Jackson Free Press

Dexter J. Robinson isn't looking for attention. As the 11th of 12 siblings, he learned to stop doing that years ago. What he is looking for is a platform, as city councilman for Ward 4, to fix the current problems he sees in his neck of the woods.

Robinson was born in Jackson in 1969 and got his education right here in the capital city. He attended Callaway High School, Belhaven College and Tougaloo College. He holds a bachelor's degree in economics and accounting from Tougaloo and a master's degree of business from Belhaven.

"My parents told me early on I better go ahead and get a good education," Robinson said. "Because that's one of the things in life that nobody can ever take away from you."

Robinson got that education, and went on to work at the Department of Veterans Affairs for 16 years, and served on the Committee on Waivers and Compromise and as an educational specialist for the State of Mississippi. After that, he worked for nearly six years in alumni affairs at Tougaloo, where the learned the ropes of the education system from the administrative side.

Recently, he's gotten into the real estate game, and along with a few other real estate agents, has formed Centralized Realty Professionals LLC. His work has taken him all over Jackson and its nearby cities.

"It's very rewarding work," Robinson said. "I'm getting to help people who didn't think they could ever afford to buy a house become first-time homeowners. We're trying to work with people so they can have a house of their own to call a home."

Now, the 43-year-old Robinson wants to use his experience in education and government to help his community from the city council.

Would you support a 1-percent sales tax increase?

First of all, I would have to know where it was going and how we are going to track it. We would have to be sure that the money would be used for the purpose for which it was allocated. That's the only way I would support a tax increase. If I knew that that 1 percent was going toward roads or infrastructure, I could get on board with that. But if I couldn't be sure of where that money was going and what it was going to be spent on, I could not support that."

How can Jackson retain its young talent we seem to be losing to bigger cities?

Basically, in order to retain our best and brightest ... we have to have a market for them. If we don't have a market to employ and keep them here, we are going to keep losing them. ... I've worked with Tougaloo College, and I've helped students graduate and encouraged them to stay here and open their businesses right here in Jackson. If you are the kind of person who wants to invest in your community, you need to stay and you will see the rewards of their labor.

Can we go ahead with these development projects without fixing our problems first, i.e. infrastructure and education?

If we can say for certain that the new development projects guarantee to bring in funding that can then be used to fix some of our problems with infrastructure, and that those funds are clearly defined and outlined, then I can see us moving forward with the projects. I think a few of these projects--the Pearl River project (One Lake) and the other Downtown (Jackson) Partners project--will help us address our roads and our drainage and sewage issues.

Read the JFP's full interview with Robinson here.

Read the full interview and other candidate interviews at jfp.ms/citycouncilrace2013. Email Tyler at [email protected].