Posted by philhardwick on November 6, 2009
Knox Ross of Pelahatachie exemplifies the new breed of mayor in Mississippi. Ross is a CPA by profession, and is a part-time mayor. He is progressive, up-to-date, educated and has a strong bias for action. He understands the value of the Internet. For example, he’s brought free wireless Internet access to his downtown, he’s made sure that his town’s Web site is top notch and he blogs. And talk about downtown revitalization. The town is remodeling its Town Hall and renovating an old hardware store into the town’s first community center. Additionally, the town is redoing its sidewalks along U.S. 80, making them more pedestrian-friendly and brushing them up with some landscaping.
Click on these Web sites for more:
The City of Pelahatchie
The Mayor’s blog
City Works on First Community Center
Posted in Hero of the Week | Tagged: knox ross, pealahatchie, person of the week | Leave a Comment »
Posted by philhardwick on November 1, 2009
From an article in the Washington Times -
In a race testing racial harmony in Georgia’s largest city, some veteran black power brokers say their hold on power is being undercut by their past successes running the city.
“We haven’t always gotten the credit for that, no,” said former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young, who oversaw the early days of the city’s rebirth during the 1980s. “I brought in 1,100 companies from around the world – $70 billion in private investment – and generated more than a million new jobs.
“But most people think that’s automatic, that that would have happened anyway,” he said with a laugh.
Black mayors have occupied City Hall since 1973, but this year, a white City Council member is leading in the polls, even though two black civic leaders urged black voters to unite against her.
Posted in General Comments | Tagged: economic development success, mayor andrew young | Leave a Comment »
Posted by philhardwick on October 30, 2009
Phil’s Person of the Week is a salute to someone making a positive contribution to the community. This week I salute LaVerne Edney and the law firm of Brunini, Grantham, Grower & Hewes, PLLC for their efforts in helping low-income Mississippians with legal representation.
La’Verne Edney is going from A to Z in the state bar roll looking for attorneys willing to represent poor people in need of civil legal services.
Since she joined the Mississippi Volunteer Lawyers Project as general counsel on Sept. 1, Edney has signed up 60 additional lawyers who have agreed to take a case for free. She’s gotten through the B’s in her alphabetical recruitment. There are more than 6,700 practicing lawyers in Mississippi. Read more…
Brunini, Grantham, Grower & Hewes, PLLC, has accepted La’Verne Edney’s withdrawal from the firm to enable her to accept the position of General Counsel of the Mississippi Volunteer Lawyers Project. Although Ms. Edney’s employment by MVLP is expected to last for two years, after which she is expected to return to the Brunini law firm. Brunini has agreed to make a significant financial contribution to MVLP during Ms. Edney’s tenure as General Counsel to support her work. Ms. Edney’s focus during her employment by MVLP will be on significantly expanding the pro bono delivery system in Mississippi. Read more…
Posted in Hero of the Week | Tagged: brunini law firm, laverne edney, mississippi volunteer lawyers project | 1 Comment »
Follow me to Appalachia
Posted by philhardwick on November 8, 2009
From Sunday, Novemeber 8, though Wednesday the 11th I’ll be in the West Virginia and Ohio area of rural Appalachia. The purpose of my trip is to learn how several high schools in such a region have achieved very high college-going rates. I’ll be on a bus tour with others who are part of an Appalachian Regional Commission project to reduce dropouts and increase the percentage of students who go to college. If you would like to follow my journey and what I learn you can do so on my Stennis Institute of Government blog. Scroll down the page and you’ll find the link to my journey blog. For more information about this project check out the project’s Web site.
I’ll be back here on this blog early Thursday.
Posted in General Comments | Tagged: applachaian regional commission, higher eductaion initiative | Leave a Comment »