JXN // progress
Renovations and Other Efforts to Build a Better Jackson // by Dustin Cardon
Hilton Garden Inn Completes Renovations In October, the Hilton Garden Inn in downtown Jackson finished extensive renovations to its meeting and event space, guest rooms, lobby, restaurant and bar, and fitness center. Formerly known as the King Edward Hotel, the building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Reopening as the Hilton Garden Inn in July 2020, the hotel contains meeting rooms capable of hosting groups of up to 300, which received new carpeting, lighting and window treatments as part of the renovations. The hotel’s venue space also expanded to include a multifunction room on the ground floor. The hotel’s lobby now contains The
CITY OF JACKSON
Crowdfunding Effort for Russell C. Davis Planetarium Jackson’s Russell C. Davis Planetarium, which is currently undergoing restoration due to a roof leak and resulting interior damage that forced it to close in April 2018, opened a crowdfunding page in October to support the renovation effort. The renovation is the first overhaul the City of Jackson has undertaken on the building in 40 years. The City plans to reopen the planetarium by April 2022. Planned updates to the planetarium include a new reception area and common space, augmented-reality exhibits and virtual-reality spacewalks, a large video wall, an expanded gift shop, a lunar landing-site exhibit and new programs and events such as a Virtual Summer Camp that teaches STEAM—science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics—subjects. The planetarium’s crowdfunding campaign allows for contributions of $10, $35, $60, $75, $125 and $350, each of which comes with successive tiered rewards and merchandise from the planetarium. Each higher-tier reward includes all items from the lower tiers as well. For more information on renovation of the planetarium or to donate to the crowdfunding effort, visit yourplanetarium.com.
When the Russell C. Davis Planetarium reopens (projected date: April 2022), visitors will be able to use their phones and tablets to see enhanced versions of static exhibits, as well as display elements only visible via mobile platforms.
Shop, a newly opened all-hours market with snacks, sandwiches, cold beverages and more. The renovated guest rooms have new carpeting, wall coverings, window treatments, seating upholsteries, light fixtures and televisions. King Edward Bar and Grille, the hotel’s bar and restaurant, upgraded its buffet area and added large-screen televisions in the bar. The restaurant serves made-toorder breakfast, lunch and dinner, and a selection of craft cocktails, wine and beer. The hotel also offers complimentary Wi-Fi throughout the property, 24-hour fitness and business centers, valet parking service, and an indoor pool and whirlpool. For information, call 601-353-5464. Visit Jackson Supports Jackson Restaurant Delivery In light of decreased revenues due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Visit Jackson and Downtown Jackson Partners partnered this October with Mississippi Delivery, a local company established in 2020 that supports other local businesses. The strategy is to negotiate a lower commission rate for Jackson restaurants to provide a low-cost restaurant delivery option on top of existing takeout and curbside options. The program is available to restaurants in zip codes 39201, 39202, 39204, 39206, 39211, 39213 and 39216.
City of Jackson Launches Connect JXN The City of Jackson and partner organizations launched a series of virtual townhall events in September called Connect JXN. The town halls are part of a year-long effort to hear directly from residents about their vision for the city in the next two decades, a release from Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba’s office says. During a virtual town hall, community members receive an overview of a project and learn more about the public engagement process. They can also give input via a project survey with the goal of receiving responses from a minimum of 5% of the population from each municipal ward. Survey responses and focus group feedback will serve as the city’s 20-25 year guiding framework for future growth and development, the release says. Key objectives of the plan include land use, zoning decisions, transportation plans, maps and policy recommendations. The Central Mississippi Planning and Development District is leading the Connect JXN project. One Voice is leading the public engagement process in partnership with Jackson State University Mississippi Urban Research Center and the City of Jackson Planning Commission. For more information, visit connectjxn. com.
All State Libraries to Receive Fiber Internet The Mississippi Library Commission launched a project in October to make fiber internet available to every library in the state by 2021 through a contract between CSpire and the Department of Information Technology Services. The arrangement will allow public libraries in the state to have higher internet speeds at lower prices. In preparation for the switch, MLC staff and other state agency representatives are meeting each week to prepare libraries’ systems for migration. When the project is complete, public libraries should see an increase in bandwidth speeds to a minimum of 100 MBps, a release from MLC says. For more information, call 601-4324111 or visit https://mlc.lib.ms.us/. Mississippi Public Broadcasting Launches MPB Classroom TV Mississippi Public Broadcasting partnered with the Mississippi Department of Education in October to create a new television channel called MPB Classroom TV, which airs on weekdays from 7 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. MPB Classroom TV provides instructional content to pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade students. The channel includes pre-recorded 25-minute lessons from certified teachers aligned to the Mississippi College and Career Readiness Standards. Viewers do not need internet at home to watch MPB Classroom TV, but the channel is not available on cable and satellite services. To receive and watch the channel, viewers must use an antenna on their televisions. Cable and satellite subscribers will need to purchase a low-cost antenna and change the television’s input setting. Those who only use antennas will need to rescan their televisions to pick up the new channel. Content is available for on-demand viewing on the MPB Classroom TV web page as well as MPB’s YouTube channel under the MPB Classroom TV playlist. For more information, visit education. mpbonline.org. Innovate Mississippi’s Emerging Solutions Project Innovate Mississippi and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in September launched the “Emerging Solutions” project, which more PROGRESS, p 16
November 25 - December 8, 2020 • boomjackson.com
D
espite the setbacks that this year’s pandemic has wrought, the Jackson metro continues to persevere and move forward, making progress all the while. Check out these updates on some of what has been going on in these last few months.
15
