Topic: Mayor Johnny Piper

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»

Sections: Business, Issues, News | No Comments

“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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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).

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Citizen concerns, ideas and input “vital” to successful downtown redevelopment

February 15, 2008 |

Patsy Sharpe, a downtown property owner, submitted the following letter to Clarksville Online, with the following note: “The Leaf Chronicle is refusing to print letters to editor on the blight issue. They always give different reasons but none are truthfully a good one. I am sending my letter to [Clarksville Online] in hope that you will print what a biased newspaper like the Leaf, won’t. ” The following is Ms. Sharpe’s letter:

I would like to address the upcoming talks on the controversial Redevelopment Plan that blights the entire downtown. The idea of involving the residents and business owners in the affected area is, of course, the only right thing to do. They should have been notified from the beginning and one can only speculate as to why they were excluded, referring to the Emerald Hill and Dog Hill residents. The Brandon Hills and Red River residents were notified. If proper procedure is followed, there will be a series of meetings and discussions on how redevelopment should proceed and all should have a voice in the matter. For the record, we are not anti-redevelopment. We just want redevelopment that is fair and beneficial to the residents as well as to the city. «Read the rest of this article»

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DDP redevelopment meeting canceled; Piper to recommend amendment

By Christine Anne Piesyk | January 9, 2008 |

Failure to use due diligence, failure to follow state law cited…tumbles “blight” ordinance…

Coalition group to meet 6 p.m. today in APSU’s Clement Auditorium, in lieu of the previously planned city meeting…City Council members invited to attend…

Clarksville Mayor Johnny Piper, has taken a bold step and reversed direction on the “blight” ordinance. He has decided to cancel a community meeting that was scheduled for Thursday evening at Austin Peay State University, where members of the Downtown District Partnership were to review the Clarksville Center Redevelopment Plan. The meeting was planned to allow the DDP the opportunity to inform property owners in the redevelopment area about the plan that they developed and recommended to the City Council.

“I have great concerns about how this was handled and presented to the City Council by the DDP,” Mayor Piper

The Mayor’s office has received many phone calls and comments from concerned residents over the past few weeks on this issue. In addition, the formation of the Clarksville Property Rights Coalition (CPRC), fueled by angry residents of the downtown area, and two standing room-only grassroots public meetings, provided a highly visible evidence of public discontent with the ordinance and the way it was developed and presented. «Read the rest of this article»

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Wastewater stench permeates downtown

By Scott Beasley | November 14, 2007 |

With all the beautification currently undertaken by Mayor Johnny Piper it seems Clarksville has become almost obsessed with aesthetics. Certainly the Mayor has been under scrutiny from the recent crimes, questionable firings and the trips he has taken, but no one can question his commitment to beautification. It seems to be his political signature.

That being said, the odor exuding from the wastewater treatment plant is atrocious. With so much emphasis on cleaning up the “eyesores” around Clarksville, I think its time to address the odiferous climate of our community as well.

The Christmas lights are beautiful, but their beauty is diminished when one has to inhale a stench that would knock a buzzard off a gut wagon or gag a maggot. Our city leaders need to study and correct this problem, or at least take appropriate measures to investigate what can be done.

Odor absorbing vegetation or chemicals that neutralize the stench need to be evaluated. Our local government needs to address this problem immediately if not sooner. It has been a thorn in the side of this community for as long as I can recall and it is high time something is done about it.

Sections: Opinion, Politics | 10 Comments