NATCHEZ — Greg Iles wasn’t weaving a fictional story about Natchez Tuesday night, and he wasn’t pulling any punches either.

The New York Times bestselling author — the featured speaker at the Natchez-Adams County Chamber of Commerce gala — asked serious questions about the past, present and future leadership of his hometown, called for the business community to take the wheel, the medical community to straighten up and challenged the city to embrace tourism as the only major industry.

“Anybody who is waiting for a heavy industry to save Natchez, Miss., will be waiting a very long time,” Iles said to a crowd of more than 400 business and community leaders. “Let’s write off heavy industry and talk about what we do have.”

For a video of Greg Iles’ entire speech click on the following link Greg Iles speech

Natchez should be taking advantage of its rare history, Iles said. As one of only three cities that survived the Civil War intact, Natchez is special, he said.

“Since tourism is, or ought to be, the primary business of this city, who is responsible for coming up with a comprehensive vision of Natchez as a tourist destination?” Iles asked.

Natchez Under-the-Hill, casino potential and the neglect of Arlington are all tourism failures, Iles said, that the city has done nothing about.

Under-the-Hill, historically, was the home of riverboat gamblers, bars and iniquities. The riverfront property is home now only to private parking and housing, one restaurant, one bar and the Isle of Capri. Other businesses on the street are closed or have been converted to condos.

“Why isn’t Natchez Under-the-Hill the major commercial development district in the City of Natchez? Look across the river at what Vidalia has done, and they only had a mat field to work with. The day we’ll know we’re doing it right is when we have the citizens of Vidalia calling 911 to complain that they can’t sleep because of the racket blasting across the river from all the bars and restaurants and casinos Under-the-Hill.”

The historic house Arlington was badly damaged in a fire in 2002. Since that point it has been left to crumble, despite criminal charges for demolition by neglect against the owner.

“The aldermen could raise the fine to $500 per day,” Iles said. “This city can’t be afraid to exercise its power when the survival of its precious resources is at stake.”

Historic preservation isn’t just for history buffs, Iles said. It means money for the community.

And the city has only one group to thank for the tourism efforts that have held the community together up to this point, Iles said — the garden clubs.

“Whatever you think about the garden clubs, everybody in this room owes them a great debt,” he said. “Without them, those great houses that still draw tourists from around the world would not be standing and contributing to our economy.”

But the garden clubs haven’t moved fast enough in revisions of the Historic Natchez Pageant, he said.

“Once upon a time, there were many blue-haired ladies across America whose favorite book was ‘Gone with the Wind.’ Well, that’s just not how it is anymore. Too many of those fans have passed away.

“The tourists we are trying to attract now have a different psychology.”

Iles called for major changes to pageant, including telling the white and black story of Natchez, writing in drama, dialogue, filmed images and more.

But in order to make changes to the pageant, tourism plans, Under-the-Hill and historic preservation, the city has to have strong, confident leadership, Iles said. The city has had good mayors and weak mayors, he said, but the current mayor must start taking a stand soon.

“The verdict on the current mayor is still out, but he needs to get after it hard if he wants to make a good showing,” Iles said.

And the current board of aldermen needs to step up as well, he said.

“In the last two or three weeks, those guys have been bouncing back and forth like rubber-nosed woodpeckers in the Petrified Forest,” Iles said. “If you’re not familiar with that expression, that means ‘them boys is confused.’ And we can’t afford confusion. We need professionalism and good horse-sense.”

Iles also pointed the finger for Natchez’s current economic woes at the medical community.

“Why do we have two hospitals providing redundant services, only 45 doctors and one general surgeon?”

Iles urged the medical community to eliminate the divisiveness, infighting and turf battles and unite for the cause.

“Medicine is not just big business,” he said. “It’s not just a profession, it’s a calling. Natchez needs its medical community to set its house in order.”

But ultimately, it’s not just the doctors, tourism officials, mayor or aldermen who have to be held responsible, Iles said.

“As far as Natchez is concerned, everybody in this room has a dog in the hunt,” he said. “Everybody in this room wants to build a city that their kids or grandkids can come back to someday and make a living, if they so choose.

“And right now, we don’t have that. And if you don’t have that, you’ve got nothing.”

Iles challenged the chamber of commerce to become the major promoter of business in the region. And he reminded everyone that there is hope.

“For the past six years, I’ve been coaching youth football, basketball and or baseball. I’ve seen something I never thought I would. I’ve coached white kids, black kids and Indian kids all on the same team, and they don’t give a flip what color their teammate is.

“Those kids are the future of Natchez, people. And we owe them more than we’re giving them right now.”