Clarksville, TN - The Restoring Clarksville Initiative (RCI) - created by Clarksville Mayor Joe Pitts, and currently led by Chairman and former Ward 2 City Councilman Deanna McLaughlin - has numerous successes to report.
The RCI Task Force was created just over a year ago with a proactive, community-driven approach to restoring economic and aesthetic value to Clarksville neighborhoods in need of assistance.
This task force has principally included representatives from Austin Peay State University President's Emerging Leaders Program, City Building & Codes - Codes Enforcement, City Building & Facilities Maintenance, City Forester, City Communications, City Finance - Grants Office, Clarksville Fire Rescue, Clarksville Mayor's Youth Council, City of Clarksville Neighborhood & Community Services, Clarksville Police Department, Clarksville-Montgomery County Regional Planning Commission, Clarksville Street Department - GIS Division, and the Tennessee Department of Transportation - Maintenance Division.
RCI seeks to identify, inventory, review, and evaluate properties in the City that are in decline due to economic factors or property owner-neglect.
"The idea to create the Restoring Clarksville Initiative was inspired by former Councilman McLaughlin's passion to protect our neighborhoods from blight and neglected properties," Mayor Pitts said.
"The conversations around the table at each meeting were productive and forged our resolve to address neighbors' concerns, and offer help when a citizen needed it," he said.
"I'm honestly so proud of the work the Restoring Clarksville Initiative Task Force has put in," said Task Force Chairman McLaughlin. "From the start, we were determined not to be just another committee that sits in a room and talks; we wanted to get out there and actually move the needle.
"By cleaning up neglected properties, we're making our city safer. Seeing this kind of progress is a massive win for our entire community," McLaughlin said.
Properties that are abandoned, unkempt, and deteriorating have a broader negative impact on surrounding neighborhoods and commercial areas of the City.
For this reason, RCI efforts have been focused on property demolitions and clean-up.
Residential demolitions have been conducted at abandoned properties to include 630 Arms Drive, 2323 Button Drive, 216 Cave Street, and 307 Chapel Street, working in a collaborative effort with the Clarksville Police Department and community outreach efforts.
Commercial demolitions, through combined efforts with business property owners, have occurred at 1380 Fort Campbell Boulevard (formerly an abandoned car wash that promoted crime in the area) and 2133 Fort Campbell Boulevard (formerly a real estate office and later converted to a tattoo shop until it was ultimately abandoned).
"We have found success partnering with the community and taking down abandoned buildings," Crosby said, "Which, as a strategy, has been helping to spur redevelopment on properties, such as 1955 Madison Street that long stood as a community movie theater and later was re-purposed into a haunted house.
"It has since been taken down and is currently in the process of being rebuilt into a new commercial business. These are not the only properties we have been able to work with, but they represent a really good example of the different ways RCI can help when the community engages with us so that we know where to focus our efforts," Crosby said.
"The one big take-away from all of the demolitions is knowing that redevelopment is key to molding the shape of our community. If we can take a property that has been neglected or forgotten about and work with the community and the owner to find a way to rehabilitate or repurpose the property, we will draw new and better development to our neighborhoods," he said.