The restoration and progression of Yazoo City are on the agenda for the upcoming Town Hall Meeting next week.
Mayor Diane Delaware announced another community-wide meeting to be held on Nov. 17 at the Yazoo City Community Complex Center at 5:30 p.m.
The meeting will be geared towards the discussion of the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Brownsfield grant program.
The federal program provides assistance to communities in an effort to prevent, assess, safely clean up and sustainably reuse properties. Program organizers stand behind the opinion that cleaning up and reinvesting in these properties protects the environment, reduces blight and takes development pressures off greenspaces and working lands.
The EPA website lists a “brownfield” as a property that may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. It is estimated that there are more than 450,000 brownfields in the country.
“Cleaning up and reinvesting in these properties increases local tax bases, facilitates job growth, utilizes existing infrastructure, takes development pressures off of undeveloped, open land, and both improves and protects the environment,” the EPA reports.
Delaware said the city is interesting in pursuing grants through the Brownsfield program.
“We want property owners at this Town Hall Meeting,” Delaware urged, at the recent Board of Mayor and Aldermen meeting. “We are applying for a grant....to bring up properties that are empty and vacant and need accessing. To get that grant, we need the support of property owners in the city.”
In news surrounding future Town Hall Meetings, Delaware said she would like to prepare for one with the local youth in mind.
Having attended the National League of Cities Conference last week, Delaware said she was inspired to put together something for Yazoo City’s young people.
“The mayor has town hall meetings, but the youth should have town hall meetings as well,” she said. “They will be the future of Yazoo City. They are the city right now...but we must understand that they are the citizenry of Yazoo City, and they make it great.”
During her time at the NLC Conference, Delaware said she heard much feedback from young people from all over the country about their city’s local parks.
Delaware said many children, from other municipalities, are told that all they can do in local parks is “play ball.”
“They only offer ball because we have decided at a young age that these children want to play ball, and that is all they want to do,” Delaware said.
Delaware said she would welcome input from local young people on the possibilities of other activities within local parks, as well as other feedback on the city’s operation.
