Topic: Castle Coalition

Conflicts of interest erode trust in city government

By David Cutting | November 24, 2008 |

Conflicts of interest exist when people in positions of trust, such as politicians, have competing personal interests which make it difficult to fulfill their duties impartially.

As our city government, comprised of the mayor and city council, routinely rule on issues affecting realtors, builders, developers, and building material suppliers, people in those disciplines should not serve in city government. Since active realtors, builders, and developers are entrenched in elected local offices, we have bad laws which enrich them at the expense of the voters who elected them and all taxpayers and residents.

Christina Walsh of the Castle Coalition, of which I am a member, wrote recently about Clarksville, “Clearly, the confluence of bad law and politically connected developers here does not bode well for the citizens of Clarksville, who have been virtually abandoned by the very political officials they elected to represent their best interests. Local governments very often disguise their intentions of transferring perfectly fine properties to private developers, declaring so-called ‘blight removal,’ ‘urban renewal,’ or ’slum clearance’ as the justification for eminent domain. They hide behind this ‘public use’ concept in their quest to acquire property for the private use of developers.” «Read the rest of this article»

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Institute for Justice representative to meet with Justice Department

By Terry McMoore | November 19, 2008 |

Christina Walsh, Director of Community Organization, Institute for Justice

The U.S. Department of Justice (USDOJ) and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will host a fact finding meeting on November 20 at 7 p.m. at the New Providence Outreach Center, 207 Oak Street, in Clarksville. This is a precursor to a larger public forum on downtown redevelopment issues.

The redevelopment plan was first brought to the attention of federal officials this summer, when local NAACP President Jimmie Garland submitted some concerns to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

William Dirl, field office director of the Nashville HUD office, expressed concerns in a letter to Clarksville Mayor Johnny Piper that the redevelopment plan did not emphasize providing housing rehabilitation to existing residents.

Elected officials, community leaders and civic organizations have been invited to attend. The meeting is also open to interested members of the public. «Read the rest of this article»

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People searched, silenced at public forum; redevelopment questions go unanswered

By Bill Larson | March 21, 2008 |

The Castle Coalition, a national grassroots property rights group working on eminent domain issues, came to Clarksville Thursday to participate in a rally prior to the city’s public forum on the redevelopment plan held in the Burt School cafeteria on Thursday.

The rally featured Christina Walsh , Clarksville Property Rights Coalition Spokesman John Summers, Dan Brown of the Tennessee Preservation Trust and others. They addressed plan opponents and members of the press on the issues they perceive in the current version of Clarksville’s Redevelopment Plan. Summers and Brown have been frequent speakers at CPRC meetings.

After the rally, the public forum began in the Burt School Cafeteria. with Mayor Piper making the first statement. The program continued with a presentation by Knoxville’s KCDC President Alvin Nance, followed by Downtown District Partnership board member and recent appointee to the Clarksville Housing Authority Frank Lott. The presentation given was identical to the KCDC video on the “Our view: The updated redevelopment plan still has major flaws” article; watching that video provided all the same information as last night’s forum.

Laws mean exactly what they say on paper; it does not matter what those who created it intended for it to say. What counts is in the actual letter of the law. Members of the City Council do not see any issues with the plan they approved, even though a common sense reading shows that this plan is faulty, open to major abuse, and was clearly intended to make it easier for developers to take private property from its owner and then profit from it. Mayor Piper and the council have denied that, but that is exactly how the currently plan reads.

Counting heads, the Fire Marshall allowed only 180 people inside the hall for the meeting, with another estimated 150 people turned away. [Editor's note: At the Train Station meeting in December, more than 300 people turned out to oppose this plan.] CPRC members provided a list of the names and addresses of people who were denied access to this public forum: page after page was full of names and addresses. «Read the rest of this article»

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Join the fight against eminent domain abuse in Clarksville

March 18, 2008 |

Several groups opposing the Clarksville Center Redevelopment and Urban Renewal Plan will hold a rally prior to the City of Clarksville’s public hearing scheduled on the Plan for this Thursday, March 20th, at 6:00pm. Opponents of the redevelopment plan should plan on wearing red clothing.

At 4:30pm on Thursday, the Clarksville Property Rights Coalition (CPRC) will hold a rally to protest the Redevelopment Plan and the recent new Plan Amendment proposed by Mayor Piper. The rally will be held in the parking lot across from Burt School, 110 Bailey Street, the location of the public hearing.

The Redevelopment Plan authorizes the use of eminent domain over more than 1,000 parcels of private property near downtown Clarksville. Under the Plan, government agencies have the power to condemn homes, businesses and churches then transfer the land to a private developer. The city approved the original ordinance and Plan last year, but failed to follow state law in notifying all affected property owners. A proposed amendment to the Plan has been prepared by Mayor Piper. The Amendment does not remove the condemnation provisions, but instead actually strengthens the eminent domain language. «Read the rest of this article»

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