Mayor Yarber's first year in office (Jackson, Greenville: crime rates, how much, houses)

[golden eagles fan]

It's been a year and some change since Tony Yarber was elected to fill the remainder of Chokwe Lumumba's term, following the sudden death of Lumumba. While it is hard to see tangible evidence of what he's done while in office, I do, however, believe that Jackson will be better off once his time as mayor is over. The infrastructure plan is the most comprehensive I've seen. I also like how he is fighting to bring Costco to Jackson. Though the plans may've started before Yarber took over, the new Venyu/UMMC Telehealth center, the Meridian at Fondren, and Midtown redevelopment have taken off under Yarber.

I do want the mayor to address the crime issue a bit. Though crime has been trending downward, the perception of Jackson being a crime-ridden city continues to hangs over its head. I also need more action on abandoned houses.

Because mayors before have kicked the can down the road, Yarber is having to clean up the mess. It's going to take more than one term to right the ship and get Jackson in the direction it needs to go.

[viverlibre]

Concur, I like most of what he has done so far. A strong Jackson is good for all of us in the metro and the entire state.

[zblanton1]

Don't forget the District at Eastover! And I think more criminals have been caught for their crimes under Yarber, than under any mayor since Dale Danks probably. It seems like JPD has been solving a lot of their major violent crimes lately, & I commend them for it. Whether it's Yarber or Vance, or both, which is most likely the case, keep up the good work!

[Popquez87]

Overall, I think he's done a tremendous job thus far, and I look forward to seeing what he and his team has for Jackson in the future. He seems to have a lot of passion and wants to genuinely see Jackson thrive, and he doesn't have the divisive personality of some of our past mayors. So far, it seems that metro area and state leaders like Yarber about at much as they could like any Jackson mayor.

[golden eagles fan]

I didn't mention the D@E because that was announced when Melton was in office. Since it was state property, it took some time to finally get it going. The demolition of the old buildings at the former MSD started when Lumumba was mayor.

The issue with crime is that people perceive it by what they see on the news each night, or if something has happened to them personally, their neighbors, family or friends. In the run-up to Melton's election, he and the media all hit on crime, which was absolute must, but even with a big reduction in crime, you'd thought everyone was scared to come out of their homes.
I do believe the mayor and chief need to get out in front of this to let people know what the facts are, but at the same time, remind people what they will continue to do.

[preguntas]

Originally Posted by golden eagles fan

I didn't mention the D@E because that was announced when Melton was in office. Since it was state property, it took some time to finally get it going. The demolition of the old buildings at the former MSD started when Lumumba was mayor.

The issue with crime is that people perceive it by what they see on the news each night, or if something has happened to them personally, their neighbors, family or friends. In the run-up to Melton's election, he and the media all hit on crime, which was absolute must, but even with a big reduction in crime, you'd thought everyone was scared to come out of their homes.
I do believe the mayor and chief need to get out in front of this to let people know what the facts are, but at the same time, remind people what they will continue to do.

I have read here on the forums where residents, not outside trolls, have proclaimed their cities to have high to very bad crime. I will list the cities where I see this below.

Raleigh
Charlotte
Greenville, S.C.
Charleston, S.C.
Columbia, S.C.
Atlanta
Birmingham
Chattanooga
New Orleans
Baton Rouge
Shreveport
Memphis
Knoxville
Nashville (and even Nashville)

My point is that perhaps the crime we all seem to be experiencing is not due to the city itself, but the forces of crime that we all have in common.

Therefore, since most cities can be added to this list, perhaps we should not except the premise that we have a crime ridden city, we just have a city like all others. Crime in America has reached a point of being a 'cultural' issue, not geographic. (at the moment Baltimore is an excellent example.

[golden eagles fan]

Originally Posted by preguntas

I have read here on the forums where residents, not outside trolls, have proclaimed their cities to have high to very bad crime. I will list the cities where I see this below.

Raleigh
Charlotte
Greenville, S.C.
Charleston, S.C.
Columbia, S.C.
Atlanta
Birmingham
Chattanooga
New Orleans
Baton Rouge
Shreveport
Memphis
Knoxville
Nashville (and even Nashville)

My point is that perhaps the crime we all seem to be experiencing is not due to the city itself, but the forces of crime that we all have in common.

Therefore, since most cities can be added to this list, perhaps we should not except the premise that we have a crime ridden city, we just have a city like all others. Crime in America has reached a point of being a 'cultural' issue, not geographic. (at the moment Baltimore is an excellent example.

Larger cities will, obviously, have more crime. It's more important to look at the crime rates. In 2012, Jackson had 63 murders. If a city like Dallas or Houston had 63, their murder rate would be a lot lower because those are cities with over a million (in Houston's case, 2M). The likelihood of being a crime victim goes down simply because of population.

[preguntas]

I did not make my point clear. Sorry.

[dwashington]

Originally Posted by preguntas

I have read here on the forums where residents, not outside trolls, have proclaimed their cities to have high to very bad crime. I will list the cities where I see this below.

LIST

My point is that perhaps the crime we all seem to be experiencing is not due to the city itself, but the forces of crime that we all have in common.

Therefore, since most cities can be added to this list, perhaps we should not except the premise that we have a crime ridden city, we just have a city like all others. Crime in America has reached a point of being a 'cultural' issue, not geographic. (at the moment Baltimore is an excellent example.

So what you're saying is that we do not necessarily have a crime issue, we as a country have just become so racist that we perceive areas to be high crime based on high black populations. If crime stats do show a city as having high rates of crimes, we can attribute that to racist white cops arresting more blacks than whites.

So essentially the best thing we can do to solve this problem is do our best to get police forces as black as possible so that the black arrests will go down since there will now be less racist arrests.

Does anyone know what the demographics of the Jackson Police Department are -- curious as to how much progress we've made.

Also, just because you mentioned Baltimore I will touch on it. The media should not be covering the fact that businesses, nursing homes, vehicles, homes, etc. are being destroyed. The fact that they are showing footage with blacks doing this is completely racist and I will not stand for it. I believe we should start a protest for the media to only paint members of the black community in a positive light in an attempt to get us back on the right track. White kids have burned a car or two or a garbage can or two after sporting events for years but it barely even makes the nightly news, meanwhile the Baltimore riots (which includes 20-30 cop injuries) have been all over the news! Outrageous!

[preguntas]

Originally Posted by dwashington

So what you're saying is that we do not necessarily have a crime issue, we as a country have just become so racist that we perceive areas to be high crime based on high black populations. If crime stats do show a city as having high rates of crimes, we can attribute that to racist white cops arresting more blacks than whites.

So essentially the best thing we can do to solve this problem is do our best to get police forces as black as possible so that the black arrests will go down since there will now be less racist arrests.

Does anyone know what the demographics of the Jackson Police Department are -- curious as to how much progress we've made.

Also, just because you mentioned Baltimore I will touch on it. The media should not be covering the fact that businesses, nursing homes, vehicles, homes, etc. are being destroyed. The fact that they are showing footage with blacks doing this is completely racist and I will not stand for it. I believe we should start a protest for the media to only paint members of the black community in a positive light in an attempt to get us back on the right track. White kids have burned a car or two or a garbage can or two after sporting events for years but it barely even makes the nightly news, meanwhile the Baltimore riots (which includes 20-30 cop injuries) have been all over the news! Outrageous!

Well, you did not get my point at all either. And I don't agree with what you wrote.