Jackson Free Press

When writing an editorial, it's important to hit on a few high points. Generally, you want to relate some recent occurrence in the news to a trend that the newspaper's Editorial Board feels should be a concern to citizens. Next, based on the evidence of that trend, the Board expresses encouragement or outrage. Finally, the editorial ends with a "call to action" so that your readers have an opportunity to participate in the solution.

With Mr. Melton, all that is starting to feel like a huge waste of time.

The trend: Melton won't stick to his own budgeting, which is already disconcertingly inadequate. After putting the city $3 million into deficit last year, resulting in a bailout by City Council that eats into our reserves, Melton turned in a budget that would balance based on raising water and sewage fees. He has since changed his mind about those fees, putting the budget back in deficit.

Now, we'd like the water and sewage fees to stay where they are—Jacksonians already pay entirely too much for those services.

What the mayor should be focusing on is getting more money for Jackson—payment in lieu of taxes from the state government, user fees from government and educational institutions, and federal dollars to help us build out the police and fire departments.

So here's the outrage: Frank Melton doesn't know what he's doing. He is utterly irresponsible, in particular, as a city administrator. He doesn't appear to be accomplishing anything that he has set out to do, and we're saddled with him for another year and a half.

Now the City Council wants to hire a CPA to look over the city's books. Great idea. We completely support that.

A recent ruling by the Mississippi Supreme Court in a case in Hattiesburg makes it clear that City Council must approve the mayor's appointments. In light of that ruling, we encourage City Council to call back anyone whom Melton has appointed who either hasn't been approved by Council or who has previously been rejected by Council and approve or reject them again.

It's clear that the time has come for Council to assert every thread of authority that it has over the mayor; if the mayor faces additional criminal indictments, we'll be leaning on Council to handle even more of the city's business.

And for Jackson citizens, we ask you to support and encourage Council to assert authority, and don't let the mayor, The Clarion-Ledger or any media talking head make it a "he said, she said" issue between council members and the mayor. Someone needs to step up and run this city. We support the council members who are willing to try.

Oh, and for that call to action: Mr. Melton, please step down.

Previous Comments

ID

75507

Comment

It looks to me like Leland Speed is starting to position Frank Melton for a second term. He has been on the Television touting all of the construction in downtown Jackson. With buildings literally falling down, some construction was necessary. Throw in a few government projects and Frank could look good. Jackson missed out on the era of super growth that should have been capitalized on. Drive up Highland Colony Parkway and you can see what Jackson missed out on

Author

Slider

Date

2007-11-02T09:03:52-06:00

ID

75508

Comment

It looks to me like Leland Speed is starting to position Frank Melton for a second term. He has been on the Television touting all of the construction in downtown Jackson. I hope Leland is smarter than that. It's true that he and his wife were instrumental in getting Melton elected the first time, but Leland must see what an embarrassment Melton is to Jackson. He can't possibly support him for another term. Jackson missed out on the era of super growth that should have been capitalized on. Drive up Highland Colony Parkway and you can see what Jackson missed out on I kinda disagree on that one. I don't think that's apples and oranges. People who want to live in the suburbs are going to live in the suburbs. Study after study has shown that Jackson also has a pent-up demand for downtown living and people interesting in an urban lifestyle; they tend to be younger, single or married w/out children and interesting in more "third places" (aside from home/work/school/church) for socializing and cultural experiences. I think Jackson could build all it wanted to downtown and that Highland Colony would continue to develop as well, just as could the Welty Reservoir. It's not a zero-sum game. What you might be right about is some of the influx post-Katrina that has swelled our population might have settled on Jackson if (a.) there was more housing and development going on, particularly middle-income projects and (b.) if our mayor wasn't bat-crap crazy. But I don't know that even that would have a strong effect on people building buildings in cow pastures. Some folks just dig that sort of thing.

Author

Todd Stauffer

Date

2007-11-02T09:44:15-06:00

ID

75509

Comment

I saw Speed on WAPT last night. I don't think he's positioning Melton; I think he knows Melton's political career is dead in the water, and now he's trying to "save" Jackson's business climate from going down the toilet with Melton. Don't get me wrong: Leland Speed and family deserve a shit-ton of blame for hoisting Melton on us. I remember Bessie Speed's fund raiser at Bravo! when she asked Melton what they were going to do about all those rumors about him, and he responded that they were all spread by the police. She seemed not a big interested, though, in whether or not they were true or not, or why the police would spread such a thing. I, on the other hand, was intrigued, and that's the point where I started looking heavier into Melton's past. That, however, is getting off topic. As for Speed, he needs to learn to embrace *all* of the Creative Class concept he has talked about for Jackson and use his clout to tell all these yokels that their anti-immigration rhetoric and intolerance is going to hurt our economic development. Or did Speed not bother reading the *whole* book?

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2007-11-02T09:48:35-06:00

ID

75510

Comment

I saw Speed on WAPT last night. I don't think he's positioning Melton; I think he knows Melton's political career is dead in the water, and now he's trying to "save" Jackson's business climate from going down the toilet with Melton. I agree. I did not get a "four more years" vibe from Speed when I sawthe report, which was a very good one, by the way. Thanks to WAPT for focusing on the positive.

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2007-11-02T09:57:05-06:00

ID

75511

Comment

I'm sure he is just one sweet-heart of a deal away from re-supporting Melton... These guys are like moths in a light...

Author

pikersam

Date

2007-11-02T10:05:55-06:00