Every growing city has major problems. Jackson is no different. It is a blossoming metropolis, but is not without its issues: crumbling infrastructure; old water pipes; bad roads; understaffed police and fire departments; dilapidated properties; neighborhoods overrun by drugs—you name it.
You have to expect the good with the bad. Now, of course, we as a unified community can do many things to begin curbing some of our ills. We can organize clean-ups; we can have neighborhood watches; we can volunteer to cut grass on abandoned properties. Yes! There is power in our city's people. There is much we can do with only our hands and hearts to help build this city.
You've seen the successes in Fondren and Belhaven; however, even the best-laid plans sometimes require one key component: funding. Game-changers like the King Edward Hotel, Farish Street, the convention center and Riverwalk don't just happen with dream dust. It happens when good men with great ideas decide to put their money where their mouth is, folks like David Watkins (my employer), Bill Cooley, the Roberts brothers and Leland Speed. These are folks who are willing to put major capital into projects that others are scared to touch.
Let's be painfully honest here: We want downtown to flourish. We want west Jackson to be reborn. We look to the day that south Jackson is booming with more restaurants and retail. But those things can't and won't happen unless enterprising entrepreneurs step up and invest money in those areas. And when they do, it is up to us to support them. It's up to us to patronize them, to buy from them. It doesn't matter to me whether they are black, white, green or purple. If they are willing to take the risks that a lot of us can't, then we should be willing to help see their projects through.
Even Fondren wouldn't have experienced a true renaissance without business and retail moving into the area. Imagine the neighborhood without folks getting groceries at McDade's, without eating lunch at Basil's, or without picking up an "I >3 JXN" T-shirt from Chane. Cities don't survive without financial stability.
In the end, you may not be able to invest millions into a development. You may not have thousands to begin a small business. But you do have the ability to spend money locally and frequently in your city. You can support your city government in its efforts to better our streets, our schools and our general safety. It may take a bond issue here or a penny sales-tax increase there. As citizens, if we want improvements, we have to understand that they take money. You can have a meal at the King Edward, see a show on Farish Street this fall, or grab your pom poms and cheer on the Riverwalk project. It's all a grand circle. Your city will get out of it what you put in it.
And that's the truth ... sho-nuff.
Brad "Kamikaze" Franklin is associated with Watkins Partners, developers of Farish Street and the King Edward.
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