Jackson Free Press

Well, that seemed easier than expected.

The Jackson Redevelopment Authority on Sept. 25 canceled, by unanimous vote, the contract of Farish Street Group LLC, the real-estate management company charged with luring businesses to the building on Farish Street.

In a move that Mayor Chokwe Lumumba called "long overdue," JRA chose to break ties with the group and its primary investor, developer David Watkins.

"Unfortunately, it just didn't work out and it was time for a change," Lumumba said. "Hopefully, some of the people who were involved with the previous group will be able to remain involved, but I just don't think they will be able to do what was originally planned. Either way, it didn't make sense for the city to be held hostage by one long-term contract."

Farish Street Group LLC hoped to have B.B. King's Blues Club open on the street by the end of 2012. Once architects finalized designs for the club, though, engineers discovered that not only could the current structure not support the capacity load, it doesn't even have a foundation.

Lumumba had called for the group to be kicked to the curb since December 2012.

Yahoo! Sports has picked up a story from the Ole Miss student newspaper The Daily Mississippian that details the homophobic actions of at least 20 students, including members of the Ole Miss football team, during a play on campus in Oxford.

From the DM Online's story by writer Adam Ganucheau:

According to the the play's director and theater faculty member Rory Ledbetter, some audience members used derogatory slurs like “fag” and heckled both cast members and the characters they were portraying for their body types and sexual orientations. Ledbetter said the audience’s reactions included “borderline hate speech.”

The play was "The Laramie Project," a play about the aftermath of the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard, a University of Wyoming student who was gay. Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson were convicted of beating Shepard and tying him to a fence where he was left to die. Both received consecutive life sentences.

The Zoo Area Progressive Partnership is organizing a Make A Difference Day cleanup along Capitol Street from I-220 to the zoo entrance on Tuesday, October 8. The event will start at noon, and volunteers will meet at the zoo education center before the zoo's main gate.

Volunteers are asked to wear appropriate work clothing, work gloves (if desired) and bring with them observations, concerns, needs, priorities, and resources for partnering to revitalize the Zoo area.

If there are enough volunteers, ZAPP would also like to clean up Bullard Street.

The zoo is located at 2918 W Capitol Street. For more information, call the zoo at (601) 352-2580.

The Jackson City Council had a couple of hurdles to jump Tuesday morning to keep the city from losing up to 20 percent of its expected profits from the now-official water and sewer rate increases outlined in Mayor Chokwe Lumumba's 2014 budget.

Some were cleared; others were not.

The city will lose expected revenue it was set to receive from increased rates, but the rates will not be delayed as long as they could have been.

The motion to enact the rate increases, which will charge $4.47 per 100 cubic feet of metered water consumption for sewer service and $3.21 per 100 cubic feet for water consumption, was passed with a 5-2 vote, with LaRita Cooper-Stokes, Ward 3, and De'Keither Stamps, Ward 4, voting in opposition.

Here comes the technical part:

Rules of council procedures require a new ordinance, such as the one the city council passed Tuesday morning, to sit on the agenda for at least six days before the council puts it to a vote. After it's approved by a majority vote, the ordinance goes into effect 30 days after the vote.

The city attorney's office gave an extensive briefing on what would have to happen to bend both of those rules and make the rates go into effect immediately, but council did not heed that advice.

The council agreed unanimously to an expedited vote, forgoing the six-day waiting period, but because the final vote came back 5-2, the increased rates will still take 30 days to go into effect. A unanimous vote would have made the rate increases go into effect immediately.

"I was hoping for a unanimous vote," Council President Charles Tillman said. "But it's out of our hands now."

For more on water and sewer rate increases, be sure to pick up this week's edition of the JFP, which hits stands tomorrow, or check back to JacksonFreePress.com tomorrow.

• Trace^Pathways Farm in Learned, Miss. is hosting educational farm tours through Nov. 8, 2013 for schools and families. The farm is located about 25 minutes from Jackson, near Port Gibson off of Hwy. 18. Activities include a Haystack Pathway, where patrons will get an opportunity to interact with farm animals, horses and other wildlife, and tackle a large hay maze. Other activities include a Scarecrow Pathway, a hayride and a healthy Me-Popcorn Pathway, where children will learn the connection between healthy living and agriculture. Contact Trace^Pathways at 601-497-8189 or via email at [email protected] for more information.

• The NASCAR Fueling Your Dreams Tour is coming to Downtown Union Station in Jackson from Oct. 31 to Nov. 2, 2013. The tour brings in stock cars, actual simulators for the real feel of the big-motor speedways and actual NASCAR drivers. Kids and parents will get a chance to take photos with drivers and get autographs, and learn about the science of racing. Admission is free, but a fundraiser is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 31 at noon at the Old Capital Inn at 226 North State Street. All proceeds will benefit Agape Community Development Corporation’s Leadership Initiative, REB Racing Motor Sports Academy and MSI Youth Foundation.

Jackson developer David Watkins is apparently not satisfied with losing control over the Farish Street renovation project, and is asking the Jackson Redevelopment Authority Board to reconsider their decision of two weeks ago to cut ties with the Farish Street Group, of which Watkins is the chief investor and developer.

You can read Watkins' letter to JRA Chairman Ronnie Crudup here.

This is the press release we just received from Watkins Development LLC:

---------------------Begin Press Release---------------------

The developer of the Farish Street entertainment district, Watkins Development LLC, has requested that the Jackson Redevelopment Authority (J.R.A.) reconsider their recent decision to cancel the leases and parcels in that area, where Watkins has spent millions of dollars on the historic urban renewal project. In a 10 page letter to the J.R.A., copied to the bulk of City government, Watkins legal counsel, Lance Stevens of Jackson, presents a lengthy historical account of the company’s accomplishments and unforeseen obstacles on the project, as well as the financial fallout which would accompany the developer’s ouster.

That letter is attached.

“We are encouraged by the new vision that Mayor Lumumba has brought to Jackson and feel certain that he will demand reconsideration of J.R.A.’s acts when our company is finally allowed to make a public or private presentation,” says David Watkins, the managing partner of Watkins Development.

The letter to J.R.A. references the fact that the leases were cancelled without consultation with Watkins’ group and without any presence at the meeting.

“The J.R.A. appears to be putting our fine city at risk–risk of destroying Farish Street’s hopes and risk of massive legal exposure–with their uninformed decision-making. They must be receiving no credible legal advice whatsoever,” says Watkins’ legal counsel, Lance Stevens. The letter to J.R.A. documents the $4.7 million that Watkins himself has invested in the property, while noting that the City and J.R.A., in particular, have not invested any money, despite scuttlebutt that City funds have been squandered.

“J.R.A. committed over $10 million in financing to the project and has utterly failed to contribute a nickel,” says Stevens. “The good news, however, is that with a timely reversal of their decision, the $5 million in tax credits can be salvaged, a protracted legal battle can be avoided and Farish Street can become our center for entertainment and local entrepreneurship."

The letter to J.R.A. documents that over $5 million in tax credits would be lost if Watkins Development is removed altogether from the project (as well as another $4 million in tax rebates), “dooming” the project, according to their counsel.

The Mississippi Department of Archives and History has put out a flyer touting the economic impact the planned 2 Museums Project will have on the economies of the state and its capitol city.

The flyer says the Mississippi Development Authory's tourism division estimates that the two new museums will welcome approximately 180,000 visitors annually, creating $17.1 million in tourism expenditures, 231 direct tourism jobs in the three-county region with a $6.3 million payroll, 92 indirect jobs with a $3.3 million payroll and contributing $1.2 million to the state general fund.

Even before the museums open, it continues, MDA estimates the construction of the two museums will toal $50 million in brick and mortar impact, 500 direct and 275 indirect jobs totaling $37.2 million in payroll and add $2.4 million to the state general fund.

If those numbers are accurate and the state has a place to share it's history at the end of the four-year project, it should be worth the $70 million in bonds the state has already passed to begin construction.

The groundbreaking is set for 9 a.m., Oct. 24, 2013, at 200 North Street in downtown Jackson.

As I blog, the United States Navy and the City of Jackson are unveiling at City Hall the crest of the USS Jackson. Lanier High School’s color guard were scheduled to open the ceremony with the presentation of colors of the U.S. flag and Jackson State University’s Band Ensemble was to perform the National Anthem. City of Jackson officials will gave remarks, and Commander Michael B. Davies of the United States Navy unveiled the crest.

The USS Jackson is an Independence-class littoral combat ship. Although there have been other ships named for former U.S. President Andrew Jackson, she is the first ship to be named specifically for Mississippi's Capitol.

Construction began on August 1, 2011 with the first cutting of aluminum at Austal USA's modular manufacturing facility in Mobile, Ala. The name of the ship was announced on Oct. 5, 2011.

In 1970, the University of Southern Mississippi defeated Ole Miss 30-14 in what, to this day, stands as one of the biggest upsets in Mississippi history.

Southern Miss was thrashed the week before by San Diego State, and got torn to pieces the next week by Mississippi State, but managed to beat Archie Manning and the No. 4-ranked Rebels because of a secret weapon.

That weapon was "Wee" Willie Heidelberg, who died Tuesday in Jackson. The then-20-year-old junior was the only black player on either team. He touched the ball three times, and scored twice.

As Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum Director Rick Cleveland wrote:

Wee Willie was like a black dot on an ivory domino, the only black player on the field for either team that day. His performance foreshadowed sweeping changes in Deep South football. On this, the last day of Black History Month, it seems appropriate to ask the question: Was Heidelburg aware of the ramifications back then as a 20-year-old junior?

“Oh no,” Heidelburg says. “I knew that was a special victory. I knew we had done something big. But, as for me, I was just playing ball. I certainly wasn’t thinking about making history.”

Read more here.

Heidelberg eventually moved to Jackson and took a job coaching at Belhaven College. Many Jacksonians will remember him as the official scorekeeper for the high school basketball championships at "the big house."

Jackson State is off to a hot start again this season, and is the only remaining unbeaten team in SWAC play. This weekend's matchup with Grambling State, which has lost 13-straight SWAC games and 17-straight overall, shouldn't do anything to derail that.

But this game just got interesting, with news surfacing yesterday that Grambling's players boycotted practice a day after they walked out of a team meeting with the school's administration on Tuesday.

Among the gripes players have for administration is mistrust between the team and the coaching staff, and the fact that the team had to bus from Grambling to Indianapolis to receive a 48-0 beat-down from Alcorn State, while the Braves flew in and out for the contest.

Grambling fired coach Doug Williams last month after the team lost their first two games this season by a combined score of 71-19.

The response to the question that will be posed to the Jackson City Council next Tuesday (Oct. 22) is something many people are asking: Is the Jackson Redevelopment Authority still worth having?

Ward 3 Councilwoman LaRita Cooper-Stokes has put forward item No. 34, an order by the city council unauthorizing the JRA.

Technically, the word should be de-authorizing, but you get the message. This conversation should be interesting in light of recent developments with the Farish Street saga and the unanswered questions surrounding the non-existent convention center hotel.

For a quick history lesson, JRA was created during the 1970 legislative session. It’s a seven-member board that has power, under the Mississippi Code of 1972, to establish and construct municipal parking facilities for motor vehicles belonging to members of the general public, and to rent, lease, purchase, or acquire land and property for public purposes (the historic Farish Street district or the land on which the Jackson Convention and Visitors Bureau now sits, for example).

This may get a bit technical, but it also has the power and authority to rent, sell, convey, transfer, let or lease such facility and related structures or any portion thereof, or any space therein, and to authorize commercial enterprise activities other than the parking of motor vehicles on leased property comprising any part of such parking facilities and related structures, which is what it is doing with the Farish Street Entertainment District and the land on which the new Iron Horse Grill will sit.

Because the JRA board was set up by Mississippi law, it is unclear whether or not the city council even has the authority to do eliminate the quasi-governmental body.

We reached out to all the city council members this morning and, so far, Ward 6 Councilman Tony Yarber is the only one to comment. He said he is not likely to support the motion.

“What I am in support of is a proposal I’m going to bring forward,” Yarber said, “a motion that will require JRA to involve the (city) council in future, and way earlier on in the process.”

Yarber said he could bring his motion as early as next week.

Stay tuned.

UPDATE: Ward 4 Councilman De'Keither Stamps responded with a "no comment."

Jackson State will not play a homecoming game this season. Here's what is happening instead.

In an odd turn of events last night, Ward 3 Councilwoman LaRita Cooper-Stokes balked at a chance to bring her own motion to "unauthorize" the Jackson Redevelopment Authority forward, even though all she had to do was second a fellow council member who had already moved to adopt her motion.

You can watch the video for yourself (just click on item 34).

When the motion was read, Margaret Barrett-Simon (Ward 7) moved to adopt the proposal, and Quentin Whitwell (Ward 1) immediately gave it a second. That opened the door for discussion and for Council President Charles Tillman to call a vote.

That's when Cooper-Stokes launched into her prepared speech on JRA, which began with a history lesson.

When she got to the end of sentence number one, Barrett-Simon interrupted.

"Oh wait, I'm sorry, I thought we were on another one," she said. "I withdraw my motion."

Tillman acknowledged her withdrawal, and said he needed a motion to adopt to go with Whitwell's second to bring the motion forward for a vote. Whitwell asked Cooper-Stokes if she would like to make a motion. "No, I just want to comment," she answered. At this point, Barrett-Simon let out what sounded like the tiniest of giggles.

"You can't comment unless we bring the item forward," Whitwell said.

"I just want to make my comment," Cooper-Stokes again responded.

Seconds passed before anyone spoke again. Whitwell finally agreed to withdraw his second, and instead moved to adopt the item. Tillman again acknowledged and asked if there was a second. Everyone in the room is looking at Cooper-Stokes, but she just stares straight ahead without changing expression.

After Tillman pronounced the item dead for lack of a second, he told Cooper-Stokes the council would then entertain her comment.

Her comment was about a three minute speech on JRA, without specifically going after the board or its leadership. It was more about what Jackson doesn't have commercially than JRA shortcomings.

"Where in the world is our economic engine?" Stokes asked. "I believe it has fallen apart, as we listen on a daily basis to cities all around us. Cities that are less-endowed than us that we can build, manufacture and have activities for their children. It's ridiculous what we're living with in the city of Jackson."

When she finished, Whitwell took the opportunity to really go after the JRA board, then used it as a jumping off point to criticize Cooper-Stokes for not standing behind her own agenda item.

"Well, since we're going to allow comment without a motion and a second," he began (Lumumba, seated to his left, is grinning). "I'm not suggesting that this order is perfectly written, but we have a crisis on our hands in the city of Jackson, because we have incredible opportunity for economic growth, yet we have a redevelopment authority that is completely inept. I have said this over and over again, and, you know, quite frankly I'm a little shocked and astonished, because we have a council …

Mississippi State Sen. John Horhn was singing the praises of Mayor Chokwe Lumumba and the Jackson City Council Wednesday afternoon, a day after they moved forward on a motion to put to referendum vote a proposed 1-percent sales tax. He released this statement:

"I would like to applaud the Jackson City Council for its vote to proceed with a referendum to add a 1-cent sales tax on certain items in order to pay for much-needed improvements to our water/sewer system and for street re-surfacing. While I am not an advocate of higher taxes, as the author of this important legislation two years ago, I have long-advocated that the measure should be put before voters for an up or down vote to let people decide for themselves whether the increase was worthy of their support. My only regret is that this decision wasn't reached sooner, and I hope that the Mayor and City Council's resistance in the past has not soured voters' interest in approving the sales tax Increase."

The referendum will be put to the people on Jan. 14, 2014.

We just received this release from Attorney General Jim Hood's office:

An undercover operation has resulted in several arrests and numerous businesses facing allegations of unauthorized dispensing of contact lenses, announced Attorney General Jim Hood today.

Investigators with the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection and Public Integrity Divisions, working with the Mississippi Optometry Board, conducted a two-month undercover investigation which resulted this week in seven arrests involving the owners and operators of S & K Fashion & Beauty Supply (Indianola), Fantasy City (Vicksburg) , Fantasy City #2 (Vicksburg), and Underground (Ridgeland). The defendants are accused of selling contact lenses to the public without licenses. Approximately 870 pairs of cosmetic contact lenses and over $1,000 were seized.

“This practice is particularly dangerous because contact lenses must fit properly,” said Attorney General Hood. “Without proper fitting by a licensed optometrist orophthalmologist, a number of eye issues may arise. Those issues could range from minor eye damage to a total loss of vision. Also, the quality of contact lenses may vary drastically and be unsafe for wearing. This is particularly a problem this time of year when people are wanting to enhance their costumes with a change in eye color.”

Those arrested and charged with the illegal sale of contact lenses without a license are:

Jeong Hyun, 42, Indianola , (Owner, S & K Fashion and Beauty Supply) two counts of facilitation sale, 10/30/2013

Margaret Turner, 57, (Operator, S & K Fashion and Beauty Supply), one sale count, 10/30/2013

Elle Turner, 42, Indianola, (Operator, S & K Fashion and Beauty Supply), one sale count , 10/30/2013

Chong Heard, 65, Vicksburg, (Owner/operator Fantasy City #1, Vicksburg), two sale counts, 10/29/13 Suncha Beech, 61, Vicksburg, (Operator, Fantasy City #2, Vicksburg), two sale counts, 10/29/13

Michael Kang, 49, Ridgeland, (Owner/operator Underground #10, Ridgeland), one sale count, 10/29/13

If convicted each defendant faces up to one year behind bars and $1,000 in fines per count. As with all cases, the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

The case is being investigated by the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division and will be prosecuted by Special Assistant Attorney General Patrick Beasley.

The City of Jackson has announced that the 1200 block of Cooper Road in south Jackson will be closed Nov. 4-6 while crews replace a cross drain for maintenance purposes.

Detour signs will be posted and motorists are advised to proceed through the area with caution.

Jackson State University is apparently getting serious about building a domed stadium.

The university has launched http://www.jsums.edu/dome/, a site that includes a rendering and includes details on planning that were previously undisclosed. The cost of the 50,000-seat domed stadium is still listed at $200 million, and the site says the JSU administration has identified over $300 million in funding possibilities.

"The stadium is designed for football, basketball, concerts and special events," the site says. "Seating is 50,000 for football, 17,000 for basketball and 21,000 for concerts. It will include 75 sky boxes for rental. JSU's Sports Hall of Fame will be housed on the first floor. The design includes 4,500 parking spaces. Another 2,000 are located in garages downtown where shuttle buses can help on big game days."

The site says JSU currently owns 30 percent of the land on the preferred site.

"Hold up, Wait a minute, Put a Little Love In It"

That's the message the Central Mississippi Planning and Development District sent the Jackson Redevelopment Authority yesterday over JRA's decision to terminate its lease with the Farish Street Group.

In a three-page letter to JRA Executive Director Willie Mott, CMPDD CEO F. Clarke Holmes said JRA's purported termination notice was sent in clear contravention of the FSG/JRA lease, because the CMPDD, who is acting on behalf of MDA (and protecting it's $4.7 million investment in Farish Street) wasn't given prior notice.

"CMPDD request that JRA immediately withdraw the Termination Notice as to the Subject Properties until CMPDD is provided reasonable notice and opportunity to cure any defaults under the JRA-FSG Lease, or JRA is allowed to exercise its rights under the Leasehold Deeds of Trust and the Consent Agreement to protect its security for the CMPDD Loans," the letter read.

It might not be a pardon, but the letter could serve as a temporary reprieve for Farish Street Group and its embattled manager David Watkins. The better news here for Watkins is he seems to have CMPDD on his side in the negotiations going forward, because JRA isn't likely to pick a fight with the wing of MDA it has to deal with on a regular basis.

The letter concludes with this message: "In the meantime, we believe the best course of action for all of the parties is to move forward with transparent discussions aimed at getting the Farish Street project completed in a manner that achieves everyone's goals."

Somebody in City Hall is listening.

The city clerk's office has posted the agenda for next Tuesday's City Council meeting, and it looks like Mayor Chokwe Lumumba plans to present two new Jackson Redevelopment Authority board members for council approval.

The first is Kemba Ware, a Data Information Manager at Jackson State University, and the other is attorney Jennifer Johnson. It is unclear which wards they will represent, but as we profiled in this week's cover story, there are three spots open. Neither of the nominees could be reached late this afternoon.

Bishop Ronnie Crudup, the board's chairman, has been out of term since Aug. 13, 2011 and two other members, Brian Fenelon and John Reeves, have been out of term since Aug. 13, 2012 and 2013, respectively.

UPDATE: It looks like the JFP once endorsed Kemba Ware as a young influential in 2005, which you can read here. And it looks like Jennifer Johnson would represent Ward 7, if approved.

The US Human Rights Network has announced it will honor Jackson Mayor Chokwe Lumumba and six others with the 2013 U.S. Advancing Human Rights Award. The Atlanta-based organization describes itself on its web site as "a team of thematic experts, organizers, education specialists, trainers, communications experts, and human rights activists."

It describes the award ceremony, set for Dec. 6-8 in Atlanta, as an opportunity to "recognize and celebrate six visionary people and one organization building and strengthening the human rights movement at the grassroots level."

To be considered, nominees must have had at least five years experience in grass-roots organizing in the area of immigration, environmental and climate justice, workers rights, or access to justice, as well as other areas such as racial justice, women's rights, disability rights, and economic, social and cultural rights.

Other award recipients include Haitian Women of Miami Executive Producer Marleine Bastien, Desis Rising Up and Moving Executive Director Monami Maulik, Texas Latina Advocacy Network Field Coordinator Lucy Ceballos Felix, Navajo Nation Corrections Project Supervisor Lenny Foster, Chicago Anti-Eviction Campaign Co-founder J.R. Fleming and Mossville, La. community organization Mossville Environmental Action Now.