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.”

The long-range solution to conflicts of interest is voter education. All qualified candidates for local office who receive $1,000 or more in campaign contributions or spend $1,000 or more on their campaigns must file financial disclosures. These disclosures must identify all contributions and expenditures over $100. Since the local newspaper does not publish these public records, I will do so, on Clarksville online, for future elections, as the candidates file their disclosures. I will highlight, for voter scrutiny, all contributions from realtors, builders, developers, and building material suppliers. I will also attempt, with Clarksville online, to vet all qualified candidates, with special attention, again for voter scrutiny, to active realtors, builders, and developers. Hopefully, through this process, we will eventually achieve a city governent that is dedicated to serving the populace rather than itself.

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.

Christina Walsh serves as the Coordinator for the Institute for Justice’s Castle Coalition. Through her outreach efforts and grassroots organizing, she helps property owners nationwide to fight eminent domain abuse.

Walsh travels the country, educating and organizing property owners and activists whose properties are threatened by eminent domain for private gain. Through community meetings, rallies, protests and workshops, Walsh has helped defeat tax-hungry governments that seek to condemn perfectly fine properties for land-hungry private developers. She successfully organized home and small business owners in Chicago, Ill., Wilmington, Del., New York City, and across New Jersey, and has forged strong alliances that span the philosophical spectrum. Walsh has been quoted extensively in news outlets across the country.

Walsh provides legislative support to state and local lawmakers, and coordinates Perspectives on Eminent Domain Abuse, a new series of independently authored reports published by the Institute for Justice that examine the issue of eminent domain.

Christina received her undergraduate degree in Political Theory from the University of Virginia in 2004, and joined the Institute upon graduation.

This meeting format will best help identify to USDOJ and HUD the issues and non-compliance that will and have already come about since this redevelopment plan was put together. The USDOJ and HUD will use the information gathered at this meeting to determine the best possible way to effectively engage the community in the next phase of this process.  Please RSVP to Terry McMoore at the Urban Resource Center,

]]> http://www.clarksvilleonline.com/2008/11/19/institute-for-justice-to-send-representative-to-forum-with-department-of-justice/feed/ 0 http://www.clarksvilleonline.com/2008/03/21/public-forum-on-redevelopment-brings-disappointment-and-anger/ http://www.clarksvilleonline.com/2008/03/21/public-forum-on-redevelopment-brings-disappointment-and-anger/#comments Fri, 21 Mar 2008 20:18:33 +0000 Bill Larson http://www.clarksvilleonline.com/2008/03/21/public-forum-on-redevelopment-brings-disappointment-and-anger/ 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.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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.

This was a purported “public” forum, where some but not all interested members of the public were allowed inside, due to insufficient space, despite the fact that public interest in this issue and the turnout for prior meetings on this issue warranted larger quarters. Limiting attendance may have been a primary consideration due to the fact that there are three nearby locations with significantly more capacity: Burt school’s own gym, APSU’s Clement Auditorium, and the Dunn Center. The public were denied their right to speak. Many members of the audience wore red tape over their mouths as a visible protest over the acts that silenced them. The city could have but did not allow each person who wished to do so to address the City Council and the Mayor. The public was not allowed to ask questions, questions which should have been clearly answered.

When the forum ended, a number of attendees described it as “a farce,” “a dog and pony show,” “a joke,” and “just plain sad.” It was a public forum without public participation.

During a interview with Mayor Piper, News Channel 2 asked the mayor if the locations was chosen to limit public participation. Piper said “no,” then removed his microphone and terminated the interview. The Channel 2 newscast, in broadcasting this interview, cut away immediately following Piper’s “no.”

One gentleman was placed in handcuffs by the Clarksville Police for protesting the trampling of his rights by the city a little too vigorously (watch the video). He was released without any charges.

With such a large number of people opposing Clarksville’s redevelopment (eminent domain) plan, and the lengths the city is apparently ready to go to in order to enact it, one must ask who is the power behind the throne on this issue, who or what is giving Mayor Piper and the City Council the impetus to defy the clearly expressed will of the public.

The actions regarding the development plans, when combined with statements by city officials at other meetings and events, are clear examples of the contempt and disregard that Clarksville’s elected and appointed officials have for the wishes of their constituency.

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.

“Eminent domain is for public use—roads, schools, parks,—this plan is primarily for private development,” said Becky McMahan, one of the organizers of the CPRC. “If Mayor Piper is honest about there being no plans to acquire anyone’s property, then why must eminent domain be authorized? We are not against development in Clarksville, but we are against the city taking our homes and businesses to give to someone else to develop.”

In addition to the CPRC, Christina Walsh, the Castle Coalition Coordinator at the Institute for Justice will also address the rally, The Institute for Justice, a public interest law firm, has long defended home and small business owners across the country, and represented Susette Kelo and her neighbors before the U.S. Supreme Court in Kelo v. City of New London. The Castle Coalition, the grassroots advocacy project of the Institute, helps property owners nationwide stop governments and developers from abusing eminent domain.

Dan Brown, Executive Director of the Tennessee Preservation Trust, a state-wide historic preservation organization, will also address the rally. The TPT has expressed concerned over the loss of historic structures as a result of the Plan. Several other commuity groups have been invited to participate in the rally.

For Additional Information Contact:

• John Summers, CPRC – (615) 415-3016
• Christina Walsh, Castle Coalition – (703) 682-9320