Thank goodness we are not Paradise. Here's why
Thank goodness for the Nevada city of Paradise, which must not be much of a paradise at all.
Whatever its story, Paradise has kept our capital city of Jackson from leading the nation in population decline among 345 of America’s largest cities between 2017 and 2022.
This not-so-welcome news comes from SmartAsset, “an online destination for consumer-focused financial information and advice that powers SmartAdvisor, a national marketplace connecting consumers to financial advisors.” It is requisite to this report that we know something of its creators.
The Clarion-Ledger’s Pam Dankins reported in a Nov. 22 followup to the survey that Jackson’s population dropped 12.69% from 167,250 in 2017 to 146,019 in 2022.
I’d like to I argue with SmartAsset’s findings, but cannot because of a visit to part of downtown Jackson during the recent Thanksgiving holiday period. My tour included no residential neighborhoods, nor any business districts on the city’s edges.
We were coming down from Starkville and the Egg Bowl via State Highway 25 from Carthage, which becomes Lakeland Drive within the city of Flowood, where we lived for a decade. Anyone who has made that trek in recent times realizes the dynamic vibrancy of the Flowood business district along Lakeland.
Granted, this was the day after Thanksgiving and “Black Friday” was in full swing with thousands of shoppers swarming the retail shops of the Flowood environs. I remember the 1990s when little business activity was in play at Lakeland Drive and Fannin Road, but the explosion was forthcoming.
Residents had to drive to one of those big-box stores for groceries. After Kroger arrived at the intersection, Flowood’s lively business activity soared. Before long came Belk, formerly McRae’s, which once had several stores in Jackson proper. In time, Primos opened a thriving restaurant on Lakeland, and other excellent eateries followed suit.
Smart, determined restaurant and entertainment venue owners like Hal White and Malcolm White survived Jackson’s downfall because they worked harder and longer to keep their enterprises viable. Some other notable restaurants, retailers and hotels of yesteryear haven’t been as fortunate.
The dreary Mississippi Coliseum, where I saw Ole Miss and Donnie Kessinger meet Kentucky and Cotton Nash in 1963, is still there and functional, but that’s about all. Memorial Stadium needs more football games. Big Three, are you there?
Thankfully, action is astir in the city with the Downtown Jackson Partners charging ahead with myriad redevelopment projects. This tireless group is full of fresh ideas for downtown.
Mississippi cannot afford to lose its capital city. Mississippi mustn’t allow its capital to become a ghost town of state government structures (and America’s grandest capitol building), top-notch museums, noble churches, gated subdivisions and the hospitals that survive Gov. Tate Reeves’ decision not to expand Medicaid, without putting up an aggressive fight for the whole city’s revitalization.
It seems to me the state can be key in helping to save the place. Jackson has always been there providing for the state; what can the state do now for Jackson? That question must be considered within the Capitol’s corridors.
Perhaps a select committee of House and Senate lawmakers should be formed during the upcoming 120-day session of the Legislature to consider what the state can do to help save a capital city too valuable to cast off.
I hope Reeves considers forming such a group to devise a plan for the future of Mississippi’s capital. Perhaps the city’s faith leaders could also conduct a study of Jackson’s kismet.
The capital city’s revival, if it happens, could light the way for others that have endured a decline. Yes, we can.
— Mac Gordon, a retired newspaperman, is a native of McComb. He can be reached at macmarygordon@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Thank goodness for Paradise, which must not be much of a paradise
