Jackson business owner on trash crisis: 'It feels like a foolish game'

Jackson photographer Mary Rooks loves Jackson. She and her family choose to live in Jackson. However, she is among a growing number of people who are beginning to wonder how long they can stick it out.

The latest issue with the city is allowing a garbage contract to expire, leaving residents with no trash pickup after living through a constant state of water crisis in a city that has one of the highest murder rates in the United States.

Rooks, 32, has four young children and she came to a boiling point on Monday, when she posted on her business Instagram page, Midstory Photography, what she was thinking.

"I have to remind myself how much I love the city," she said in her post. "Yet, another day goes by where we don't have trash pickup. Another day goes by that I remind my kids to pull the water from the special filtered spout because the mystery of if the water is safe is ongoing."

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When contacted Tuesday, she said she completely stands by her post that she and her husband are currently in talks as to what to do. She wants to stick it out, while she jokes that if the interest rates were better and the economy was on a downturn, her husband Graham would have already moved the family to one of the suburbs. For now, though, they stay.

"It feels like as soon as you begin to learn how to navigate through one crisis, another crops up," she said. "We feel like we have a responsibility to give our children a safe and clean place to live. With the water, while unacceptable, it was a long time coming. But this with the trash was totally avoidable. It feels like a foolish game between the city council and the mayor."

Rooks and her family live in Belhaven and love living in Belhaven. She says people watch out for one another and there is a definite feel of self and community. Yet, she feels city government is working against Jackson. So, she posted the photos of iconic places in Jackson as well as the message on Instagram in order to show her commitment and love for the city.

She also runs a business called Jackson Motherhood that concentrates on trying to help build community for moms in Jackson as well as the surrounding area.

"It's amazing how our neighbors always step up and take care of one another and it's probably because we all know the city won't take care of us," Rooks said.

Even after she posted the photos and message early Monday, the city council and mayor met in an 8-minute session in which the parties failed to reach agreement in a contentious meeting with an announcement that Richard's Disposal Inc. is suing the city.

"Watching the city council meeting (Monday), our blood was boiling because it is just so evident that people are not the priority," she said. "It's their games, their competition with each other. They could not stay on point, because a solution might be found if they stayed on point. Then it's like they don't realize that the residents are losing while they are trying to win their games against each other."

Kristy Buchanan, owner of The Bean Coffeehouse in Fondren, wholeheartedly agrees with the points made by Rooks as she runs a business throughout yet another crisis.

"The fact is we pay more in sales tax than other places in Mississippi," Buchanan said, referring to Jackson's 1% tax added on the normal 7% sales tax. "So, we pay a lot in taxes and don't get a lot in return. It's frustrating."

She pointed to how the city has handled the ongoing water crisis.

"From a business standpoint, no one ever reached out to see what was going on or to reimburse us for the money misspent with the city," Buchanan said. "Now, he we are again. We have no idea what to do or where to take our trash or when it is going to end."

Buchanan said her coffee shop uses a shared garbage dumpster with other businesses in the Fondren area but now local residents are using it as well and it has filled up quickly,

"This whole thing has become a little nerve racking," she said. "We can smell it."

She went on to say that she worries that the smell and the mere optics of the trash everywhere will turn away people from businesses, regardless of if they are from Jackson or from the surrounding area.

"We are just giving people yet another reason not to come into the city," Buchanan said. "After three hard years of doing business in the city, that is definitely a worry."

She also mentioned a student from Millsaps College that has started picking up residential trash in the area as a side gig. It is a way some, including a duo from Jackson State, have used to make some extra cash during the crisis.

"I think he charges $12 a week or something, and he actually does a really good job" she said. "I wish it could be this good all of the time. I hate having to pay for when we already have to pay for it."

Ultimately though, Buchanan says Fondren businesses will do what needs to be done to haul off trash if need be, regardless of what the city council or Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba can or cannot do.

"We have such a good group of business owners. Unfortunately, we have had to rally and be in an every-man-for-himself situation so many times, that we are good at it," Buchanan said. "But, it is a worry that we have a city that would allow situations like the water or in this case the trash to become what it has become. It's hard enough with just inflation, staff shortages and different things like to have to worry that I am going to have to take my own trash to the dump when I am paying the city to do it."

If you have a story idea, Ross Reily can be reached by email at rreily@gannett.com or at 601-573-2952. You can follow him on Twitter @GreenOkra1.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Business owners upset with Jackson MS leaders over latest crisis