JJ posted a plethora of public comments Wednesday that were submitted to the EPA on placing Jackson's sewer system under the control of the Great Water Buffalo, Ted Henifin. 95% of the comments approved of the takeover. Since there were 721 pages of public comments, JJ is weeding through them all so you don't have to and posting the more notable comments. Today is dedicated to the opponents of the takeover. Read what they had to say in their own words. Enjoy.
Clara Lewis (p.401) expressed concern for employees and falsely complained she had to go to Pearl to pay her bill:
I am concerned about the current employees, what will their status be if this takeover should take place. Before the Jackson Waterworks/City of Jackson, I think that was what it was called there were employees doing the job. After Mr. Henifin contracted out their jobs, they were told they could apply for jobs with the contractor he had chosen. Some had worked for the city for twenty plus years and making that choice would cost them their retirement benefits. Which was a terrible position they were put in. I don't know what has happened to them. They suffered in the water crisis as well as the rest of the citizens then to have this happen to them. Mr. Henifen should have showed more consideration for these people.
I am also concerned about contracts being awarded to companies outside of Jackson and the money that has been awarded to the city of Jackson is going to go outside of the city to neighboring counties and surrounding cities. That kind of action is what contributed to the failure of the water/sewer system. I said contributed to the failure not necessarily caused the failure. We do not need an administrator who some see as taking resources out of a city that is more in need of those resources than counties and cities that are adequately funded by the legislature.Then say there aren't any qualified people for these jobs is something that I don't believe is completely true. Maybe he should ask try other sources for information other than city officials. I have lived in the city for decades and until this year we've had a payment center. Now we have to travel outside of Jackson to pay our water bills. Truly a scary thought since there is a group of law enforcement officers called the "Goon Squad" terrorizing black people in that county.
Ms. Lewis is spreading misinformation. The call center in Pearl does NOT take payments in person. PERIOD! Ms. Lewis can pay her bill IN PERSON at 13 locations IN JACKSON.
Next up is veteran Clarion-Ledger guest columnist Dominic De Leo who wonders why the Court and EPA are punishing Jackson residents.
Last but certainly not least is the public comment submitted by the Order of the Sisters of Rukia, otherwise known as the Poor People's Campaign. Although eight pages long, the public comment can be distilled to a few basic ideas. This group wants the right to control the Receiver, steer contracts, and decree what the projects should be. You can't make this up. The same people who wrecked the system want to do it all over again.
36 comments:
Blatant lies. Fabricated bullshit. Spreading the false narrative with no formal intent behind it other than to scream racism. Fuck all of these people. I'm glad that the un-silent mass majority of people have set the facts straight. The only other way I can label this spew of crap is this:
Tell me you aren't paying your water bill without telling me you aren't paying your water bill.
I don't get it:
let this man fix the water and sewer and do what food politicians do which is FIND A WAY TO TAKE CREDIT for his work
Kingfish-
You have done the Citizens of Pearl a great favor by advising Jackson natives need not travel to Pearl to pay a water bill
Ms. Lewis- I bet you a re a straight piper like most Jackson natives and don't even receive, much less pay, a water bill.
Miss Rukia, local authorities, like your brother, our little mayor, have refused to function as responsible for his duties to oversee/manage/maintain the infrastructure of Jackson and has been unable to hire others to do so. This mayor and his administration have been inept and incompetent, despite his substituting obfuscation and lies in the place of his responsibility to Jackson, which city of neglect 95% supports Ted Henifin and Judge Wingate, even if they dropped down here fom Oz.
Mr. DeLeo answered his own question. The people had their opportunity to speak during every election cycle. The people chose poorly every. single. time. Those elected officials drove city services into the ditch - thoroughly demonstrating to everyone else their gross inability to manage anything. How anyone could think that those elected officials should be given any control over the federal funds allocated to repair what they had previously ruined is beyond me.
Yes Dear Sistas, the price of treating your poop is going up- One of the main reasons is due to significant lower volumes and revenue from which used to come from the east side of the Pearl River- not any more because Rankin , etal got tired of your foolishness and built their own plant- you did it to yourself while you screamed Racist and Bigotry the entire time ( that includes Harvey and his grifters as well). Thank goodness Tate was man enough to step in and save the water system from your dimwit management before it was to late.
"We want drinkable water to come out of our faucets when we turn it on, we want to have our waste and wastewater be taken away by the sewer system, never to return, and we want our garbage to be picked up regularly. And we want citizen voice and local administration and control over these services."
You can't have it both ways, not with this administration. If you haven't learned that yet, then you are too dumb to cure.
Thank God for Judge Wingate living in Jackson.
I just can’t get over the fact the Mayor’s cronies keep saying the quiet part out loud. Think about it. How often do you hear politicians talk about steering contracts? 99% of the time it goes unsaid because it seems unseemly and corrupt. It’s asking for a federal investigation. These morons need to google “operation pretense.” It’s so shocking that no one on the Lumumba orbit has enough sense to get them to stop talking about steering contracts.
I agree with 2:10 100%.
HENEFIN FOR MAYOR!
4:06 nailed it. Chokwe may want to tell his sister to shut the hell up.
Why does Sister Rukia believe that government contracts should go to any person or company other than the one that is most qualified and best priced?
Taxpayers deserved for the work to be done in that manner with no other qualifier.
If the best sewer repair contractor with the best priced bid is in Jackson, then fine choose that contractor. If not, then so be it.
@4:06
Under normal circumstances you would be correct.
But do not forget that this steering is all about S O C I A L J U S T I C E !
And that has been an untouchable sacred cow for a long time now!
Once upon a time, Judge Wingate and Ted Henifin had perhaps only sipped of the Lumumbas' Marxist mojo lemonade stand, and, albeit horrid tasting, were timid to condemn it.
But now that they've been wholly immersed in the brother-sister putrid, miasmic cesspool of failure, lies and obfuscation, they are ready to solve problems and get it over with.
I have yet to hear an argument why State government much less Federal government is responsible for the failures of Jackson City government.
Surprisingly, some of the Sisters of Rukia' "demands" are pretty good amendments to the order.
The "Necessary Modifications" list starts on page 6. Here are my agreements given short & sweet.
Items #1 & #2 - No.
Item #3 - The second sentence is to respond to complaints within 60 days. Good idea.
Item # 4, (a) - No; (b)- Yes but monthly; (c)- Yes, but as received.
Item #5 (a) & (b) - No; (c) - Absolutely.
Item #6 - If Henefin was smart he would've done this already (PR guy for public meetings)
Item #7 & #8 - Local Contractors - No, but Henefin should make an effort to get as many as he thinks can do the job, and the public should perceive that he is doing so.
Item #9 - Community input on money - At least establish something where a quarterly report is given by the PR guy. Take feedback, promise to consider it. Whatever. Again, a Henefin initiative.
Items #10, #11. & #12 - No.
Item #13 - No, but Wingate should get a monthly summary for the court, and may be already, but only he & Henefin know.
Item #14 - Yes - Publish all water violations issued by feds & state when received.
Additionally, Wingate should add that an outside audit is to be performed yearly. Shows that public funds are being monitored and accounted for.
Some of these are easy layups for the court to consider and are designed to boost public confidence in JXN Water.
Well, I don't think they are happy about that 10 year contract given to Jacob's Engineering.
As for who should run it down the road, the political leadership of Jackson is not capable of managing a water system. That includes Lumumbas, Yarber, and Harvey. Period. There is a reason most major cities use public utility districts.
The political temptation is too great for local politicians to meddle and loot the water and sewer systems. It's all about racial payback and steering contracts to friends. The Siemens contract was a Predator's Ball of sorts. Bond issues are issued so Mayors can give fees/kickbacks to their friends. Right, Harvey? Coverups become commonplace and accountability is literally non existent.
Agree, Its sad that in today's social climate Rukia and Chuck can OPENLY say they want to steer contracts. They have no fear.
Why should they? Nobody'll dare say anything because...racist.
POC are bulletproof these days.
At least the POC that live behind gates and hire personal security are bulletproof.
The peasants in Jackson who vote for these clowns, not so much.
4:51, why should the judge pander to Rukia's demands?
She and her bro have had years to fix this?
WHy is it unreasonable for the Judge to tell them to shut up and but out?
I dont get why we have to placate morons and suffer these fools? That practice has corrupted so much of society already.
Just hire on merit and merit alone and be done for craps sake. It really is that simple. Or should be.
The Raymond jail is an example of steering contracts.
Great job.
Oct. 26@5:18
Other than cell doors not working (locking) snd showers that didn’t have drains what was wrong. Evidently the design firm, if I remember correctly was from out of state and the contractor didn’t notice these to semi important features.
My Madison property value is still going up. Thank you Mayor from Jackson. You don’t need to thank me, just stay where you are.
Jackistan is ripe for "The Wire II."
If I want good food I go to the restaurant I like that cooks good food! I also want the cheapest gas that make my car run good!
Stop, Listen and Think! I want constant clean drinking water and I want my sewage going directly to the place it’s supposed too
I could give a rats ass who makes it happen!
What we really need to be worried about is getting robbed, sexually assaulted and shot!
People do not get distracted by something you have no control of!
You are the eyes and ears of your community! Support your Law Enforcement because your Mayor will not call out the criminal element in your city and say enough is enough!
@5:56
Tell us you never took Econ 101 without telling us.
Your home “value” is increasing due to inflation.
For someone buying today at 7.7% interest on a $399k house, in 30 years they will have paid over $1 million.
That’s not including taxes and insurance which also increase yearly.
At the 2021 rate of 2.89% on $399k they would only pay $699k in 30 years.
As a millennial, I offer this advice to boomers.
Next time one of us says “OK Boomer” you can reply with “OK Renter” because if they don’t already own a home, they probably won’t ever be able to afford one.
Serious question:
I cannot find "Rukia Lumumba" on the hinds county land roll. Does she own a home?
Poor Peoples Campaign. An absolute slap in the face to the citizens of Jackson.
It's past time to peel the layers off the moldy sack of taters of Rukia, Chok and the rest of their ne'erdowells. Clowns who attempt to deflect the blame for their inability to manage a municipality onto the entity that is trying to salvage what's left of the infrastructure.
Random thoughts:
I am not a great writer, but I would love to take that poorly written report, convert it to Word, and delete 80% of its or its content and still have it convey the same, ridiculous message.
It is ironic that many of the demanded modifications would fit nicely if applied to the Mayor’s office, especially those relating to transparency. Let’s start with crime statistics.
I am getting the sense that this entire water issue is all about the flow of money and in whose pocket the skimmed money lands. So, follow the money.
The mayor is an intelligent man and was a better than average trial lawyer. However, some people, like the Mayor and myself, are not cut out or fit to to be mayors of any city or town. The Mayor should simply look in the mirror and ask the image, “Are you really competent to be a mayor? Are you what the Peter Principle is all about? Should you quit and go back to lawyering, a job you are competent to perform? Has your net worth increased substantially since you were elected? Is anyone, besides yourself, actually better off since you took office? Are you embarrassed about how poorly you have performed as mayor? Why don’t you take advantage of Ted Henifin’s expertise for the good of the city and support him rather than fighting the best thing that could possibly have happened to fix the water problem?”
5:15 - My thinking about the 'Sisters of Rukia' is they have bad motives and ill-intent. They aren't trying to help the situation and they are mad the 'man' took away control from the city because of racism. Bull! All of it is typical black nationalism crap in the same vein as their dream of a 'Jackson Kush". But, in their "demands", even a blind squirrel finds a nut every now & then.
My opinion of those "demands" is that some of them relate to what I would consider to be 'good government' practices (disclosure of federal & state violations and keeping track of and disclosing to the PUBLIC where the money is going). Openness with the money and and public disclosure of notices from the state & feds is a good government practice.
Some of the demands relate to what I think is good PR practices and are things JXN Water should be doing on their own initiative, if only to give the appearance JXN Water is responsive to citizens concerns. Henefin needs to figure out the politics of it and up his game a little bit, but don't get in the mud w/them.
At the beginning, when Wingate issued the initial order, EVERYTHING was an emergency, Wingate took charge and the issue was to get water and sewer functioning, period, much less functioning well. Time has passed and it seems the emergency part has subsided a great deal. This winter may bring some broken mains!. And all of that could be bad press and a public opinion hit. JXN Water should up their PR game to instill public confidence.
Now, Wingate should plan or have an idea of what he wants to see as the endpoint of his order. I think it should be that JXN Water be a fully functioning well run public utility, and Wingate should expect that whoever runs it after his order is lifted is there should be no need to change any of the practices and procedures JXN Water has at that time.
I hope Wingate is planning for complete success and has great expectations for how this ends. But, I'm old enough to know that hope doesn't prove the money was well spent, so let's throw in a yearly audit, just in case.
PS - I live in Jackson
@7:04
Narcissists never question themselves.
October 6, 2023 at 5:51 PM
You don't think cell doors locking isn't the entire basis for a jail? I mean that's about as fundamental a problem for a jail as you can get. Other wise you have an office building with shitty offices. Not even going to touch plumbing because you clearly don't know anything.
Mr. De Leo's comments are characteristic of today's self-determined "journalists" that don't take the time to do their own research. Had he done even the slightest inquiry, he would have found that the MSDEQ and EPA were trying to work with the City for years about the water issue. Also, that the Mayor was hiding and/or ignoring critical notifications.
Ignorance is bliss.
Perfectly said, 2:21.
The o LT good decision the Mayor and Council have made in regards to the water treatment system and now wastewater system is to turn complete and total control over Mr Henifin and Judge Wingate.
The mayor is an intelligent man and was a better than average trial lawyer. ~~~ Should you quit and go back to lawyering, a job you are competent to perform?
Put down the bong.
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