Vicksburg Mayor Geroge Flaggs Jr. hasn’t been shy about wanting to get his message out ahead of the 2025 mayoral campaign. Thursday morning, while serving as the guest speaker at the Port City Kiwanis Club, Flaggs said he was taking the opportunity to address what his administration has done for the River City, and what comes next, should he win reelection.

“I’ve got more passion for this city than anybody you’ll ever want to see,” Flaggs said, before touching on several areas of life in Vicksburg, such as crime and public safety, infrastructure and the economy.

While Flaggs  credited local groups and individuals alike for the resurgence of Vicksburg’s downtown district in recent years, he also pointed to city programs offering tax relief to new businesses as a reason for the area’s success.

“The heart of every city starts in your downtown area,” he said. “We did abatements. If you come here, and if you build in the city of Vicksburg, and if you produce, then you’ve got an abatement for five to seven years. A tax-free exemption.”

Flaggs also pointed to decreases in crime under his administration and touted recent city raises for law enforcement and firefighters as investments in public safety.

“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, in every house, you can’t have an officer,” he said. “What I’ve said emphatically is that Vicksburg is not a bad place. We don’t have mass killings and all of the things you have in other cities.”

While recent statistics do in fact show a decrease in most violent crime in the city, Flaggs said problems like domestic violence continue to pose a significant threat.

“You can’t stop it,” he said. “You’d have to be in every household and, in fact, every room.”

According to official statistics from the city, and ending Aug. 31, 2024, murders inside the city limits have dropped from 11 in 2023 to four through August, after jumping from four in both 2021 and 2022; assault has dropped to 19 from a total of 34 in 2023; business burglaries are down from 69 in 2023 to 29 through August; residential burglaries are down from 62 to 31; vehicle burglaries have dropped from 100 to 70; auto theft is down from 11 to four; reported instances of rape have dropped from 9 in 2023 to four through August 2024; and shootings into vehicles or residences have dropped from 39 in 2023 to 20 through August. Domestic violence is down from 293 in 2023, but still comes in as Vicksburg’s highest reported violation with 195 incidents through August.

Flaggs said he believes the addition of raises to salaries of police officers making less than $50,000 annually will aid in eliminating the high rate of turnover the police department has seen in past years.

Flaggs also pointed to youth programs as a way to prevent crime by educating children early in the repercussions of the illegal behavior.

“We’ve created a Warren County youth development program,” he said. “There’s more collaboration and cooperation between the Vicksburg Warren School District now than ever before.”

Flaggs finished Thursday’s address by focusing on the need for continued infrastructure investments across the city, but pointed to projects already underway or completed as evidence of progress, including: Fisher Ferry bridge repair, $4 million; water treatment plant improvement project, $1.6 million; street paving, $3.5 million; Iowa Boulevard emergency repair stabilization project, $800,000; Levee Street project, including lighting, railroad and sidewalks, $700,000; riverfront development, $3.5 million.