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Committee handling new occupancy tax to present plan
Published Friday, February 29, 2008
NATCHEZ — The marketing committee handling the extra revenue produced by the $2 occupancy tax will have to present its plan for each fiscal year to the board of aldermen.
This committee has not yet been formed.
This is a way for the aldermen to get involved in the process of spending marketing dollars, Tourism Director Connie Taunton said.
This does not mean that every time the Natchez Convention and Visitors Bureau is going to spend money on marketing it has to go before the aldermen.
“They want to be able to get involved and have an overview to look at the plan put in place,” Taunton said.
What the aldermen want to be able to do is make sure the marketing covers the entire area of Natchez, Mayor Phillip West said.
West said some aldermen were concerned that only particular businesses or parts of the community would be marketed.
“I presume they would want to look and make sure they feel like we’re marketing all of our tourism assets and that we’re not, for instance, marketing just the antebellum homes,” Taunton said.
Black history activist Sers Seshs Ab Heter-C.M. Boxley brought up this point during the special meeting called to discuss the tax last week.
He wanted to make sure that all of Natchez was promoted, including the Forks of the Road and the National Association for the Preservation of African-American Culture museum.
West said if the aldermen felt the plan did not market the city equally, they would be able to send it back to the marketing committee for revision.
The marketing committee will be formed by the aldermen and the Convention and Visitors Bureau
Besides coming up with marketing plans, the committee will most likely want to look for an advertising agency for the city, she said.
“There’s a lot of work to be done before you jump out there are start spending the money,” Taunton said.
She said if the proposed tax is passed by legislation, it wouldn’t go into effect until June and then the city couldn’t start collecting it until two months later.
A plan will most likely be drawn up and ready to be put in place by the first of the fiscal year, which is Oct. 1, Taunton said.
Comments
Posted by shedevil (anonymous) on February 29, 2008 at 2:44 a.m. (Suggest removal)
this will be the down fall of natchez..i have never seen anyone at forks of the road visiting...whats there to look at??? do they think people will come to natchez to look at an empty lot where slaves were sold?
Posted by EnKiKur (Marty Ellerbe) on February 29, 2008 at 5:47 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Why do you need a marketing committee, a marketing director, a convention center management company, a tourism director, etc, if you are going to hire an advertising company? The Mayor and Board of Aldermen are too busy to call up the ad agency? Will Walter Tipton go to work for the ad agency too, and will it be represented in Natchez by Walter Brown? It is looking like the whole advertising budget is already allocated to agencies and experts.
Posted by gemccull (Gary McCullars) on February 29, 2008 at 7:13 a.m. (Suggest removal)
It's called CYA! But then, there are so many entities that no one can be held accountable.
My conspiracy theory on this one is that in about 12 to 24 months, the funds will be allocated and nothing to spend on advertising. So we will need an additional bed tax.
Posted by mike8427 (anonymous) on February 29, 2008 at 7:23 a.m. (Suggest removal)
EnKiKur - Walter Brown no longer represents the city, he retired over a year ago
Posted by EnKiKur (Marty Ellerbe) on February 29, 2008 at 7:32 a.m. (Suggest removal)
mike- I am aware. He now works for himself.
Posted by oldbeforemytime (anonymous) on February 29, 2008 at 7:35 a.m. (Suggest removal)
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and prove it" Most of the frequent posters on this site never got the memo.
Posted by redusmfan (anonymous) on February 29, 2008 at 7:39 a.m. (Suggest removal)
How about a daily re-enactment of the slave trade days at the Fork of the Road during Pilgrimage Season. It could be done in complete attire for the time in history, just no whips being used.......It could open the eyes of a lot of people....I am being serious here. What do you think?
Posted by EnKiKur (Marty Ellerbe) on February 29, 2008 at 8:10 a.m. (Suggest removal)
That is a good idea redusmfan. There could be a whole pageant, with Lincoln freeing the slaves, a reading of the 13th amendment, and to close a coffle of schoolchildren marched past going off to 12 years of involuntary servitude beside a coffle of 14th and 16th amendment Americans being led to months and weeks of involuntary debt servitude, all singing "We Shall Overcome" and "Pharoah, Let My People Go!" while the clergy stands over all, hands raised to heaven loudly shouting Romans 3-13 with 14 legislators and 2 lobbyists standing silent, tears streaming piously down their faces. Think of the majesty, the glory, the pageantry!
Posted by mike8427 (anonymous) on February 29, 2008 at 8:22 a.m. (Suggest removal)
One thing that has always baffled me on the forks project, is the majority of blacks in MS, don't like and want to change our state flag b/c it has the confederate flag on it. In their minds the flag represents slavery and oppression.
So why on Earth are black leaders pushing to make a slave market an historic site and a tourist attraction. If anything represents slavery I think it would be a former slave market.
I don't think the slave re-enactment ideas above would be too good of an idea, but maybe some would like to see it, who knows?
Posted by redusmfan (anonymous) on February 29, 2008 at 8:39 a.m. (Suggest removal)
You could have all the white folks standing around in the hoopskirts and old time suits bidding on the slaves, which would be dressed in loincloth and flowersack dresses. You could have an auctioneer calling out and have all the plantation owners walking around checking out the slaves for sale. Then you could watch as they march them down to Auburn, Melrose, Dunleith and a host of others. You could let the schoolkids out that week so they, too, could participate in it. You could have all the old Natchez homes filled with slaves doing all the work while the hostesses walk around in hoopskirts and talk about the houses with the visitors. Make it a complete re-enactment of the way Natchez was...and still IS in many ways. May not be any slaves or plantations anymore, but the mentality still exist.
Posted by EnKiKur (Marty Ellerbe) on February 29, 2008 at 8:55 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Are you sure you are not a COINTELPRO agent provocateur for the Blue-Haired Mafia, redusmfan? Or are you trying to be like Rush Limbaugh, demonstrating absurdity with truth?
:)
Posted by redusmfan (anonymous) on February 29, 2008 at 9:13 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Absurdity with Lots of Truth. The real Truth of Natchez was in a paper, once, written by a History teacher from Natchez. His Name was H. Gil Morris and the paper stated that there were only a handful of people in that town that owned slaves. But they controlled everything. Also, only 6 people went down to the river to fend off the Northerners when they came downstream after the Battles at Vicksburg and other place upstream. The rest let the people into their homes and helped them BECAUSE they did not want to lose the property. That is the only reason the houses in Natchez weren't burnt to the ground. The 2 soldiers that were killed at Melrose were killed in a drunken brawl. Not war injuries . they used to try and tell all the glorious side of Natchez in the paper and in the classrooms, but it was not all that glorious when you learned the truth.
Move forward and leave the old houses and old south behind...please...or make it as realistic as possible. Including the slave trade and servants.
If the want to make tourism money, then do some reenactments including the slave trade during The Pilgrimage season and you will not be able to run off all the people that will come down. This will make money like never before. If you think it is absurd, then get the leaders of Natchez to move away from tourism to real industry for the future.
Posted by EnKiKur (Marty Ellerbe) on February 29, 2008 at 9:38 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I'm with you redusmfan. One thing I don't understand about the preservation of historic Natchez is just what period is being preserved. I liked that period during the sixties when there was industry, and there were people living all across the city, and there was a greater sense of security and a greater appearance of community than there is now. Natchez seemed vibrant and earthy, a city that had evolved around the needs of the people living here. I am a little dubious about planned cities because the whole concept of a city is that it grows up around the people and resources in existence at the time of the city's growth.
One of the recent articles stated that the Natchez we have today is the result of planning, so we need to make sure we have more planning and someone to make the plan. I wonder if all the people who've left were part of the plan.
Your ideas, if enacted, would certainly put us on the tourism map, and would force confrontion of the elephant in the living room visitors must sense when touring the old mansions.
Posted by redusmfan (anonymous) on February 29, 2008 at 9:46 a.m. (Suggest removal)
EnKiKur, you and I are like people, even though I do not know who you are. We are kindred spirits. we see the same stupidity at work in Natchez. At least I am not an island, on this subject.
Posted by cosmololo (anonymous) on February 29, 2008 at 10:34 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I am 47 and I was raised in Natchez. I had a great life there but unfortunately the same problems are the same problems. I have been gone for 20 years and I still have most of my family and friends that I come and see frequently. The problem I have always had with Natchez is the main handful that redusmfan mentioned along with The Garden Club have hurt the town so bad. In my eyes they have always tried to think that tourism is enough to keep the town going. What are they going to do when gas, lodging, and food are so expensive that people can't afford to enjoy traveling. I think they need to apply more time and effort on getting something that will help bring income in for everyone. I miss home but if I wanted to come back I don't think my husband or I could afford to. It is so sad when I do come home to see how things have closed and changed to the extent they have. There should be a happy medium somewhere.
Posted by redusmfan (anonymous) on February 29, 2008 at 10:48 a.m. (Suggest removal)
cosmo, I have 1 remaining family member there. In 1984, there were 45 of us there. Does that tell the leaders anything?????
Posted by cosmololo (anonymous) on February 29, 2008 at 11:01 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I guess the thing that breaks my heart the most is knowing the way Natchez could be. My parents were one of the Armstrong families that left 20 years ago. Of course one of the reasons we were always told that industry was leaving and not coming was due to the fact we only had 2 lane roads at the time. Well there are how many 4 lane, nice roads coming into Natchez now? Where is the industry? The thing we were always led to believe was The Garden Club never wanted anything to come because they didn't want to take away from the charm of the city. Last time I looked charm can only take you so far.
Posted by roberth33 (anonymous) on February 29, 2008 at 11:22 a.m. (Suggest removal)
alas the all powerful blue haired ladies strike again, eh cosmololo???
Be careful what you post on here... they read these comments and will take you to their tunnels and you'll never be heard from again.
Posted by redusmfan (anonymous) on February 29, 2008 at 11:32 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Bring it on Blue Hair brigade. ....Oh No, I hear the walkers coming down franklin street right now....they are heading this way...there are so many....sounds like a heard of elephants with tap-shoes on coming around the corner....oh no..they are here....they are knocking on the door...must fight to hold them off...too many......help me..I can't move...they are dragging me back towards St. Mary's garden...this is it...they are saying the secret chant and the statue is leaning out of the way as they drag my body underground of Natchez..HELP....HELP ME....I AM FADING AS THEY BEAT ME WITH METAL WALKING CANES THEY GOT FOR FREE AT NMRC...IT IS GROWING DARK...I SEE THE LIGHT COMING FOR ME...I SEE MY PAST PASS BEFORE MY EYES.....Oh no, it is just a train coming down the tunnel...I am dying at the hands of the Downtown Bobbleheads and the Hysterical Society....my life leaves my body now.....so long.......
Posted by roberth33 (anonymous) on February 29, 2008 at 12:11 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Oh the humanity!
Posted by rushinghjr (anonymous) on February 29, 2008 at 3:34 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Seems like I have earned another degree today, one being from the historians of natchez and the second from another layer of management of the City of Natchez in the form of a marketing commiittee!
Posted by NatchezEnema (anonymous) on February 29, 2008 at 6:45 p.m. (Suggest removal)
What a lot of hype. This sound very much like what was in the Democrat in the weeks leading up to the city auditorium (after renovation) opening and convention center just before it opened. Always some grand plan that is going to make everything ok. If you want to know what the occupancy of the hotels are ,first drive by them at about 6 to 7 am and look. Close to about 7 am you will notice that most are starting to empty, if you follow you will most likely see them go to one of the hotels being built or some other construction site, just like when the convention center was being built. When these jobs are through these people will be leaving and going to other jobs elsewhere. Expecting a great influx of money from taxing hotel rooms? Yes they better shove the tax in now while all the contrucion workers are staying here. When the jobs are over they will be gone and we will go back to the same old thing, hoping to make money of tourism. The way I see it, first you have to have tourists to stay to get the tax to advertise, well, what are we going to do to get them to come stay? SAME OLD SONG AND DANCE? Before making a new tax they should have figured a new plan to get them here then talked about a tax. Now the way it is there is more expense and resons not to come here and see the same old things,So, no increased revenue, and no new advertiseing, go figure!
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