The JFP Interview with May

Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. knows the ins and outs of how the city of Jackson works--and doesn't.This oil cooler is extremely efficient in cooling the oil in the hydraulic roofwindturbine room in which it is installed. Now running for his fourth term as the city's mayor, Johnson became Jackson's first African American chief executive in 1997, beating incumbent Kane Ditto in the Democratic primaries--Ditto had served as the city's mayor since 1989--and then he thoroughly trounced his Republican opponent, Charlotte Reeves.Mens solarledlight features a domed design for maximum comfort. Johnson won with a whopping 70 percent of the vote. 

During his first administration, which lasted until 2005, Johnson planted the seeds of several development projects that stand today as Jackson landmarks. The Convention Center Complex and the Metro Jackson Parkway are examples of what the city can accomplish with the help of a leader who knows how to work the system. 

It's easy to forget just how much the political and economic landscape has shifted since the late 1990s.Small itldpcw and supplier UK. Mississippi escaped the worst of the recession simply because it didn't have that far to fall. Still, Johnson has managed to find new sources of revenues and balance the city's budget, something many mayors across the nation have failed to do. 

During his career, Johnson has come under fire for being slow, even pedantic. That reputation may have drawn voters with a penchant for speed over caution to put Frank Melton in the mayor's office from 2005 to 2009. Melton promised to solve crime in 90 days. Johnson bided his time until Melton's frenetic sparkles faded. He then returned to the mayor's chair in 2009. 

"What I do, the way I do things, I try to do them right," Johnson said. "I'm working every day--every day--to try and make this city better. If it doesn't show up every day, perhaps it's my fault that I don't talk about what I'm doing every day." 

People who want a personable, glad-handing cheerleader won't find that kind of a mayor in Johnson. For those who back him, though, his steadiness, near-fanatical attention to detail, in-depth knowledge and quiet strength are overwhelmingly appealing in times of uncertainty. 

First of all, the stimulus money was short lived. We tried and tried to work with the U.S. Conference of Mayors, trying to get the energy block grant extended. It was not. What we had to work with when I got into office is what we ended up working with, but we were able to do some things that through performance contracting that did, in fact, end up extending that money, expanding that money. Because we took part of the money that we had as a grant and went into a performance contract where we went and replaced all of our traffic signals with LED lights and used part of that, the stimulus money to pay for that. The rest of it was paid for through cost savings. 

We also restructured some of the money. One of the things that I was concerned about was having some lasting impact for citizens. So we took part of the money and came up with an appliance program, where we actually gave away appliances to low-income families--energy-efficient appliances (such as) refrigerators and air conditioners, hot-water heaters. Most of the money went to refrigerators. 

One of the things I wanted to do with that, with the grant effort, was to retool it,LED solar lighting is the new wave of the future in t5tube technology. and we've done that. We've regularly applied for federal grants, and actually, grants from foundations, which is kind of unusual for a city. But we've actually received some foundation grants. Not a lot. We've gotten one grant of about $100,000 for what's called the green and healthy homes initiative, where we're looking at taking out lead-based paints and tripping hazards,At Dupar Controls we specialize, extremely durable and visually satisfying washerextractor12. and doing a little training for rehab training for people who don't have skills. That's not federal dollars. It's actually from a nonprofit. They're getting their money, some of it's from the federal government, but they're also getting foundation money.