Tuesday, July 17, 2018
Domino's will fund $5,000 worth of pothole repairs in Jackson as part of its "Paving for Pizza" campaign pending City Council approval at the July 17 meeting. Photo by Domino's
JACKSON — NOTE: The Jackson City Council voted unanimously on July 17 to accept Domino's donation. The original copy of the story is as follows:
For the last couple of months, Domino's has funded pothole repairs nationwide through its "Paving for Pizza" campaign. The company's goal is to protect pizzas that get tossed around on delivery routes as drivers traverse crumbling roads. The Jackson City Council is expected to vote tonight to accept a $5,000 donation from Domino's for road repairs.
At the city council work session on July 16, Public Works Director Bob Miller said that the money would cover one day's worth of work, or approximately 40 potholes. Miller supports the measure.
"MBA students will be studying this as a marketing case for years to come," he said. "It's a work of genius, it's relatively inexpensive on their part, and it's certainly welcome on our part."
Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba echoed those sentiments.
"We have significant paving and pothole repair needs," he said. "But, we're happy to receive any amount that we can put to workâDomino's has heard our call..."
On the campaign site, Domino's provides a "Pizza Damage Report," an inside look into a pizza box to show what happens to pizza when drivers take a range of roads from those in mild disrepair to "catastrophic" ones (like Mill Street, for instance).
"We can't stand by and let your cheese slide to one side, your toppings get un-topped, or your boxes get flipped," the website reads. "So we're helping to pave in towns across the country to save your good pizza from these bad roads."
The only caveat is that Domino's asks to take photographs of the paving project for promotional materials. In other cities Domino's has funded, the company's label goes over of the paving site.
A Domino's spokeswoman told the Jackson Free Press that she was unable to disclose how many nominations Jackson got for this project, but that the company takes in "a number of factors," including the number of nominations, to weigh which places get paving grants.
But considering local media's shameless plugs to get Jackson nominated, and the fact that this reporter nominated the City using two different email addresses, it's no wonder Jackson is next up.
Email city reporter Ko Bragg at [email protected].