WITH A DECISION looming on the location of a Civil Rights museum, Jackson city officials are taking steps to bolster the city’s chances that a site will be chosen downtown.

The Jackson City Council recently passed a resolution urging the Governor’s Commission to establish a national civil rights museum to select a spot at the heart of the 1960s-era movement.

And the Downtown Jackson Partners recently presented a report to the commission on three sites located there, each of which can be purchased by the city now.

“Downtown would be an appropriate location,” Ward Seven Councilwoman Margaret Barrett-Simon said last week. “Each location is a short distance from historic neighborhoods and civil rights landmarks. We’re not asking for a specific site, we’re just asking that they choose downtown.”

DJP President Ben Allen said three sites have been mapped out by the DJP, including one at the end of High Street and two on Mill Street. Each location, he said, would be perfect for the museum and would lend itself to creating a walking tour of the Civil Rights movement.

Another spot also under consideration, he said, is in another zip code on Lakeland Drive near the state’s Agricultural and Forestry Museum and the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame. He said building it there would prohibit tourists from taking a downtown walking tour, because they would have to drive to two separate locations for each.

Once finished, the museum would likely complement the King Edward Hotel, the Jackson Convention Center and the Pinnacle building, he said. The area also has access to lodging, food and parking.

He said it would be located near the Farish Street Historical District and could be instrumental in reviving that area. “I feel like a Civil Rights walking tour is being constructed as we speak,” he said. “If it’s built on Lakeland, tourists would have to get off the bus and walk and then get back on the bus to go to the museum. It makes sense to have it here.”

AREAS INCLUDED in the walking tour would likely include the Smith Robertson Museum, the state Capitol, Galloway Methodist Church, the state fairgrounds, civil rights groups’ offices, Stevens Kitchen, the King Edward Hotel and Jackson City Hall.

In all, there are about 26 locations.

Judge Charles Pickering, the chairman of the governor’s commission, said a decision hadn’t been made at the time of publication and he wouldn’t speculate on a selection.

“We hired a consultant who has expertise in the area and he will make the recommendation to the commission on the location,” he said. “It would be premature and inappropriate to discuss the location until the consultant makes a report to the full commission.”

The commission, earlier this year, chose Tennessee-based consultant Pete LaPaglia to make recommendations on the best site. The state Legislature will have the final say so on its location, based on the commission’s report.

LaPaglia said his firm has evaluated about 20 different sites from all over the state, including sites in Greenwood, Meridian, Natchez, Grenada and the capital city.

He said the most recent sites chosen by DJP will also be evaluated. “We don’t want to leave anybody out,” LaPaglia said. “We have to take a neutral point of view. The museum’s sustainability is important. We don’t want to build it and it won’t sustain itself. A museum is like any other business.”

He said his group designed a matrix to grade each site and has looked at its location, the parcel availability, access to the highway, zoning restrictions, demographics, the ability to provide infrastructure, the number of hotels and restaurants, the amount of parking and how the museum would benefit the surrounding area.

LaPaglia said his firm has been studying sites since the beginning of the year. He said his firm will have a decision for the commission, likely by Christmas or January 2008.