Progress Hattiesburg

[2002usmgrad]

http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050724/NEWS01/507240304/1002

Alright, this is really confusing me. The mayor is proposing a bond issue "similar" to the one that failed last time? You know, if I do something and it fails, I figure out why it failed and change it. I guess what changed was Bradley, this must be why the city officials have been seen whining and dining him lately.
Now, I'm all for improving Hattiesburg, I might even support this plan, but right now something seems very fishy. The mayor is promising to lower car tags. I thought that was up to the county. Am I wrong in thinking this? What also bugs me is the fact that they're not quite sure what they are going to use the money for, and they're just pulling this number from last years proposal that FAILED.
I hate to say this, but I agree with what Bobby Chain says, "I'm not against anything. I just want to know what I'm for." And does anyone believe that they will actually get rid of the sales tax when it's paid off. By that time everyone will be use to the tax and will have forgotten that they voted for it.
It seems like Dupree is going around making it look like he is trying to get the citizens involved, but he's just telling them general facts, he has to have by now more knowledge of what's going on other than we're going to raise the sales tax by just a penny and use $60 million dollars for stuff. But then again, maybe he doesn't, and that's just scary.

[jmack]

The mayor is promising to lower car tags.

The only way the Mayor will lower car tags is if he takes them all off the top shelf and puts them on the floor.

[noway]

The mayor is wasting his time on this. 60 percent vote by city residents. Dont think so :smt070

[Fire Extinguisher]

I dont think it's the 60% vote he needs to worry with, its if Mr Bradley is going to step right into the shoes of Rowell or not and band with Bailey/Carrol to fight anyting Johnny does.

Then getting it by the do nothing group in Jackson, which should not (but will) be a problem. It should be left up to the voters of the City, not some elected dude from the delta!

The plan as outlined in the cruddy little HA did not look to bad to me, incomplete and not enough detail...... but being a firefighter for the city I know a way must be found to replace station 1, along with the old PD building.

If he gets it by those first two hurdles, I think he has an excellent chance to get 60% of the voters to vote in favor. The Dupree people are much better at the "get out to vote" the the other side.

I found the lady from Petals comment interesting..... "I will do all my shopping in Petal if this passes" Walmart loves her because its the only place to shop in Petal!

[astounded]

[QUOTE=Fire Extinguisher]The plan as outlined in the cruddy little HA did not look to bad to me, incomplete and not enough detail...... but being a firefighter for the city I know a way must be found to replace station 1, along with the old PD building.QUOTE]

If we vote to pass the bond. To Get a new Fire And Police Station. Can we include a New Chief, or Chiefs in the bond proposal? :)

[astounded]

[QUOTE=2002usmgrad]Alright, this is really confusing me. The mayor is proposing a bond issue "similar" to the one that failed last time? You know, if I do something and it fails, I figure out why it failed and change it.... Now, I'm all for improving Hattiesburg, I might even support this plan, but right now something seems very fishy. The mayor is promising to lower car tags. I thought that was up to the county. Am I wrong in thinking this?
I hate to say this, but I agree with what Bobby Chain says, "I'm not against anything. I just want to know what I'm for." QUOTE]

I'm willing to bet that Johnny might have had a hard time getting re-elected if folks knew he would waste some more money trying to pass the "James Bond" issue again.
Bond...James Bond... Never, Say Never!

[2002usmgrad]

Wouldn't that be Goldfinger, sorry bad joke.

[wilebill]

Some parts of the "bond issue" that's been told make absolutely no sense. It's been said that if the bond issue is passed, some of it will be used to pay off existing debt. That sounds like some of those companies that advertise on TV to "consolidate all your loans" by borrowing money from them. Maybe the city should just call them instead of trying for a new bond.

Hattiesburg, TTBOMK, is one of the few cities in MS that is doing quite well on tax collections. Over the years we've mostly paid as we went, which probably anyone will tell you is just plain good fiscal management.

Don't get me wrong, we need another new fire station or 2, as well as another main police station. And we may need to float a bond or 2 to build those. But we don't need a $60M bond to do that.

As long as we have those needs, and the mayor has this lame-brained idea for his bond, any new construction will be held as hostage to that bond proposal.

Don't make the mistake of believing that Hattiesburg can't afford to build the buildings that we need without this bond issue. We can afford and it can be done if someone would only make the decision to do it.

[2002usmgrad]

Anyone know of how to get a hold of the city's finances, just to see how much we do have in the bank. Is this public information?

[Omerto]

Go to the State Legislature's website. Look at all the bills introduced to allow local option sales taxes--that died in the respective Local and Private Committees in each chamber without ever being voted on.

Mayor DuPree can meet with all the senior citizen groups he wants to, but unless he can convince Senator Ralph Doxey (who refuses to bring such bills up for votes) DuPree might as well kiss his bond package goodbye. In Jackson its called being "DOA" as in "Dead on Arrival."

Chairman "Sir Percival" Watson is the ONLY member of the Hattiesburg/Forrest County delegation with enough legislative clout to move the issue through the House. He can' t do that because his fellow-Legislative Black Caucus member who chairs the House Local and Private Committee now has a policy that the resolution must be UNANIMOUSLY approved by every governmental entity (Red Bailey still alive??) AND THE LOCAL DELEGATIONS (notice their less-than enthusiastic response in the story??) for him to consider it in his committee.

Sir Percival knows that the GOP members of the delegation won't support any tax increase (at least they'd better not!!!) so DuPree better start picking up cans on the side of the highway and taking them to the recycling center for the refund because this one is "DOA">

[White Horse]

Don't we still have a 2% sales tax on restaurants to pay for the Convention Center? If so, when does that end?

[wilebill]

Don't we still have a 2% sales tax on restaurants to pay for the Convention Center? If so, when does that end?

Yes we do have that tax, and it will never end. That's the way the law, or ordinance, or whatever it's called was written. As long as it's spent on "tourism or tourism-related activity" it will keep on keeping on. You could basically call anything "tourism-related".

[Kimberly]

big 10-04 good buddy

[JB2379]

it's actually a good thing that Johnny is trying to improve the city, but he is simply going about it the wrong way. I'm very skeptical of this bond proposal. At this point, I just don't think there is enough information about it to satisfy the public's curiosity!

[Sgw]

For hattiesburg not to be any bigger than it is, I am suprise taxes are so high. Hotel taxes are 9%, that is the same as New Orleans. Another thing, is our roads suck, and are highways and streets are kept dirty. I drive down to the coast everyday, and I always seem them doing road work but i never see the roads getting better. One thing i really do admire about the coast is how clean, and nice they keep there part of the highway. They have prisioners out there everyday cleaning and cutting grass. I think that should also happen in hattiesburg not only for our highways but all of our streets and community.

It is really sad that Mississippi ranks at the top of having the dirtiest roads in the US and a place like Denver or DC (big citites) whos taxes are in the same range, have beautiful streets and highways, and the roads are kept up. The only time road work happens here is during election time after that it stops. I spent 200.00 on my car tag last week I think that is extrememly high when so little is being done to keep the roads fixed and cleaned.

I think the hattiesburg government structure, and tax system needs to be re-evaluated, and re-organized. Hattiesburg has the potential to be a great city but not without change.

Sarah

[beggingforrelief]

As I have stated in previous forums, the DuPree plan is like moving a credit card balance to a new card. It may look good on paper but when all is said and done, the interest will be unbearable on the citizens of Hattiesburg.


What I've seen in the litter box liner (HA) the only people who DuPree is pitching this smokescreen to is afro-american senior groups. What about the residents who dine in the restaurants and entertain bussiness associates who will be paying the increase tax.

Than what, DuPree will focus the vat majority of projects to the money pit called east hattiesburg.

[JB2379]

You know if his bond proposal passes, which I highly doubt, it's obvious that Dupree is going to use the majority of the funds for projects in east Hattiesburg. As citizens, we should give him an ultimatum: either be fair in disbursing the funds to all areas or the city, or we're not going to approve it. They way for Dupree to do this is to tell the public NOW and in very specific detail how and where he plans to spend this money. This will alow us to form an opinion on whether or not the passage of the bond issue will bebeneficial to ALL of Hattiesburg, not just the east. Because Honestly, if Dupree is pushing this bond issue to benefit the entire city, it might not be such a bad idea. However, this plan is still lacking in substance and detail. I want to know specifics. Anoher thing; if this bond issue is going to pass, Dupree is going to need support from the ENTIRE city council, not just Dennard and Naylor. He's also going to need support from people like Percy Watson, Lee Jarrel Davis, and Ed Morgan, just to name a few. So in other words, Dupree needs to hold back on promoting his plan to only African-American senior citizens, and focus on informing Watson, Davis, Morgan, and other powerful legislators on the the specifics of this bond issue.

[aaron]

Well, before this even thinks about passing, he has to give us a plan for where the money is going to go. I really want to see that. I remember something like 20 million going to USM "if they want it", and USM responding to HA saying basically, "the city can keep their money now"

Next, I guess he can lower car tags since if you live in the city, your tags are higher than if you just lived in Forrest or Lamar county.