More than a dozen years ago a dream was planted in the minds of many Natchez residents.

The dream was visionary in design and a bit fairy tale like in its scope.

“Look at that farm land over there,” the visionary said. “Imagine a state-of-the-art recreation complex right there, with parking here and ballfields there.”

The vision came from then-Mayor Butch Brown, the timing — as I recall — was as he was fighting for his political life in the final throes of the 2000 election.

Ultimately, challenger Hank Smith defeated Brown. Smith shelved the idea due to a lack of funding and economic problems facing Natchez at the time.

The bean-field-of-dreams idea lingered for a decade before being reconsidered again a few years ago.

The spot next to Natchez High had been virtually untouched since, except for seasonal farm use.

It was untouched because the land was then owned by the federal government — obtained many years earlier as a possible terminus for the Natchez Trace Parkway.

When the Trace terminus was directed to Liberty Road instead, the land was mostly unneeded.

The large patch of undeveloped ground has been touted as a great spot for a proposed recreation complex for more than a dozen years.

On paper, the land seems to be a great place to develop a recreation complex.

The site, affectionately called the “bean field” because a large amount of it has been used for farming for many, many years, is geographically in an ideal spot.

It’s a bit in the heart of modern Natchez — just across from Walmart and near SportsCenter, where between the two most recreation supplies could be purchased.

Last week after several years of lobbying, the federal government ceremonially transferred title back over to the state of Mississippi.

Local leaders hope to lobby the state to give the land to the City of Natchez for possible use as a recreation complex.

The only problem is that much has changed in Natchez over the last 15 or so years, and cash isn’t as easy to come by in city and county coffers.

Thus, most elected officials have simply concluded development of the bean field is likely off the table for the foreseeable future.

But it doesn’t have to be.

The challenge is none of our local leaders seem to have the stomach to suggest a small tax increase to fund development of the bean field into a recreation complex.

Of course, if the city and county leaders could ever fully set aside their egos for a bit and really put their heads together about how to give taxpayers a better value for their tax investment, an increase may not be necessary.

Eliminating duplication of services between city and county government would almost certainly fund a bond issue to pay for a brand spanking new recreation complex.

But it takes a bit of creativity — and more importantly a willingness to cede power — to realize the potential savings.

Currently, Natchez-Adams County has both city police and county sheriff’s deputies traveling on the same roads each day.

Why do we duplicate their support services? We maintain two dispatching crews, two administrations, two jails, etc.

The same thing goes for the administrative functions of city and county government, too.

Surely if all of the overlapping was eliminated, we’d save enough to more than fund a new recreation complex without raising taxes.

Let’s make the vision become a reality — before another crop of local children miss out.

 

Kevin Cooper is publisher of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at 601-445-3539 or kevin.cooper@natchezdemocrat.com.