It’s easy to be down on Jackson given the recent water and trash fiascos but there’s an entirely different scenario.
Earlier this month I attended a day-long presentation put on by the Great City Foundation, headed by Chip Pickering and Susan Garrard.
Over 100 “invitation only” movers and shakers listened to four panels discussing an ambitious plan to move Jackson forward in a big way. The scale and scope of the vision knocked my socks off.
The vision includes a dozen or so huge projects such as One Lake developments, a Department of Defense supercomputing center downtown, massive expansion of UMMC research, a network of biking trails connecting the entire metro area . . . on and on.
As part of this vision, Great City has produced a super fancy seven-minute video that flies over Jackson displaying all the new planned projects. If you’re reading on the web, the video should be attached to this article. It is overwhelming. We’re talking billions of dollars.
If anybody can lead this, Chip Pickering and Susan Garrard can. Pickering, a former six-term U. S. Congressman, knows the ins and outs of federal and state funding. His political connections are strong. Susan Garrard is often described as “a force of nature” because of her will and determination. She is currently head of the Mississippi Children’s Museum.
The realization of the “One Lake” plan is fundamental to the Great City vision and Pickering tells me the stage is finally set for its construction. The federal money has been allocated and a final go-ahead should be completed this summer.
Not only will the One Lake plan alleviate Jackson’s perennial fear of flooding, it will open up the entire metro Pearl River basin to recreational and commercial use, creating one of the biggest urban parks in the world, larger in size than the Central Park in New York City.
This basin, currently trash-ridden floodplain habitat for mosquitoes, racoons, deer, possums and alligators, could be enjoyed and accessed by the entire city.
I’m all for protecting wetlands and wildlife and there is no shortage of such nature reserves throughout rural Mississippi. But it’s crazy to have one in the middle of Mississippi’s only significant urban area. This land should be developed for human enjoyment.
No one should mention the One Lake plan without a nod to John McGowan who came up with the initial vision and worked tirelessly to make it happen, spending a small fortune of his own money.
The Northside Sun has been a relentless backer of the McGowan plan from the beginning. It has been a pleasure to work with John on this vision. It would give me great joy to see its fruition during John’s lifetime.
One Lake uses “mitigation” to protect the environment. That’s where you exchange development of urban land for an equal amount of land in a more rural area. With mitigation, there is no reduction of wildlife habitat.
I am a card-carrying member of the Nature Conservancy. Indeed, every credit card purchase I have made for the last 40 years has contributed to the Nature Conservancy, which buys land and sets it aside for wildlife preservation. I’ve put my environmental mouth where my money is. The Nature Conservancy so far has purchased three million acres in the United States alone.
Pickering told me environmental objections to One Lake have been reduced by Wildlife Mississippi, which has purchased land on either side of the Pearl River for 60 miles, including the portion that would run through One Lake. This protective barrier will be undeveloped, although accessible for recreational enjoyment with trails and such.
According to Wildlife Mississippi, their acquisition of river front land protects most of the remaining private land along the Pearl River from Ross Barnett Reservoir to the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians' reservation in Neshoba County.
Pickering said Congressman Bennie Thompson is now on board with One Lake which will help assuage environmental groups.
The recent flooding in Jackson and its effect on the water system brought national attention to Jackson and has fast-tracked the One Lake plan.
Pickering believes the One Lake plan will be tied into Jackson’s clean water crisis, now being managed by a federal czar.
The protection of the Pearl riverfront caused by Wildlife Mississippi’s $10 million in land purchases, will help naturally purify the Pearl, allowing for a new water treatment facility where the Savannah wastewater treatment is currently located. This will save tens of millions of dollars in water treatment costs over the life of the new plant.
Now that’s some big dreams and grand plans!
But that’s just the beginning. Great Cities says Mississippi is third in the nation in supercomputing, thanks to the Corps of Engineers in Vicksburg and the Stennis Space Center. The Great City Foundation plans to bring a Department of Defense supercomputing facility to downtown Jackson.
Another big part of the Great Cities plan is tearing down the Veterans Memorial Stadium allowing for UMMC expansion. Jackson State would then build its own stadium on campus.
A first step is $13.5 million in renovations to the Lefleur’s Bluff park, including turning the golf course into a high-quality urban municipal course. A pedestrian bridge over Lakeland Drive is planned. The ultimate goal is to cover a metro-wide network of bike trails from Madison to downtown.
One panelist was Dr. Nashlie Sephus, Murrah High School grad, Georgia Tech computer science PhD and now Amazon’s Artificial Intelligence Evangelist, who is spearheading an effort to create a tech district in downtown Jackson near Gallatin Street.
Nashlie started an AI company that she sold to Amazon for millions. Instead of buying a yacht and sailing around the world, she's come back to Jackson to create a tech district in downtown Jackson.
Another panelist was Ryan Gravel, the man who envisioned and realized Atlanta’s Beltline renaissance, now a $4 billion project that has connected 45 Atlanta cities and neighborhoods.
No doubt, there will be naysayers who read about these big dreams and scoff. But this I know. Without the dream, without the vision in the first place, I guarantee it won’t happen. Hats off to Chip Pickering and Susan Garrard for dreaming big and working hard to make it happen. I’m a believer!
