East Jackson to Get Facelift
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EAST JACKSON, Tenn. — Big changes are on the way for East Jackson. City leaders hope new construction will help bring in business and deter crime. “There are people that would move back into the district, but they don’t have sufficient homes that they would like,” Nell Huntspon said, who serves on the board of the Jackson Community Redevelopment Agency. The Southwest Human Resource Agency says federal funding will pay for five new houses, possibly more, in an area along Whitehall Street. The agency says proceeds from home sales will help build additional houses. “The houses will sell for approximately $100,000,” Patti Pickler said, Director of Community Outreach at the Southwest Human Resource Agency. “They’ll be 1300 to 1500 square feet homes.” Organizers brought city council members up to speed on the project Wednesday. Community leaders believe the new construction will bring in new business. “When you bring in new houses you always bring in different clientele that you normally would not have in the community,” Clerance Boone said, President of the African American Chamber of Jackson. City leaders think the $655,000 project will deter crime. “It will definitely turn stuff around along with what the police department is doing,” Jackson City Councilman Harvey Buchanan said. Huntspon helped make the project possible. “I knew that if we kept working on it, we would get to a point where we would get something done and now that has come to fruition,” she said. The Southwest Human Resource Agency hopes to see the first home finished by the end of the summer.
