operations to be done.
Poor Harvey is butt hurt because of all of this federal money that didn't grease his palms. So sad.
According to Harvey, " This basic tenet of democratic government has been set aside by the creation of Jxn Water. And now, the federal government is contemplating the same for making improvements to the sewer system." It's a shame that the basic tenet of democratic government has failed to supply a city government that has failed at just about every turn to the point that the federal government has to step in and solve some of the basic problems that our city cannot solve. Our city government can not manage our crime problems, our water problems, our street problems, our zoo problems, our school house problems, our sewer problems, our traffic problems, etc. etc. The basic tenet of a city government is to provide a safe, clean, healthy city for it's citizens to live and enjoy. Our city fathers are failures in doing this.
Harvey Johnson wrote:
"The right to vote to elect public officials to oversee the affairs of local government was not available to a great majority of the citizens of Jackson a few decades ago."
You mean like before the Civil Rights Act of 1964? To be of voting age before then, one would now have to be 78 years old.
So, Harvey, 60 years is "a few decades," and "a great majority of the citizens of Jackson" are at least 78 years old?
Harvey and 2 Lumumbas with Yarber between them, apparently put their autocratic rule, even if utterly incompetent and destructive, above the citizen's right to functioning services, clean water and sewer removal. EPA feds have no duty to elected officials who lie, procrastinate and obfuscate while the People suffer, are cheated and deprived of a minimum quality of life. Johnson won't accept that he, among others, could not do their job and rlisked the health and lives of a whole city.
Does an election give a foolish, lazy mayor the right to ruin their city? MS needs a path to recall worthless, destructive mayors.
I am guessing that Ted being put in charge is costing Johnson some money in consultant fees. Millions of graft and kickback paid over the years and Harvey had still been it the loop.
I dealt with HJ for many years going back to his days at MIST. I don't recall any racial issues with him, but I also don't recall him ever doing a single thing other than run his mouth. He never worked on squat, including paper.
This is disgusting, Jackson is getting $600 million for water, and will be getting more money for sewer. And the folks in the city can’t just say “thank you” and get the hell out of the way. Instead, they gripe about who might get the work being bid. And let me be clear that the suburbs don’t get all this free money.
No one single person has done more to hurt the city than Harvey.
He STOPPED packing roads, switched to patching only. We may never dig out of that hole.
Siemens disaster.
Letting the mbraves stadium slip away and be built in Pearl.
It's best to not think about how much better off we would be if he had never been mayor.
Some people have no shame. Mr. Johnson is a prime example of that fault.
And he wouldn't return Puckett's calls
7:41, good points but far worse decisions before and after. Have we forgotten the fire department killing spree, or the accepting of those with a criminal background on the police force, or the annexation into Madison Co without providing services - all before Harvey. The Harvey and since Harvey eras are well chronicled in these and other pages and public dockets. Over a long arc Jackson has experienced an ever worsening demise. Plenty of blame to go around.
Having said that, Harvey should sit down and shut the hell up because many of the comments on this thread are spot TF on.
Harvey Johnson you asked for it! Enjoy your retirement and don’t say another word about Jackson Ms. Your comments are under advisement!
Judge Wingate has taken you off his Christmas Party list and the Mayor has invited you to dinner at Char!
Harvey=LOSER!!
Puckett has a beautiful facility in Flowood, including room for expansion. Going by their old locate at Highway 80 & Lynch makes me wonder how they ever thrived. The facilities are as different as night and day. I know their employees and customers are happy with the change.
Serious question - does Ted have a sense of humor?
We all better hope he does, because he is Jackson's last chance, and he might be too late. Man is definitely earning his salary.
Harvey Johnson can kiss my ass. All disgust, of which I have a gracious plenty, has been, is now, and shall henceforth be directed at Harvey Siemens Johnson and grifter extraordinaire Antar Lumumba. SO ORDERED.
@10:44 Ted is well qualified and is doing a great job. However, he isn't "Jackson's last chance". There are tons of qualified folks who could do the job that Ted is doing. Ted has the 2 main resources needed. One is a pot of free money, and the other is a judge keeping the city officials away from him and the system. With those 2 things, there are others who could step in and do the job that Ted is doing. And that isn't critical of Ted, as I think he is doing a wonderful job.
Jackson's last chance has come and gone. Nothing can turn it around.
Harvey being the dismal failure he was as mayor, is just PO'd he can't get on TV and yell about racism anymore to try and detract on just how bad his administration was.
"Conned the city council"
So they are helpless victims???? Are you kidding me???? They have fewer resources that one man???? REALLY??? They can't read or find a competent person to enlighten them ????
It's so easy to target one person...especially the most recognizable one at the top.
The City Council exists to prevent these sorts of shenanigans. Instead, they act as a ventilating system for every citizen with anger management issues and the politically delusional.
Their publicly held council meetings are disorganized and unproductive and their individual moments to "grandstand" for themselves.
Pick a well functioning city of the same size and contrast and compare their rules of self governance and decision making.
Yet, time and again, the council is "let off the hook". We've had only two who tried to do their jobs. They tried to "educate" their fellow members on debated issues and offer solutions successful elsewhere, but the "parties" can't have the " other party" have a successful solution to any problem.
"Us/Them" attitudes in politics were unproductive back when most citizens were smart enough not to be trapped into playing the "game". I miss the good old days when "nice" and " mentally healthy" people understood that how one votes and how one worships was no else's business unless they harmed themselves or others.
Was Siemens a "fox in the chicken house", you bet! Did anyone in the other political party catch it? NO.
There are " doers" and "self- promoters" in politics and we seem to be getting worse rather than better at recognizing them.
Hamas and ISIS and everyone inhumane regime do "our way or no way" and have a " supreme leader" seen and invincible and whose every bad deed is "excused" or "explained away".
Now we can't declare war if we are attacked or Iran blows up our ships as we have no functioning Congress. Tuberville has succeeded in keeping our top military officers from having the authority they will need to defend us!
Y'all also keep pretending that OUR divisions didn't empower Hamas just as it empowered Putin to take Crimea and become more ambitious. Pretend our REAL diplomats on the ground didn't try to warn us all. Pretend that missiles can't reach our shores and that the likes of those great military minds and that Trump can save us because everyone overseas " likes" and doesn't care about their own power, countries or themselves.
And, you weekend warriors keep on pretending you are an army with real military leadership and you can defend your homes against a trained assault team when the guys that govern and some extreme idiots have further divided us so we aren't united (See Israel).
@10:48 AM - Please take your meds.
Pound sand, Harvey. Your incompetence set the stage for the destruction of our water system. I've finally received bills on three accounts, all with new meters installed a few months ago. I had some questions and called JXN WATER this morning. They answered my call within three minutes, were very nice, patient and understanding. They even called me back this afternoon with some follow up questions. I hope to meet with them in person, if possible, next week to square up my accounts. As far as I'm concerned, Harvey and all the other grifters can jump in the Pearl.
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