Natchez’s cover needs some work

By Kevin Cooper (Contact) | The Natchez Democrat

Published Saturday, September 12, 2009

For years we’ve all heard, “You can’t judge a book by its cover.”

And, it’s true; sometimes a good book can be hidden beneath a lackluster — or even ugly — cover.

But in our rush-rush-rush world, who has time to actually give the ugly-covered book a shot?

As soon as television became popular, being a star based purely on talent was no longer likely.

Ugly, boring-looking people just didn’t stand out in a world that was increasingly more and more superficial.

The uninteresting-looking books just don’t sell well — no matter how great their content on the inside.

It’s sad, but true.

So what does it say about our community when we struggle to do the most basic of things?

Last week, more than seven months after initially announcing a funding cut, the Adams County Board of Supervisors reduced the amount of funding going to the Natchez-Adams County Economic Development Authority.

This is a week or so after begrudgingly agreeing to fund the EDA at its original amount.

The problem now, it seems, is that no one ever bothered to do the math until this year when the supervisors realized that they’ve “overfunded” the EDA for several years.

In case you’re getting confused at home, don’t worry. We’re far beyond the ridiculously confusing mark at this point.

First supervisors cut the funding.

Then realized they couldn’t legally do so mid-year, so they reinstated it.

Then, they agreed to fund it at the same level as last year.

Now they’ve realized the same level as last year has been too high for years, so they’ve lowered that.

If your head is spinning don’t worry. There will not be a quiz on this at the end of the day.

The City of Natchez seems equally as inept at times. Despite knowing the country was in a recession, the city continued its spending habits of old and got itself into a financial pickle, ultimately having to borrow money just to “make it through the year.”

Neither of these scenarios makes the book cover of our community particularly appealing.

This isn’t a personal attack. Most of the people our community has elected into office mean well.

But we seem to have set the bar for what’s an acceptable book cover pretty low.

Our community often touts that our quality of life is good — and it is better than some places — but it’s not the best and it certainly could be better with a little more vision, a bit more planning and a little more follow-through.

From a few inept-looking (and acting) politicians to our lack of modern recreation facilities to our crumbling infrastructure — from North Natchez drainage issues to seemingly miles of broken sidewalks — we could be so much better, if we just tried a bit more.

Our community’s book is a great read, once you get into it. But sometimes getting past the cover can be difficult because it leaves a lot to be desired.

So how do we start?

Baby steps. Supporting the movement to improvement recreation in our community would be a great place to start.

It’s a no-brainer that would improve the community for generations to come and it would certainly make our area more appealing to casual book shoppers, too.

Kevin Cooper is publisher of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at 601-445-3539 or kevin.cooper@natchezdemocrat.com.