Thursday, March 27, 2025

Is the OneLine the Dummy Line?

All talk and no action.  Such can be used to describe Jackson's OneLine project.  



The Lumumba administration heralded a project that would revolutionize public transportation in Jackson.  The city announced in a January 18, 2019 press release: 

Monday, the City of Jackson announced that it has been awarded $1million from the Federal Transit Administration to plan for the development of the ONELINE project, a 5-mile multi-modal corridor that aims to connect neighborhood nodes, institutions, and economic centers in central Jackson.

The funding received by the City of Jackson is part of a total $16.6 million awarded to 20 organizations around the country by the FTA to support comprehensive planning projects that improve access to public transportation. The funds are made available through the FTA’s Pilot Program for Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Planning, which assists communities that are developing new or expanding mass transit systems. 

The City of Jackson’s  ONELINE project will directly impact a 20 square mile area of the city stretching from Jackson State University to Downtown to Fondren. This core area contains the highest concentration of employment and institutions in the state. Some of the major institutions include Jackson State University, Millsaps College, Belhaven University, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Baptist Medical Center, along with the City, County, and State Government Offices. The ONELINE project has the potential to create new waves of investment in reshaping the development of the corridor and take advantage of demand for walkable-transit oriented urban spaces. The introduction of a bus rapid transit system (BRT) along the corridor will catalyze development and increase employment opportunities for the residents of Jackson. 

Over the past year the Department of Planning and Development has been working on the ONELINE project with a steering committee made up of major institutions along the corridor which include University of Mississippi Medical Center, Millsaps College, Jackson ADA Council, Jackson State University, Fondren Renaissance, Belhaven University, and Downtown Jackson Partners. 

Planning and Development Director Mukesh Kumar said, “We plan to move our city toward the model of Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS). ONELINE is the major step forward in that direction. With the backbone of robust public transit, we expect to respond to the mobility needs of all citizens regardless of their physical, economic, and age status.” 

Little to no action has been taken since the city announced the OneLine project. JJ submitted a public records request for a list of all expenditures under the $1 million FTA grant.  The city said there were no such expenditures . No mention has been made of OneLine for years.   However, the project is still posted on the city's website. 





 So, whatever happened to the OneLine project? 

 


Dummy line? Glad you asked.

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

That money likely bought a few luxury cars, condos on the Gulf, and fact-finding trips to Paris/London/Rome. Right?

Anonymous said...

Add it to the list of non-existent or non-functioning services referenced on the City of Jackson website. The 3-1-1 app and website haven't worked for years. No way to verify whether a certain pothole, etc. has been called in or check the status other than to call the phone number and hope they answer/add it to the list. The mayor should be too embarrassed to seek another term yet here he is.

Anonymous said...

Sooooo, what did they really spend the money on??

Kingfish said...

Well, the city said no expenditures or grants were made out of the federal grant. No reason not to believe them as it has never lied about that sort of thing before. Did it actually receive the money? Checked with MDOT and it did NOT pass through MDOT.

Anonymous said...

At least Jackson got its Greyhound bus service back. After all, it is the capital city.

Anonymous said...

Lets be honest. Jackson is not a pedestrian city. There are no sidewalks. Shopping is pretty much defunct. All the service industry jobs are in the surrounding suburbs, who do not want to extend public transit into their locale.

This place is a logistical nightmare - stuff keeps getting spread out away from the city center. There is no development plan in place, that compliments the city and the suburbs.

The sh*t show continues.

Kingfish said...

The whole plan sounded like something Dr. Blaine and Dr. Kumar cooked up. Typical PhD crap, a lot of yapping and planning but no action.

Anonymous said...

What is "BRRRRRRRRRRT"? The sound a Glock with a switch makes.

Anonymous said...

I've been wondering what happened to this. The city doesn't even have decent bus stops for those needing them. The bus stop at the VA hospital is a tiny dirt patch squeezed between the street and landscaping. The bus stop at Northside Drive by Corner Market is a tiny dirt patch squeezed between the street and parking lot. It's as though those forced to use the bus must endure more challenges. Many of the riders are the elderly or people with disabilities. There are no bus shelters for protection from sun or rain.

Anonymous said...

WTH is a neighborhood node?

Do we have those in MS?

Anonymous said...

Well- We do have one big DUMMY

Anonymous said...

My guess is if they did receive the funds, they went straight into the general fund rather than being earmarked for this program. Does anyone really think the City took the time to track whether grant funds were expended properly if they didn't even have a grant writer on staff or a grants department until the last year?

This map from the DOT website shows the status of award recipients. Not sure how often it is updated, but still shows Jackson's planning study as "underway" and links to the COJ website above. Other grant recipients have detailed updates on progress and completion timelines on their websites, but good luck getting that from Jackson.

https://usdot.maps.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/43f17f4747974722bca7f054e3eff743

And people wonder why the state doesn't want to allocate money to this administration...

I wondered if any of this money could have gone towards the bike lanes added on Meadowbrook headed towards Fondren, but an older article said those were funded through a federal FAST Act regional surface transportation block grant with matching funds from the 1% sales tax commission. This looks like a different grant altogether.. https://cmpdd.org/the-jackson-mpo-announces-funding-for-31-metro-area-transportation-projects/

Anonymous said...

Surely the audits from 2019 forward will show how the money was or wasn't spent. Right? Right?

Anonymous said...

I'd put my money on this being another example of incompetence. I wouldn't be surprised if they never followed the steps required to receive the money.

Anonymous said...

@ March 27, 2025 at 2:33 PM - that is a fair point. Thats been the biggest issue with this administration. They've had well over 8 years to get their sh*t together. They do not have room for excuses anymore when there isn't a budget rolled out every year and no audit department to keep a handle on these matters as well.

Anonymous said...

Clown show.

Anonymous said...

Time to call in DOGE to get to the bottom of this.

Anonymous said...

Absolute garbage. Where is DOGE on this

Anonymous said...

Is a neighborhood node where the dopeboys and their customers meet to do business?

Can you locate the most popular neighborhood nodes by the number of shootings and ambulance calls?

Anonymous said...

5:35, You savior is not coming to Jackson, Mississippi.

Peace & Love.. said...

OneLine huh? 😂 Interesting.

Anonymous said...

Jackson is a shambles well along the way toward becoming a favela, of returning to the jungle. And I’m inclined to think it’s not because of theft of public funds. Such requires planning.

Instead, I think it’s top-down incompetence. Lamumba’s knowledge of organization, of logistics, of planning, of prioritizing — all essential to simply getting something done — is so deficient that he’s incapable of so much as even pulling his thumb out of his ass. Oh, he can jibber jabber. And he’s got the hand motion thing down to lend the appearance of a forceful leader.

But at the end of the week, he is a gum-bumper, an empty suit, an electable pedigree based upon his daddy’s legacy and last name. Antar is a talker, not a doer, and that is not going to change.

Anonymous said...

Actually, you're wrong. Have you heard of the Museum Trail?

Anonymous said...

Kingfish at 1:35, yes, it's got to be a Kumar thing. He was so full of crap, talking about the "walkability" of the city. Blocked off and ruined passage down Congress Street on the side of the guv's mansion with wooden structures and a few seats. That was supposedly only the beginning. Never heard another word.

Kingfish said...

Virgin loved that wooden crap but Mr. Speed, how he hated it. Said people didn't realize how hard he worked to get the street made two way so people could actually look at the capitol as they drove down Congress.



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