Branyan for Mayor 

Independent Candiate - General Election - June 16, 2020   

Platform for Branyan For Mayor 

City Hall is dysfunctional 

Bills and taxes are not being paid or filed on time, resulting in fines and late fees of hundreds of thousands of dollars. 

Minutes of Aldermen's meetings are not being kept properly.

The Mayor is absent and City Hall is often empty on a Friday afternoon.

Without leadership at City Hall the employees are not being as productive as they should be. 

Better leadership at City Hall and building a solid foundation for everything the city does is needed before we can have any progress. 

Working together is the only way we can move the city forward. 

Make employees accountable. Many city employees are attending numerous meetings but nothing actually gets done. 

City Staff should attend less meetings and spend more time working to promote Natchez. We must improve Natchez' social media presence. 

As Mayor I will keep the citizens informed of what we are doing and post results and challenges the city faces on Facebook, other social media, and via email.

 Business and Industry 

At the moment we have so many groups, we do not provide a cohesive message to prospective businesses. 

  If a new business wants to locate in Natchez, they will probably have to run all over Natchez and talk to numerous people and probably get conflicting "advice".  

Where do you start? Natchez Inc., City Hall, The Chamber of Commerce, County Hall, The Historic Natchez Foundation, the Preservation Commission, Archives and History, Planning Department or the Aldermen?

At the moment you may have to talk to all of them.

We need to streamline the process, have a consistent message, and make the process easier. If Natchez Inc. is going to be the place to start for business, then it has to include all of Natchez; it can't say it is not concerned with Downtown. We need to fold in city services with the chamber together so that when you make an inquiry you immediately have the right person to answer questions, who has the resources at hand and can suggest numerous commercial buildings that are available for rent or sale.

Downtown Natchez 

A vibrant downtown is vital for Natchez. It is where anyone who wants to come to Natchez goes; a dead downtown will not attract tourists or people who want to invest here. Over the 34 years I have been in Natchez, I have seen many people who came to Natchez, fell in love with it, bought property and invested in a new business. Many of the businesses have been small but some have grown and flourished. Any new business should be welcomed.  If we get people back in Natchez new businesses will come. More people will raise the hotel occupancy rate, which is currently too low to support extra hotel rooms. Increased numbers will allow the stalled hotel projects at the Eola and the old Deposit Guaranty (AmSouth/Regions) to get started. Tourism is more than just "low wage" jobs, tourism brings construction work, jobs for painters, carpenters, plumbers and electricians. Industries are attracted to places that have active attractive Downtowns, that people not only want to visit but to live in.

If we don't fix Downtown we can not grow.  Downtown has to be a place where you can live, work and walk to get all your basic needs.

We have to fix "quality of life" issues. We have to keep the grass cut and the trash picked up.

We have to improve signage to let everyone driving on highways 84 & 61 know that Natchez has lots of good things going on.

We have to fix blighted buildings throughout Natchez. Abandoned and rotting buildings not only look bad, but they often attract undesirable folk. 

We must work harder to improve our live music offerings.

We have to become known for live music and work to attract more "Blues Trail" tourists.

At the moment we have bars with a singer, but we need more venues that are music centered.

 Crime

We have too many people without jobs who have nothing to do. They don't see hope so crime is the result. More jobs and opportunities will help. 

We need more cameras and we need businesses to partner with the police to get the cameras installed. A rising tax base with new businesses and more tax revenue will allow better pay and better policing. A new K9 dog is also needed. Better neighborhood policing leads to less crime and if the judges would lock up the criminals the same people would not be committing crimes over and over.

 Petty offenders need to be sentenced to community service. We need to work with volunteers to work with the petty offenders on blighted properties. This will not only keep the offenders busy and out of trouble, but might actually teach them skills to make them productive (or at very least work them so they would prefer to avoid a life of crime than do community service).

We have to have community policing. Create Police sub-stations and install police officers in high crime communities, to live in and parol that area.

Schools

The Natchez Adams school system is broken. We can not attract industry with a public school district that is totally segregated. We have to create a "new" middle school that has a fairly equal racial mix. We have to go to white parents who are home schooling, or struggling to afford private schools or have "moved' to Vidalia to go to attend public schools there, and convince them to come back to Natchez public schools. If we create a good school with good teachers and a mix of good students - not only will that group stay together they will continue on to the high school. An integrated school district would have improved test scores. 

If we just build a new $40 million high school we will just have the same students in it. An integrated school district would have a much easier time passing a bond vote for a new high school.

   Civic Pride 

  We need to get people excited about Natchez! We need to inspire people to have pride in their town again. We need to work with churches, youth groups, civic clubs to volunteer to clean up blighted buildings and properties. Businesses could donate supplies to help spruce up buildings.  

Rather than simply fining people for long grass, unkempt yards and buildings, why don't we ask them "why can't you maintain this?"

Some folk are too old or too poor to do better. Let's help our neighbors in need.

Years ago we did a "Garden Spot of the Month". It worked really well. People saw their neighbors working on their "gardens" getting noticed, winning the sign for the month  and inspiring their neighbors to make more effort.

If the city were rewarding folks with just a small recognition that the city appreciates their efforts, quite quickly everything starts to look better.

People like to take pride in how things look, but get discouraged when they think no one cares or notices.

We need to start a civic challenge prize for the best volunteer projects.

 Film Natchez

The new interest by the film community is encouraging and needs to be nurtured.

A vibrant attractive town with occasional celebrity sightings should be able to bring more locals and tourists to town.

  The film company people are already investing in Natchez and its surrounding areas. With the right leadership at City Hall the film community can be encouraged to invest in a revamped arts district, the restoration of the Ritz and Margaret Martin Performing Arts Center, to create an artistic community. 

Recreation 

We must do a better job of maintaining our public recreation facilities. 

We must staff the pool properly, provide swim programs  and events the support they require. 

We need to maintain our walking trails and perhaps work to expand the trails across the Mississippi River Bridge 

Tourism 

Tourism is our biggest business, we must work together to improve our promotion of Natchez. 

We must improvage signage and inform people their is more to Natchez. 

Light the Bridges with modern color changing lights. 

Make Natchez the best place to spend a weekend in the South.

Improve our live music offerings to attract more "Blues Trail" visitors.

 Goals

As Mayor I pledge to fix the problems that we have encountered at the City Clerk's Office.

All withholdings will be paid on time and the bills will be paid on time saving the taxpayer thousands of dollars in late fees. 

As Mayor I pledge to run meetings correctly and keep the minutes books up to date. 

As Mayor I pledge to clean up the city and restore civic pride. 

As Mayor I pledge to make the visitor experience better, with better signage, and improved visitor interactions.

As Mayor I pledge to streamline the process for starting a new business.

Work to attract better music venues to appeal to the "Blues Trail" tourists

 I pledge to be a full time hands-on Mayor.

 CoronaVirus Update.

Campaigning on hold until May and we will move into high gear after the Democratic Primary on May 12. 

This election will now be about how we have to kick start the economy of Natchez and get businesses reopen!

We will need a businessman to make that happen!  

 richard@lowerlodgeconservation.com 

www.richardbranyan.com

www.branyan.org

www.lowerlodgeantiques.com