OT - Jackson Water Situation

[NewTweederEndzoneDance]

I don't know the details, but I do believe there has to be two sides to the story. I know people who have worked with the City on projects before that have gone completely sideways because they can't get anyone in the City to some basic information gathering that is needed to make the project successful. At some point, you just go upside down on the contract and halt work. I've also seen international companies suffer the same fate and send the City formal notification that they were removing all project resources on their side because everybody at the City was "too busy" to provide some very easy, fundamental information/work that would help the project succeed. That unwillingness to do ANY work at all forced the project to failure as it was something that only a City employee could do/know.

Siemens might have been all Siemen's fault, but I'm very skeptical of that.

I also can't imagine going backwards to in person meter reading. Can you imagine what you would have to pay someone to drive around Jackson and read meters? The chance of getting randomly shot coupled with the odds that someone takes issue with you being a part of them having to pay their water bill is too much.

The Siemens project was a failure because the city required Siemens to hire the city's preferred subcontractor, that didn't know how to do the work, to install the new meters (so the powers that be could take their cut), required Siemens to hire the city's preferred subcontractor, that didn't know how to do the work, to train the city on reading the meters (so the powers that be could take another cut), required Siemens to hire the city's preferred contractor, that didn't know how to do the work, to do all the IT work so it would all run smoothly (so the powers that be could take yet another cut), and then the city employees who were not used to doing any work, predictably didn't bother to learn to use the new system. I can't imagine why it failed.

Now we're getting new water meters, again. Rinse and repeat the above steps and watch the same results play out. The people that run Jackson are often inept, but more often the perception is that it is "their turn" to get theirs from taking their cut. Ignoring that it shouldn't work this way in the first place, the problem is that these days the people getting fat off the system don't at least find people or companies that will give them their cut while still actually knowing how to do the work they contracted for.

**All my opinion, of course.

 

[BoomBoom.sixpack]

Alright, I just have a few questions about Jackson and their 20 year ongoing issue with their water system.

1. Water utility is paid for per gallon as you use it. The money should pay for the water processes and distribution system needed to transport the water. What is the 17n problem. This should pay for itself.
2. Even after all the water bills have been paid, the city also has a tax base that could have been used to supplement the water proceeds to fix the system.
3. What else am I missing? The leadership in Jackson seems to be 17n incompetent to say the least. Why do they continue to elect totally incompetent people?

I think the under the radar problem is our political system can't really handle replacing aging infrastructure. Too many (political) incentives to defer maintenance and kick the can down the road. Cheap fix gets applied on top of cheap fix, increasing the total long term costs, but they keep doing it and keep making the problem worse. The problem is hitting cities first because they have the oldest infrastructure and the biggest overall squeeze on funding. But I don't see how any area of our country would fare better, in general. The Republican MS state govt doesn't have a better track record with roads, bridges, etc, and they get a crap ton of federal funding for that.

The not so under the radar problem is the state govt is hostile to the city of Jackson. Not the only reason for sure for Jackson's problems, but they sure aren't helping.

 

[Drebin]

I’m not sure that its a political issue as much as it is a general incompetence / corruption issue. I certainly don’t remember any candidates running on a “free water” platform when trying to get elected to mayor or city council in Jackson. The fact that you have people who WANT to pay for their water but still can’t do it proves to me that its just basic incompetence and complete lack of oversight.

There's definitely a political component to it. Healthcare is a right. Abortion is a right. Clean water is a right. It comes from one side and it's done solely to pander for votes.

Incompetence and/or corruption is a big part of it too; you're right about that.

 

[TNT.sixpack]

LOL we live in Madison and have gotten calls from friends in three states asking if we have water. When we explain to them it's a Jackson only problem and how it came about they all say..."you got to be kidding".

Same here. I travel a good bit with my job and have colleagues all over the country. I'm fielding no less than 8-10 messages a day asking if I'm ok. this debacle gives the whole state a black eye.

 

[8dog]

I went one time bc I had one of those inflated bills. Complete waste of time. I still carry a balance because no one can explain some of my inordinately high bills

 

[DoggieDaddy13]

BOOM BOOM!

 

[TNT.sixpack]

Alright, I just have a few questions about Jackson and their 20 year ongoing issue with their water system.

1. Water utility is paid for per gallon as you use it. The money should pay for the water processes and distribution system needed to transport the water. What is the 17n problem. This should pay for itself.
2. Even after all the water bills have been paid, the city also has a tax base that could have been used to supplement the water proceeds to fix the system.
3. What else am I missing? The leadership in Jackson seems to be 17n incompetent to say the least. Why do they continue to elect totally incompetent people?

The city leaders have always felt the state should pay to correct this problem and should take ownership of it. That stems a lot from the fact that most state agencies, the capital and the Governor's mansion area in downtown Jackson. The state already had to pay for repaving of streets around the capital complex and now capital police have increased their jurisdiction to everything between Fondren and Capital street. Water woes were next on the list. The state's "failure" to do so in their minds, is political and racial. And the majority of their constituents feel the same way. So, the same city leaders will continue to get reelected by their constituency. You don't have to look hard to find residents speaking up that "its about time the state helped....". Damn what the law says, it's a mindset. And, they got what they wanted. The state is stepping in to fix it.

 

[Shmuley]

Let’s try to keep the drinking water crisis separate from the waste water crisis. Two, different crises people. MSDH has jurisdiction over drinking water.

We have too many ****** Jackson leadership issues going at the same time.

 

[thatsbaseball]

And little to no concern about the horrendous murder rate in Jackson. I guess life itself is on down the list somewhere as a "right".

 

[Smoked Toag]

The city leaders have always felt the state should pay to correct this problem and should take ownership of it. That stems a lot from the fact that most state agencies, the capital and the Governor's mansion area in downtown Jackson. The state already had to pay for repaving of streets around the capital complex and now capital police have increased their jurisdiction to everything between Fondren and Capital street. Water woes were next on the list. The state's "failure" to do so in their minds, is political and racial. And the majority of their constituents feel the same way. So, the same city leaders will continue to get reelected by their constituency. You don't have to look hard to find residents speaking up that "its about time the state helped....". Damn what the law says, it's a mindset. And, they got what they wanted. The state is stepping in to fix it.

Well - it's not just Jackson needing the state. The state needs Jackson too. There are incentives to help out. And hopefully, some type of federal grant assurances will be put in place as well, now that they are getting federal money.

 

[harrybollocks]

Maybe we should invade America. Use our military to blow it up and rebuild it.

We somehow manage to find endless trillions for foreign wars.

I think the under the radar problem is our political system can't really handle replacing aging infrastructure. Too many (political) incentives to defer maintenance and kick the can down the road. Cheap fix gets applied on top of cheap fix, increasing the total long term costs, but they keep doing it and keep making the problem worse. The problem is hitting cities first because they have the oldest infrastructure and the biggest overall squeeze on funding. But I don't see how any area of our country would fare better, in general. The Republican MS state govt doesn't have a better track record with roads, bridges, etc, and they get a crap ton of federal funding for that.

The not so under the radar problem is the state govt is hostile to the city of Jackson. Not the only reason for sure for Jackson's problems, but they sure aren't helping.

 

[Shmuley]

"The State does not pay its water bills." - Lumumba, March 13, 2021, to the New York Times. Reckon why the state agencies and state legislature would be hostile when the mayor lies to the national press about them for political gamesmanship purposes?

 

[harrybollocks]

It's like the recall effort in Nola. Totally incompetent mayor has to claim it's because she's a black woman.