High crime, dry spigots and now garbage mounting in the streets. It’s as if Jackson is trying to self-destruct.
As we have said in this space before, all of Mississippi has a vested interest in having a vibrant capital city. Jackson is the only municipality of any size in this state. If Mississippi is going to attract more people who are looking for an urban experience, Jackson is going to be the principal magnet.
But people cannot be pulled to a city that is seen as dysfunctional. Real estate agents are reporting they are having a hard time selling houses in Jackson because of all the publicity about its problems.
Some of these problems are due to decades of apathy from the Legislature, but a lot of them are self-inflicted. The garbage crisis is one glaring example.
Jackson’s garbage isn’t being picked up because its mayor, Chokwe Antar Lumumba, refuses to accept that his preferred vendor is not the City Council’s, and that it has the ultimate say. He is more worried about his power than public services.
Jackson and the state are both suffering for it.
