Mr. Bob Williams, MCEDA Chairman

Mr. David Altig, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta

Mr. Pete Walley, Institute of Higher Learning

The Honorable Lynn Fitch, Mississippi State Treasurer

The Honorable Lynn Fitch, Mr. Bob Williams

Mr. John S. Wilson, Morgan Keegan

Mr. David Altig, Mr. Pete Walley, The Honorable Lynn Fitch, Mr. John S. Wilson

Ms. Jan Collins, The Honorable Lynn Fitch, and Mr. Tim Coursey

Mr. Tim Coursey, MCEDA Executive Director

Mr. Dan Bednarzyk,Nissan North America

“We’re targeting Madison County. All of the cities in the county have smoke-free ordinances and those in the unincorporated areas don’t have the same protections,” said Corey Wiggins with Smoke Free Mississippi. “That’s why we’re trying to get a countywide ordinance.”

An ordinance prohibiting smoking in all workplaces and public places was presented to the Board of Supervisors on Monday for them to start studying by the Madison County Business League.

“We want to discuss it with them,” said Jan Collins, the league’s executive director. “We want Madison County to be the first.”

In Mississippi 53 communities have passed smoke-free ordinances.

In December, Canton joined Flora, Madison and Ridgeland, which adopted the smoking bans earlier. In December the supervisors adopted a resolution to eliminate exposure to second hand smoke at work sites and public indoor places.

But, Collins said the proposal before the board now for consideration would follow the lead of the cities’ smoking bans carry penalties for smokers and businesses that fail to comply.

“We want to put a bug in the supervisors’ ear,” said Rochelle Culp, director of the Mississippi Tobacco Free Coalition in Madison County. “Madison County is an up-and-coming county and others will follow suit.

The ordinance, which is the same as those in the cities, is designed to protect the health of citizens in unincorporated areas, she said.

“I can’t see Madison County being second to anyone in protecting the health of its citizens,” District 2 Supervisor Ronny Lott said. “We need to seriously consider being the first county to adopt it.”

District 3 Supervisor Gerald Steen was a Ridgeland alderman when the city adopted its ordinance. “I’m in favor of it if it similar to what Ridgeland adopted,” he said.

District 5 Supervisor Paul Griffin said he wants to read the proposed ordinance but he doesn’t anticipate any problems with supporting it.

“We will certainly look at it and consider it,” board president John Bell Crosby of District 1 said.

The proposal calls for prohibiting smoking in enclosed places, including bars, public areas of businesses like banks, laundromats, professional offices and retailers, motels, restaurants, sports arenas like stadiums, gyms and spas and all county owned buildings. Smoking would also be prohibited in all enclosed areas of places of employment, which includes common work areas, meeting rooms, private offices, elevates, hallways, lounges and stairs.

In outdoor areas, smoking would be prohibited within 20 feet of entrances to locations where smoking is banned, outdoor seating of restaurants, sports bleachers or grandstands and outdoor playgrounds.

The proposal calls for a $50 fine for a person smoking in a prohibited area and a $100 fine for the first violation of a business owner. Violating the ordinance would be considered a public nuisance.

By the scheduled end of the project in November 2014, that two-mile stretch should have a new look with a split diamond interchange, additional lanes for a total of eight in both directions, frontage roads, a wider Madison Avenue and a portion of a new east-west road in Ridgeland, all at a cost of $85.4 million.

“It’s a pretty aggressive schedule,” said Ken Wallace, district engineer for the Mississippi Department of Transportation.

Central District Transportation Commissioner Dick Hall said the project is a significant one for MDOT and Madison County.

“There will be a lot of construction under way soon, and while there may be some inconvenience for a short time, the benefits should be well worth the wait.”

The thrust of the project, initially designed in 2008, is the split diamond interchange that adds additional means to get on and off the interstate, which Madison resident Chris Blount said is needed to help him and thousands more commuters to and from work more easily.

“In short, this isn’t going to be fun, but we have to do it,” said Blount, who works at Methodist Rehabilitation Center in Jackson.

The 2010 Census recorded a jump of 20,529 residents in Madison County since 2000 for a total population of 95,203.

The portion of the interchange in Ridgeland around the Steed Road area allows northbound traffic to exit I-55 onto a frontage road and allows southbound traffic to re-enter the highway from a frontage road.

At the new Madison Avenue interchange, northbound traffic will re-enter the interstate and southbound traffic will exit the interstate.

In-between the two sections, frontage roads will run one way – northbound on the east side of I-55 and southbound on the west side.

MDOT officials are warning motorists to be prepared in the future for changes that will affect the movement of traffic on the interstate.

“A lot of construction will take place where traffic is today,” Wallace said. “It will be good until traffic moves head-to-head, and then that will be a challenge.”

As to when that happens, Wallace said, “We’re still working out the exact schedule with the contractor.”

At some point there will be lane closures on the interstate, but those can only occur between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m. The contractor, Hill Brothers Construction of Falkner, will be allowed to work 24 hours a day, seven days a week to keep the job moving as quickly as possible.

Madison resident Susan Lunardini said she remembers losing hours in traffic a few years ago when the Ridgeland interchange was built and hopes MDOT is prepared to alert motorists this time to potential delays.

“Last time, it could have been relieved with some forethought,” said Lunardini, who commutes to her engineering company in Jackson. “We all want progress, but we also need to get to work. On days when they know they will have backups, I wish they could give us flashing signs when an alternative route is viable.”

Scheduled first are improvements to the southern end of the project. The deadline for the first phase of work is Aug. 3.

Set in Ridgeland, the work will widen and add a turn lane at the Sunnybrook Road/Jackson Street intersection and widen Jackson Street west to I-55.

The goal is to finish work in the area before school resumes in August since two Ridgeland schools and the Holmes Community College campus are close to the construction area, Wallace said.

A new road, Colony Park Boulevard, will be built underneath the interstate to provide an east-west corridor linking Highland Colony Parkway and U.S. 51.

“Once Colony Park Boulevard is built, that will help get that traffic to the interstate,” said David Williams, Ridgeland’s traffic engineer.

In Madison, a portion of Madison Avenue that runs underneath I-55 will be widened to five lanes from about Adderly Gardens on the west to a a new intersection of Grandview Boulevard and Cottonhill Road on the east, said Denson Robinson, Madison’s public works director.

“Let’s remember that this is very good economic development for the county and two cities,” said Blount, a former president of Madison the City Chamber of Commerce. “It’s not just the construction jobs – it’s also about the development that will occur along the new routes and frontage roads. I think this will be great in the end, if we can get past the annoyingly slow construction process.”

]]> http://madisoncountyeda.com/2012/05/where-public-meets-private/feed/ 0 http://madisoncountyeda.com/2012/05/county-will-gain-legislative-posts/ http://madisoncountyeda.com/2012/05/county-will-gain-legislative-posts/#comments Tue, 08 May 2012 13:17:19 +0000 natoya http://madisoncountyeda.com/?p=2086 Continue reading →]]> Madison County will get another seat in the Mississippi House and a new Senate district that dips down from the Delta under redistricting maps approved by the 2012 Legislature.

“I’m thrilled with the plan we came up with because we got another district,” said Rep. Rita Martinson of District 58. “We certainly deserve it and we’ve got the population to support it.”

The new House district means that Madison County will have three complete districts within its borders, plus portions of four others. “I think we (legislative delegation) will have a more concentrated effort now,” for Madison County residents, Martinson said.

Both the Senate and House maps were approved in the last days of the 2012 legislative session. They now require approval from the U.S. Department of Justice to ensure that they don’t dilute minority voting strength. Changes in all districts were necessary to equalize the population to reflect the 2010 Census.

Martinson, a member of the committee that drew up the House plan, said her new district decreases in size because population growth had swelled within the current boundaries by an extra 4,500 people. “I lost part of Ridgeland and I lost part of Madison on Highland Colony Parkway,” she said.

Sen. Will Longwitz, a Republican who was elected last year from District 25 that covered Madison and Hinds, said the configuration of his district changes.

“The biggest change for me was I picked up all the city of Madison,” he said. “I had to give up some areas to the north around Deerfield and Gluckstadt.”

Under the current map, District 25 includes all of Ridgeland. Under the new map, Longwitz said District 25 includes only a portion of Ridgeland and the other sections reallocated to District 26 represented by Sen. John Horhn, a Democrat from Jackson.

District 72 Rep. Kimberly Buck, a Democrat from Jackson, said her district under the approved House plan has not changed that much. “I did increase my Ridgeland area. The increased Ridgeland presence is still largely made up of middle- to upper-class African-American voters, so it fits nicely into my district,” she said.

THURSDAY, MAY 10, 2012

8:00-9:30AM (DOORS OPEN AT 7:30AM FOR ARRIVAL & BREAKFAST)

NISSAN NORTH AMERICAN, INC. TRAINING CENTER

SPEAKERS:

DR. DAVE ALTIG: EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT & DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH AT THE FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF ATLANTA

JOHN WILSON, CFA: MANAGING DIRECTOR, CHIEF TECHNICAL STRATEGIST EQUITY CAPITAL MARKETS; MORGAN KEEGAN BRANCH OFFICE MANAGER, CHATTANOOGA, TN; AUTHOR OF THE DAILY ONLINE STOCK MARKET REPORT “REVEILLE”

PETE WALLEY: DIRECTOR OF LONG RANGE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PLANNING FOR THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI (IHL)

Marty Wiseman

Joint Resolution 1, the redistricting plan for the Mississippi House of Representatives, has been introduced, debated, and passed.

This exercise in the redistricting process, which is one of the most political functions undertaken in all of the activities required of a legislative body, is a tough, bitter exercise in partisan politics.

Basically, the redistricting motivation is this: The winning party in a legislative race seeks to capitalize upon and solidify its gains by establishing legislative districts that leave the winning party more firmly entrenched than they were prior to the successful fight to obtain majority status. In order to accomplish this, the party must walk a tightrope through a number of statutory requirements such as those that mandate consideration be given incumbents, that minority voting strength be protected and that “communities of interest” are acknowledged. Within these considerations, it is the party in the majority that has the power to call the shots on how the new districts will be comprised. Hence, elections do indeed have consequences.

For the time being, Joint Resolution 1 is in the books. With the advent of computers and evermore sophisticated data mapping programs, it is a fairly simple matter to draw districts that are Republican in nature as well as those that will likely vote Democratic. The final factor governing how the districts are compiled is change in population. In the case of Mississippi, the Delta continues to noticeably lose population while legislative seats are being drawn to DeSoto County by its population growth.

In the final analysis, the House GOP leadership has adopted a plan that left the 122-member House with 79 districts that contain less than 35 percent minority population as compared to only 70 districts in this category prior to redistricting. They acknowledged the growth in African-American population with a one-seat increase in black majority districts to 42. Only one seat now will fall in the “in between” category at 40 percent black voting age population compared to 11 seats that held such status under the outgoing plan. In short, the GOP plan has acknowledged the growth in black population by adding a seat while at the same time reconfiguring the remaining seats to reduce the number of minority-influenced seats. The result spells trouble for those seats currently held by white Democrats, several of whom must now run against each other and a few who are paired in the same districts with strong Republican incumbents.

The upshot of the redistricting process is that the Republicans are almost certain to increase their current 64-58 margin in the next election at the expense of seats in reconfigured districts long held by Democrats. The Democrats fought gamely when the plan was introduced. However, Republicans were quite cognizant of their electoral breakthrough in November 2011, and they carried the day on a largely partisan 70-49 vote.

As mentioned above, redistricting is a tough, bitter exercise in partisan politics. Is the process appropriate and fair? It is certainly an example of “hardball,” bare-knuckle politics at its best. Like it or not, the process seems to work the same both ways.

The redistricting gambit played out in Oktibbeha County following the 2000 Census is an excellent case in point. That growing county, home to the largest university in Mississippi, was split five different ways by Democratic House redistrictors in order to create a single district pitting two GOP first-termers Gary Chisholm of New Hope and Rob Robinson of Starkville against each other. Robinson lost that contest, leaving only veteran Tyrone Ellis with any prominent need to give voice to Oktibbeha County’s interests. The majorities of the four other districts lay outside of the county. Ironically, in the plan passed last week Oktibbeha County’s status was restored, with Rep. Ellis gaining virtual “safe seat” status within the eastern half of the county and a new open district being created for the western half of the county. So elections do indeed have consequences.

Can the Democrats dust themselves off and become competitive once again? Buoyed by their new superiority in numbers, have the Republicans created a plan that will sufficiently pass the tests of acknowledging incumbency, of assuring the protection of black voting strength and of due consideration to the importance of communities of interest?

The journey to answering those questions is not over, and several more questions and issues remain. Will there be an appeal to the courts? Will there be action by the U.S. Justice Department? Will the current Legislature be allowed to continue to serve in admittedly malapportioned districts until the next election cycle in 2015, or will elections be required for this fall?

PASSED

• ABORTION: A bill signed into law by Gov. Phil Bryant requires doctors who work at abortion clinics to have admitting privileges to a local hospital and be certified OB-GYN’s. Could close the state’s only abortion clinic.

• REDISTRICTING: New maps were drawn that favor Republicans. They could cause some Democratic incumbents to face each other for seats.

• CHILD PROTECTION: Bill creates new requirements for reporting on suspected sexual abuse of children. Also requires fetal tissue to be saved as potential DNA evidence of statutory rape when girl seeking abortion is 14 or under. Bryant says he looks forward to signing the bill.

• WORKERS’ COMPENSATION: Makes changes to the state’s workers’ compensation system. Proponents say changes would make the system more fair to employers. Opponents say the changes would make it difficult for people hurt on the job to receive compensation. Bryant expected to sign.

• ATTORNEY GENERAL: Attorney general’s power would be limited by giving elected officials and state agency heads other options when they disagree with attorney general on legal issues. Bryant expected to sign.

• BUDGET: Budget tensions eased as revenue projections rose. A rule change limited the ability of rank and file members to change the budget. Bryant has called the budget “acceptable.”

FAILED

• IMMIGRATION: Measure would have required law enforcement to check immigration status of anyone they suspected was in the country illegally when they make an arrest, among other provisions.

• HEARTBEAT: This abortion regulation bill would have banned abortion after a fetal heartbeat could be found, usually at 5 to 6 weeks of pregnancy.

• CHARTER SCHOOLS: Measure would have greatly expanded charter school options in Mississippi, allowing alternative public schools to proliferate.

• BOND BILL: Would have funded projects across the state, from construction to rehabilitation of existing buildings. House sought a bond package of more than $250 million. Senate wanted to authorize much less and would not agree to a higher figure

Thomas Grider, of Stigler, Okla., is one of over 1,000 artists coming to Canton, selling homemade wares. His stone coasters and plant trivets gained him a following.  “Ninety percent of my business is made up of women (customers), so that’s a big day for women shoppers,” said Grider.  “It’s something there for everyone,” he said. “You’ll see new stuff and regular vendors. Good food vendors and a good variety of hand-crafted items and products.”

Every second Thursday in May and October, thousands cover the square and surrounding streets of downtown Canton, on church properties, front lawns, behind City Hall and the Old Jail Museum on Fulton Street. What’s new is Construction and Technology students from Canton Career Center are selling handcrafted, bright and trendy birdhouses for $15.

“These students are using this as a fundraiser to raise monies for a competition that they will be very beneficial to their career training for the future,” said JoAnn Gordon, executive director of Canton Convention & Visitors Bureau & Film Office.  “The Canton Flea Market is a community event and we are proud to boast and showcase the talent that we have right here in our own community.”

In its 47th year, the event is by far the biggest draw for the city, making a substantial economic impact. While the tourism office gets revenue from vendor fees, local businesses also benefit from throngs of shoppers.

The hotel industry is at its busiest in May and October because of the flea market. Customers at LaQuinta Inn & Suites book rooms Wednesday and Thursday and do so for October or May the following year, said manager Neil Patel.  “The hotel is always full but after the flea market, it slows down,” Patel said. “Eighty percent of my customers are all repeat customers, vendors and buyers both.”

The same goes for Brentwood Inn & Suites, where visitors book rooms two years in advance, but there are still rooms available. “Right now, we’re at 55 percent capacity,” said manager Kent McGowan. “We add more to our breakfast in the mornings, make sure the pool is ready and have sweet and unsweet tea.”

Vendors appreciate the accommodations of the city, like being able to set up a day early. But selling wire art in one fast-paced day is a challenge for Anitra Mezzell, even in 16 years of bringing her business – Anitra’s – to Canton.

“It’s a hard show because it starts so early, it’s hot and humid and dirty,” said Mezzell, of Graham, Texas.  She would tell first-time vendors, “Just be ready for the customers because they are there.”