JACK-ASS of the Day

Jackson police say a man is facing 21 counts of auto burglary after a rash of car break-ins at a Jackson apartment complex.

Fredrick Harris, 26, was arrested Sunday and charged with possession of cocaine with a firearm in addition to the auto burglary counts.

He's accused of burglarizing cars at the Cameron Park Apartments on Noble Street in west Jackson.

Harris is currently on probation with the Madison County Sheriff's Department.

WTF? Is crime Really Paying in the city...........

AS THE WORLD TURNS, So does Downtown Jackson.

Credit to Jeff Ayers on this one. Great Read.
#GETINFORMED

The former James O. Eastland Federal Courthouse in downtown Jackson should have a different feel by the end of next year, with apartments, a restaurant and commercial space taking the place of jury boxes, judges’ chambers and holding cells.

Developers with Watkins Development announced Tuesday a $20 million effort to transform the 80-year-old building at 245 E. Capitol St. into Capitol and West, which will feature about 50 apartments ranging from 700 to 1,100 square feet in designs from two-bedroom to studio. They’ll be located on floors 2 through 5 of the development. A commons area will be fashioned in what is currently a fourth-floor courtroom.

The ground floor will feature a restaurant and bar, and developers hope to attract businesses they say aren’t easily found downtown, such as a small grocer, coffee bar or hair salon, to the lower level of the building. Many of the building’s historic touches, such as the Greek-style marble columns inside and outside the building and the post office boxes inside — the building also once housed a post office — will be maintained, developers say.

The project as a whole should wrap up by the end of next year, but lead developer Jason Goree says the fifth-floor apartments should be ready for occupancy by next summer. Construction crews already are going through the building removing any potentially harmful material, and roofing work should start next week.

Pre-leasing is set to start early next year. Pricing hasn’t been announced, although developers say the apartments will be offered at market rates.

The building has been largely empty since its court functions relocated in 2011 to a new courthouse building a few blocks away, and space inside has been available for development for more than a year. Goree says 35 of the apartments will feature one bedroom, another 10 or so two bedrooms, and the rest will be studio apartments.

He said he was attracted to the building by “the history, in and of itself, and (the chance) to repurpose it.” That history has been sometimes controversial. For years, a mural depicting a white family outside a plantation-style house while black subjects picked cotton and played a banjo hung in the courtroom, although it had long since been covered behind a curtain.

Goree, an African-American, says the new development will help symbolize how far Jackson has progressed since the heyday of the Civil Rights era.

The development could also further an important goal for downtown Jackson’s business, civic and political leaders — creating more living space downtown, particularly for young professionals who otherwise might be swayed to live in other parts of the city or Madison or Rankin counties.

Downtown Jackson Partners president Ben Allen said surveys of other large cities repeatedly show high demand for downtown living.

About $6 million of the development’s cost is being covered through tax credits designed to assist in rehabilitating historic buildings while preserving those buildings’ historic aspects. The state Department of Archives and History is working with developers in that capacity.

“The history is going to be readily (apparent), but with a wonderful new use,” said Todd Sanders, an architect with the agency.

Public invited to proposed water and sewer rate hike hearing

Today, the city is set to hear gripes and complaints about yet another hike to the already overly excessive municipal water charge. We will not hesitate on this subject. Let's just get directly to the point. The city of Jackson has been continuously passing the bill on to the loyal citizens of the city for an issue that they themselves are responsible for. A few days ago, no one was given warning that their water would be brown from the issues the city was experiencing. Now the story is, the water is safe to drink, but not safe to wash your clothes in. Something about this story does not even seem REAL. The bulk of the matter is the ongoing maintenance issues that the city's waterworks piping and drainage systems are experiencing. 

It has already been said in the past, that the piping below our city are older that some of the nations oldest cities. Every winter season, we experience some of the most dumbfounded outages that not even some major metropolitan cities experience. So that leads one to wonder, is this a planned repair to help with the coming winters issues. No one knows. What EVERYONE does know is that the city does nothing to repair the issue longtime. Its all simple expensive patchwork. In 2010 the city spent 20 million dollars to repair severe issues that the city was having during a winter snap. 20 MILLION DOLLARS. And when they patch the work, it is done with iron. So were spending an excessive amount of taxdollars to repair cast iron 100 year old piping with simple ductile iron. And each time one is fixed, it seems as though 5 more breaks occur somewhere else on another edge of the city. SO the city now proposes a hike in the water services for the citizens. The council is holding a public hearing at 6:00 p.m. for you to voice your thoughts on the rate increase proposal. If approved, city water rates would go up by about 30% and sewer rates would double.

Let's think about that. You want to raise the rates by 30% and double the sewer rates with no gaurantee that this will not happen again. We patiently waited to see what the first move from the new Lumumba regime would be and sad to say, we kept an open heart and hoped for the best. But with a budget of 357 million dollars annualy, why is the city raising prices to still not fix the problem that they are responsible for maintaining. And to top that of, there is no real plan for the future. So to that I propose this. 

Trenchless Pipe Replacement 

The picture below is pretty accurate of how our city water lines are looking right now. Trenchless Pipe replacement gets rid of cast iron and iron and replaces those pipes with a durable plastic that has for years been tested and constantly upgraded to a point where it has reached  a standard for a 40+ year replacement window. OUR COUNCIL is behind the power curve. We spoke about this earlier this year about being with the times of technology and advancement. Why is this not the method our city is moving towards. It cannot be a money issue. If they can put money aside for a planned toll road and city developements of the future, then we may as well write a bond or float some funds for this long overdue project. This is our S.O.S to the council. SAVE OUR CITY. It crumples one pipeline at a time and you are doing nothing to stop it. We no longer need patchwork for 5 years. We need standards for the next 50. We urge everyone to make it down to the council meeting tonite to express their concerns. We will be there. 

More info on T.R.R