Jackson Free Press

The Jackson Free Press recently completed editorial-board interviews with each of the major candidates for mayor. As this process evolved, so did our questions. In the interest of fairness, we sent all the candidates the full list of the questions in order to give each an opportunity to answer questions they may not have had an opportunity to answer. We will post each as and if the campaigns send them back.

Why are you running for mayor?

I’ve spent my entire life here. I’ve raised five girls here. I care deeply about this city and its future, and I want to leave it better than when I was first elected.

I have served the city in every capacity except Mayor. I’ve worked with five mayors, each with very different styles. I know what works in city government and what doesn’t. I have also represented Jackson across the country in organizations like the National League of Cities; I served as president of National Women in Municipal Government. I’ve learned from my colleagues in these organizations what has worked in their jurisdictions and have applied these lessons back home.

After the passing of Mayor Lumumba, I received encouragement from across the city to enter this special election. This encouragement did not come only, or even primarily, from my ward. It came from people from every ward, and from all walks of life.

I’ve had on-the-job training for this position for the last 29 years. They don’t teach it in a book, or in law school. You learn by doing. I feel that I bring a combination of experience, integrity, expertise, vision, and proven results that is the best fit for Jackson at this time. The time is right, and I’m ready to get started.

What initiatives of Mayor Chokwe Lumumba's do you plan to continue and build on?

Mayor Lumumba won over a lot of skeptics. I think he set exactly the right tone with his vision for “one city, one aim, one destiny.” He had an ability to listen to others, and he brought a feeling of unity to Jackson that was sorely needed. We need to build upon that legacy. Specifically, he did a great job of getting people to the table on the referendum for the 1% sales tax, and I was one of the main leaders in the effort to help him get that passed. Now we need to honor that hard work by making sure that additional revenue is spent in the right places, for the benefit of the entire city, without delay and with transparency and integrity.

Which of Lumumba's efforts do you disagree with and plan to discontinue or change?

I will hire the most qualified, knowledgeable, and competent people – the best of the best – to run each city department, starting with the planning department and continuing throughout my administration. The planning department is crucial for zoning, permits, and many other functions of city government that are vital to a working city of Jackson’s size and importance. These are important quality of life issues; we need development, and we need it in the right places and in the right manner. It affects property values and basic day-to-day existence. The integrity of our neighborhoods and the city will be lost without a planning department that knows what they are doing.

If elected, I will make sure that this planning department, as well as every other department in this city, are run by people who are the absolute best at what they do, so that we can serve the entire city effectively and efficiently from the beginning.

Lumumba was seen as a unifier from vastly different parts of the city? How will you build on that progress?

I actually have been doing that my entire career. I’ve served the most diverse ward in the city – one that has an African-American majority – for 29 years, and I have a broad base of support from across that ward. Everything good that we have accomplished has come, to a large degree, from my ability to bring people together in partnership for the greater good.

Starting from Day One, I plan to reach out to the leaders of neighborhoods from each ward, across the city, and start building partnerships with those leaders. I plan to use tools like the Nextdoor social media platform – which has been a huge success for several neighborhood associations – to improve communication between my team and the people who live in these neighborhoods. It’s proven to be very effective in many ways, from helping people find lost dogs to organizing and publicizing meetings with the JPD. I think we need to adopt the Nextdoor platform at the citywide level and integrate it with neighborhood associations across Jackson. We must communicate efficiently and effectively to work as a team.

More broadly, I will institute an open door policy in my office, so that any citizen can communicate with me and with my team. I’ve done that in Ward 7, and I want that to be a model for the entire city.

Should JPS board members be elected or appointed? Why?

I think we have to do something different. The current scheme of appointment is not working. The mayor makes these appointments unilaterally, for lengthy terms, and I feel that they are often given to people who are not up to the job.

I’m not sure that it comes down as much to whether they are elected or appointed as it does to accountability. The board members need to be accountable for our failing schools, and we need to find a model for that.

What could/would you do as mayor to improve the public-school system in Jackson?

I’m open to all kinds of ideas, but there is no question that we have a problem. Our schools are failing our young people, and when it comes to dealing with crime and economic growth, it starts with education. We can pay now for better schools, or we can pay later in the form of higher incarceration and unemployment rates, dilapidated neighborhoods, and the loss of hope.

I’ve done a great deal of work on the national level with early childhood education. I chaired the advisory council at the National League of Cities on this issue. Until I began this work, I did not realize – even after raising five daughters – the importance of the educational process that starts right from birth. The vast majority of brain development happens in the first five years of life. Our early childhood education in Jackson is not adequate. We have to stop putting a burden on our children so that they start way behind the starting line.

We have to educate our citizens and lawmakers on this, and we have to work at the state and federal levels to make early childhood education a priority. Only then will it translate to real change at the local level, in the form of resources that we can apply in the classroom.

What economic development would you lead and how? Where in the city?

First of all, the “where in the city” phrase cannot be part of the answer. It’s got to be everywhere, throughout the city. We must adopt approaches that recognize the importance of every neighborhood, every business, and every person.

We need a convention center hotel. We built a state of the art facility, and studies have shown that it will enhance our revenue if it’s used properly. But if it sits empty, it takes on debt and hamstrings our ability to finance the priorities of this city. A hotel will exponentially increase our ability to put this convention center to work, and we’ll see the result in more tax revenue. We’ve already made this investment (with the support of the people of Jackson), and we need to ensure that we see the return on that investment.

But it can’t stop there. We must revitalize downtown, and it has to be robust and lasting. We need people living, eating, shopping, and enjoying life there. It’s no secret that cities nationwide that have restored vitality to their downtown areas – like San Diego or Oklahoma City – have seen increased economic growth across their metro areas. On the other hand, in cities like Detroit, a decaying city center can be fatal to the economy.

Throughout the city, we need a scaled approach to commercial as well as residential development. We need the leadership, resources, and tools to help communities help themselves be open to investment, particularly in our neighborhoods that are struggling to attract and retain economic activity. We need to take a look at zoning and tax increment financing subsidies (TIFs) to make these neighborhoods more economically viable. We’ve had a lot of development success in Midtown, Belhaven, and Fondren, and that is largely because of partnerships between our neighborhood associations, churches, and for-profit or nonprofit institutions. I think this is a good model for economic growth across the city.

It’s also critical that our communities and commercial districts be pedestrian- and wheelchair-friendly and accessible to all citizens. We need to look at ways to expand the range and hours of service of our mass transit system. One way to do this is by converting our buses to cheaper, more efficient alternative fuel sources. The savings would be substantial and would free up resources for more vehicles, more routes, and longer hours.

We’ve got to be open to other ideas, too; this is just a starting point. If we give the people the opportunity to build their own success, it will happen. I believe that is the most important job of a good leader, and I plan to do that job.

What should happen next with Farish Street?

Obviously, we need to adjust the path on which we have been traveling. We’ve had some successes in the area near Farish Street, including the King Edward and Standard Life, and there are more on the drawing board. But it hasn’t translated to a comeback on Farish Street itself. While I think there is a lot of responsibility to go around on this problem, I would say that the delays on Farish Street represent one of the biggest disappointments of my time in office.

So we need to rethink Farish Street. I have always had a vision of Farish as a busy, happening neighborhood and not just a potential entertainment district, although that can be part of the vision. This is not just a fantasy; it used to be that way, and it can be again, but we have to go back to what the people who live there want for their community.

We also need more people living there. We need to incentivize more residential development, and we need to leverage the proximity of the MC School of Law as part of this. We must utilize the talents of local artists and musicians and creative people, and we need to bring in local entrepreneurs to take what they have done in other parts of the city and do it on Farish Street.

As mayor, I will adopt the same techniques I described in Question 7 – techniques that have proven to be effective time and time again, in my ward and also in cities across the country – as a model that will work on Farish Street. It’s about developing relationships with professionals and organizations and companies that can make it happen. And it’s about building a new Farish Street that reflects who we are as Jacksonians, faithful to the honorable history that our citizens created there.

What should happen next with the Jackson Redevelopment Authority?

The Jackson Redevelopment Authority, frankly, needs to be redeveloped. It must be representative of the community. They must have expertise in all the relevant fields. There must be better communication and cooperation between the JRA and the city, conducted with total transparency and accountability to the taxpayers.

I can’t comment yet on exactly who will fill the spots in the JRA. I can say, however, that we need to look at people from across the city, from different backgrounds and areas of expertise. We need developers and entrepreneurs and creative types and technology experts and a host of other diverse perspectives, so that we create a climate that results in new solutions to existing and future problems. We need to put the “Jackson” back in the JRA, so that we can build our future.

Talk about how you would work with other governments, including the Hinds County Board of Supervisors, the Legislature, the congressional delegation. What connections do you have who could help Jackson?

Jackson belongs to the people of Mississippi. We are the capital and the central economic engine of this state. It’s essential that we all work well together, at every level. I have consistently established my ability to work with all of our partners across the state and in Washington, and I will expand upon these relationships as mayor.

This will include continued regular visits to our colleagues and counterparts in the Legislature and in surrounding jurisdictions. I also will maintain regular contact with our Congressional delegation. Immediately after Mayor Lumumba’s funeral, I didn’t start my campaign. I went directly to the airport to keep my appointments with our Representatives and Senators in Washington, so that I could lobby on behalf of the city. I believe that I have the respect of all of these individuals, and I certainly respect them. I will carry that theme into my work as Mayor.

Describe your management style.

I am a big believer in the principle that the world works one-on-one. Life is about relationships and trust and integrity. It’s about being able to look a person in the eye, tell them that you’re going to do something, and know that they’ll believe you, because you’ve done it before. This is how I raised my children, and that’s how they are raising their children.

Leadership is not about having all the answers. It’s about bringing together the people who do have the answers. You find the right people, you explain your vision, and you ask them to help you to achieve that vision. Then you let them do their job, while holding them accountable to the benchmarks for success established from the beginning. You celebrate their successes, while never taking that success for granted.

I believe that, if a leader sets this tone from the start, it will bear fruit with results that everyone can see.

What needs to happen to prevent crime in Jackson? What can the city do?

We invested in a huge strategy tool, the Maple-Linder study, to improve our responses to crime. The CompStat report that they pioneered provides an accountability and management strategy for police departments, with the goal of mapping crime and identifying problems with geographical information systems. Other cities have adopted the principles in this study with tangible positive results.

We received this study many years ago. It has not been fully implemented, although pieces of it – like better equipment, COPS meetings, and Metro One – have been adopted and have been successful. We need to go further and use all of these contemporary techniques, and this will be a major priority in my administration.

We also need to foster a culture of accountability in each neighborhood. Stronger and more cohesive communities result in lower crime rates. I would like to see more police officers who live in the neighborhoods that they are policing, and we need to pay them more. We need a version of community policing that is responsible, organized, and compassionate.

We need to do all of these things and more. But before that, we need to understand that the problem of crime is a symptom of a much bigger disease. Our young men and women need a future that is filled with hope instead of shortcuts. They need better schools and more jobs. They need to believe that, if they work hard and play by the rules that are here to protect us all, there will be good things waiting for them. If we make the criminal’s path seem like a lost opportunity instead of a way out, we will all be safer and enjoy the quality of life we all seek.

Would you hire/appoint differently from Mayor Lumumba? Why or why not?

Please see my response to Question 3, as I addressed this question directly there.

Would you support an LGBTQ rights resolution in Jackson as Starkville, Oxford and Hattiesburg have passed? Why or why not?

Of course. It is a fundamental question not only of civil rights, but of basic human decency. We are all equal members of this community, and every person – regardless of sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, or background – deserves to be treated with the same measure of dignity and respect. Doing so, through official policy where necessary, will be an unyielding principle of my administration.

Are you running negative robocalls or advertising against other candidates?

Absolutely not. It’s the coward’s way of politics and it is not, and will never be, my style.

Who are your largest donors, and how much have they given?

My three largest donors are MAC Construction ($2,000), IATSE ($1,000) and Jim Barksdale ($2,000). You can find all of my campaign’s other financial information, fully disclosed, in my attached report.

What would you change about government transparency?

As Mayor, I will make open, transparent communication the most fundamental principle of my office. I will require strict adherence to the Open Meeting Law, which requires that most meetings are open to the public. This law is based upon the principle that the democratic process depends upon the people having knowledge of the actions of the government, and that government is more accountable and effective when it is transparent. We are all public servants, and this understanding must start in the mayor’s office and be communicated and maintained throughout city government.

Do you support the "One Lake" project? What should happen next?

Most successful cities have a water-based attraction. I believe that the One Lake project is a strong and very promising development, and I think that, with the modifications that have been agreed upon, it should satisfy all environmental concerns. We should not take this for granted, and all developments in this city should be mindful of the principle that we must be good stewards of the environment. I am satisfied that this project meets those criteria, and we will continue to work with the One Lake developers to ensure this.