Sparks were flying between the two remaining candidates for mayor of Mississippi's capitol city of Mississippi. M-PB's Jeffrey Hess reports that Crime, education, and infrastructure improvements were the focus of the debate..
The final two mayoral candidates, City Councilman Tony Yarber and the son of the late mayor Chokewe Antar Lumumba, faced for for the first and last time at the Mississippi college school of law before the run off election next week.
Lumumba says combating crime means working with police in the city.
"We are going to have leadership that helps them fulfill their jobs. As mayor I need establish program that helps them defer the issue of crime. We want to establish urban youth corp that give them alternatives to crime," Lumumba said.
Yarber responded by pushing for a city wide approach to revitalization.
"For far to long we have tried to develope pieces of the city at a time. We tried to develop fdown town without developing south Jackson. We tried to develop certain areas of north Jackson without paying attention to what is happening in certain areas of west Jackson," Yarber said.
The debate also hinged on the legacy of the late Mayor, which his son emphasized.
"It doesn't get any more ground up. No matter what side of Jackson you come from, whether it is north our south. What we saw over the last seven months is something we have never seen," Lumumba said.
Councilman Yarber countered that his experience working in the city is what matters.
"You need to elect someone who is prepared to move this city on day one. Who has the keys, the toys, the knowledge to move this city," Yarber said.
Boh Yarber and Lumumba are in their 30's, and would likely be the youngest mayor in state history.
The final vote is next Tuesday.
