Clarksdale Commons, Clarksdale, Mississippi (Jackson, Greenville: neighborhoods, gated, tax)

[sammyreynolds1977]

Originally Posted by Mouldy Old Schmo

People have been leaving the Delta for decades.

yep, i would say since the late 60's or early 70's.

[viverlibre]

Originally Posted by Carolina Knight

Better paying industries in Mississippi are needed.

That would be great, but likely not going to happen, people can't just wait around for generations hoping a factory is going to move in.

They can move back in the highly unlikely event good jobs start rolling into the Delta.

[Mouldy Old Schmo]

Originally Posted by sammyreynolds1977

yep, i would say since the late 60's or early 70's.

I have done a bit of research on the Delta’s population decline. The 1940 Census showed the peak population of most Delta counties. Now, some counties now have fewer people than they did 100 years ago.

[Mouldy Old Schmo]

Originally Posted by Carolina Knight

Hypermarket

• Walmart Supercenter #707, 1000 South State Street, Clarksdale, Mississippi 38614-4704

Limited assortment/discount grocery

• Save-A-Lot #23409, 535 East Second Street, Clarksdale, Mississippi 38614-4413

Sack and Save closed about 10 years ago.

[Listener2307]

Originally Posted by Mouldy Old Schmo

I have done a bit of research on the Delta’s population decline. The 1940 Census showed the peak population of most Delta counties. Now, some counties now have fewer people than they did 100 years ago.

Where do you think it's all going to go, Schmo?

In the future some counties will become barely viable, being unable to provide common services. But the thought of combining counties causes some people to break out in hives. I don't see that ever happening, even though it should.

The decline will continue and more towns will disintegrate. The farms will remain, I am sure, but it just doesn't take that many people to run a farm.

Delta County. Has sort of a nice ring to it, doesn't it? But even Delta County would have a decreasing population, so there is that......

[sammyreynolds1977]

They're going to either larger cities or out of state. With Winona losing their Walmart it will only be a matter of time before fall by the waste side.

[GrandviewGloria]

Originally Posted by Listener2307

Where do you think it's all going to go, Schmo?

In the future some counties will become barely viable, being unable to provide common services. But the thought of combining counties causes some people to break out in hives. I don't see that ever happening, even though it should.

The decline will continue and more towns will disintegrate. The farms will remain, I am sure, but it just doesn't take that many people to run a farm.

Delta County. Has sort of a nice ring to it, doesn't it? But even Delta County would have a decreasing population, so there is that......

The Dakotas and Nebraska, do FINE with sparse populations cultivating vast amounts of land. But they're industrious, highly intelligent people, in the Dakotas.

If the Delta WERE evacuated - except for the farmers, and those who're part of the economy serving the farmers - then you'd be left with a reasonably competent populace, who'd all pull their own weight. People pull together and become resourceful, when they're spread-out - assuming that they're reasonably capable people. Much of America's heartland is no more populous than would be an 'evacuated' Delta, such as we've described. And things work just fine, in those near-deserted counties.

I'd advocate "revitalizing" the towns, to house the implement dealers, tractor mechanics, Farm Bureau agents, school teachers - and all the usual other residents of towns in farming regions. But as things stand, that is impossible. And it's been getting more impossible, with each passing year. You can't have ANYTHING, because of the large number of destructive people, who accumulate in those towns, like leaves piling up in corners (the problem made exponentially worse, by government interference, and Yankee know-it-alls.)

Right now, there's a well-defined and extremely posh old neighborhood, in a Delta city, whose residents managed to erect tall fences and gates. This would have stopped the ever-worsening crime (crime which is killing the city, and causing people to flee in droves, resulting in the loss of two-fifths of the town's population, over just one generation). The presence of the fence and the gates, was encouraging people to move in from smaller communities - and even to move BACK, from other regions outside the South. There was a RENAISSANCE! A couple of hundred affluent families, were going to STAY IN THE CITY - paying taxes in the city - consuming products and services IN THE CITY!!!! (Rather than move to Madison, or move as far from the South as they could get - Jackson Hole, Aspen, Montecito, Southampton - places where prominent Delta people have already settled).

.....that is, until someone's bride-from-New-Jersey (on up in years, now) stuck her nose in things. According to what I've heard, second-hand, from various people who've fled the Delta and now live in Madison, this woman has filed suits to stop the closing of the gates. She's trying - subverting the law to her own purposes - to have the gates torn down. If you've seen the film, Delta Jews (https://jfi.org/watch-online/jfi-on-demand/delta-jews), there is an interview with various members of our faith living in the Delta, talking about Yankees of "our faith" coming down and ruining things in Mississippi, in the 1960s. "They were NOT our kind of people." Well, this woman is apparently being viewed in that same light. Nobody is amused by this woman's antics, particularly our coreligionists. Gating such a large neighborhood, was a miracle which was going to save the town, by allowing the portion of the populace who have the most to contribute, to REMAIN in town. But it took just one Yankee Socialist, to ruin things.

And that's the problem: deranged ideologues - backed by a hostile system of laws and "agencies", prevent people from effectively dealing with the problems in Delta towns. Things cannot get better, because of this situation. Every effort to make things better, is eventually defeated, either by the underclass, or by narcissists USING the underclass.

Until the Delta's unemployed/underemployed/unemployable underclass is evacuated to regions where there are better resources (Atlanta could easily and instantly absorb every single under-served person in the Delta, and offer them WONDERFUL lives - and endless opportunities), things will not and CAN not get better in Delta towns. And, until things get better, the towns cannot be viable places.

The Delta, with it's flat topography and unbelievably deep topsoil, is for farming (and, possibly, for industries adding value to farm products - cotton gins , grain mills, etc.). That is ALL. Delta towns should be no larger than they need to be, to support the farming industry. Other places are appropriate for other types of industry.

[viverlibre]

I wish Clarksdale could make some headway. Yankees and Europeans visit, but the town does a poor job of capitalizing on tourism. I've been traveling to Clarksdale for work for 15 years, the town continues to go down, in spite of tourists coming, likely with pockets full of cash. For a town its size, Clarksdale has some nice restaurants, but otherwise, the town continues to deteriorate.

I'm told that through the 70s, Clarksdale was a nice town.

[sammyreynolds1977]

Originally Posted by viverlibre

I wish Clarksdale could make some headway. Yankees and Europeans visit, but the town does a poor job of capitalizing on tourism. I've been traveling to Clarksdale for work for 15 years, the town continues to go down, in spite of tourists coming, likely with pockets full of cash. For a town its size, Clarksdale has some nice restaurants, but otherwise, the town continues to deteriorate.

I'm told that through the 70s, Clarksdale was a nice town.

You can't rely on just tourism to save a town. There have to be jobs and the state government has done a poor job of putting jobs in the delta period.

[Mississippi Alabama Line]

Originally Posted by sammyreynolds1977

the state government has done a poor job of putting jobs in the delta period.

What are you expecting the state government to do? They can't just "put jobs" somewhere.