Jackson faces many of the same issues it did 10 years ago, including youth crime, lack of economic development and failing infrastructure, according to testimony Mayor John Horhn and state officials gave Wednesday to a House committee.

The stuck-in-amber nature of Mississippi’s capital city was highlighted by a moment when Rep. Chris Bell, a Democratic lawmaker from Jackson who sits on the Capital City Revitalization Committee, asked Horhn about a state-funded study on gangs. 

The 2016 study, paid for with $500,000 in funding Horhn secured while senator, found in part that Jackson’s gangs were mainly neighborhood cliques of young adult men. 

“Are these some of the same issues that we’re seeing back then and we still have today?” Bell asked. 

“Absolutely,” Horhn responded. 

It was Horhn’s first time to publicly address his former colleagues through the select committee, formed by Republican House Speaker Jason White in 2024 to focus on issues in the capital city, since the former senator left the Legislature to become mayor in July.

For about an hour, Horhn gave the bipartisan committee a rundown of the issues on the top of his agenda, including reducing crime, rebuilding what he described as the “decimated” Public Works Department and eliminating blight in “parts of Jackson that look like a bomb has been set off.” 

Horhn also gave lawmakers suggestions for how they can help. By the end of the week, he said the city will have calculated the dollar figure – a basis for potential state or federal funding – it will take to reduce blight. If the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers approves a plan to reduce flooding on the Pearl River, Horhn said he hopes to see lawmakers vote to allow a casino in Jackson. And he’d like the state to expand tax incentives for developers, such as enterprise and opportunity zones, to make Jackson a more attractive place for warehousing. 

“We think Jackson ought to have a data center too,” he said, referencing similar projects in surrounding suburbs.

When Horhn finished speaking, Rep. Shanda Yates, an independent who co-chairs the committee, called him a “breath of fresh air.” 

Then Yates fired off a series of questions.

Does the city have a plan for a jail? 

“Right now the city depends on Hinds County,” Horhn said. 

What is his position on the Jackson Zoo? 

The zoo is rapidly losing money, Horhn said, but he believes relocating it is no longer an option after the previous administration chose not to pursue that deal. Since the zoo is on the National Register of Historic Places, Horhn said he is looking at potential state and federal historic tax credits. 

How many homeless centers are in the city and who is operating them? 

Horhn said he didn’t know but that the centers are not well coordinated despite scraping for resources. 

Yates responded that if Jackson is going to ask the state for more funding, the city needs to know what resources it already has. “Is that fair?” she asked. 

“More than fair,” Horhn said, adding that he thinks Yates’ request could be “the carrot on the stick to get these organizations working more cohesively together.” 

Finally, Yates asked Horhn about his goal for the city to eventually take back control of Jackson’s embattled water system. What does he envision? 

“A public-private partnership,” he said. 

Jackson-area representatives, including Democrats Stephanie Foster and Justis Gibbs, asked Horhn to consider striping the roads to help elderly citizens drive at night or if the city had a plan to enforce liens on blighted properties. 

“No m’am, we do not,” he said. 

Lastly, Rep. Jill Ford told Horhn that she had spoken to the mayors of Madison and Ridgeland and they were excited for Jackson. 

“We’re all rooting for you,” she said. 

Then much of the room cleared out. The committee heard from the Capitol Police Chief Bo Luckey and Tyree Jones, the soon to be combination interim police chief-sheriff of Jackson and Hinds County, who spoke in outgoing Jackson Police Chief Joseph Wade’s stead. 

Much of Jones’ discussion concerned the state of homelessness in Jackson. Since Yates’ bill requiring a permit for panhandling went into effect on July 1, the department has seen a reduction in the number of homeless people on thoroughfares such as Lakeland Drive or Ridgewood Road. 

At the same time, the number of people incarcerated at the Hinds County Detention Center has increased, Jones said, placing a strain on county resources. As of this morning, the jail housed more than 900 people. 

“When they leave, they go two places: They go home or they go to prison,” Jones said, adding that the longer people stay at the center, the longer the county is “stuck with having to provide services to them.” 

Luckey added that the city needs more resources for homeless people who do not belong in jail. 

“I completely agree the criminal justice system in Hinds County is bogged down,” Luckey said. “I will say the CCID (Capitol Complex Improvement District) court has been running very well.” 

A brief testimony from the Secretary of State’s office concerned legislation passed earlier this year to use tax incentives to put Jackson’s state-owned, tax-forfeited properties back on the market and into private hands. 

Bill Cheney, the assistant secretary of public lands, noted that lawmakers still need to address the state’s tax sale loophole – the subject of a recent Mississippi Today report – that results in tax-forfeited falling into limbo when investors who buy the property at a tax sale do not request a deed. 

“Nobody really owns it because nobody has requested the deed,” he said. 

Kevin Felsher, the Republican representative from Biloxi, and Sam Creekmore, the Republican representative from Starkville, then addressed the committee about public health issues, including the opioid settlement fund that cities can use with “no restrictions.” 

“There should be substantial funds available for Jackson and Hinds County,” Creekmore said.

This alarmed some lawmakers. 

“When you say no restrictions on the funds, that terrifies me,” Yates said. “Can they use it, can they rehab the zoo?”

“That is my understanding,” Creekmore replied.