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What is this?
Natchez can do what Tupelo did
Published Sunday, January 17, 2010
Natchez Mayor Jake Middleton can see parallels with his city and Tupelo, a much larger and arguably much more successful city.
Only the parallels are approximately 50 years apart.
“First thing, Tupelo has got it going on, there’s no question about that,” the first-term mayor said late last week after a two-day fact-finding trip to Tupelo with more than a dozen community leaders.
The trip was intended to give the area’s current leaders a chance to learn about how Tupelo’s economic and community development organizations are structured and, potentially, learn from their success.
“Their success started many years ago,” Middleton said.
“Back in the 1960s, when they started, Natchez was probably as good a place as any place else in Mississippi,” Middleton said.
That was a time when heavy industry in Adams County was flying high.
At the same time, across the state, Tupelo wasn’t particularly booming.
But their community leaders started working together on improving the area. At that time, Tupelo was, as one of their community leaders said, “the poorest county in the poorest state.”
At the time when Tupelo leaders figured out that the only way to go was up and the only way to get there was with each other’s help, Natchez was still riding high and resting on its laurels.
And there Natchez remained for years. All the while other parts of the state — especially Tupelo — were slowly working to improve.
“We probably let our guard down a little back then,” Middleton said. “We weren’t really looking for any additional industrial prospects and it kind of caught up with us.”
By the time International Paper, Johns Manville and Titan Tire closed in the early 2000s, it was too late to quickly recover from the loss of such huge industries.
For a few decades, our area’s business community collectively took the attitude that economic and community development was someone else’s job.
That’s obviously no longer a commonly held sentiment.
Energized, or perhaps frustrated and a little terrified, by the lack of movement on the part of the folks they thought were working development, the business community recently jumped into action.
The group raised more than $123,000 in commitments for each of the next three years to help fund a renewed economic development engine, one that will be mostly led by the business community.
That’s a good sign of a much more broad level of community involvement than Natchez has seen in decades — if not ever.
That momentum, combined with a few good ideas from the outside may turn the area’s apathy and frustration over a lack of progress into a driving unified force to truly get our community back on track.
For Middleton, that may have started with the Tupelo trip.
“It gave me some ideas on what we could do, similar,” he said. “The key to the whole trip was education.”
Middleton pointed to a tuition assistance program recently begun in the Tupelo area. The program offers tuition assistance to area high school graduates who do not qualify for state or federal aid.
Figuring out how to offer a similar program in our area would be a huge first step toward putting education first and putting it within reach of all our students.
“It’s amazing what they’ve been able to do up there,” Middleton said.
And it will be amazing to think what we could do here, too. Natchez has some great things going for it. The resilience and work ethic of its people may be the best.
Kevin Cooper is publisher of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at 601-445-3539 or kevin.cooper@natchezdemocrat.com.
Comments
Posted by DelBocaVista (anonymous) on January 17, 2010 at 1:31 p.m. (Suggest removal)
In the mid-1970s, a group of business and government leaders from Natchez formed the "Go Team" to help Natchez grow and develop.
Members of thte "Go Team" went to Tupelo to learn from the successes of Tupelo. But nothing ever came of it, other than a trip to Tupelo.
It would help readers if the Natchez Democrat would research what was said approximately 35 years ago about the trip to Tupelo and what is being said now.
Everyone may find that we are hearing the same song and dance.
I love the Miss-Lou, but over the years, it seems the area just gets smoke and mirrors instead of real ideas.
Posted by beammeupscotty (anonymous) on January 17, 2010 at 2:21 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Until Natchez losses the plantation mentality of both caucasians and negros it will remain the same.
Posted by OldGrandDad (anonymous) on January 17, 2010 at 4:55 p.m. (Suggest removal)
DelBocaVista, concerning --> "it seems the area just gets smoke and mirrors instead of real ideas"
That is true. But "ideas" really are alive and well in Natchez and Adams County. However, the voters tend to vote for the smoke and mirror candidates. We have tons of folks still waiting on a month of free water that was promised by the current mayor when he ran. That same core group will probably vote for the next guy who promises something just as silly. Hey, it seems to work for the candidate. It gets 'em a 4 year job, I reckon.
By the way, look at the idea about putting power lines undergound. Did you see how many people are against it; how many people think it's a stupid idea.? That's our voters.
Posted by NothingButBadNews (anonymous) on January 17, 2010 at 6:19 p.m. (Suggest removal)
It's stupid to compare Natchez to Tupelo. There are not real similarities. Tupelo has towns/cities within reasonable driving distance that people can commute to for work or play -- that is if they can't find anything in Tupelo to do.
The one thing Tupelo did that Natchez will never do, is put tons of money into the school system. Tupelo has a very nice, very big public school that offers a quality education and in return produces educated adults that make better it is too wrapped up in the private schools.
Yes Tupelo has its problems -- drugs, murders, economy woes -- but it has a better chance of making it through those problems b/c of the effort they put into education.
Posted by niderbip (anonymous) on January 17, 2010 at 6:47 p.m. (Suggest removal)
$10,425 per kid in school ain't chump change for Adams County.
Posted by relaxin (anonymous) on January 18, 2010 at 8:03 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I have lived in both areas for many years, and the difference is school system, Tupelo schools are the best in the state, and also location, location, location. Tupelo is situated between Memphis and Birmingham with a quality highway system that connects them to those major cities, so industry actually wants to be there. Natchez needs to think about becoming a player in the future high tech industries, so they don't have to interfere with their tourism industry...IMHO.
Posted by natchezsouthside (anonymous) on January 18, 2010 at 4:41 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The problem with education in Natchez isn't the schools or the money going into them.
The problem with the schools in Natchez if the parents of the students. The parents expect their kids to get an education without parental involvement.
Parents, perhaps if you thought of education as a 365 days a year 24 hr a day effort and not a 180 day/6 hr a day pass-time your kids, and Natchez would thrive.
I've said it many times--when have you ever heard of the Natchez library having to close down on a Saturday due to over-crowding.
Parents, it is YOUR job to educate your children. The school is SECONDARY to YOU. Do YOUR job. They are YOUR children. NOT the school's children. DO YOUR JOB!
Posted by niderbip (anonymous) on January 18, 2010 at 8:15 p.m. (Suggest removal)
poor parenting = poor schools (nation wide)
Posted by DelBocaVista (anonymous) on January 19, 2010 at 9:53 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I hope that the Natchez-Vidalia leadership finds new ways to develop the Miss-Lou. Otherwise, we will find our area to be like so many other towns in the Louisiana and Mississippi Deltas.
When you think about the good folks who have moved away for better jobs and our children who will not move back after finishing college, you realize how far we have to go to truly change things.
I am afraid that those wanting to hold onto their power will not be as helpful as we want them to be.
Posted by ijohnson (anonymous) on January 19, 2010 at 11:05 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I agree with so many of you because you're all making valid points. Oh, how I wished that I could come back home after college and live out my life in Natchez! Our public school system is failing a great number of our kids because their parents do not value an education.
((relaxin)) Yes, I agree, wholeheartedly, that Natchez needs to embrace high tech and maybe court the high-tech industries that may be willing to build plants in our area. The Miss-Lou area has a lot to offer and could have a lot more industries calling our area home if it is marketed right.
Posted by arthurspooner (anonymous) on January 19, 2010 at 1:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)
John: Still walking tall and hangin' low?
Posted by Hector (anonymous) on January 21, 2010 at 5:48 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Tupelo: 69.4% white
Natchez: 44.2% white
Need I say more on core reasons for economic disparities?
Posted by Hector (anonymous) on January 22, 2010 at 9:23 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Romulus, Romulus, Romulus. You're missing the point. See, you're looking at the whole thing with this stupid notion of "common sense." You're looking at actually solving the problem. You're actually looking to fix something. Don't you know thats not what a good politician does?
Take Ray Nagin, for example. After delaying ordering evacuation for New Orleans before Katrina, and then after ordering that parking lots full of school buses not be used because of inadequate insurance, and then not recognizing that, with a city that was 60% black (a demographic that has proven time and again they prefer to be cared for by the government rather than take responsibility for themselves, generally speaking) and thousands who literally lived below the water line refused to move... what does he do?
Blame the federal government for being racist.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/08/1...
But when residents were interviewed they knew who was at fault. Despite the liberal media's best attempts to skew the results and paint the picture of a white president coming down hard on a black city, it was obvious the residents knew what had actually happened.
http://newsbusters.org/node/1201
Does he buckle down and encourage his people to do the same; saving their pennies and looking for housing above the water line? No, he blames the federal government for its racist policies of discouraging rebuilding in the areas most prone to flooding (they're traditionally black areas; the OBVIOUS reason he doesn't want rebuilding to occur there is to discourage blacks from having homes. duh).
But surely this isn't the attitude of the people who live in Natchez, is it?
"For a few decades, our area’s business community collectively took the attitude that economic and community development was someone else’s job." (look above)
Wow.
The article then goes on to state this is no longer the case. Why? Because "The group raised more than $123,000 in commitments for each of the next three years to help fund a renewed economic development engine, one that will be mostly led by the business community."
Let me get this straight: You got a bunch of people to PROMISE to donate money (years out... in this economy) to help fund development (which is currently devoid of a plan, other than apparently increased government welfare in the form of educational scholarships) by leadership we haven't even DECIDED on???
Yes. The city of Natchez has pulled a complete 180. Problem solved.
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