Consider This: The Trash Debacle

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - Well, the Jackson trash debacle has been kicked down the road for another year.

The good news is that Jacksonians will no longer have to look at piles of debris and trash littering the capital city. It never should have gotten to this point.

If not for the commonsense efforts of Judge David Clark, Jacksonians and Jackson businesses would still be living in trash collection hell.

Judge Clark cut to the chase, blaming everyone involved in the self-imposed crisis. Calling the city dysfunctional and continuing that this is a great example of a failure of leadership, all the way around.

“When leaders won’t talk to each other, when leaders won’t cooperate and there is no give and take and there is no compromise. Politics is all about compromise. If you don’t compromise, what you have is a dictatorship. The United States of America decided centuries ago that we don’t want a dictator. Yet, that is what we have here. A government trying to decide who is the dictator, and who will pay for it.”

“You know, this is kind of like parents and children,” he continued. “What parents do; it’s what you are teaching your children to do. The things this council and this mayor are doing right now will have an impact on the people who will hold those positions in the future. Sometimes, litigation is not the answer. Sometimes, putting on the gloves and swinging at someone is not the answer. Sometimes, sitting down and having a conversation and coming to a resolution save lots of time, lots of heartache and lots of money.”

And in his most profound comment he went on to say, “We are not going to fix this in a court of law. We are going fix it at the ballot box, to be honest with you. You all should be looking out for the best interests of the citizens of this city.”

With this trash debacle, the water disaster, raw sewage leaks across the city, crumbling roads destroying our cars and trucks, and a crime epidemic making Jackson the murder capital of the United States, it is hard to imagine how things could be worse in our capital city.

Sadly, city elections are not happening this year. Those elections are two years away - in 2025.

If this foolishness, grandstanding, lack of leadership, lack of collaboration, lack of cooperation and not putting Jacksonians first continues, there needs to be an all-encompassing change in city leadership.

These so-called leaders have two years to get their act together. If they don’t, they should all be voted out of office. That includes the mayor as well as each councilperson… gone.

But there also needs to be competent, qualified candidates running to replace them. If that is you, step up now. Don’t wait.

Jackson desperately needs your leadership.

And to all the Jackson voters: if this dysfunction continues and you allow these people to stay in office, then don’t complain the next time it happens. And believe this promise… it will happen again.

As Judge Clark said, the only way to fix this problem is at the ballot box.

Want more WLBT news in your inbox? Click here to subscribe to our newsletter.

See a spelling or grammar error in our story? Please click here to report it and include the headline of the story in your email.

Copyright 2023 WLBT. All rights reserved.