[Editorial] Senators: Don’t Disrespect Jackson

April 16, 2008

A story out of the Mississippi Legislature—the Senate, to be specific—left a very bad taste in the JFP mouth this week. Members of the Jackson Police Officers Association, led by President Juan Cloy and Vice President David Domino, went to the Legislature to ask lawmakers to allow the citizens of Jackson to hold a referendum on increasing the hotel-motel room tax in order to better fund the city’s crime-response efforts.

We have not taken a position on that tax, in particular, but we sure do wish we had the opportunity to because it was heading to a local ballot. But what the JPD officers found in the Mississippi Senate was nothing less than contempt. As you can see from Adam Lynch’s story on page 6, Sen. Hob Bryant, D-Amory, even snuck around the officers who were sitting for hours on the discussion of the bill, and killed the bill in subcommittee late in the day after they left.

This is a good representation of the respect that many members of the Mississippi Legislature have for the capitol city—and our finest police officers. Maybe had Det. Cloy shown up in his urban camouflage would the point have been more clear to the legislators. These men deserve their appreciation.

The bottom line is that it should not be up to the state to tell the city of Jackson whether or not we can vote to raise a tax in order to fund our own well-being. This legal trap has long limited Jackson’s capacity to make our own decisions—our “home rule,” as it’s often called in conservative circles.

If given the chance, maybe we would vote the tax down—although we did vote for a Convention Center tax, and that wasn’t about our citywide obsession, crime—or maybe voters would, indeed, approve it. But, instead, we are condescended to by politicians in the capitol, as if the rest of Mississippi is not dependent on this city and our resources, not to mention the tax-exempt churches and government buildings that expect a functional, safe city to exist in.

On that note, we were especially appalled by Sen. Bryan’s comments at the end of Adam’s story: “I wonder if they’re suggesting we close down the Woolfolk building, close down the Sillers building and move state government out of Jackson to someplace else,” Bryan said. “If having state office buildings in the city of Jackson is an imposition on the people of Jackson, if the city wants us to move those buildings outside the city to remove that burden. If that’s the case, I’d sure like to hear it.”

An “imposition”? This is an logical fallacy and an insult to Jackson residents and JPD. Obviously, Jacksonians like being the capitol city. We like being the seat of government and power in the state. We like being close to the action.

What we don’t like is having the rest of the state leech our resources and then treat us like children who do not have the right to decide our own fate.

 
posted by on 04/16/08 at 07:07 PM. [printer-friendly version]   

posted by golden eagle on 04/16/08 at 11:22 PM

posted by Izzy aka Laurel Isbister on 04/17/08 at 09:57 AM