Jackson Free Press

Sept. 23, 2011

In the late 1980s, a researcher visiting Jackson made Phil Hardwick a prediction. "Jackson is going to become a donut city," the researcher said, with people moving out of the urban center and into the suburbs. She was right.

"We are a country that is moving from rural areas to the suburbs and from cities to the suburbs," said Hardwick, coordinator of Capacity Development at the Stennis Institute of Government at Mississippi State University.

Hardwick spoke at Koinonia Coffee House's Friday Forum this morning about what recent census statistics tell us about Jackson and Mississippi.

"If I had to explain Mississippi, I would explain it with one number from the Census Bureau: 80," Hardwick said. "80 is the percentage of people who live here who were born here."

That's the fifth highest percentage in the nation, Hardwick said, which shows that people like their state. With so many people living in Mississippi who were born here, however, Hardwick said Mississippians are not always accepting of outsiders.

But people in the same state are not always accepting of each other, either. Hardwick referenced a book titled "The Big Sort," which said that in elections, a growing number of counties in the United States as a whole vote as "supermajorities," with a candidate winning by more than 20 percent of the vote. People are moving into neighborhoods where the residents think like them. "We are sorting ourselves by ideology, which goes way beyond race," Hardwick explained.

Hardwick said one can see trends in the area by looking at the amount of sales taxes cities collect. In August 2001, Jackson brought in $2.9 million in sales taxes, but only $2.45 million during the same month this year. The smaller cities around Jackson, such as Flowood and Ridgeland, brought in $1.9 million in August 2001. In August of this year, however, they took in $3.3 million in sales taxes, Hardwick said, as people went to large shopping centers in the suburbs.

One audience member asked Hardwick if he saw any signs of people migrating back into Jackson.

"In the city overall? No," he replied. "But look at the pockets--look at downtown. ... Fondren is another example." Hardwick said that although people are not moving back to all areas of Jackson, certain neighborhoods are experiencing significant growth and high occupancy, with good housing and an easier commute to work.

Hardwick pointed to Olive Branch, the fastest-growing city in the United States, as an example of the quality of life standards that people look for--not too much traffic, low taxes, low crime and good schools.

"What keeps cities from being successful? It's turf-ism," he told the audience, explaining that if people do not work together, their city will not grow.

Hardwick recalled a time when he led a discussion about race relations in Winston County. In the group, there was an African-American grandmother who worried her grandson would be picked up by the police because he was black, and a man who had been in the Ku Klux Klan in the 1950s.

The group talked for hours, then finally decided to work together, not to focus directly on improving race relations, but to combat a problem that plagued the community as a whole--high dropout rates. Working together, the community was able to improve their students' achievement in school, Hardwick said.

"I really think it started when we sat around the table and we started listening to each other--listening to understand," he said.

For more statistics on the Jackson metro area, Hardwick recommended a report by the Mississippi College School of Business.

Previous Comments

ID

165053

Comment

While "The Big Sort" identifies a national trend there are exceptions and Jackson can be one if there is a collective, inclusive decision to make it one. When my wife and I moved to Jackson in 2008, and we selected Belhaven specifically because of its proximity to downtown and two colleges, and its diversity in numerous measures including both Democratic and Republican signs at election time, which I understand is unusual in this metro area. With the strong downtown development effort continued and the (pick a number) lakes plan, Jackson can be a jewel--the infrastructure downtown is ready for balanced development. Until we mandate where people live by mandatory resident permits, we need to co-operate to make Jackson even more desirable as a place to live in or close to downtown. If we do, we will fill the hole in the donut.

Author

RichardASun

Date

2011-09-23T13:37:09-06:00

ID

165061

Comment

You would think a "Donut City" would have the best cops ever. Go figure.

Author

WMartin

Date

2011-09-24T12:48:07-06:00