Topic: Clarksville TN

Obama supporters plan phone bank rally

By Terry McMoore | April 23, 2008 |

It has been a very busy month for Clarksville Team Obama a local grass roots organization of supporters of Senator Barack Obama for President of the United States of America. Having recently wrapped up a successful three week voter registration drive campaign in Hopkinsville Kentucky, where citizens will be holding their presidential primary very soon, and after just participating in the National Nation for Change Rallies, Clarksville Team Obama will have phone banking rallies on the following dates to help rejuvenate voters in the remaining primary states.

• Saturday April 26 from 11 a.m. - 9 p.m.
• Sunday April 27th from 3 p.m. - 8 p.m.
• Saturday May 3rd from 11 a.m. - 9 p.m.
• Sunday May 4th from 3 p.m. - 8 p.m.

The Call Center Location will be the New York Pizza Depot (NYPD) Restaurant, 3297 Fort Campbell Bvld.(across from Gate 3 of Fort Campbell Military Post). We invite all members of the public to volunteer your time to make phone calls for Senator Barack Obama at this event! Clarksville Team Obama holds weekly meetings every Thursday evening at The New York Pizza Depot (NYPD) 7:00 p.m. Visit our Websites for on going updates! www.myspace.com/clarksvilleforobama. To get involved please contact Bernice Benbow at bernicebenbow@yahoo.com

Sections: News | 1 Comment »

Clarksville Team Obama sets local campaign agenda

By Terry McMoore | March 31, 2008 |

Clarksville’s Team Obama, is a local grassroots organization dedicated to supporting Barack Obama in his run for the White House. They have identified the following items as their goals for the 2008 election.

Clarksville Team Obama has the following goals:

• Team to hold weekly meetings every Thursday evening at The New York Pizza Depot (NYPD) Restaurant, 3297 Fort Campbell Bvld.(across from Gate 3 of Fort Campbell Military Post). Meetings start at 7:00 p.m.
• Register at least 500 new voters monthly throughout the city, county and Fort Campbell areas.

«Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Politics | No Comments

African American community to hold meeting on redevelopment plan

By Terry McMoore | February 26, 2008 |

The Progressive Citizens Advocates (PCA), along with the Clarksville-Montgomery County Branch of the NAACP, is sponsoring a town hall meeting at Greater Missionary Baptist Church which is located 450 Ringgold Road in Clarksville, on Monday, March 3 at 7 p.m. The meeting will feature an appearance by Clarksville Mayor Johnny Piper.

Progressive Citizens Advocates membership is largely made up of ministers and progressive movers and shakers within the African American Community. The meeting  will attempt to address the questions and issues surrounding the Downtown District Partnership’s Clarksville Center Redevelopment Plan. The meeting is open to the public and will feature a question and answer period. 

For more information contact PCA president Rev. Frank Washington (931) 980-1918 (cell).

Sections: Events, Issues | No Comments

Major Gen. Gration on campaign trail in Clarksville for Obama ‘08 rally

By Terry McMoore | February 3, 2008 |

With Super Tuesday just two days away, the race for both Democratic and Republican nominations escalates. No race is heating more than that of Barrack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

On Monday, February 4, the eve of dozens of state primaries, a rally for Presidential Candidate Barack Obama will be held at the Tropicana Mexican Restaurant, 233A Tiny Town Road in Clarksville at 1:00 p.m.

Retired Major General Scott Gration, Obama’s top military advisor, will be present to speak on behalf of Obama, according to Terry McMoore, Director of the Urban Resource Center. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Politics | No Comments

Urban sprawl and the building of people-friendly communities

By Christine Anne Piesyk | December 28, 2007 |

On the Road in America is an occasional column of thoughts, ideas and observations from my travels.

When I first moved to Clarksville four years ago, I was initially fascinated with the immense geographic area of the city. It was an “urban sprawl” that included an explosion of multiple housing developments. It looked, for the most part, like the bedroom communities of exploding around New England’s major cities. Sort of. But less well planned.

In fact, the photo of downtown Northampton (above left) looks a lot like Franklin Street with the exception of the width of the Main Street, which is large enough for multiple lanes of traffic, angle parking on both side of the street, and in the winter, mountains of snow plowed into the middle of the road until the bucket loaders roll in and haul it all to the river. Just around the corner is Smith College, perhaps a tad larger than APSU, but not much. Crosswalks are located on every block and motorist beware: you will be ticketed for failing to yield to pedestrian right of way everywhere in the city. People walk, bike and bus everywhere in this city.

«Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Issues, Opinion | 1 Comment »

Residents to air concerns over “blight”

By Terry McMoore | December 10, 2007 |

The citizens of Clarksville continue to oppose an ordinance approved by the Clarksville City Council that declared most of the downtown area and surrounding neighborhoods as “blighted.” This writer views “blighted” as the new buzz word for eminent domain.

The Clarksville Center Redevelopment Plan, orchestrated by the Downtown District Partnership, has the potential to place over 1300 acres of land and over 1800 homes, churches, businesses, which may also include the Historic County Courthouse, in danger of seizure by the city for redevelopment.

Some believe that under this plan, developers could receive significant tax incentives for their participation in any projects developed as a result of the “blighted” designation.

A public forum and debate on eminent domain and how it relates to this controversial “Clarksville Center Redevelopment Plan” will be held Friday, December 14, 2007 at 7 PM at the H.O.P.E. Resource Center, 120-A Legion Street in Clarksville. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Events, Issues, Politics | 1 Comment »

FBI hate crimes report: disturbing trends against Hispanics and gays

By David W. Shelton | December 3, 2007 |

The Federal Bureau of Investigation recently released the 2006 Hate Crimes statistics, which lists detailed information about last year’s hate crime incidents all across the country. Two major sections of this report are particularly interesting. The first was (as those who know me might suspect) are the statistics of hate crimes motivated by the victims’ sexual orientation. The second is the stats that relate to incidents against Hispanics/Latino-Americans.

The report, which can be found here, is one of the most comprehensive reports ever filed and gives a broad picture of just who is being attacked and why. In Clarksville, authorities reported a total of ten hate crimes. Three of those crimes were due to a person’s race, four were attacks based on religion, two were motivated by the victim’s sexual orientation, and one was bias against the person’s ethnicity. The FBI report indicates that the single most targeted ethnic group is Hispanics/Latino-Americans.

The national statistics are fare more interesting. According to the report, there were 770 attacks across the US against Hispanics/Latino-Americans last year. Antisemitism still rears its ugly head, since 1,027 incidents against Jews occurred. In contrast, there were 1,485 attacks based on the victim’s sexual orientation. These hate crimes are everything from graffiti to robberies to assaults to hanging nooses. The report indicates “crimes against property” and “crimes against person,” and lists some broad categories of each. The crimes against persons would include assault, robbery, murder, etc. Crimes against property would be vandalism, graffiti, and other related incidents. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Issues | 3 Comments

Sewer problems plague Hazelwood area; moratorium on new construction

By Christine Anne Piesyk | November 30, 2007 |

Development in the Exit 1 area is on hold. Mayor Johnny Piper announced the moratorium to the city’s Gas and Water Committee, citing an overburdened sewer system and repeated back-ups of that system as the root cause.

It’s one of those “no kidding” moments. Anyone paying attention should not be surprised, since the rapid rate of development in that area has surged far beyond the capabilities of its infrastructure that currently exists to support it.

Piper, in reporting to the Committee, said that the Hazelwood lift station, which serves 4500 homes, is overloaded; it’s running at 100% capacity and has overflowed five times in the past year. Now the problem has become an issue with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: News, Politics | 1 Comment »