Mayor Smith defends his vision as 2005 campaign approaches

By By Fredie Carmichael / staff writer
August 22, 2004
Amidst all of the budget talk last week the numbers, the confusion, the raised voices, the heated disagreements a clear picture emerged of a man planning his re-election campaign.
Mayor John Robert Smith, now finishing his third term, stood at a podium during his bi-weekly news conference. He used a chalkboard to explain why another 10 percent increase is needed in water and sewer rates.
The mayor, though, might as well as have drawn a line in the sand between him and his naysayers because he also used that moment to outline how he has moved Meridian forward.
Smith described himself as someone who takes chances by using tax money to invest in such major projects as the Riley Education and Performing Arts Center and the renovation of the Grand Opera House.
He talked about his work on the planned $50 million Southern Arts &Entertainment Center, Bonita Lakes Mall, Naval Air Station Meridian sewer lines, the $7 million downtown parking garage and other retail projects.
Then Smith described those who disagree with him including people who say he has focused too much time on his projects at the expense of city services as having a difference in vision and a difference in policy.
Upcoming elections
Smith, a former city councilman who has been mayor since 1993, has said he plans to run for a fourth straight term in office although he has never made a formal announcement.
Meridian residents head to the polls next spring to choose new city officials.
Whatever Smith decides to do, this year's discussions of the city budget and the mayor's insistence on having things done his way with little or no input from others has drawn the ire of some residents.
In fact, Smith faced some of the strongest criticism of his tenure at a public meeting last week where he and other city officials attempted to explain the need for the water rate increase.
The meeting attracted a crowd of 50 people, including longtime businessman Hartley Peavey. Many let the council, and the mayor, know precisely why they were upset and concerned.
Instead of new retail and downtown buildings, they want basic services from the city. They're tired of riding on bumpy streets and being flooded by drainage canals overgrown with brush and filled with snakes and rats.
Pet projects
Residents also said they are tired of watching parts of the city decay from neglect while other areas prosper. They said they expect tax dollars to fund basic services instead of what some called the mayor's "pet projects."
Peavey, owner and founder of Peavey Electronics and arguably one of Meridian's greatest visionaries and success stories, was more blunt especially after speaking at the meeting on the water rate increase.
Peavey said he is tired of city officials who call him negative every time he wants to ask questions or criticize something in his hometown. He isn't negative, he said, "hell, I love Meridian."
And that, more than anything else in recent years, highlights what could become the biggest obstacle Smith may face in the 2005 election: Opposition from people who see the need for a different direction.
As Smith, himself, put it: "You never have 100 percent agreement within a vision, but are we headed in the right way that most people think you should? And, of course, you find those things out at election time."