Jackson Rising Policy Statement, Mayor Chokwe Lumumba

8/12/2019 Jackson Rising Policy Statement, Mayor Chokwe Lumumba

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Jackson Rising: Building the City of the Future Today

Perspectives and Priorities of Mayor Chokwe Lumumba on the Development ofJackson Mississippi

Jackson, Mississippi is a city on the move. On June 4 th , 2013 the proud city of Jacksonelected me to serve as its Mayor to bring change to the city in the form of transparency,deep civic engagement, and economic reform and justice. By electing my

administration the people of Jackson made a clear statement that they are desiring fundamental change, are prepared to see it administered, and most importantly, to playthe leading role in implementing it.

Over the next four years, my administration will govern in accordance with humanrights principles and standards. Our goal is to create equity for all. Through broad civicengagement, participatory and transparent governance, and sound fiscal managementwe will build a sustainable future for Jackson. This future will be grounded in thehighest provision of public services in public works administration, city planning,economic development, education, health care, transportation, and public safety. Wealso aim to build a dynamic “ new economy ” rooted in cooperative development andanchored by green jobs, living wages, and strong worker protections. The developmentof this new economy will be driven by the emerging human rights, workers, youth,immigrant, and green social movements in partnership with my administration andsocially responsible businesses, investors and philanthropies.

Contextualization: Where We Stand

Jackson, like many urban centers, is struggling to overcome decades of economicdivestment, deindustrialization, suburban flight, a declining tax base, chronic under andun-employment, poorly performing schools, and an antiquated and decayinginfrastructure.

While addressing all of these interrelated issues is important, the one that will assumethe greatest attention during my administration is the infrastructure crisis. In order toensure the health of our residents and rebuild our infrastructure to revitalize theeconomic foundations of our city, we must improve our sewage, water treatment, anddrainage systems, repave and rebuild our roads and bridges, expand our transportationsystems, and modernize our energy systems. The most urgent infrastructure needs areour sewer and water treatment systems. In November 2012 the City of Jackson signed



a Consent Decree with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department ofJustice (DoJ), and the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) toimprove the sewer and water quality systems in the city.

The Consent Decree gives the city of Jackson 17 years to overhaul our water treatment

and sewage systems. The critical improvements to these systems will require hundredsof millions of dollars to properly address. If the city is unable to make theseimprovements at scheduled intervals, the Consent Decree may result in Jackson losingcontrol of its sewage and water treatment systems. My administration is determined toensure that Jackson will retain its control over these life sustaining systems.

Crises often present new opportunities. Jackson’s infrastructure crisis can be a majorcatalytic opportunity for our city and our residents. Over the course of the next 15 to 20years, the city of Jackson will have to spend an estimated $1.2 billion dollars to repairand upgrade its infrastructure. These infrastructure expenditures could potentiallygenerate a short-term economic boom for the city. However, the challenge is how will

we finance these critical infrastructure expenses? The lion’s share of the expense willbe financed through bonds and other forms of debt financing. But, relying on thesemeans of finance alone will place an overdue burden on future generations that myadministration is determined to avoid. Privatization is also not an option, under anycircumstances. Therefore, we are going to have to be very creative and innovative inour approach to solving this critical issue.

How We Will Govern

We believe that the creativity and innovation will come from the genius within our owncommunity. We will stimulate and catalyze this genius by our practice and methodology

of participatory and transparent governance. This methodology is grounded in my firmbelief and grounding in human rights advocacy and promotion.

Human Rights Implementation

To ensure that the full complement of our resident’s human rights are respected,protected, and fulfilled, my administration intends to implement the following policiesand programs:

1. Human Rights Charter. The Charter will establish the legal standing, policy framework and institutional support of our municipality for the promotion andprotection of our resident’s human rights. We seek to institute the Charter withthe support and approval of the City Council, through the passage of anordinance establishing its full standing under the law.

2. Human Rights Commission. The Commission will serve as the implementing,enforcement, and monitoring body for the Charter and the general programs itcommissions. The Commission will specifically address issues of compliance,accountability, monitoring and documentation pertaining to how the government fulfills its human rights obligations. The Commission will work in consultative



status very closely with civil society and the social movements of the city to fulfillits mission.

3. Human Rights Institute. The institute will operate as a quasi-governmental, butindependent institution dedicated to human rights education and the broadpromotion of human rights. The institute will focus on providing human rights

education to all city employees and the community at large.To design and develop these institutions, policies, and programs, my administration isworking closely with various local partners, including the Jackson People’s Assembly,the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, the Mississippi NAACP, One Voice, the Veteransof the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement, the Mississippi Workers Center for HumanRights, the Mississippi Association of Cooperatives, and Mississippi Immigrant RightsAlliance, amongst others. On a national level we are partnering with the Praxis Project,the Fund for Democratic Communities, the Human Rights Institute of Columbia LawSchool, the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative, the Human RightsCommission of Eugene, Oregon and the US Human Rights Network.

Participatory and Transparent Governance

There are numerous ways my administration will strive to elicit the broadest anddeepest participation of our residents to resolve the challenges confronting our city.Our aim is to turn our challenges into opportunities for the empowerment of ourresidents and the revitalization of our city.

Two prominent ways my administration will foster and encourage broad civicparticipation amongst our residents are through “participatory budgeting” processesand “people’s assemblies”.

1. Participatory Budgeting. Participatory Budgeting is a process of democraticdecision-making that encourages residents to directly deliberate upon anddetermine budgetary allocations for the municipality. Our objective in engagingthe Participatory Budgeting processes is to place more power in the hands of ourresidents and to deepen democracy in our community by making governancemore participatory. My administration is beginning to collaborate withorganizations like the Fund for Democratic Communities, the DemocracyCollaborative, and the Participatory Budgeting Project preparing to introducethe Participatory Budgeting process to the city and to educate the governmentand the community on various ways it can be applied in Jackson. Our objective is

to initiate the process in early 2014 to help us determine a portion of our 2014 –2015 annual budget that will be more directly controlled by our residents viatheir direct determination on how these resources should be allocated.

2. People’s Assemblies. People’s Assemblies are self-organized instruments ofpeople’s agency and power. As a human rights promoter and communityorganizer, I have always advocated and supported the development of People’sAssemblies as a means to give voice and power to those who have systematically



been denied them in our society. Over the years as a member of communityorganizations like the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, I have participated inorganizing Assemblies to elect the first Black Mayor of Jackson, to give voice tothose internally displaced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and to give voice tothe residents of Ward 2 and be directly accountable to them on an ongoing basis.

As Mayor I fully intend to support the efforts of the Ward 2 People’s Assembly,the People’s Task Force, and the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement to build a city-wide People’s Assembly. In addition to supporting People’s Assemblies, myadministration will consistently consult the Neighborhood Associations and otherinstitutions of civil society in our community as part of my commitment to build amore vibrant and participatory democracy in Jackson.

Good governance through human rights advocacy and protection, we believe willencourage and mobilize our city to unite as a community and create the long-termsolutions needed to solve our critical problems. In addition to human rightsimplementation and participatory governance we believe that the implementation of ourcore campaign agenda will lay the foundation for the long-term revitalization ofJackson.

My Vision for the Future

“Building the city of the future today”, this is the prime directive of my administration.Through the practice of participatory democracy and transparent governance we willestablish the foundations for equity and prosperity that will sustain the city for thegenerations to come by concentrating on these four fundamental programmaticobjectives for the redevelopment of Jackson.

Rebuilding and Redeveloping Jackson’s Infrastructure

As noted above, Jackson must overhaul and rebuild its infrastructure if the city is goingto revitalize itself. It is imperative that we rebuild our water management and wastetreatment systems, become more efficient in our energy consumption, diversify oursources of energy, overhaul our streets, highways, and bridges, and create acomprehensive public transportation system.

1. Water Management and Waste Treatment. We aim to completely overhaul thesesystems by removing all of our antiquated pipes, pumps, and refineries andreplacing them with the most sustainable equipment and materials that we can

access. We also aim to reduce water consumption by installing newer, moreaccurate and efficient meters, and by engaging in extensive communityeducation campaigns to reduce extraneous consumption. We will also reducehazardous runoff into our drainage systems by creating more stringent policiesand penalties.

2. Energy Efficiency. We aim to simultaneously diversify our energy sources andsignificantly reduce our consumption. We will start by retrofitting all of the citiesbuildings and facilities to ensure that they are energy efficient. We will also



convert all of the cities light pole fixtures to ensure that they use solar powerenergy converters and efficient bulbs. We aim to utilize as much solar and windpower as we can harness by supporting the building of solar power stations inseveral strategic locations throughout the city that are currently vacant orunderutilized. We also aim to utilize several of these spaces to create wind farms

to harness electricity. Further, we also aim to develop programs that willincentivize and subsidize the extensive cultivation of solar power in residentialareas, businesses, and governmental properties.

3. Repaving our Streets and Rebuilding our Highways and Bridges. We aim torepave all of the major thoroughfares, arteries, and highways of our city(excluding interstate highways) which need repaving. In doing so, we will use themost eco-friendly and sustainable products currently available. We also intendon retrofitting all of the bridges in our city, all of which are vital for transportationand trade in our metropolis.

4. Creating a comprehensive Public Transportation System. We aim to lay the foundation for the development of a comprehensive public transportation in ourcity, based on a fleet of clean energy buses, an energy efficient Metro-Railsystem, and a comprehensive system of bike and walking trails.

Making Jackson the Greenest most Sustainable city in the Southeast

My administration is fully committed to building a sustainable future for our city andcommunities. Greening our infrastructure and transforming how we generate andconsume energy is the critical first step. But, it is only the first step. Additional steps weare committed to taking include creating a comprehensive recycling system,developing a “zero” waste management system, eliminating the use of toxins in ourcommunity, creating a network of urban gardens and farms, and modernizing the citiespolicies and codes for procurements, contract bidding, and departmental operations toachieve this overall goal.

1. Recycling and Zero Waste. We are going to design and implement acomprehensive recycling program for the city. The program will address not onlygovernment facilities, but all of the cities residential and commercial facilities.We will also incentivize waste reduction at the source – in our households andbusinesses – by extensive education campaigns and policy change, such as “payas you throw” legislation.

2. Urban Gardening and Farming. To effectively utilize our abundance of land,

ensure the food security of our community, encourage and promote healthyeating habits, and create long-term employment opportunities in impoverishedcommunities, my administration is promoting the growth and expansion of urbangardening and farming. We are strongly encouraging the development of urban farming cooperatives to produce “to scale” agricultural yields and serve thehealth and employment needs of our community.

3. Policy Alignment. In order to make Jackson the most sustainable city in theSoutheast, we have to align our policies to meet our goals. In collaboration with



the City Council, my administration intends to overhaul all of our zoning,permitting, procurement, contracting, and bidding processes to ensure theyreflect our vision and priorities and establish the means for my administration toaccomplish our goals.

Redeveloping West South Northwest and Downtown Jackson

To build equity in our marginalized and underserved communities we are committed toconcentrating our redevelopment resources to these strategic areas. Our objectivesare to rehabilitate considerable portions of the existing housing stock in thesecommunities to make them sustainable structures. We are also going to develop newgreen, energy efficient housing complexes in these communities. We also aim toincubate and attract businesses to provide jobs and serve these communities. To retainand attract more youth and talent to our city, we are committed to building a dynamicnetwork of arts and entertainment venues to enhance and highlight the talents and giftsof Jackson’s residents.

1. Housing. My administration is fully committed to improving the overall housingstock of the city to retain our existing population and attract new young, creative,and enterprising residents. We aim to create thousand’s of new affordablehousing units in our target communities utilizing the most sustainable and energyefficient methods and products available. We also aim to rehabilitate asubstantive degree of our existing housing stock for historic preservation andaffordability.

2. Business incubation and employment. In order to revitalize our targetcommunities, we have to attract and create new industries to provideemployment for the residents in these communities and offer new retail and

service businesses to serve their consumer needs. We are strongly encouragingthe development of cooperative enterprises to serve these needs, but alsoaggressively recruiting businesses nationally and internationally.

3. Arts and Culture. Jackson is deeply connected to the Delta Blues and the artisticcraftsmanship of the African American community. It also steeped in the historyof African American people for civil and human rights. My administration fullyintends on celebrating and promoting our culture and honoring the contributionsof those who sacrificed for the fulfillment of many of our fundamental humanrights as no Jackson administration ever has. Our aim is to use this culturalcapital as an engine to spur economic growth via tourism and the creation of

“creative zones” to support artists and cultural workers and encourage them toproduce social and economic value for our community.

Building a dynam ic “New Economy” based on Cooperative Development

A central component to the economic development vision and strategy of myadministration is the promotion and development of various cooperative enterprises. Inalignment with our vision of sustainability and to address our employment and



economic equity issues, we are particularly looking to stimulate and incubate greenmanufacturing industries. We are also looking to encourage the growth of cooperativesin the health services, recycling, waste management, hauling, warehousing, retail,hospitality, and housing industries. My administration is developing the institutionalcapacity to promote, incubate and develop cooperatives by committing a division of our

Department of Planning and Development to this task. We are also creating a strategiccooperative fund and developing technical assistance partnerships with organizationsand institutions like the Fund for Democratic Communities, the DemocracyCollaborative, the Federation of Southern Cooperatives, the Malcolm X GrassrootsMovement, and Mondragon – USA amongst others.

The broader aspects of our work to develop a “new economy” for Jackson, willencourage the growth of the private sector in manufacturing, retail, and entertainmentsectors, and foster the development of various public –private partnerships withcooperatives, labor unions, credit unions, private enterprises, socially responsiblebanks and investors, and philanthropies.

1. Cooperative Development. Cooperatives are rapidly becoming engines ofeconomic growth and employment stabilization in several urban centersstruggling with historic divestment and deindustrialization that are comparableJackson such as Cleveland, Cincinnati, Reading (PA), and Richmond (CA).Jackson in many respects is poised to become the Mondragon of the UnitedStates, given its industrial infrastructure, strategic location along several traderoutes (I-20 connecting Atlanta to Dallas/Fort Worth and 1 – 55 connecting NewOrleans to Chicago), and historic knowledge and association with cooperativedevelopment from the mutual aid societies, credit unions, and farmerscooperatives developed in African American communities throughout the state.

2. Cooperative Incubator. As noted the Incubator will be housed in the departmentof Planning and Development and will operate in partnership with numerousacademic and non-profit organizations from Jackson and throughout the UnitedStates and the world in order to aid our communities and socially consciousentrepreneurs with the technical support they need to build sound businesses.These technical skills include business planning, market research and analysis,sustainable financing, financial and asset management, and worker-ownermanagement and democracy.

3. Cooperative Fund. My administration is committed to creating this fund utilizingcity and CDBG funds. Given the infrastructure challenges we have noted, these

funds will not be as substantial as we would like. However, our aim is to usethese funds as strategic leverage to attract additional financial resources fromphilanthropies, credit unions, banks, and socially responsible corporations,various types of capital funds, and individual donors and investors.

One of our first major initiatives promoting cooperative development is the “ JacksonRising: New Economies Conference ”. The Jackson Rising Conference will be held inMay 2014 and focus on educating our community about cooperative enterprises and



how to start and run them effectively, in addition to addressing how cooperativedevelopment can benefit the city of Jackson and how we will build cooperatives in ourcommunity to build wealth and equity. We encourage all of the participants of theNeighborhood Funders Group Conference to join us again for this conference in May2014.

Moving Forward: Developing Strategic Partnerships to Our Needs

To address our infrastructure crisis and accomplish this ambitious vision, broad unityand critical alignment will have to be achieved in our city. As stated before, we believewe can and will achieve the unity and alignment needed through the practice of goodgovernance. Through this we believe that we will be able to produce the majority of theresources we need to revitalize our community. But, we won’t secure all of theresources needed on our own.

We are going to have to secure some resources from the state of Mississippi, and evenmore from the Federal Government. Given the growing political divisions at the Stateand Federal levels, we doubt if we realistically will receive enough resources fromthese sources to meet our projected expenditures of $1.2 billion for our infrastructureoverhaul, let alone the resources needed to redevelop our communities and improveour public education system.

To become the City of the Future, the Sustainable, Cooperative city we envision, theCity of Jackson must form strategic partnerships with philanthropies and other non-governmental entities that promote and support human rights, social responsibility,transparency, civic engagement, participatory governance, community empowerment,sustainability, and cooperative development. We encourage all those who share our

commitments and support our vision to join us in a strategic partnership on thistrailblazing effort to make Jackson Rise!

Contact Information

For more information about this vision and about how to support and partner with myadministration and the City of Jackson, please contact Kali Williams, Special Projectsand External Funding Coordinator in the Office of the Mayor.

Mr. Williams can be contacted at [email protected] or 601.720.4638.

mailto:[email protected]




Documents

Jackson Rising Policy Statement, Mayor Chokwe Lumumba