Restoring the city’s roads, enhancing the transportation system and creating business opportunities in Jackson dominated the conversation during the City Council’s January 5th meeting. On Tuesday, the Mayor and his administration introduced several proposals aimed at revitalizing the city,one of which utilizes city funds to  target undeveloped areas of Jackson. Mayor Lumumba introduced an order authorizing an agreement with the company Naviretail LLC to provide recruitment services in the city of Jackson. 

The mayor highlighted the importance of working with a firm who has a firm grasp on what businesses are looking for when they decide to locate somewhere, specifically areas of Jackson with abandoned properties and other retail deterrents; “This will allow us to use the resource database and connections of retail firms and business recruitment firms in order to support the economic development in specific areas (such as ) Highway 80 and Downtown and county line road. “   Councilwoman Lindsey expressed unyielding support for the mayor’s plan; “These are people who will do business and retail recruitment and they have expertise in this area. They have opened doors to a lot of retail outlets and they will also do market studies for us and figure out what business works where, where the opportunities are. I’m very supportive of these items. I feel like what we’re doing now is not working for us.”

Councilman Stokes was the sole member expressing reluctance, citing past administration failures as justification for preventing the proposal from moving forward. In spite of the Mayor’s plan actually targeting development as a need, Stokes seemed to complain of the lack of development in Jackson compared to its neighbors while voting against the proposal; “I have to take my car and i don’t really like to go to rankin madison county to get service in gludstat and just to see the development that’s taking place over there shocked me “ .

Ironically, according to research, when asked why supporting local businesses is so important, 54% of respondents cited improving the local economy as the number one benefit. Apparently