Mayor Gist delivers State of the City Address
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JACKSON, Tenn.- Current Jackson Mayor Jerry Gist, delivered his state of the city speech to members of the Jackson Rotary Club Wednesday. “2014 was a great year that the heart of our city beat with new energy. Over $50 million was invested in new growth and development by the private sector in Midtown alone,” Gist said. Gist said in 2014 no new taxes were implemented and the city did not suffer from any massive layoffs. Gist also said last year the city contributed 74 percent ($34 million) of their revenue to fund public education. “These are extraordinary times across our nation, Jackson included. We all know that with opportunity there are also challenges,” Gist said. According to Gist, crime has dropped 11 percent. He said the decrease is due to the 231 officers and the twenty plus cameras. ” Protecting our citizens is a far cry from the days when JPD had one officer on night patrol and when people were not bothered to lock their doors,” Gist said. Gist is up for re-election in the Spring of 2015. His contender Dr. James Baxter was in attendance for Gist’s speech but he declined an interview. Lowe Finney the one Mayoral candidate not in attendance, offered this reaction after reading Gist’s speech. ” I think it read as a defense from as his time in office. There really is no plan here on what the next 4 years hold,” Finney said. Finney says Gist missed out on what voters want to see in the next term. “Thats what the voters care about. They want to know where we are headed and really why we are just talking about it now,” Finney said.
