Jackson Free Press

On Monday, April 12, the JFP revealed on our Web site the fact that Jackson had been named one of the "most livable places" by Partners for Livable Communities (http://www.livable.com). Let's be frank here. We were all a little shocked. OK, maybe that sounds cynical—it was just surprising that Jackson was already on that list. It's been clear for at least a year or two that it was headed in that direction, but you get used to the crime headlines and suburban politics and empty storefronts—and all that jazz. (Or is that the blues?) But the rest of the week after that announcement followed it up nicely—especially the street festival atmosphere in Fondren, which capped at least a week's worth of jawing on Jackson's problems—and their solutions.

For instance, city department heads joined City Council members (and a few reporters) at the e-Center complex off I-80 for a half-day retreat. The retreat showed there are a lot of people right now trying to think of ways to make Jackson a better place to live. And there's a fair bit of money being spent to do it.

The emerging theme at the retreat was that something needed to be done for the middle class in Jackson. Housing starts, for instance, have both affordable housing and McMansions covered, even in Jackson—believe it or not, there some high-end developments that still qualify as within the city limits, even if they're butting up against the county line. But the range between $85,000 and $125,000 is an issue.

Problem is, it's difficult to get developers to work on that sort of housing—they get some subsidies for lower-income housing, and they get a tidy profit for high-dollar housing. Middle-class housing in an urban environment is more expensive than suburban development, particularly to build the same sort of houses. Of course, the trick is not to build those houses, but instead to build mixed-use neighborhoods that include various sizes of housing—apartments, townhomes, garage apartments, garden homes, larger homes—that serve different incomes, family arrangements and so on. Judging by the city's side presentation, New Urbanism wasn't exactly on everyone's minds, though, and it's certainly difficult to get developers thinking that way, too.

There were inklings of the solution to providing middle-class housing (and most other types) in discussions about zoning and FABRIC, the initiative that the city is taking to overhaul zoning and related ordinances in Jackson. If you can live on a little less land and enjoy the benefits of urban living—walking to the grocery store, for instance—then perhaps you'll pine a little less for one of those little Byram homes with the two-car garage and the false gabled entrance with the chandelier. Both newurbanism.org and the aforementioned livable.com have good ideas; the Livable people have some interesting discussions on building the "Creative City" and the concept of Neighborhood Conservation, which focuses on building pride and community by offering useful amenities in low-income neighborhoods.

(Ever wonder why there's so much suburban sprawl? We subsidize it! How Federal funds get spent on surface transportation affects how inexpensive it is to sprawl into the suburbs. And those funds are up for a 10-year reauthorization right now. If urban is your thing, contact Bennie or Chip. For more, see http://www.apta.com/transitaction/ )

Mayor Harvey Johnson seemed wary of expressing optimism regarding the Roberts Brothers and the King Edward Hotel. Sealed bids were accepted late last summer, and the city is in "month four" of negotiations that they hoped would take six months. "We have to figure out how to make it a good deal for them without making it a bad deal for us," the mayor said, hinting that the other two bidders were in the wings.

Once again the mayor talked about the Telecom center and sitting in the e-Center—which has a nice comfortable meeting room and facilities for PowerPoint presentation—warmed me a bit to the idea of having some solid, high-tech meeting space downtown. It just better have a good caterer. And the drawings never seem to show the sprawling greenspace that they should so that people can mill around and eat their lunches outside in that general area. Of course a key component for the mayor is the addition of a convention center project—it awaits passage of an optional sales tax bill by the state Legislature.

The funniest moment of the retreat came when Franklin Tate, deputy director of the Office of Economic Development, was talking about the now-abandoned K-Mart building on I-55 and Beasley Road. He told us that he'd had discussions with potential developers and began to say he thought a deal would happen in the "next few…" but then caught himself and said, instead, "within my lifetime." Tate is a reasonably young man, and the remaining council members in particular got a chuckle out of that.

About that time, though, I jotted down "movie theater" in my notes after brainstorming a little about that K-Mart. After all, it's got a sprawling parking lot, a huge façade and that blue box where the K used to go would be perfect for a movie marquee, wouldn't it? Not to mention the location, which would put it almost in the center of the existing movieplexes hunkered down in Clinton, Flowood and Ridgeland. Does anyone in the city have Magic Johnson's phone number?