# Farish Street Green Is Open. The Wire Found No Public Watering Plan or Upkeep Budget. > The only maintenance commitment the Wire found in published coverage is one sentence: 2C Mississippi for three years, then the Jackson Redevelopment Authority. The coverage the Wire reviewed mentions no irrigation system, watering schedule or upkeep budget. *Development · By Jackson Wire Staff · October 9, 2026* Farish Street Green opened Oct. 5 on three formerly vacant lots, with about 100 trees, native prairie plantings, a wooden trellis and a concrete stage, WLBT reported. Dorothy Davis, who leads the Farish Street Community of Shalom, told WLBT that afternoon heat readings have dropped from 'way over 100 degrees' to '95, 96.' The only maintenance arrangement the Wire found in published coverage is one sentence WLBT reported at the opening: '2C will maintain the property for the next three years, then JRA will take over.' 2C Mississippi, a Ridgeland nonprofit focused on climate resilience, led the project, and the Jackson Redevelopment Authority owns the land. 2C's website says the two signed an agreement for the project in May 2024. The Wire has not seen it and does not know whether it covers maintenance. None of the descriptions the Wire reviewed mention an irrigation system, a watering schedule or a maintenance crew. The 2023 design called for a stage with 'a rain-collecting roof that can help water plants,' a Gulf States Newsroom report said; WLBT described a concrete stage at the opening, and the opening-day reports the Wire read in full do not mention a roof, though the Wire does not know whether the design changed. Travis Crabtree of Tree Urban Design, who helped design the project, told WLBT the sycamores are 'very drought-tolerant.' Mississippi State University's Extension Service says its drought ratings apply to established trees, 'not recently planted trees,' and that a new tree can take two months to a year to acclimate; the Wire does not know when each tree went in. The state's Trees Across Mississippi grants, paid from the same Inflation Reduction Act forestry money as the Forest Service program 2C's website credits for the Farish Street grant, require tree-planting projects to include a watering plan. Those rules govern the state's grants, not necessarily 2C's, and the Wire did not find a published watering plan for Farish Street. 2C's website lists $1.5 million from the U.S. Forest Service and $500,000 from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for the project, and WLBT put its cost at about $400,000 to $500,000, while Mississippi Today, citing Crabtree, put it at around $500,000; the figures may describe different things. The Wire has not seen a budget showing whether any money is set aside for upkeep. 2C is small: after the EPA terminated two other 2C grants worth about $20.5 million, Politico reported that by September 2025 the group was down to one part-time employee and a part-time accountant; the Wire could not confirm current staffing. Its website says, in general terms, that it provides maintenance of its projects 'where funding allows.' After three years, the authority takes over. It holds about 94 properties across the city, WLBT reported, and the Wire found no published maintenance budget for the green. Nothing the Wire reviewed names the city as a maintainer. For context, the Clarion Ledger reported that the city eliminated its Parks and Recreation Department in May and moved grounds crews into Public Works, and, as the Wire has reported, the new budget cuts Public Works by roughly $8 million. The Wire's analysis: the record the Wire reviewed shows a handoff, not a funded plan. That does not make Farish Street Green a one-and-done project, but nothing the Wire reviewed shows who pays for water and labor in either period. Three documents, if they exist, would answer much of that: the 2024 agreement, if it covers maintenance; a watering and maintenance plan; and a budget line naming who pays. The Wire did not ask 2C or the authority for them before publication. What's next: The authority's board meets Oct. 28 at 10 a.m. at Union Station. The nearest test is this fall, usually Mississippi's driest stretch according to the Extension guide, and the handoff to the authority would come around October 2029 if the three-year clock started at the opening. --- _Reporting note: Opening-day details and the Davis, Crabtree and handoff quotes are from WLBT's Oct. 5, 2026 reports; Mississippi Today's Oct. 5 report (Aaron Lampley) was read through the DeSoto County News syndication copy. The 2023 design is from a Gulf States Newsroom report published by Mississippi Public Broadcasting on Dec. 12, 2023. Funding, the May 28, 2024 agreement and the maintenance language are from 2C Mississippi's website. The EPA terminations are from Mississippi Today (July 2, 2025, read through the Scott County Times) and Politico (Sept. 15, 2025, read through Yahoo). Watering standards and the shared funding source are from the Mississippi Forestry Commission's Trees Across Mississippi guidelines for 2025 and 2026, the USDA Forest Service's April 2023 Inflation Reduction Act urban forestry funding notice, and Mississippi State University Extension publication P3569. City budget and parks details are from earlier Wire reporting citing the Clarion Ledger, Mississippi Today and WLBT, and the authority's board schedule is from earlier Wire reporting. An earlier Wire story, drawing on a preview published before the opening, said the stage had not been built; opening-day reports from WLBT and The Mississippi Link describe one. The Wire could not read WJTV's report on the opening. This article includes the Wire's analysis, labeled as such. The Wire did not contact 2C Mississippi, the Jackson Redevelopment Authority or Tree Urban Design before publication._ --- [The Jackson Wire](https://www.thejacksonwire.com/) · [Read on the web](https://www.thejacksonwire.com/article/farish-street-green-maintenance-watering-who-pays)