Property Owner Seeks Action On Longstanding Martin Street Issues

By Editor | June 24, 2026 |

Martin Street property owner Marco Gooch stands along a section of roadway he says illustrates years of neglected maintenance concerns. Gooch points to overgrown rights-of-way and a dead tree visible in the background that he said has stood near the street for years as examples of issues residents have repeatedly asked the city to address.

WATER VALLEY – When Martin Street property owner Marco Gooch saw one of his vacant properties pictured recently in a Herald story about the city’s proposed vacant property ordinance, it struck a nerve.

Gooch said his frustrations are not primarily about the ordinance itself. Instead, he says they stem from years of what he describes as neglect of neighborhood infrastructure and maintenance issues that have persisted through multiple city administrations.

“I’ve been coming to board meetings since 2017,” Gooch said. “Talking to the mayors, three different administrations. Nothing happened.”

Gooch, a Water Valley native who graduated from Water Valley High School in 1987, left the area to serve in the military before returning in 2001. He built his home on Martin Street in 2005 and added onto it in 2013.

Since then, he says he has repeatedly raised concerns about drainage problems, overgrown rights-of-way, spreading kudzu, trees hanging low over streets and utility lines, litter, sidewalks and other maintenance issues along Martin Street and surrounding areas.

According to Gooch, his concerns predate the current administration by nearly a decade.

Gooch has made multiple appearances before the Board of Aldermen over the years, including documented visits on Aug. 6, 2019, and again in October 2024. During those meetings he voiced concerns about infrastructure conditions on Martin Street, including drainage, sidewalks and street maintenance. In his 2024 letter to the editor, he also called for improved sidewalks, tree trimming and greater investment in neighborhoods outside the downtown area.

Gooch said he remains frustrated as the issues have not been addressed.

“They told me to get with the engineers about the drainage,” Gooch said of one discussion with city officials in 2024. “What can I tell the engineer to do?”

Gooch said many residents on Martin Street share similar concerns.

“Everybody on this street,” he said when asked whether neighbors were also frustrated.

While critical of the city’s response to infrastructure concerns, Gooch points to his own investment in the neighborhood as evidence that he is committed to improving the area.

He currently owns five properties on Martin Street. Two are vacant lots where he removed dilapidated houses, 415 and 534 Martin Street, that were beyond repair. One is his residence at 612 Martin Street. The fourth property is a five-bedroom, approximately 2,200-square-foot house at 783 Martin Street. He is slowly renovating the property and estimates he has invested nearly $120,000 in the project, which he said has progressed painfully slowly.

“If I can finish it, I think I am going to get rid of it,” he said. “I don’t want to own any more property in Water Valley.”

The fifth property is the brick house at 302 Martin Street that was pictured in last week’s Herald story.

“I was going to remodel it after I finish the other one,” Gooch said. “But you can’t find any workers.”

Gooch said he believes residents are willing to do their part but become discouraged when they feel public infrastructure is being neglected.

“It seems like the more I try to help the harder it gets,” Gooch said. “If the city is not going to do their part, why should they try to force the residents to do their part?”

Among the concerns Gooch identified were clogged drainage ditches, overgrown vegetation, litter accumulation, leaning utility poles, overhanging tree limbs and a damaged railing near the creek crossing at the bottom of Martin Street.

He also pointed to the spread of kudzu, which he said has gradually expanded through portions of the neighborhood over the years.

“We’ve been fighting with them for 10 years about the kudzu,” Gooch said.

City officials acknowledge some of the concerns Gooch raised, but say major infrastructure improvements take time and funding.

Mayor Tommy Reynolds said he understands Gooch’s frustrations and has personally visited his property to discuss the concerns.

“I’ve been to his house,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds said some of the issues Gooch identified are expected to be addressed through several major infrastructure projects currently in development.

Among them is a more than $1 million street paving project scheduled to receive bids June 26. Reynolds said the city is using revenue from the state’s use tax on online sales to repay a $1.1 million bond that will fund the project.

Reynolds also pointed to approximately $4.5 million in federal funding awarded to the city for drainage and flood mitigation improvements. Reynolds said work on securing those funds began before he was elected mayor in 2022 while serving as a state representative.

“This would help address some of his concerns,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds acknowledged, however, that the project has been stalled since early 2024 and that the future of the funding remains uncertain.

The mayor also highlighted a $1.6 million sidewalk project funded through the Mississippi Department of Transportation. According to Reynolds, the project will connect city parks and include a sidewalk connection from a portion of Martin Street to existing sidewalks on Main Street.

“This is the most significant sidewalk improvement project that we have ever had,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds said the project would require approximately $272,000 in matching funds from the city.

“Is this all that needs to be done on the sidewalks? Absolutely not, but it will help,” Reynolds said.

Marco Gooch stands inside a five-bedroom house at 783 Martin Street that he has spent several years renovating.

Ward 2 Alderman Demetrius Ingram said the drainage issues referenced by Gooch have been ongoing for years.

According to Ingram, the problem originated after dirt was removed from the city-owned property at the top of Martin Street near the water tower. Since then, sand has washed downhill, filling roadside ditches and culverts.

“It has been a problem, and it should have been addressed,” Ingram said.

“The city has tried several solutions and none of them have worked,” he added.

Ingram said he believes correcting the problem is beyond the scope of the city’s existing manpower and equipment and will require engineering assistance.

“The work will have to be done from the top of the hill all the way down,” Ingram said.

Ingram also credited Gooch for investing in the neighborhood and said the city has a responsibility to invest as well.

“He is investing in the area,” Ingram said. “The city wants people to invest in Water Valley, and we must also invest in these needs. A lot of people think the city has unlimited money and that is not true.”

Reynolds also acknowledged that the city faces challenges with aging equipment and routine maintenance needs.

“The equipment is pathetic,” Reynolds said. “We have to look at the general direction. Is improvement being made or not? I think if you look at that, I think we have made some improvements on everything that I could do anything with. There is more needed. We have a lot of housekeeping stuff we need to look at too.”

Gooch said he believes city leaders should focus on neighborhood investment alongside efforts to address vacant and abandoned properties.

He argues that city maintenance and infrastructure improvements should accompany any new efforts aimed at private property owners.

Gooch also questioned whether standards are being applied consistently throughout the city.

“You’ve got members of the board making determinations about other people’s property, and some of their own property doesn’t even look right,” Gooch said. “It’s got to be across the board. Everybody’s got to be treated the same way.”

“They went all the way down South Main and low into town and cleaned all the drainage ditches out because that’s the face of Water Valley,” Gooch told the Herald. “But you don’t care about the interior where people also pay taxes.”

“We cannot change the past,” Gooch wrote in his 2024 letter to the editor after his visit to the city meeting. “But we can choose to make things better for the future for the citizens of Water Valley.”