Building a Clarksville that lasts and Serves People.

We advocate for a systematic approach to fixing financially unsustainable sprawl and creating a resilient and prosperous community where every Clarksvillian can live a GOOD LIFE in their chosen way. Success: Our children and grandchildren CHOOSE to build their lives here, and they can actually AFFORD to.

Let’s make Clarksville a Strong Town.

  • Safe & Productive Streets

    In a Strong Town, a street is a safe place for Clarksvillians to spend time, build relationships, and build a wealth-generating home or business.

    The acceptable number of fatalities on Clarksville’s streets is zero. Street design must prioritize safety.

    The design of a street is the single most important factor in whether people drive safely or not, whether or not Clarksvillians make it home in one piece, and whether or not they are willing to use the street to walk, ride, roll, or spend time.

    learn more about streets

  • Incremental Housing & Mixed Use Zoning (Smart Growth)

    In a Strong Town, homes and businesses pay for their own maintenance.

    Sprawling low-density housing does not pay for itself and causes endless tax increases, unsustainable debt, road congestion, and lower-quality services.

    To ensure the solvency of Clarksville for generations to come, allow those generations to afford homes, and craft a prospering economy; Clarksvillians must be allowed the freedom to build missing middle housing and mixed-use places.

    Learn more - Housing & Land Use

  • Transportation Choice

    In a Strong Town, Clarksvillians would have the freedom to choose from a variety of high-quality, safe, and affordable transportation options, including walking, biking, buses, trains, and cars.

    A variety of high-quality transportation choices is the only financially sustainable way to solve traffic and is fundamental to building a prosperous place in which our children and grandchildren will choose to stay.

    Our children should be able to safely get to school and operate within our transportation system independently.

    learn more - transportation

  • What Does That Mean....Safe & Productive Streets?

    Street Furniture: Benches, Trees, Tables, Public Art, Bike Storage

    Safer Street Design: Right-Sized Lanes, Pedestrian Refuge Islands, Curb Extensions

    Maximizing Productivity of Limited and Valuable Public Space: Ending Parking Minimums, Parklets / Greenspace, Stormwater Management, Minimizing Parking Subsidies

    Supporting Local Businesses: Lessening the upfront land investment to starting a locally owned business or new commercial property (less excessive parking mandates); Increasing foot traffic through appealing and usable streets

    Complete Streets: All road users being able to safely and conveniently use our streets.

    Vision Zero: Zero tolerance policy for fatalities and serious injuries: Investigating Crashes and Designing away hazards to all road users.

  • What Does That Mean...Incremental Housing & Mixed Use Zoning?

    Protecting Rural Areas: Containing development to existing areas and prioritizing any growth to within city limits.

    Increasing Affordable Housing Options for the Elderly, Veterans, and Youth

    Transparent Accounting and Fiscal Discipline: The long-term maintenance costs of infrastructure being included as a core concept for government decisionmaking.

    Gentle Smart Density: Allowing for gentle incremental increases in density within city limits. Allowing higher density at city center and a smooth decrease to rural density at city limits.

    Mixed-Use: Allowing people to live near where they work, shop, and go to school, thus lessening traffic and road demands.

    Supporting Local Businesses: Zoning changes that allow customers to be closer, empower an army of small local developers, and remove structural zoning advantages of out-of-town businesses.

  • What Do You Mean...Transportation Choice?

    Lower Long Term Costs: Less road maintenance costs, more efficient use of public space, accommodated historical growth, less eminent domain.

    Sidewalks: Sidewalks to schools, businesses, and neighborhoods. Safe Crosswalks.

    Bike Lanes: Protected bike lanes and paths, increasing reach of transit stops.

    Interconnected Transportation System: Knitting together walking, biking, transit, and driving for maximal efficiency, resiliency, and ridership revenue.

    Bus Service Investments: Greater Frequency, Clean and Safe Buses, Better Network/Route, Better Bus Stops. Dedicated Bus Lanes on Major Routes.

    Streetcar/Trains: Reliable and convenient commutes by train. Stimulate demand downtown to empower downtown businesses and accelerate anti-sprawl.

How Are These priorities connected?

On the surface, these priorities may seem disconnected. However, these priorities interlace together as a three-pronged systematic approach to reversing financially unsustainable sprawl and making efficient use of taxpayer dollars while delivering the best possible outcomes for all Clarksvillians in ways that maximize the available choices Clarksvillians have to live their life, their way.

By taking this approach, Clarksville can simultaneously address the dozens of negative results of automobile-dependent sprawl (including traffic), become more financially resilient, and be an excellent place to live for our children and grandchildren.

What does Clarksville Strong Towns do to achieve these priorities?

Learning and Educating: Whether at our monthly meetings, group hangouts, or at events, we learn how we can make Clarksville stronger and educate everyone to the best of our ability.

Local conversations: We talk to our neighbors, attend/organize local events, and ask questions. We believe that through conversation, we all can restore a civic pride for our community and inspire the community to choose to solve its problems.

Local advocacy: We reach out to our local decision-makers and share our experiences and desires for Clarksville.

  • Bottom-up change: We do these 4 steps:

    • 1. Humbly observe where people in our community are struggling.

    • 2. Ask “what’s the next smallest thing we can do to address that struggle RIGHT NOW?”

    • 3. Do that thing RIGHT NOW!

    • 4. Repeat!

We work with each other to think creatively about how we can solve problems RIGHT NOW without waiting on sweeping change from above. This can look like building a bench at a bus stop that needs one or conducting a walk audit or so many other things.

Why Clarksville Strong Towns?

There are many reasons why from the bottom of our souls that we are committed to making Clarksville better. Below are samples from our members that can all be addressed by following our mission.

  • We want our kids to be able to safely and independently walk and bike to school.

  • We want our adult children to choose to build their lives here, instead of moving away.

  • We want Clarksvillians to have the freedom to choose between high-quality transportation options.

  • We want to make it easier to walk, bike, and take transit in Clarksville so that we can all breathe clean air, solve traffic, improve public health, and increase life satisfaction.

  • We want to make sure valuable land can be used productively for the things we all need, rather than storage for private vehicles.

  • We want a housing policy that allows Clarksvillians to afford to live here.

  • We want to allow more housing to be built that feels safe, pleasant, and fun, in the places where people play, shop, and work.

  • We want people to be able to meet their basic needs without relying on cars and without being forced to create more traffic and pollution.

  • We want Clarksville to stop rewarding and investing in sprawl, highways, and car-centric infrastructure that drain our budget, increase our taxes, and make our city unsafe, less affordable, and less free.