Jackson Free Press

Charity Wright has dedicated her last 14 years to working in City Hall in the Jackson City Clerk's office. Now she is asking for a promotion—to city councilwoman.

The 1974 Jim Hill graduate worked as secretary to Ward 4 Councilman Frank Bluntson before losing her job in March because her candidacy for the Ward 4 council was a conflict of interest with her job.

"I learned a lot working in City Hall and seeing how much people need help," Wright said. "People on the other end of the phone need help and I am ready to reach out to help them."

A grandmother of one, who declined to give her age, Wright holds a degree in special education from Alcorn State University where she minored in piano. She says she's ready to be the eyes, ears and voice of Ward 4 residents.

"I want to be a city council member to be of service to the people," Wright said. "When they call my office, they are going to hear my voice. I will see you when you come, I will hear you when you call, and I will be a voice for you."

What can you do from the city council to help bring the dropout rates down and graduation rates up at JPS schools?

It is a problem. I don't know if I can do it by myself, but I can do it with help from council colleagues and the JPS by making myself available to the school board to listen to their cries and see what the city can implement to help them. Just one idea I have is... when you see these children, they need to have an ID badge. If you see a child walking down the street and the police stop them, they need to have a badge stating what school he goes to, his parents' information, his age, date of birth and they need to take them to the detention center (when they catch them skipping school). They need to contact the parents and tell them: "We picked up your child, you need to come get them." The system will have a program designed to work with these kids.

A lot of the problems with these kids are at home. Not all of them. The economy is in such bad shape that the parents have to work two and three jobs and that leaves the kids at home by themselves. They hear what they want to hear and see what they want to see on TV, but there's no development going on at home because mom and dad aren't there and they need help with their child. We need... to show these children that dropping out is not the answer. Learn to read and write and multiply and divide and make something out of yourself. The teachers need to know how to teach and reach these children. ... We need tutoring programs in the schools that will take the time to work with our children and help them in the areas where they are weak. They should be given weekly and monthly reports to the parents or guardians and school counselors on how these kids are progressing. We need to work out a system to help these children.

How can we slow down the crime rate?

JPD needs to work with the boys in the school system. They need to be more visible. We need to introduce new ideas and cultures to the children and show them what it's like to live like a thug and how far they are going to get with it. We need to show them that the future of thugs is either six feet under or locked up for life. We need the parents to tell us when they see something out of place in their neighborhoods, (and) then we need fast responses from the police department. Sometimes you get people complaining about slow response or no response (from police). We have to get that ironed out and get our police associated with the neighborhood presidents and the block captains. That's the level I plan to start at. If that doesn't work, we'll go to phase two, then phase three and phase four. But we can't just give up.

How can the city be more proficient at paving the roads?

(The) city council has to have help. They can't do it by themselves. When the citizens see a pothole starting, don't be afraid to report it. We need to use better supplies and stop doing patchwork. When they go out and do the work, they need to do it right and stop half-doing it. Same with the code enforcers: They need to be out there doing solid work. Mayor (Harvey) Johnson likes to do this kind of work right before election time, but we need this kind of work done all the time.

How can we retain young talent in Jackson instead of leaving?

That's where Jackson needs to drop their requirements from being so firm and do things to make our children stay in the city instead of running away. I don't know why Harvey Johnson paid all those kids to paint those electric boxes on the corners. They could have let the children paint them and put their initials on it. That would have been rewarding for the kids and would have saved money so we can pave the streets and fix the sewer system.*

[*Editor's note: According to city spokesman Chris Mims, the funds that paid for the painting of the electric boxes came from federal grant money awarded to the Jackson Arts Alliance, and could not have been used for the city's infrastructure needs.]

What would be your approach to paying to upgrade the water treatment facility?

We've got to budget for it and turn to bonds. We don't want to be taxed more than we already are, but we need to watch our budget and pull from different places to see what we can do. I don't know if this will work, but if we can get certain people who are talented in certain areas and get them to fix this for us, then we'll fix something for them over here. It's going to take time, no matter who we put into office, because it's a mess.

How would you work to help complete public development projects like Farish Street?

I think it's a mess. It's a super duper mess. It's going to be a mess. They need to investigate the contractors thoroughly, make them give us a timeline and outline what they are going to do and when they are going to do it. If they don't live up to that plan, (then) goodbye, on to the next one.

How would you convince the voters of Ward 4 to support you on May 7?

Look at my experience. I have 14 years in city hall. If you don't know me, you haven't tried me. If you give me a chance, you'll see you've elected the right person at the right time.

Email Tyler at [email protected].