Topic: Downtown District Partnership

Special Loan Program Available To Downtown Property Owners

April 17, 2009 |

Clarksville’s Downtown District Partnership has developed a loan program coordinated  through six Clarksville banks  that will make loans available to downtown property owners for exterior building improvements. The Facade Improvement Loan Program was announced on January 22 during the Ten Year Tornado Commemoration breakfast hosted by the DDP, however details of the program were still being finalized at that time.

According to DDP Chairman, Scott Giles, “The Downtown District Partnership has been in discussion with local lenders to get this program up and running and we’re delighted to have great support from our banking community.” The intent of the facade improvement program is to encourage businesses or residential property owners to work with the participating bank of their choice. Each of the six banks has committed to making $500,000 in funds available to loan. These funds are offered to borrowers at favorable rates for qualifying improvements. «Read the rest of this article»

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Activists win free speech fight in Clarksville

March 30, 2009 |

Court dismisses lawsuit filed to silence those who oppose eminent domain abuse

ARLINGTON, VA:  Evidently you can fight city hall—and fight private developers who use city hall’s power, too.

A CPRC member displays the controversial ad on blight and eminent domain

In an order issued on March 26, 2009, Judge C.L. “Buck” Rogers of the Circuit Court for Sumner County, Tenn., vindicated the right to protest government abuse by dismissing the libel lawsuit brought by Richard Swift, a developer who is a former member of the Clarksville City Council, and Wayne Wilkinson, a member of Clarksville’s Downtown District Partnership, against members of the Clarksville Property Rights Coalition (CPRC). «Read the rest of this article»

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City Council agenda announced

February 4, 2009 |

The Clarksville City Council will meet in regular session on February 5 at 7:30 p.m. in City Council Chambers, 108 Public Square, to hear the following agenda, which includes a number of zone change requests:

AGENDA

PUBLIC COMMENTS  7:15 P.M.: Doug Jackson, Richard Molar and Dean Fain «Read the rest of this article»

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Citizen representation on local boards: Are we in accordance with TN’s Open Appointments Act?

By Turner McCullough Jr. | December 5, 2008 |

Clarksville is blessed with a talented professional population base. Abiding by the state’s own Open Appointments Act, TCA 10-7-601-611, which compels inclusion of minorities on all appointed decision-making and regulatory boards, commissions, committees and councils, should not pose a serious problem. A review of all such county and city government entities is presented for public review. Questions should be addressed to your local government representatives and heads. The law has been in effect for several years

Montgomery County has numerous appointed decision-making and regulatory boards, committees,commissions and councils. Citizens are appointed to all of these entities. However the public is not well-informed of whom among it are making decisions as their representative. This does not meet with the intent nor approval of the state law. The city government is equally at fault in this regard. Appointments are not well publicized and the selection pool seems rather restricted. With the vast array of talents present in our community, it would seem that widening the selection pool should not be a difficult task. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Business, News, Politics | 2 Comments

Justice Department, HUD, hear citizen concerns on development, urban renewal

By Christine Anne Piesyk | November 21, 2008 |

CPRC member Don Sharpe speaks out against redevelopment at "fact-finding" community meeting

“Sued for a half million dollars for speaking out…”

“This ordinance is detrimental to the community…”

“The City Council ‘rubber stamped’ the mayor…”

“I don’t think they have a plan…”

“Our Leadership doesn’t want to listen to us….”

“CHA is a shadow, not a voice…”

“Preying on minority communities…”

“I’ve never been to a public forum where the public couldn’t speak…”

This is what representatives from the United States Department of Justice, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Institute for Justice  heard when they came to Clarksville Thursday to listen to community concerns about the about the city’s controversial redevelopment plans. Seventy people participated in a fact-finding meeting at the New Providence Community Center on Oak Street sponsored by the NAACP and the Urban Resource Center.

Walter Atkinson, Senior Conciliation Specialist with the U.S. Department of Justice Community Relations Service (Southeast Region IV), in stating that the meeting was “to hear community concerns,” said his role was in part to try and avert “litigation.”

“I am here to listen and observe,” Atkinson said, noting that it was letters from NAACP Chapter President Jimmie Garland and Terry McMoore of the Urban Resource Center that focused federal attention on this local issue. Atkinson had been “in communication” with Mayor Johnny Piper and with the Downtown District Partnership Board. Piper, DDP members and most sitting City Councilors did not attend this meeting. Jim Doyle, who was not re-elected to his Ward 8 seat, along with newly elected councilors Candy Johnson, David Allen and Jeff Burkhart did attend the meeting and spoke with the Ward 6 constituency. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: News | 3 Comments

Justice Department, HUD hold “fact finding’ meeting tonight on downtown redevelopment

November 20, 2008 |

The U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will host a fact finding meeting tonight on the controversial downtown redevelopment plan, dubbed “the blight bill,” including its eminent domain and assemblage issues. The meeting will be held at the New Providence Outreach Center, 207 Oak Street, in Clarksville at 7:00 p.m.

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. The plan as it was passed contained language that effectively “blighted” the entire downtown business district — two square miles. «Read the rest of this article»

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County leaders opt out of downtown development plans

By Christine Anne Piesyk | November 4, 2008 |

Mayor Johnny Piper and the Downtown District Partnership will be going it alone when it comes to downtown development.

County Mayor Bowers, center, in anad hoc meeting with concerned minority citizens (CO archive photo)

Montgomery County mayor Carolyn Bowers, in letters sent to Piper and DDP chair Scott Giles, said the county will not participate in the controversial Clarksville Center Redevelopment Plan, which had been dubbed “the blight bill.” The proposed plan which was approved by the City Council earlier this year had been strongly opposed by the Clarksville Property Owners Coalition, a grassroots group that has challenged the legality of the program and process of eminent domain and an assemblage clause. The redevelopment plan would offer tax increment financing for certain property developments. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: News | 1 Comment »

Recusal of Judge Ross Hicks puts redevelopment libel suit on hold

By Christine Anne Piesyk | August 1, 2008 |

With Judge Ross Hicks having recused himself from a libel lawsuit related to redevelopment issues in Clarksville, pending, the August 4th hearing in Montgomery County Circuit Court on this controversial suit is on hold, awaiting assignment to another judge. Judge Hicks’ recusal, which can be based on a conflict of interest, follows on the heels of a reversal of the previsous dismissal of this case.

Two weeks ago in the Montgomery County Circuit Court, Judge Hicks dismissed a libel suit filed against the grassroots Clarksville Property Rights Coalition regarding downtown redevelopment, but on July 29 the Court notified the Institute for Justice of Virginia, CPRC’s legal representatives, that the signing of the order was “a mistake,” that oral arguments and discovery in this case would be heard August 4. Judge Hicks recusal canceled scheduled hearings in that matter and the lawsuit is, for now both resurrected and in limbo. «Read the rest of this article»

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HUD finds flaws in Redevelopment Plan

By Terry McMoore | June 4, 2008 |

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in response to a complaint filed by the Clarksville NAACP found numerous flaws in the Clarksville Center Redevelopment and Urban Renewal Plan voted into law by the City Council with full support of Mayor Johnny Piper.

HUD authorities could not find any proposed objectives that would provide protection for low to moderate income residents and their property mentioned in the voted on ordinance.

The Clarksville NAACP first bought these issues to the attention of the U.S. Department of Justice and HUD after feeling that the civil rights and the federally protected rights of the Majority Minority Voting Ward was in jeopardy of being dismantled under this voted on redevelopment plan. «Read the rest of this article»

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Property Rights group slapped with $500k libel suit; CPRC vows “vigorous” defense

By Christine Anne Piesyk | May 12, 2008 |

• Property Rights group faces $500,000 libel suit
• Controversial development plan under fire
• Councilor Richard Swift, DDP member Wayne Wilkinson claim harm to public image and integrity
• Is this a SLAPP suit?
• CPRC will “vigorously defend” against “frivolous” suit

Another punch has been thrown in the ongoing battle between the Clarksville Property Rights Coalition and both city officials and the Downtown District Partnership: the CPRC has been slapped with a lawsuit over a dissenting advertisement on the issue of redevelopment.

The suit was filed by Wilkinson and Swift on Friday in the 19th Judicial District, Circuit Court of Montgomery County against the CPRC as an organization and, Pam Vandeveer, individually as CPRC treasurer. You can read the complete text of the lawsuit here at Clarksville Online.

CCRP member Joyce Vanderbilt with the CPRC ad

At issue is the veracity of an ad which ran in the Leaf Chronicle on May 3, prior to the May 8 City Council special session at which the final reading and approval of the highly controversial Downtown Redevelopment and Urban Renewal Plan occurred. The ad stated that Clarksville Mayor Johnny Piper, Councilman Richard Swift and DDP member Wayne Wilkinson as developers who worked for passage of the comprehensive redevelopment plan that would cover roughly two square miles of down town Clarksville and which designated the area as blighted.

The lawsuit charges that the CPRC ad made “libelous” statements against plaintiffs Wilkinson and Swift when the CPRC ad implied that [the plaintiffs] placed their “development interests” above the wishes of the community and their constituency. «Read the rest of this article»

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