Jackson mayoral candidates discuss housing, police at forum as early voting begins

Four of Jackson’s mayoral candidates met for a Tuesday evening forum hosted by 95.7 FM radio to discuss diversity, crime, affordable housing and policing, followed by an opportunity to answer questions from citizen callers.

With the exception of current Mayor Scott Conger, who was absent from the discussion, candidates Ray Condray, Jerry Woods, Daryl Hubbard and Lisa Willams-Lyons were given equal time to answer questions for the final time as early voting dawns on Jackson.

Citizens can cast their early vote now through April 27 at the Election Commission on 311 North Parkway from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Saturdays.

Creating more affordable housing

The candidates were asked what their plan would be to bring more affordable housing to Jackson in light of the recent closure of "a leading rental company that was a major provider of affordable housing rental units" in addition to the number of "families with children [that] are being forced to live in hotels throughout Jackson."

Jerry Woods suggested that the city "could work even harder" with Jackson Housing Authority as well as other affordable housing agencies.

"Affordable housing is so important," Woods said. "Everybody does not want to move, many individuals want to stay in their same communities."

Woods added that it would be invaluable to implement a rental registry considering there are "48% of our Jacksonians that rent."

"A rental registry will help the city enforce the ordinances that individuals can have a more liveable, even if they're renting, to have a more liveable space environment in which to raise their families and to have a greater livelihood."

Jackson diversity ranks 9th in state

Concerning the topic of diversity, the topic of a study conducted by Niche was referenced in its depiction of Jackson as being the ninth (out of 232) most diverse places to live in Tennessee.

Lisa Williams-Lyons explained that though our city's current diversity of the population is commendable, she added that it is not reflected in our elected officials and that "being intentional with including all of our people" is imperative.

"Diversity is good as far as population but we need to be represented in power as well, we need to have people that represent the way that we think and what we think is important on a day-to-day basis."

Additionally, Lyons noted that residential segregation and redlining could play a factor in Jackson's divide in diversity.

"For me, it's really obvious being a resident of east Jackson that when I cross the railroad tracks right there by Dodge's, that's where all the resources stop," she said. "Nothing crosses those railroad tracks except for the things that others don't want in their neighborhoods."

Looking at law enforcement

Crime in the community was examined through the lens of people of color sharing concerns about local police being the perpetrators of crime and violence. The candidates were asked what proactive measures they will take on day one of assuming the mayoral office to combat this.

All four candidates shared a consensus of a perceived subpar relationship between the community and law enforcement, particularly with the city's youth.

Ray Condray explained that "no one is exempt from being a victim of crime" and that "no one should ever be above the law." He added that the children of the community "need to know that the police are not the bad guy."

"They need to know that our police are here to protect and to serve but in order for them to know that, we can tell them that all day long, they've got to see that," Condray said.

He noted that the police need to make an active effort to be involved with the community and the children on a more personal level while ensuring that law enforcement has "all of the funding."

"This whole idea of defunding the police was one of the worst experiments that we've seen in our country with some of the most detrimental results and with crime that soared out of control," Condray said.

Lack of safety infrastructure

Jacksonians had the opportunity to call into the radio forum and present a question for all candidates to address. Waste collection services, sidewalk infrastructure, the hiring practices of city employees, and installing more speed bumps were discussed.

A caller noted that she lives in a school zone where kids frequently play in and around the street, and due to the lack of speed bumps, cars freely drive at dangerous speeds and inherently cause great concern for residents of the street. Daryl Hubbard shared reassurance that this will be addressed.

"If your house is close to a school and I'm elected mayor, please call me and I will come out there personally myself and assess whether a speed bump is necessary," he said. "I think if you od live near a school you should have a speed bump, maybe two, to slow people down."

Hubbard similarly suggested in an earlier question prompting the discussion of a lack of sidewalks throughout the city, that lack of speed bumps is a safety issue that warrants the need to "be proactive instead of reactive."

"Once a kid or two gets run over, they're going to find the money for the sidewalks once a tragedy happens, so why do we need to wait for a tragedy to happen?" Hubbard said.

This article originally appeared on Jackson Sun: Jackson mayoral candidates have final question forum over the radio