Jackson, you're number 1

[OG Goat Holder]

Really hard to compare Jackson to Mobile, just because of geography. Mobile has a stable floor for how “bad” it could get just based on waterfront location and all that brings in. Jobs at ports and ship yards, fishing / boating, seafood restaurants, hotels and entertainment needed for all the port traffic, and so forth. Too many advantages to allow it to slip to Jackson’s current state….no matter who they elected.

There’s also just so much affluent population in Foley, Daphne, and Fairhope areas that do business and spend money in Mobile, and just the general appeal of being able to live there and only be an hour from Gulf Shores / Orange Beach is also there. None of that really applies to Jackson.

I think it does. Jackson is still the government and business center of a whole state. And it also has just as big or of more of an affluent population in its suburbs. For all intents and purposes, Jackson is a good bit bigger than Mobile. That's why I pick it to compare.

Now I guess we could consider that the entire state of Mississippi may eventually fail, and thus the Metro goes down with that ship. But that's kinda doomsday stuff, and likely isn't happening.

 

[Darryl Steight]

The state is doing nothing more than pandering. If tougher judges was all it took to induce prosperity then every 3rd world country wouldn't be 3rd world.

No matter how many times you say this, it won't be accurate. The goal in discussion is not "TOUGHER" judges... it's not "DIFFERENT" judges (as you said in another post)... it's MORE judges. The state is trying to bring in ADDITIONAL judges, and ADDITIONAL staff, to break the bottleneck currently being caused by those fantastic judges put in place by the city, who continue to cause and allow the bottleneck. Which causes the constant release of active criminals back into the streets. Which allows crime to continue. Which causes good people to want to move out of the capital city of this state. Which is why the STATE actually does have an interest in stopping this cycle.

But yet instead of appreciating the help, the mayor and other dopes cry 'racism' because the state wants to bring in more judges to help the city catch up and keep up with criminal cases. Hell, the state could promise all the new judges would be black for all I care - just elect/appoint good people, no matter what color they are.

 

[RutherfordBHayes]

The question I have is, why is Jackson having such problems and nowhere else? Jackson has a similar situation as Shreveport, Macon and Montgomery as far as core cities of similar size. But the problem is, those cities metro populations are about half of Jackson. And also, those 3 I mentioned are not the business AND governmental centers of their whole state.

Then you have bigger cities that have similar dynamics such as New Orleans, Memphis and Birmingham. Those cities are just too big to fail, so ultimately there is some outer investment in the inner cities.

So the issue is finding a city that is similar to Jackson, to look at and see why it's doing better while Jackson is not. The best I can find is Mobile, with a similar core population and metro population, even though slightly smaller with the overall metro. Maybe Columbia, SC? That's a capital city and business center. Of course, they have the university there, which is a big boost.

So I keep coming back to Mobile. While it's not the business and governmental center, it's still similar and was on a bad path for a long time. The state docks was about all they had. What happened? Well - two things. Airbus in 2012, and they finally elected a mayor who cared in 2013. So yeah I'm with you. They got Continental Tire (at least close by). Until that mayor situation gets resolved, it's over. But I can't see it happening now because too much of the population has now left.

Kind of wish Continental had located inside the city limits, because things would get improved based just on that. Still in Hinds County I guess.

The difference is political. Jackson residents can escape too Rankin and Madison Counties without too much disruption in their lives. Rankin and Madison residents are protected from Jackson/Hinds by their City and County governments including their police and sheriffs.

These other cities don't really have that. Memphis' suburbs are mostly still Shelby County, so people stay and fight it harder than Jackson folks have. Except for Desoto County which has grown by 33,000 people since 2010. For reference, 33,000 would be the 8th largest city in Mississippi.

 

[Boom Boom]

No matter how many times you say this, it won't be accurate. The goal in discussion is not "TOUGHER" judges... it's not "DIFFERENT" judges (as you said in another post)... it's MORE judges. The state is trying to bring in ADDITIONAL judges, and ADDITIONAL staff, to break the bottleneck currently being caused by those fantastic judges put in place by the city, who continue to cause and allow the bottleneck. Which causes the constant release of active criminals back into the streets. Which allows crime to continue. Which causes good people to want to move out of the capital city of this state. Which is why the STATE actually does have an interest in stopping this cycle.

But yet instead of appreciating the help, the mayor and other dopes cry 'racism' because the state wants to bring in more judges to help the city catch up and keep up with criminal cases. Hell, the state could promise all the new judges would be black for all I care - just elect/appoint good people, no matter what color they are.

Please explain why an expansion of the Capitol District is needed to just add judges. I mean, I guess it's plausible that city leadership could desire to deny funds to increase their judicial staff, but it seems very unlikely, if even legal. It seems obvious to me that whatever District includes Jackson judges (Municipal, so paid for with city funding?) could just be given state funds to expand.

It's quite clear though why an expansion of the District would be needed to add DIFFERENT judges (ie, ones not chosen by Jackson residents).

 

[OG Goat Holder]

Please explain why an expansion of the Capitol District is needed to just add judges. I mean, I guess it's plausible that city leadership could desire to deny funds to increase their judicial staff, but it seems very unlikely, if even legal. It seems obvious to me that whatever District includes Jackson judges (Municipal, so paid for with city funding?) could just be given state funds to expand.

It's quite clear though why an expansion of the District would be needed to add DIFFERENT judges (ie, ones not chosen by Jackson residents).

Jackson has had their chance to do this, and never did. They've also had their chance to handle outside funds, and they never did it well.

Now that the state has to come in and fix things, you can't honestly think they aren't going to have a big stake in who they choose, can you?

 

[OG Goat Holder]

The difference is political. Jackson residents can escape too Rankin and Madison Counties without too much disruption in their lives. Rankin and Madison residents are protected from Jackson/Hinds by their City and County governments including their police and sheriffs.

These other cities don't really have that. Memphis' suburbs are mostly still Shelby County, so people stay and fight it harder than Jackson folks have. Except for Desoto County which has grown by 33,000 people since 2010. For reference, 33,000 would be the 8th largest city in Mississippi.

That's a great point. All Hinds County has is Clinton and Raymond. Madison and Rankin Counties are right there, very easy to commute.

Birmingham is kind of in the middle with Mountain Brook Vestavia Hills, Trussville and Hoover kind of holding their own in Jefferson County. You have to move pretty far out to get to Shelby County there.

Tennessee people have an incentive to stay in TN (state income tax) so if you want to work in Memphis and live in TN, you have to stay in Shelby County for the most part.

 

[Boom Boom]

Jackson has had their chance to do this, and never did. They've also had their chance to handle outside funds, and they never did it well.

Now that the state has to come in and fix things, you can't honestly think they aren't going to have a big stake in who they choose, can you?

Given the history, context, optics, etc....yeah I expect them to not take the route of just forcing their own judges onto others rather than just giving them more funding.....if it's really just about having enough judicial staff. Which we both know it's not, right?

 

[OG Goat Holder]

Given the history, context, optics, etc....yeah I expect them to not take the route of just forcing their own judges onto others rather than just giving them more funding.....if it's really just about having enough judicial staff. Which we both know it's not, right?

No, we don't know that. It's not about racism anymore. It's about having a piece of Jackson that actually functions.

I really can't see how you look at Jackson and say, "hey, the STATE is the bad guy here". The bad guys are the criminals, the justice system that can't or won't handle them, and the shysters who mishandled money. None of that is who you want it to be, regarding Jackson anyway.

 

[Boom Boom]

No, we don't know that. It's not about racism anymore. It's about having a piece of Jackson that actually functions.

I really can't see how you look at Jackson and say, "hey, the STATE is the bad guy here". The bad guys are the criminals, the justice system that can't or won't handle them, and the shysters who mishandled money. None of that is who you want it to be, regarding Jackson anyway.

I don't think the state is the "bad guy" (other than that most of them are just pandering). I can see why state leaders would want to pick their own judges rather than letting Jackson voters, without resorting to explaining it as "racism". It's plain that they didn't have to do it that way, yet they chose to do it that way. What I can't see is why people would deny that thats what they're after, picking THEIR judges not just funding more, when it's the only thing that explains what they did.

ETA: keep in mind that this "solution" will now be tied up in the courts for years, when they could have just funded more judges without exerting control to pick the judges. Why do that if the goal is just more judges? That claim makes zero sense.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

I don't think the state is the "bad guy" (other than that most of them are just pandering). I can see why state leaders would want to pick their own judges rather than letting Jackson voters, without resorting to explaining it as "racism". It's plain that they didn't have to do it that way, yet they chose to do it that way. What I can't see is why people would deny that thats what they're after, picking THEIR judges not just funding more, when it's the only thing that explains what they did.

ETA: keep in mind that this "solution" will now be tied up in the courts for years, when they could have just funded more judges without exerting control to pick the judges. Why do that if the goal is just more judges? That claim makes zero sense.

I agree they want their own judges. And I agree it'll likely get tied up in court.

 

[Boom Boom]

I agree they want their own judges. And I agree it'll likely get tied up in court.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

Difference in you and I is, I don't see anything wrong with it. This was explained in post #85.

 

[CoastTrash]

I’m rooting for Jackson and Mississippi!

let’s work together to fix the 17ing place

 

[Boom Boom]

Difference in you and I is, I don't see anything wrong with it. This was explained in post #85.

It was a ****** explanation. As if the MS legislature is any better with funds than Jackson, and as if a few harsh judges can male a dent in Jackson's deep seated issues.

I explained it back on post #32.