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Robinsonville residents demand community center

By Chip Washington - bio | email | Twitter | Facebook

ROBINSONVILLE, MS (WMC-TV) - A Mid-South community wants a neighborhood center, but city leaders say there's no money in the budget.

The issue of the lack of a community center in Robinsonville, Mississippi has gone on for several years, and while residents are frustrated, they vowed Thursday to not give up the fight.

Frustrated residents gathered Thursday morning at the corner of Hwy 304 and Fitzgeralds Blvd to speak, upset by a lack of support in their efforts to build a new community center.

"Ninety-five percent of the population in north Tunica is African American, and we have no recreation center, no leisure activities and we don't have a library for our children," Resident Gureka price said.

Residents say their ward is the largest in Tunica County, yet they have no amenities for senior citizens or children.

County Supervisor James Dunn has been pushing his fellow supervisors for years to allow bids for construction but says he has received no support.

Robinsonville and this community generates all the funds to fund the county's entire budget - the city as well - but we can't bring any of the amenities to Robinsonville," Dunn said. "Now the question is, why is that?"

According to fellow Supervisor Bobby Williams, the project is not feasible and it boils down to economics and location.

"Right now, I understand according to the County Administrator we don't have the funds," Williams said. "You know, we're trying to complete an airport out here, and we don't have the funds to do that."

Williams says there is already a quality community center in Tunica where people can go, but Dunn believes it's too far away, and there should be another option.

"It's not the facilities that I want, but it's the facilities that the community wants," he said.

Dunn says that he understands that there is no money in the budget for a community center in Robinsonville right now, but perhaps the funds could be available for the bid process in next year's budget, which begins in October.

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