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These days the well-maintained public resources (parks, libraries) are mostly in suburbs like Flowood, Brandon, Madison, Clinton, and Ridgeland. I loved that Northside library back in the day.
Now you would probably go to places like Ridgeland or Flowood where they have resources for things like golf course resorts and new city centers. Brandon built an amphitheater for national music acts and Madison is building an instant-built downtown seemingly modeled after Stockholm, Sweden (of course!).
I did notice that the state built the Mississippi Library Commission in Jackson, which apparently serves the other libraries with various resources, and the inside looks straight out of Architectural Digest. Clearly someone who loves Mississippi managed to get that facility built, and they were smart to place it in Eastover.
That would be a lovely way to visit Jackson, staying at the District at Eastover, eating at their fancy food fall and enjoying some live music on the green, and then taking a brisk walk along Eastover to the library commission for a serene afternoon of perusing books.
These days the well-maintained public resources (parks, libraries) are mostly in suburbs like Flowood, Brandon, Madison, Clinton, and Ridgeland. I loved that Northside library back in the day.
Now you would probably go to places like Ridgeland or Flowood where they have resources for things like golf course resorts and new city centers. Brandon built an amphitheater for national music acts and Madison is building an instant-built downtown seemingly modeled after Stockholm, Sweden (of course!).
I did notice that the state built the Mississippi Library Commission in Jackson, which apparently serves the other libraries with various resources, and the inside looks straight out of Architectural Digest. Clearly someone who loves Mississippi managed to get that facility built, and they were smart to place it in Eastover.
That would be a lovely way to visit Jackson, staying at the District at Eastover, eating at their fancy food fall and enjoying some live music on the green, and then taking a brisk walk along Eastover to the library commission for a serene afternoon of perusing books.
VERY interesting! https://www.elledecor.com/life-cultu...tate/?slide=24 Elle Decor was nice enough to NOT require that we look at an ad, every time we went to another slide of the best library in each state (as does Forbes, which is on my no-go list, along with the perennially-worthless WSJ).
So, how does it work? Who can go there? What is the process? I can see why they built the Mississippi Library Commission Building as far from "poverty-stricken ickypeople" as possible, if one doesn't WANT the general public - particularly if it's for another self-serving Mississippi bureaucracy interested mostly in easy jobs with cushy benefits. And that wooded setting certainly takes the stink off the Modern architecture. One would HOPE that the capital of a state, would concentrate its important and edifying buildings downtown - within easy walking distance from each other (and that SAFE, handicap-friendly/bike-friendly/jogger-friendly/pedestrian-friendly sidewalks and trails would link those important buildings - in an organized and contiguous way.... you know... instead of the way it actually IS, with bits of nice walkways and trails going not-very-far, and nowhere useful - and not being connected to/contiguous with each other).
How nice - even FUN - it would be, to be part of a school/church/civic group bused-in from some forgotten corner of the state, and be able to get off that bus and walk, for the rest of the day, SAFELY, on PRIORITIZED - well-maintained sidewalks like I've described. A nine-block area should be more than enough, for everything. They've had two solid centuries to plan it(and the original plans for the city, certainly would have accommodated it).
Smith Park COULD be a leafy oasis in the middle of things, for those groups to regroup between taking-in the Planetarium, the Grand State Library, the Symphony, the museums, the monuments, the state's biggest showboat houses of worship, the Governor's Mansion, the restrained Old Capitol, the Carpetbaggers' ever-so-unrestrained New Capitol (which I love), the Zoo, the Botanical Gardens....
But NOOOOOO..... The Zoo is out in West Hotseplotz, somewhere, as are Mynelle Gardens. Centrally-located Smith park is ugly, sun-parched Modern and unfriendly (missing the tall iron 19th Century fences requisite for keeping such places under-control during off-hours). There's a scienceESQUE adventure play thing for kids, waaaaaaay out at Lefleur's Bluff (which, even if they can get to it, nobody can pronounce - hint: it does NOT rhyme with 'Moor' or 'Door'). The state's Craft Center is somewhere on the pluckin' RESERVOIR, somewhere, if you can figure-out which little turnoff to take (we lived in adjacent Madison, and somehow never got there, although we did think about it, a couple of times).
Assuming it was adjacent an area offering the sort of experience I've described, above, the half-realized Farish Street Entertainment District COULD offer a wealth of wholesome-&-fun things for families, and be a center for concession stands, with a grand circus calliope (or two, or three.... https://www.google.com/search?q=circ...iw=881&bih=566), rather than being just a (planned) spot for clubbing adults to stagger-around-drunk, between Blues venues (which nobody seems to want - which may be why the plans never materialized). Instead, a "Resort Area" (again, on the Reservoir) did get implemented. "Resort Area", in Mississippi, seems to be nothing more than a zone for less-restrictive consumption of booze.
I'm sure that the mid-20th-Century City/State Fathers envisioned well-scrubbed Reservoir outings for (the "right kind" of) wholesome young people, like this bus full of Leslie Gore's friends: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQmBXEZEYtg. The same sorts, in California, imagined the Salton Sea Resort Area, in precisely the same way. We all know how THAT turned out. Mississippi, to its credit, cleaned-up its ill-conceived "resort" (but only after it had helped kill-off Jackson's nightlife).
The gist of all this, being that everything "to do" in and around Jackson, involves getting back into the car, or trudging back onto the bus, to get from every single little thing, to every single other little thing. The little things are so far apart, they can't add-up to any big experiences. The prevailing "experience" of Jackson, is the trudging and the driving and the frustration of it all.
Please forgive my detour to the 'Land of Shoulds'. I'm obsessing over consistent, rational planning, and Experiential Density, while Mississippi has no desire or tolerance for such things.
Back to your wonderful concept, of staying/dining at 'The District at Eastover'. Yes! One CAN dine at The District's various venues. I see that Cultivation Hall is up to seven vendors now (they were down to three, at one point). https://www.cultivationfoodhall.com/vendors And then, there's the Prom/Wedding/Needy Princess place ('Fine-'n-Dandy'), and maybe others. And yes! There's a suite hotel within the complex. (a Westin?) One would HAVE TO walk briskly down Eastover, toward that Library Commission building. Because there seem to be no trails or sidewalks (not that I can see from GoogleMap, anyway). And pedestrians are viewed as fair game for target practice, by much of Jackson's populace. If you know of safe ways to get there, accessing Eastover Drive from The District's aptly-named 'Perseverance Drive', please share!!!!
Believe it or not, there actually is a nice walking trail along Eastover. I think it's somehow attached distantly, or will be, to the one that goes through Belhaven to LeFleur's Bluff.
I've stayed at that hotel (Residence Inn) and those neighborhoods behind it are a pretty place to walk, in addition to Eastover Drive itself. Those neighborhoods are full of towering trees and tastefully modest 1960s ranch homes on generously sized lots. One thing I like about Mississippi particularly in the fall is the mix of evergreen and other trees changing their colors in the fall. That, some brisk fall temperatures, and a lovely stay in the District at Eastover will make one want to move to Jackson.
A silver lining is that that part of Jackson (Belhaven/Fondren/Woodland Hills/Eastover/Highland Village) has a direct line out Lakeland to the east and north up I-55 to Madison. It's not an island surrounded by run-down areas unlike some cities. If Ridgeland, Northeast Jackson, and Flowood merged into a single city, the perception of it would be quite the dynamic place.
I think a big problem in Jackson is that many of its residents are indifferent or fatalistic about the city. They grew up in multigenerational poverty and are mostly interested in living day-to-day rather than trying to do anything about their future. Only a small percentage of them are actually politically engaged. My guess is turnout for municipal elections is around 10 percent. The result is you get a bunch of do-nothing demagogues in office.
I can think of several loudly-religious and stridently folksy, "Old Jackson Families" (mostly descended from Carpetbaggers who arrived by steamboat and/or Gold Coast Bootleggers/Brothelkeepers who arrived via railroad boxcars), who're even more indifferent to 'The Greater Good', than are Jackson's poor. These families know multigenerational wealth, rather than poverty. If anything, they're HOSTILE to the greater good, since they were in on shooing people out of Jackson, in order to develop Rankin and Madison counties (They already owned the Rankin County land, from the days when their "graaaayiiin-dayyyiiids" were running their Gold Coast brothels and gambling dens. Jackson Jambalaya: The Gold Coast of Rankin County And the Madison County land was acquired when mostly-Black farmers were being deliberately taxed-off-their-land, so the developers could snap it up for a song.) ( Actually, researching the Gold Coast, would be a wonderful and entertaining thing to do, while at the state's big, main library. I wonder if that's where Kingfish found the archived newspaper articles.)
Few people move TO Greater Jackson, while many move FROM Jackson - bound for places far from Mississippi. The number of reasonably-affluent homebuyers and shoppers is therefore static - or shrinking. So, for the developers, it's necessary (as others here have noted), to keep the populace in a constant state of flight, so that the developers can keep-on developing. (That's why they hate Madison's Mayor Mary, and have tried, repeatedly, to destroy her. Madison's too permanent to suit the developer dynasties. Buy in Madison, and you'll never have to move, again. The developers hate that, since it means they can't sell you multiple homes over your lifetime - and frankly, these developers and their progeny are not bright enough to go into other lines of work. Really, these developers are FORCED to do what they do, since they're not smart enough to become surgeons, hedgefunders, or venture capitalists) Their preference for bland, generic Naming Wheel names for their subdivisions and strip centers, says a lot. They have no emotional attachment to those places, and plan on building another, and another, and another...
The attitude of the developer dynasties is most telling, when you consider their personal homes. They use cheap roofing, and cheap construction methods, for cynical reasons (I almost made the mistake of buying one of their homes, once). They know (and probably hope) that the sparkling, "rich" subdivisions they're developing, aren't going to be "The Place to Live", for very long. As Proust, during his furtive and illegal nocturnal peregrinations, used to say to his Driver, "On to the NEXT!"
Quote:
Originally Posted by Suesbal
I was a librarian once. We couldn’t be accused of being overpaid.
The Mississippi Library Commission headquarters used to be on Ellis Avenue.
Sorry if I sounded accusatory of librarians. My query was aimed solely at the mostly-supervisory employees of the Library Commission, working in that nice building. Public Education, in Mississippi, has become saddled with an oversized class of "leaders", whom Kingfish refers to as the "Perfumed Princes" (Jackson Jambalaya: They said not a word.). The same trend seems to be impacting other state agencies, and I was wondering whether the State Library Commission was one of them. "Cushy", to me, refers more to pensions, benefits, and holidays, than to net salary.
As a former librarian, can you offer insight into the abandonment process underway, for multiple library branches? Are these branches simply redundant, now? Or is there some sort of dysfunction within the system?
Actually, that's rather a beautiful man, considering he's 59. He's got that enviable English Ducal Family bone structure (Princess Diana had it, and Harry inherited it). Oddly, and perhaps tellingly, his nose is what Harry's will look like, in a quarter-century. Rare to have such an elegant frame, and yet have such substantial arms. One wonders why someone so attractive, and obviously physically-fit, is stuck in Jackson, stripping abandoned buildings of their contents.
That was my first thought. He didn't look to me as though he'd spent much time on the street. Yet, he referred to himself as homeless. He looks like no other homeless man I've ever seen anywhere. His skin didn't appear weathered and unhealthy, an indication that he hasn't spent an inordinate time exposed to the elements. But again, Mississippi is an altogether different climate than S. California. Cosmetic surgeons make a killing out here. I think this guy has the means, until recently perhaps, to take care of himself. Here, homeless are inclined to have open sores, long filthy hair. And sometimes they run through the streets naked wielding a meat cleaver. I'm not kidding.
I didn't scrutinize the location and surrounding area. But if indeed he was about to purloin some shelves he probably lives, at least temporarily, close by. My guess is that he lives with a woman. His soft voice, measured words, and continuous use of "Sir" tells me he is lying. About what, who knows. Pretending to be humble. The man is definitely not afraid of much. Had to have had a confederate nearby.
Was everything too easy for him? Did he never have to scrounge-up change for buying cornmeal, in order to fill an empty stomach (as I did)? Or was his childhood even worse than mine? Did he have "uh duhaaaaayiiid" who beat him mercilessly for every real or imagined infraction of ever-changing rules?
My opinion is that this man was a quick study. Born with a good mind, exceptionally good looks, and maybe a bit lazy. He's learned to quickly shift gears in order to reshape his personality and adapt to unfavorable situations. And why is he wearing those gloves? Afraid of blisters?
Those bones! Hold on to yer hat! And look at the facial structure of tollund man! The preserved body of a man who lived in the 4th century BC. in what is now known as Denmark. https://www.google.com/search?q=imag...client=gws-wizOh my gosh tollund man looks like the late Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince...lan_Warren.jpg Prince Philip was Danish. I see a Hallmark Movie in the future. The mysterious man preparing to pilfer the Tisdale Library is an illegitimate son of Prince Phillip!
I'm also struggling to understand WHY behind the neglect and abandonment of this library. My understanding of Mississippi is slightly worse than my comprehension of the Riemann hypothesis.
Actually, that's rather a beautiful man, considering he's 59. He's got that enviable English Ducal Family bone structure (Princess Diana had it, and Harry inherited it). Oddly, and perhaps tellingly, his nose is what Harry's will look like, in a quarter-century. Rare to have such an elegant frame, and yet have such substantial arms. One wonders why someone so attractive, and obviously physically-fit, is stuck in Jackson, stripping abandoned buildings of their contents.
That was my first thought. He didn't look to me as though he'd spent much time on the street. Yet, he referred to himself as homeless. He looks like no other homeless man I've ever seen anywhere. His skin didn't appear weathered and unhealthy, an indication that he hasn't spent an inordinate time exposed to the elements. But again, Mississippi is an altogether different climate than S. California. Cosmetic surgeons make a killing out here. I think this guy has the means, until recently perhaps, to take care of himself. Here, homeless are inclined to have open sores, long filthy hair. And sometimes they run through the streets naked wielding a meat cleaver. I'm not kidding.
I didn't scrutinize the location and surrounding area. But if indeed he was about to purloin some shelves he probably lives, at least temporarily, close by. My guess is that he lives with a woman. His soft voice, measured words, and continuous use of "Sir" tells me he is lying. About what, who knows. Pretending to be humble. The man is definitely not afraid of much. Had to have had a confederate nearby.
Was everything too easy for him? Did he never have to scrounge-up change for buying cornmeal, in order to fill an empty stomach (as I did)? Or was his childhood even worse than mine? Did he have "uh duhaaaaayiiid" who beat him mercilessly for every real or imagined infraction of ever-changing rules?
My opinion is that this man was a quick study. Born with a good mind, exceptionally good looks, and maybe a bit lazy. He's learned to quickly shift gears in order to reshape his personality and adapt to unfavorable situations. And why is he wearing those gloves? Afraid of blisters?
Those bones! Hold on to yer hat! And look at the facial structure of tollund man! The preserved body of a man who lived in the 4th century BC. in what is now known as Denmark. https://www.google.com/search?q=imag...client=gws-wizOh my gosh tollund man looks like the late Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince...lan_Warren.jpg Prince Philip was Danish. I see a Hallmark Movie in the future. The mysterious man preparing to pilfer the Tisdale Library is an illegitimate son of Prince Phillip!
I'm also struggling to understand WHY behind the neglect and abandonment of this library. My understanding of Mississippi is slightly worse than my comprehension of the Riemann hypothesis.
Don't worry about that Riemann Hypothesis! When I'm crunching numbers in my head, I round-down, and round-up, according to whim, and so the distribution of prime numbers is of little importance to me. I get close-enough. Maybe, if I were designing bridges, instead of assessing the viability of a venture.... but then, maybe not.
YES! Tollund Man is a dead ringer, both for Prince Philip, and for the hottie looting the library. How interesting!!!! Was Tollund Man part of a group who would become the Anglo-Saxons? ...proto-DRUIDS? Were they some sort of Celtic group, passing-through? (The Dionysian overtones of the sacrifice ritual, would hint at that) And is Prince Philip REALLY Danish? He's Queen Elizabeth's cousin, and thus also a Windsor, I think. The Windsors, certainly, are not really English. The TRUE English DUCAL FAMILIES (dismissively classed as "commoners", by the usurping "Crowned Heads of Europe")are of Scandinavian origins, though, and their bone structure makes that obvious. But you're right, to see something not-quite-Scandinavian in Library Looter Dude - more like the ancestral ambiguity of the "Crowned Heads of Europe".
And you're right. Library Looter Dude probably has found "a good woman", although I'm thinking his.... um... ....parameters.... might be a bit broader - particularly when he's turning on the charm, having zeroed-in on a generous "mark". I like the downward-glance, when the question, "Are you Homeless?" is presented, and the answer, "Kinda-sorta", which cleverly allows the Reporter to create the perfect narrative, from Looter Dude's standpoint. If Looter Dude's subconscious were talking, it would be saying, "I'll be whatever you want me to be, as long as I'm getting what I want."
The area has plenty of apartment communities. And it's within 'Broadmoor' - a suburb of bare-bones little houses (originally with dirt floors in the garages... steppingstones for front walks.... "stoops", instead of front porches), which my older friends remember being touted as "The Next Belhaven!!!!!" (Belhaven's shabbiest homes are finer than Broadmoor's finest, so this was total realtor hype). And in a city where even fine homes are begging for buyers, I'm sure that Broadmoor offers some affordable rentals, with few questions asked of potential tenants.
But is he wrong? Would the contents of the library simply go to waste, if he didn't "salvage" them? Extracting value from something, is, in terms of the local economy, better than letting that something simply rot. Money is kept in circulation.
Is this a conundrum: legality and honesty, vs expediency and need?
Last edited by GrandviewGloria; 05-31-2021 at 10:57 PM..
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