Jackson Free Press

Jackson City Council President Melvin Priester Jr. officially announced his candidacy for the upcoming special mayoral election at a press conference on March 11 at Priester Law Firm.

During his time serving on city council, Priester has represented Ward 2 and was instrumental in the work to pass the 1 percent sales tax with late Mayor Chokwe Lumumba. He also led the reestablishment of bus services for the City of Jackson's after-school program. He has worked to improve relations between the Jackson Police Department and neighborhood groups, as well as the city's budgeting process.

Priester has practiced law for 10 years as a member of his family's firm.

The current council president grew up in Jackson and graduated from Murrah High School as valedictorian of his class in 1997. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College in 2001 and received his law degree from Stanford University in 2004.  

In an interview with the JFP editorial board, Priester explained his reasoning for candidacy and his vision for Jackson as a "new Mecca in the Deep South."

Priester expressed that he strongly feels that it is time for Jackson to rearrange its priorities and stop chasing the city development plans of five years ago and start bolstering young professionals and small business development. He also addressed his plans for Farish Street, which includes supporting the establishment of a production studio for movie producer Adam Rosenfelt and providing entrepreneurial opportunities for new business while maintaining older businesses that have "weathered the storm."

Priester wants to continue supporting small businesses but says that it's time to start "getting things done and fixed" by pushing for more use of technology.

"We can't be pencil-and-paper people anymore...," Priester said.. "We don't have accountability, we don't have transparency, we don't have checks and balances with regard to how we spend taxpayers' money on infrastructure repairs. One of the things that I'd very much do differently than the late mayor would be to make sure that we put in systems. ... It's not that we don't have the resources to get things done, it's we don't put the systems in place that things get done."

Priester also wants to better manage local police forces with more use of predictive policing, which he said will allow for better transparency.

"One of the great things about these new tools is that they allow for transparency and accountability in ways that haven't been done before...," Priester said. "I'm saying that we're not doing a good enough job in part because there are more advanced technologies available. "

U.S. Congressman Bennie G. Thompson, whose congressional district encompasses a majority of the Jackson, announced his official endorsement for Priester on Monday, March 31. Thompson cited Priester's platform for economic development, affordable housing, and infrastructure development and public education advancement as his reason for choosing to support Priester.