A Tree Falls in Jackson

A Tree Falls in Jackson

A tree falls in a yard on a street that borders my neighborhood. The grass grows up around it. The house is vacant. A house on a boundary street that dictates what might be inside the package: is it a nice place to live with manicured lawns, bright painted colors and friendly people who walk the streets and wave hello to passersby?

A tree fell. No one tends to it. Did those responsible for the property hear it fall or see the aftermath of limbs and twisted cable lines scattered across the sidewalk used by residents? Doubtful. It was owned by a New York company that recently sold it (and about a half dozen other homes in my neighborhood) as a “package” to another cash investor; this time, an investor in Atlanta, Georgia. 

Design4Good was established to fight this type of out-of-state cash investors who are encroaching on my neighborhood and using it to make money. Recently, the Wall Street Journal wrote a piece about the impact of cash investors in the metro Jackson area –Everyone's a Landlord - Small-Time Investors Snap Up Out-of-State Properties. I was mentioned in the article for my personal mission to turn the tide of this community-wrecking phenomenon by renovating homes and selling them to homeowners. 

The WSJ photographer took pictures of the blighted home in the picture and other neglected properties owned by out of state investors. While this particular photo didn’t make the paper, it inspired me to share the “behind the scenes” ugly that these investors bring to a community. 

It is time to take back our neighborhoods. Concerned citizens need to ask city officials for local regulations. Registered voters need to ask their state and federal representatives for legislation. We see the tree. We live by it. We walk out in traffic to go around the debris left on the sidewalk. And we know it is flat wrong for some far-away corporation with deep pockets to leave their dirty work for someone else to clean up.