South Jackson residents say the city has failed them, call for more enforcement

Broken traffic lights, abandoned homes, streets strewn with trash, live telephone wires on the ground — it’s no secret in South Jackson that the neighborhood is in a state of disrepair. Residents say the city is to blame and that it has failed them for years.

The Neighborhood Association of South Jackson, also known as NASJ, gathered last Thursday for a meeting at Willowood Community Center, drawing nearly 60 people. The Association, which was founded in 1979 to improve the quality of life for residents in South Jackson, came up with a game plan: raise money for a lawsuit against the city and a request for a meeting with Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba. The meeting comes just a few weeks after the June 18 city council meeting where members of the association asked the city to enforce local ordinances.

“We are not getting the quality life that we’re supposed to get,” Ernest Ward, president of NASJ, said at the meeting. “The City of Jackson failed to follow their own policies.”

South Jackson residents want ordinances enforced

The group obtained five attorneys and assembled a board of 10 of its members to spearhead the efforts for ordinance enforcement. Concerns for NASJ include illegal dumping, broken traffic lights and phone lines, lack of police patrols and illegal parking in their neighborhoods.

“What's going on in South Jackson is a humanitarian issue,” Sherri Jones, NASJ board member, said. “If some dogs was living in the same condition, PETA [would] be down here to turn somebody in, but only in an African American community are people expected to live like this and pay taxes.”

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JPD Public Information Officer Tommie Brown said some of the ordinances take time to enforce with processes such as contacting the city council or the correct department that can drag out.

“We have to emphasize the fact that we don't live in a perfect world, and resources, oftentimes, are strained,” he added.

Ideally, Brown said, one phone call from a resident would be enough for immediate enforcement. But in reality, it takes residents reporting it multiple times.

“You're talking about a process that moves slower than any of us want it to,” Brown said. “The Jackson Police Department is not ignoring our residents when it comes to issues that they're having in their communities.”

Each police precinct also communicates with its local neighborhood association and reports concerns back to headquarters at a monthly real-time command meeting held in the community and open to the public.

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Ward said many of the issues in South Jackson have been ongoing for the past seven years since he’s been president of the association.

“[Neighborhood] Association South Jackson is going to make sure these leaders [are] accountable for what they've done,” Ward said. “They need to repent for everybody in this city because they have not done what they [said] they [would] do.”

South Jackson residents could seek legal action

The association sent a letter on July 10 asking for a meeting with Lumumba and the City Attorney to address the group’s concerns, hoping they can come to a solution before having to seek relief through the court system. NASJ Board Member Gwen Wilks told residents at the meeting on Thursday to help prepare by compiling a list of issues.

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“Those are the things that you bring back to the table collectively, so that we know each of us has the same issue,” she said.

Ward says the group will go to City Hall again to express their frustrations and look for answers.

“When we go down to City Hall, we’re not going to go down in twos. We’re going to go down in hundreds,” he said to the residents at the meeting. “We want the whole country to see this. The world needs to see what’s happening in Jackson, Mississippi.”

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: South Jackson residents say the city has failed them, call for more enforcement