Jackson Free Press

ht>Incumbent Aims to Finish What He's Started

by Adam Lynch
April 27, 2005

Mayor Harvey Johnson, Jr., is rarely seen by reporters without a suit. Be it the humdrum antics of regular business hours or an evening at a neighborhood forum, he always seems to come complete with the pocket square. When once asked in a hot August month why he never seemed to bake in the thing, he replies, "Does a bear get hot in its fur?" The suit, and the role that comes with it, seems to have become an inextricable part of his character.

It's for this reason that Johnson usually draws a second glance when he hops out of a Ford F-150 in shabby slacks and a baseball cap. As he addresses questions at Jackson's Battlefield Park, I wouldn't even be surprised if passing park goers don't even recognize who's getting interviewed.

Johnson was born in the city of Vicksburg. He left the place in the 1960s and says he's never looked back. The former U.S. Air Force captain received a Master's degree in political science from the University of Cincinnati and spent more than 25 years in the field of community development and working infrastructure. He says he spent much of his time working to help economically depressed small towns obtain necessities such as water and sewer service. He later founded the Mississippi Institute for Small Towns, which helped some Mississippi Delta towns with housing, community development and infrastructure needs. When he became Jackson's first black mayor in 1997, he beat out Democratic incumbent Kane Ditto with 70 percent of the vote. His wife Kathy Ezell Johnson and he have two adult children, Harvey III and Sharla.
Johnson looks much more like a family man than a mayor in his weekend clothes as he hunches forward on the aluminum bleachers alongside the baseball field, a recent renovation at the park during his administration and one in which he takes particular pride. Prior to his tenure in office, this park was just one of the many characteristic city spots that had not been frequented by most city dwellers since bell-bottoms were the rage (the first time around). There is the smell of barbecue everywhere now on this Saturday afternoon and the sound of children playing, punctuated by the occasional piercing scream. In the far grassy field behind Johnson, a cook-out novice has used too much charcoal starter and is now reaping the benefits of a life without eyebrows. Johnson doesn't seem to notice this, however, focused on me and my questions.

His behavior is calm and measured. I'd consider him guarded if I weren't used to his demeanor. But Johnson may have reason enough to be nervous around reporters. Here in Jackson, the media rarely plays the part of friends.

Getting His Message Out
"I don't think the media's been particularly friendly," Johnson says, referring to a question from moderators at a recent debate with Democratic mayoral candidate Frank Melton, in which he admitted that one of his biggest regrets over the last eight years was how he'd dealt with the media. "Part of my answer (that night) was tongue-in-cheek, but part of it was serious in that I think if we had sat down with an editorial board every week or every month, then perhaps the stories of the success and the accomplishments that we've had would've been told more."

As it is, he says, the media have concentrated on the negative, instead of his successes. "There's so much that has been accomplished, and all of it has virtually gone unrecognized by the media. More is happening now in Jackson than what's happened in 25 years. This park is a great example of some of the improvement that's been made, and we see here kids playing in the park and families having picnics, new playground equipment, a revamped ball field, new club house, new tennis courts. All of these investments were not here a few years ago, but if you go up to the (people using these facilities right now) and ask ‘what's happening in the city of Jackson' they'll probably say ‘nothing.'"

Johnson's administration has faced criticism that it's often dragged its feet in responding to media inquiries. He told me that he's willing to make sure his administration gives information on a more regular basis and responses in good time; although he notes that the media often gets around this his office late when they're working a story.

"One of the things that really gets me is some of the deadline crunches that we have to deal with. We'll get asked about something around 4 p.m., and there's a 5 p.m. deadline, and we're expected to respond to it, and if we don't, our side doesn't get told … it's sort of an afterthought to get our side of it," Johnson complains. "This cooperation thing is a two-way street. There appears to be a distrust by the media of city bureaucracy and vice versa …We've worked to make the police department more transparent. We now publish the crime stats. … It's a matter of building public trust in the city bureaucracy, but we'll certainly over the next four years strengthen that effort. Because we'd like to see information channeled to the media."

Johnson attempted "Monday Brown Bag Meetings" in the temporary headquarters of his office back in 2003, where all members of the media were invited to hear Johnson speak on recent events and to ask questions relevant to stories floating around at the time. Interest in the meetings quickly faded with the media, however, to the eventual point where only a handful of newspaper representatives were attending. Johnson had also attempted to hold city council de-briefings in his first term, where the mayor would offer additional explanations about issues facing the council and answer questions. This, too, waned in interest.

"That didn't work," Johnson said, "but we'll keep trying. We don't know what the magical formula is but there is an advantage to seeing that the information gets out."

Johnson has also been criticized for being generally non-cooperative with the surrounding bedroom communities, like Byram, Flowood and Ridgeland. At a March 14 fundraiser, Melton said that Johnson refuses to meet with president of the Hinds County Board of Supervisors. "The city doesn't talk to the county," Melton said.

Indeed, with the continued trend of white flight and the problems of a fleeing tax base, the relationship has somes grounds for resembling the relationship between a dog and its fleas. Johnson has garnered criticism for trying to annex portions of Byram and Ridgeland, alleging that the city has invested a fortune in infrastructure development in those areas. In another border clash, Jackson and communities in Rankin County haggled for years over the cost of transferring ownership of sewer lines. In 2002, Jackson finally agreed to relinquish 30 miles of sewer lines to the West Rankin Metropolitan Sewer Authority Board.

Also, frequent head butting has been a mainstay of Johnson's relationship with the Hinds County Board of Supervisors. Johnson's complaint is that the city carries about 80 percent of the county's budget but only has two representatives on the board deciding where the money goes. Hinds County Board of Supervisors President Doug Anderson is supporting Melton and was even an attempted stand-in for Melton at a community forum.

Some county officials, like 911 Council chairman Larry Fisher, say the city eats up much of that money with its own costly upkeep.

"(Jackson) city leaders say that they pay the most money for their services but when we make those payments, it's the city of Jackson that's responsible for most of those expenditures," Fisher explained during a recent haggle with the city over the financing of a city law enforcement communication upgrade.

Johnson sticks to his argument. "When I first got into office there was a federal grant and we all had to split the money. The previous administration suggested that 65 percent go to the city and 35 percent go to the county. I came in and suggested a 50/50 split. We did that, acknowledging that it was really unfair because the city provides about 70 to 80 percent of the revenue," Johnson said, dredging up a five-year-old battle with the county over funding for street paving as an example. The issue involved a dispute over what streets should be eligible for re-paving.

Melton's campaign platform says that "the county has offered to help with street resurfacing but to no avail. The city has continuously refused to accept such assistance." Johnson tells a different story. According to him, the city had its re-paving priorities; the county had its own. The county wanted to say which streets get improved, regardless of their wear in relation to bordering streets that had virtually become cobblestones.

"As a compromise, we gave them a list of all the streets in the city that were in need of paving the most," Johnson argues. "You choose the streets, and we'll do the rest. But they said that was unacceptable. I assume it was unacceptable because the two letters I've written to two different presidents of the Board of Supervisors have yet to get a response. That was about five or six years ago."

A 2003 letter from Johnson's office to Doug Anderson offers a three-step proposal describing the above process. "It's my sincere hope that the City of Jackson and Hinds County can wrap their arms around this street resurfacing proposal. Our joint efforts are needed in this regard," Johnson wrote.

Chamber v. Johnson
Johnson's appointments to the Convention Center Board is another affair that made the news—and is at least partially responsible for the defection of Jeff Good, a local restaurateur, to the Melton camp.

Two of the board members were supposed to be from the Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber had submitted four names. Johnson was to pick two of them, but he only approved one—business owner Eddie Maloney, of Cowboy Maloney's Electric City stores. The chamber didn't budge. Neither did Johnson. No no new list got submitted, and no new candidate emerged from the old list. Eventually members of the legislature who'd supported the new convention center were questioning Johnson's motives. Rep. John Reeves, R-Rankin County, had asked reporters why Johnson would want to "pick a fight with the business community."

But Johnson said his reasons were simple. The options given him by the Chamber were "the current chair, the former chair and incoming chair and then the CEO of the Chamber. I particularly didn't think the CEO of the chamber was an appropriate recommendation because it doesn't fill the intent of the law that calls for representing businesses in the city of Jackson," he said. "The chamber is a trade association. It's not a business in the center of Jackson, but they decided they were not going to budge and that I had to accept two of those or nobody at all."

Johnson said he'd made his selection out of the group but that the chosen person refused to serve until Johnson picked one other out of the remaining three. It was then that Johnson announced that state law allowed for a forum to consist of only five and bulldozed the impasse. The Convention Center ribbon cutting is slated for 2008.

Taking the High Road?
Johnson's campaign is criticized for veering off into the low road over the last two months. Melton supporter and Jackson resident Ben Lindsey said he's noticed Johnson going on the attack for weeks.

"Johnson likes to tear down Melton's record by making him out like somebody who don't know the system, but I think Melton knows plenty enough to handle business," Lindsey said at a WJTV-sponsored community debate. Melton supporters routinely must respond to attacks that Melton has not earned the right to be a Democrat because Johnson says he's never voted for a Democrat in Jackson.

Melton said at a press briefing before City Hall that, unlike Johnson, he's holding to the high road. "You have not heard me say anything negative about anybody," Melton said. "Nobody wants to hear that." Melton also responded to attacks on his voting record by saying he didn't vote in local elections because he felt it would be unethical as a member of the media, and that he wanted to remain impartial and not support one candidate.

"Well, I just think it's important that people know who they're voting for," Johnson says. "Everything from our campaign's standpoint has been the truth. I just think people need to know that someone is going to ask them for their vote, yet he didn't have enough civic responsibility to register to vote. He's never voted in a mayoral campaign or a Democratic primary yet he wants to be the Democratic nominee for mayor. That's not trashing anybody when it's telling the truth. If anything, people ought to be upset that someone is asking for their vote with those kinds of credentials."

Johnson's campaign had also leapt upon Melton's residency issues after city residents informed the Democratic Committee of Jackson that Melton had not filed for homestead exemption in the city this year though he had told the board that he would. Melton supporters say the homestead exemption isn't important. Politicians like Ward 3's Kenneth Stokes do not file homestead either, and have yet to be disqualified from a race. (A homestead exemption is both a tax break and a way to declare one's primary residence as partially exempt from seizure in the case of bankrupcy. Texas' homestead exemption is unlimited while Mississippi's is only $75,000; it is, however, illegal to claim a homestead that is not your primary residence.)

The real issue, said Johnson, is more a matter of honesty than qualifying: "The residency issue was brought up by someone else, and we're not focusing on that as much as the fact that when he was asked about his residency to the board that certified him as a Democratic candidate, he lied—or he misrepresented the facts. That's the issue that we're concerned about."

Melton has also accused Johnson's campaign people and the Jackson Police Department of spreading rumors about past accusations against him involving pedophilia and drugs, and he says both have gone so far as to try to pay for affidavits proving the rumors.

Johnson's answer to this is one of curt denial: "I have not, nor has my campaign, been involved in that type of campaign. We have not started those rumors and have not perpetuated any. We just haven't been involved in that."

Class Struggles
Johnson's campaign has recently been accused of inciting a kind of class warfare, in that Johnson calls for the voters of Jackson to unite against the "powerful and the privileged." In political ads, Johnson says that the powerful and the privileged have run Jackson for a long time and that he's worked hard to change this.

"Things are going on in the city that were not anticipated by that group, and I don't think the powerful and the privileged has any racial connotations unless you want to place some on there," he told me. "I think there are people both black and white in that decision-making process that are no longer in that process or have a diluted role in that process, and there are projects coming to fruition that they're again taking an interest in."

Johnson says that the city "no longer plays favorites" in awarding city contracts. "City contracting has been turned around. There have been more African-American businesses involved than ever before, such as street paving. We have a system in place where you don't have favorites in terms of paving streets. You do it diplomatically."

Still, Northside Sun publisher Wyatt Emmerich in a recent editorial called Johnson's us-against-them-move "the oldest political trick in the book."

"It just so happens the people he's knocking are the very ones who can make or break Jackson. If Jackson is to be saved, it needs those people. Melton understands that," Emmerich says. "Johnson does not." (Emmerich also wrote on the Jackson Free Press blog that the tactic is typical of politicians, mentioning Bill Waller and the old Capitol Street gang. On our site, he expressed less outraged than in his paper, calling the ad "ho hum.")

Johnson is resolved in his reasoning for the language. "I'm trying to do what I think is best for the city of Jackson, and some of those people I think were not working in the best interest of the city as much as their own selfish interests. This doesn't mean that I'm not willing to work with them, but on certain issues we have our differences and some of those differences run so deep" that those interests are simply more interested in backing another candidate, he said.

The mayor says the whole notion of politics is all about access and who gets it: "The access that I've granted to citizens has been unmatched. …These are the kinds of things that I think upset people who are used to a very small circle of friends, but I want to make my circle as large as it can be because I think it's important."

Courting Young Folk
Johnson recently took his "against the powerful and the privileged" call to a forum of musicians, artists and entertainment lawyers: the M.A.P. Coalition, where it was a hit with the crowd of mostly young African-Americans. Rapper Kamikaze said Johnson had proposed the forum, where he also expressed a need to have more people under 40, in city government. He told the crowd at an appearance at Headliners that he'd regretted not having done more with people under 40.

"(When I spoke at Headliners) I was speaking specifically to them about appointments to boards, because if you look at our hiring pattern of people under 40 I think you'll be very impressed," says Johnson.

"We've actually got internship programs with Jackson State students and other schools to bring young people onboard and get them introduced to the system. Our deputy city administrator started off as an intern and is under 40, probably under 30. The person running the Housing Bureau for the city of Atlanta now started off working for us as an intern and moving up in the department and then was taken away by Atlanta. Our grants manager started with an internship, and she now has that position. We've done a good job hiring people in the administration, but I'm talking about getting people under 40 more involved in the government process, particularly in the volunteer arena."

Johnson said he still doesn't feel "like I've done enough in terms of training and providing a path of development for these people."

And Then There's Crime
Another area that needs work, and one that is being capitalized on by both Melton and Republican candidate Rick Whitlow, is the city's crime—or more directly—the perception of it being out of control. Crime is reputed to be so bad in the city that Whitlow has based much of his early campaign platform on fighting it, putting that above all others in his priorities. A recent Morgan-Quitno "Dangerous City" rankings, based on 2003 FBI crime statistics, put Jackson at No. 14 for the most dangerous this year, compared to other cities. (The often criticized organization also cites Mississippi as the most dangerous state, a stat more often overlooked in this discussion.)

Chief Robert Moore tells a different story, though, one where major crime in the city has decreased in the first quarter by 31 percent from the previous time period, while 2003 saw an overall drop by 3 percent in major crime from 2002 — the lowest since before 1988."

Johnson argues that crime inside the city is perceived as worse than it actually is. Moore agrees, saying it all goes back to the media splashing the latest criminal event over the front pages or the television screen every time.

Moore told Clarion-Ledger reporters in late 2003 that "The newspaper and the TV stations go out and find somebody who will say they are leaving Jackson because this happened or they are leaving Jackson because of that," and that perception of rampant crime comes from people who want to perpetuate the negative image.

Johnson says he agrees with this too, but adds that location may be playing a part as well. "There was a study recently done in Chicago on perception. They took examples of what people thought about as disorder and what they found was that people perceived disorder to be more of a problem in poor neighborhoods than well-to-do neighborhoods. So this whole perception deal is much deeper than trying to convince people that crime is down. It's about where the crime is happening. It's based on who is living where the crime is taking place. The perception of crime in Jackson is different from the perception of crime in Ridgeland because Jackson is a predominately African American city. Ridgeland is not. You could have a carjacking at Northpark in Ridgeland and that's perceived differently than an incident at Metrocenter," Johnson says.

"We may have less crime now, but the cry against crime is comparatively louder now. …There are plenty of things I could've shouted about, such as the 30 percent decrease in crime, but that's just not my style."

Former Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics head Melton is running on a platform of fighting crime, and says he can do it by renovating the police department, which he says is "brass weary," and too top-heavy with chiefs and commanders to be effective. Melton proposes to get the bulk of the police department out from behind their desks and get them on the street interacting with the public and keeping a better presence in the neighborhoods. He has told an audience of North Jackson women at a forum at Bravo! that he intends to replace Chief Moore.

Johnson questions Melton's abilities as a crime fighter. "This is a man who had an opportunity to fight crime (with the MBN), and he bungled it, and then he got fired," Johnson says. "Now he says he got fired because he's not a Republican, and I'm not so sure that's the case."

Boring, But Important
Ranking in just below crime in many voter's minds is city infrastructure, if city ward debates are any clue. Melton says leadership in this regard has been lacking, calling daily commutes a "duck and dodge game requiring 20/20 vision and agility in steering."

Johnson, meanwhile can tick off the names of streets getting renovated as if they're part of a monologue he's memorized.

"Siwell Road is getting four-laned, and West County Line Rd., Boling Street, putting sidewalks there. The second phase of the (Metro) Parkway will be completed soon. We'll probably start on Phase IV before starting Phase III, and Phase IV is from Hwy 80 behind the Metrocenter to Highway 18. Those are just some of the major road projects going on over the next few years," Johnson says, adding that there is no one accomplishment within the city that he could say he is most proud of. Rather, he has to bundle all the numerous little municipal improvements up into a tidy little package and call it putting the city into "development mode."

"When I became mayor in 1997, one of the things I wanted to do was put this city into development mode, meaning having constructive activities going on all over the city. We're doing major water and sewer improvements, major street improvements, drainage improvements, a grants program providing funding to retail businesses and we're working with housing development. We have the downtown, which is turning a corner and moving ahead, the Farish Street Entertainment District, a new convention center in 2008, the (Telecommunications and Training Center). It's not just one single thing. It's having hundreds of millions of dollars of development going on in the city because that's the ultimate test in how we're going to do as a city: the environment we're creating for our people."

At a recent appearance before an audience at Mikail's Restaurant, Johnson lauded the new Nissan suppliers in the city's industrial park. He also called attention to the new $200 million Duke Energy plant in the same neighborhood—barely noticeable except for two new chimneys visible from I-220. He paraded a $180,000 storefront grant that attracted about $2 million in private investments in the Westland Plaza on Ellis Avenue and blew his horn over new expansion on Capitol Street, Hesselbein Tire Co.'s 120,000-square-foot distribution center at Hawkins Field and numerous other new additions, all made possible, in part, thanks to some frantic number scrambling back in the beginning months of his first administration.

Johnson went out on a limb in his first term, making a nail-biting foray into revamping the city's economic policy soon after taking offer. The dangers of virtually overthrowing the city budget could have meant serious consequences, such as the money allocated for trash pick up running out before the end of July. Johnson says it paid off, however, allowing the city to accomplish much without constantly raising taxes. Aside from a voter-approved restaurant tax funding the Convention Center, the city has had one tax increase in the last eight years.

"Usually you have to go with the budget of the previous administration because you only have between July and August to hammer out a budget. We did it in six weeks because I wanted to be able to control that process and do some things that would allow us to get into development mode. We did it and we've been able to do it ever since."

Johnson says the city is making big plans for housing development in the city as well. A recently completed study, commissioned by the MetroJackson Chamber of Commerce and printed in a Sunday edition of the Clarion-Ledger, shows demand for housing in Jackson is in the middle-class range of $150,000. The study showed that more than 10,000 households have their sights on the city and that demand is presumably for three- to four-bedroom homes with two to three bathrooms. Johnson says he's focused on meeting this demand by encouraging new residential development in the city limits.

Melton, by contrast, focuses his housing message by directing attention at dilapidated homes off Mill Street, a short walk away from the flashy promise of the Farish Street Historical District. Melton has told local union officials that he will use their training centers to train youths to rebuild their neighborhoods. Critics say he hasn't made it at all clear how these programs will be funded.

Johnson, meanwhile, acknowledges that the time is ripe for housing development and points to recent development in south Jackson. He also cheerleads when it comes to the benefits or urban living.

"Cities just can't be duplicated. People go to suburbs for various reasons but you just can't find the same kind of environment that you do in cities. Our city's on the move. We're getting ready to meet the housing demands. We're getting ready next week to have a ribbon cutting at a development in south Jackson for single family homes. About 400 are planned for this spot off Raymond Road."

It's when he's saying this sort of thing that Johnson tends to beam. What critics see as plodding, supporters characterize as methodical and purposeful. Johnson, with his background in urban planning, seems most comfortable discussing infrastructure, development and improvements. He's frequently depicted as a man of numbers, more comfotable managing the nuances of a progress report than riling up a crowd. And he admits to it. Don't go to him, he says, for entertainment value. That's not what he says his job is.

"I'm not a 10-second sound bite guy." Johnson said in an earlier interview. "My job isn't (to schmooze). I'm here to act in the best interest of the voters."

Copyright Jackson Free Press 2005. Any use of quotes from this story must be directly attributed to the Jackson Free Press.