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“Blight” bill up for 2nd reading & vote; City Council sets Executive & Special Sessions

By Christine Anne Piesyk | April 24, 2008 |

UPDATE: Upon receipt of a Special Called Session agenda at 12:30 p.m. today, the vote in question on the adoption of ordinance 96-2007-08 is NOT on the agenda; it was listed as part of the special session agenda previously received by Clarksville Online and discussed on 4/23/08, the agenda upon which this story is based. The ordinance will have its second reading as scheduled.

Ordinance 96-2007-08, a.k.a. “the blight bill,” is coming before the City Council in back-to-back meetings for a second reading AND a vote to adopt the controversial ordinance tonight starting at 4:30 p.m. in the City Hall Conference Room at 1 Public Square in downtown Clarksville. At a recent meeting on this issue on the APSU campus, Mayor Johnny Piper assured concerned residents affected by this ordinance, titled Clarksville Center Redevelopment and Urban Renewal Plan, that it would NOT come up before the Council “until May.” Today is April 24.

The first item under new business for the special session reads as follows:

1. ORDINANCE 96-2007-08 (Second Reading) Adopting the Clarksville Center Redevelopment and Urban Renewal Plan

The ordinance in its original form deemed approximately two square miles of downtown Clarksville as blighted, subject to eminent domain, under a Clarksville Redevelopment Plan. That plan was flawed in content and the process used to present it to the affected residents and business owners. A re-worked version which has some improvements, added the words “urban renewal” to “redevelopment” but still carried many of the same problems including eminent domain and an assemblage clause that Clarksville Property Rights Coalition (CPRC) attorney Attorney John Summers called “audacious.”

Here’s the game plan: The City Council will meet in a non-voting Executive Session first, at 4:30 p.m., in the conference room, with an extensive agenda that includes a second reading of the ordinance as the first item under new business, a move which caught members of the coalition members off-guard, but not for long. That Executive Session agenda lists time for “Public Comment” at the END of each meeting. The Executive Session will be immediately followed by a “Special Called Voting Session” at which a full agenda of items including the Redevelopment Plan will be presented. (See complete Special Session and Executive Session agendas at the end of this article). The Special Called Meeting will also only accept public comment only AFTER the meeting. «Read the rest of this article»

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Happy Earth Day!

By Beth Robinson | April 22, 2008 |

Ask not what your Earth can do for you.

Ask what you can do for your Earth.

I know alot of wonderful people that are working hard to make this a healthier planet. I’m sure we have many, many people in the Clarksville area that are living with the environment in mind. As a Earth Day activity, I invite you to comment to this post and let others know at least one of the actions you take to Reduce-Recycle-Reuse.

Here is a list of some of the things I do:

1. Bought a Prius (even though no rebates or tax incentives remain)
2. Buy Green Power
3. Recycle paper, plastic, glass, cardboard, tin, aluminum
4. Compost
5. Write my local, state and other government representatives to support environmental measures
6. Eat less meat
7. Use my programmable thermostat
8. Buy energy efficient appliances & HVAC system
9. Active in local environmental groups
10. Buy only CFL’s

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It’s time to ensure every vote is counted

By Bernie Ellis | April 21, 2008 |

Now, more than perhaps ever before, your voice will mean something for Tennessee. If you speak up in the next week, your voice will be amplified by the growing call to our legislature to move the TN Voter Confidence Act forward now. At this moment, this call from voters across Tennessee and across the nation is strongly bipartisan, broad-based and basic in its request: Let our votes count in Tennessee in ’08. What follows shortly is an email action alert that is being sent to our core election integrity supporters here in Tennessee. Some of you are among that group, but many more of you are not. That is why I am writing to all of you myself, one last time.

Please take 30 minutes to voice your support to replace our non-verifiable touch-screen voting machines in Tennessee with paper ballot-based voting systems in time for the November election. To help you do that, I am sending you the latest call to action from Gathering To Save Our Democracy (www.votesafetn.org), and I am appending on that action call a few more steps you can take if you believe as strongly as I do that free, fair and verifiable elections matter in this country. «Read the rest of this article»

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NAACP Springfield reactivation underway

By Turner McCullough Jr. | April 21, 2008 |

Clarksville Branch officials support neighboring branch efforts

The NAACP, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Springfield Branch is currently undergoing a reactivation and reorganization effort. The branch had lapsed into an inactive status. However, citizens recently have expressed their desire to see the branch once again active and engaged in local affairs as an advocate and watchdog for their civil rights.

Rev. Gardner with Terry McMoore and Jimmie M. Garland Sr. of Clarksville Branch NAACP.

Rev. James Gardner, president of the Springfield Branch, conducted the meeting. The reactivation meeting was attended by more than sixty citizens. He thanked those attending. He stated that the main objective at this point is to increase the membership level to the critical threshold for activation as a viable branch. Due to recent constitution changes, branches are now required to have a minimum of 100 members for activation.

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Lugo on the military: No draft, no way!

By Chris Lugo | April 20, 2008 |

My father is a Vietnam Veteran. He was an officer in ROTC in 1968 while he was in college and went to Vietnam as a Lieutenant the year I was born. My father felt an obligation to his country and a duty to serve when called. I was born in a snowstorm in rural Minnesota while my father was halfway around the world in the jungles of Vietnam. I am proud of my father and his service to my country.

When I was a teenager, going to private Catholic school, I was approached by military recruiters. I was encouraged to join the military and to enlist in the ROTC program, much like my father had been. For whatever reason, I declined. I was not yet a peace activist like I became after the first Gulf War, but something in my instincts told me that I could not serve in the military the way my father had served.

In 1990, while I was enrolled at the University of Minnesota, George Bush Sr. began beating the drums of war. I was enrolled in the selective service program at that time in order to get student loans to go to college. I remember clearly the night the bombs began to drop in Iraq for the first time. I was living in the student district of Minneapolis and there had been anti-war activity on campus leading up to the invasion. Students were busy organizing against the campus military center, sometimes called the stockade, holding demonstrations and putting anti-war material in front of the recruiting and training center. «Read the rest of this article»

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Curbside recycling comes to Clarksville

By Beth Robinson | April 18, 2008 |

Tim Catchim has started a green business in Clarksville - curbside recycling, otherwise known as Recycle Clarkville. I signed up as a customer and he’s picking up my recycables every week for $10 a month. It is great that I don’t have to load the stuff in my car and drive to the recycling center. Another advantage is more room in my garage.

Imagine, for a moment, if you had to keep all your trash. Those plastic trash bags would pile up in your yard or spare room week after week, month after month, year after year. You’d also have to pack and take that garbage with you when you move to another residence. When we roll our big plastic container to the end of the street every week, we don’t usually see or think about that trash any more. We can go visit most of that same trash we’ve been throwing out for years at the Bi-County landfill off Dover Road. «Read the rest of this article»

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Legislative Updates from Tennessee Equality Project

By Todd Hughes | April 16, 2008 |

Tennessee Equality Project (TEP), a statewide organization dedicated to promoting and sustaining the equality of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender persons in Tennessee, is paying careful attention to several bills that the State Legislature is presently considering. As part of this process, TEP is asking residents of Montgomery and the surrounding counties to become involved in advancing equality in this region. The local committee, TEP Montgomery County, will meet on April 21 at 7:00 PM at Borders Bookstore coffee shop at 2801 Wilma Rudolph Blvd., Clarksville.

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Legislators visit Native Cultural Circle; Tennessee tribes seek state recognition

By Turner McCullough Jr. | April 14, 2008 |

Members of the Clarksville Native Cultural Circle sat down with members of the Montgomery County State Legislative Delegation to urge their support for state recognition of Tennessee Native American tribes. In separate occasions, state Senator Rosalind Kurita and state Rep. Joe Pitts each visited with Native Cultural Circle members to learn of their concerns with efforts to achieve state recognition of Tennessee-based Native American Indian tribes and groups. (Additional photo following jump) «Read the rest of this article»

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