A group of concerned leaders from the African American community in Clarksville will meet with Montgomery County Mayor Carolyn Bowers and County Commissioners on September 3 at the Old Courthouse Building, 1 Millennium Plaza (2nd & Commerce), in downtown Clarksville, at 4:00 p.m. Commissioners Mark Banasiak, Ron Sokol and Martha Brockman, the ad hoc subcommittee members reviewing the controversial Clarksville Center Redevelopment and Urban Renewal Plan, will participate in the meeting.
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 City of Clarksville Mayor Johnny Piper.
The plan, which effectively “blights” two square miles of downtown Clarksville, has been a center of controversy and triggered the formation of the Clarksville Property Rights Coalition, which is lobbying for its repeal. The ordinance allows for use of eminent domain and provides an assemblage clause for developers seeking to acquire neded propoerties for redevelopment and /or urban renewal.
In a letter requesting an audience with this committee, Urban Resource Center Director, Terry McMoore, stressed the following:
“We are very concerned that this plan in its current form does not protect low income homeowners from losing their homes and that it also violates the voting and civil rights of the citizens of Clarksville – Montgomery County’s only Majority Minority voting ward and district”.
Mayor Bowers commissioned this review committee to look into whether Montgomery County government should partner with the City of Clarksville in this Redevelopment and Urban Renewal Plan.
