Gregory Bingham Announces Bid for Ward 1 Alderman

Gregory Bingham announced his campaign for Ward 1 Alderman today.

The first-time candidate is not just committed to code enforcement, but has shown his dedication through a yearlong investigation into the city’s handling of blighted conditions, including dozens of open records requests, analysis of accounting data and productivity reports, and multiple meetings with the mayor.

Gregory came to Vicksburg in 2020 to restore a Greek Revival house on Oak Street, a project that gave him firsthand experience with the city’s blighted conditions and code enforcement issues. After living outside of Washington, DC, and working as a CPA for over 15 years, he was surprised by the unresponsiveness of the small-town City Hall when voicing his and his neighbor’s concerns about the blighted conditions scattered throughout the city. This led to a yearlong investigation into the city’s handling of these issues.

Bingham’s study found that in a recent 12-month period, the Code Enforcement Department cited only 57 structural violations preferring instead to prosecute almost 900 property owners for not mowing their grass. Is uncut grass the problem, or is it structurally deficient and unsafe houses and buildings? Gregory concludes that the city administration has no intention of addressing the blighted conditions throughout the city. The Director of Community Development came closest to summarizing the city’s position, claiming that there was a housing shortage and that enforcement of building codes would further reduce the supply of houses available to the citizens of Vicksburg. In other words, the city administration does not care that homeowners’ property values are harmed and that the city is a haven for out-of-town slum lords. Moreover, the blighted areas attract vagrants, drug addicts, and criminals, making our city unsafe.

While the fair and equal enforcement of the International Building Code is Bingham’s primary campaign issue when elected, he would also encourage the Police Department to enforce state and local laws to reduce crime and improve safety in Vicksburg.