Men like to fix things. You don’t market drills, saws and wrenches to women.
Real men like to do something productive with their hands. The real smart ones learn how to get other men to do things productive with their hands.
A grocery store manager once told me to fix the little things first. His point was you get started, you gain quick satisfaction and after while you’ve really accomplished something.
“How do you eat an elephant?” as the old saying goes.
Here are a few things that need fixing.
Speed Bumps
If we are going to have speed bumps rather than police writing tickets for speeding, they need to be constructed properly.
The speed bump on Spruce is almost five inches high.
We have had two people call your Clarksdale Press Register saying their car bottomed-out slowly going over those speed bumps.
Anything put on a city or county street is required to be certified as safe and built to standard specifications.
I hope the city realizes the minute an accident is caused by un-certified speed bump they are going to get sued.
Festival Fun
The 2024 Sunflower River Blues and Gospel Fest was perfect.
The weather was perfect, the music was perfect and the crowds were large.
I wish the city would bring in aluminum stands from our ballfields for folks to sit on at our next festival.
BBQ Fest
Clarksdale needs a barbecue festival.
I’ve heard several people say they would like to be part of something like this.
As with most festivals, the first one is the hardest. And there needs to be a plan for the second and third one.
Sponsors help – deep pockets always do – but something simple on one of our big empty parking lots might get the ball rolling.
Stop Cars and Stop Crime
If our city and county law enforcement pulled over cars for traffic stops, I’m sure crooks would not like the attention and go someplace else.
The city did that one weekend in the summer of 2019 and rounded up more than a dozen guns, got some dope off the street and arrested some and wrote tickets for others.
It was shortly after a gang-related drive-by shooting. Once the word got out suspicious vehicle would be pulled over in Clarksdale the trouble stopped.
Burn Time
I might be asking someone to commit a crime, but here goes.
The next time an abandoned house catches fire – let it burn.
I have been told by firefighters in three states that insurance rules and regulations require firefighters to put out a fire as quickly as possible and that is a good rule for property that needs saving.
I never want a fire to spread to another house, so maybe they could just cool off the house next door while the eyesore burns down.
Garbage Bins
We need to have locations to dump trash and garbage.
I had a longtime resident stop me the other day and say a dozen big dumpsters placed strategically around Clarksdale would make a huge difference in this town and free up Public Works to address more important needs.
Stripe The Streets
We need center stripes on major streets and crosswalks at major intersections.
I understand the county has a simple striping machine. The city needs to politely ask to borrow it.
Flower Power
I miss the orange flowers on the hill behind Kaboom Park.
They would be a nice touch for the Red’s Blues Festival later this month.
A small group of people complained of snakes in the grass and the city cut it down.
What’s the old saying? “No good deed goes unpunished.”
First Impressions
Clarksdale needs to work regularly on cleaning up the major streets into our fair city.
We’ve put up fancy lights and build extra-wide sidewalks, but they lose their appeal when there are blighted houses behind them.
We also need to work on Highway 49, New Africa Road, the Highway 6 intersection with Old Highway 61 and the turnoff at Highway 61 onto South State Street south of town.
You only get one chance to make a good first impression.
Floyd Ingram is Editor of your Clarksdale Press Register. He likes to fix things. Call him at 662-627-2201 if you spot something that needs fixing!
