Jackson Free Press

Stacey Webb yearns to lead. That's why he's been trying to do it for six years.

Webb first ran for office in 2007 for the 66th district seat in the State House of Representatives against Cecil Brown and lost. He ran against Ward 2 Councilman Chokwe Lumumba in 2009 and failed again.

"The first time I ran, it was more about gaining experience." Webb said. "It was a great experience and I learned a lot. Then two years later I ran for city council, and didn't fair as well as I thought I would. I supported Mr. Lumumba after I lost and stayed involved as much as I could."

In 2010, Webb graduated with his bachelor's degree from Jackson State and attended Leadership Jackson, a community-wide organization that develops existing and emerging leaders in the Metro Area. He has since been through the Citizens Police Academy and was twice elected to serve on the Hinds County Democratic Executive Committee.

The 39-year-old real estate appraiser operated, until recently, Capital City Limousine Service in Jackson.

"I have an investment in Jackson - my two daughters." Webb said. "I moved here to go to school and I never left. I went into business here. We've come too far to let the wheels fall off the bus. I think we have an opportunity right now to bring in some new ideas and get rid of the things that aren't working. We have to look past our own personal agendas and do what's best for the city."

If he has his way, that's just what Webb plans to do.

How can leaders on the city council turn the tide on crime in Jackson?

I think it starts in the neighborhoods. We need strong neighborhood associations and neighborhood watch programs. I've learned that the police operate off of tips from citizens, and if the community gets involved, the better job the police can do. It starts at the top and works down, but the citizens need to take their neighborhoods back. Public participation is going to be the key to a lot of our city's woes. That's with education, jobs and crime.

I'm glad you mentioned education. That's a problem that is tied into crime. What will it take for JPS to turn around sagging test scores and rising drop-out rates?

It's going to take parents getting involved with their child's education. I had one daughter make it through JPS, and she graduated and did well, and I have another daughter working her way through now. It takes parent participation. I have to applaud their mother with the job she has done with them in being involved in their education.

The young people that do make it through high school and some higher education seem to be leaving Jackson for bigger cities. How can we retain some of that talent?

We have to get them involved. We use Millsaps, Jackson State and Belhaven to do some political science studies and things like that, but I think the city should have a channel where students, while they are in college, can get involved. I think the days of the big box stores in Jackson are over. I think we need to look at small businesses. If you look at I-55 right now we have a Save-A-Lot, a smaller store, but it's doing a lot of business. ... Those are the kinds of businesses that are supplying jobs.

When you say "big box stores," I assume you are referring to Sam's Club?

Well, the Sam's, your Best Buys, the Wal Marts, the Circuit Cities. Right now what we see in Jackson is Dollar Generals and Family Dollars popping up in smaller forms. They can throw those stores up in 30 days and be open and ready for business. For economic development, yeah we shoot for the stars, but what's attainable right now, I think, are smaller retailers. The Metrocenter right now offers a small business a chance to be in a mall setting with regular foot traffic, where that small business owner 20 years ago didn't have a chance to open in that setting.

Do you believe Metrocenter will make a comeback?

I do, just in a different form. It's just going to have to be more mom-and-pop stores rather than big chains.

Another problem we've been dealing with for years has been bad roads. How can we avoid getting caught in this never-ending cycle of pave and re-pave?

I think each council should be planning for 20 years down the road. I've been researching ways to fix the roads and one of the things I learned was that some other cities are changing the quality of the materials that they use. They aren't necessarily the cheapest, but the best quality materials that may last 10-15 years instead of just five years. Material that lasts just five years is a temporary fix to get something done. I have a pot-hole in front of my driveway that is probably 4-foot-by-4-foot. They come and fill it in and cover it up and as soon as it rains it washes back out. We have to look at the quality of the product we are using and the process we using to apply it.

Which one of the development projects currently being proposed do you think is the most important?

The private development... it is what it is. When it comes to the downtown arena, I saw some plans four years ago, and their plan looked a lot like the arena in San Antonio with the Riverwalk going through it, and that would be great for the city. But first we have to fix the infrastructure and pave these roads. These things are important, but we're killing our citizens with them going back and forth to the car-shop. That is killing the pocketbooks of taxpayers.

Do you think it's important for Jackson to become a destination city?

It's the capital city. There's a lot of history here. The civil rights history, the colleges. There's a lot of culture. I think we can be that if we put the right people in the right place to be ambassadors for the city. Everything is not bad, it's just the way it's portrayed.