Platform Sections

A NOTE FROM THE CHAIR

THE PROCESS

AFFORDABILITY

• Housing
  • Housing is consistently rated as the #1 issue for Montgomery County with less than 3% of homes for sale in an affordable range for working people. 
  • We believe every agency at every level of government should invest resources and time into tackling the housing crisis and lowering costs for working people. 
  • We believe our county and city governments should support the creation of housing co-ops to lower housing prices while increasing home ownership for working people. 
  • We believe the future development of Clarksville should focus on dense mixed use developments that bring residents closer to resources and amenities while creating neighborhoods with greater economic diversity and connectivity while lowering costs. 
  • We believe through the cooperation of every level of government, nonprofits, and business groups we can end homelessness. Montgomery County needs a continuum of care that supports all unhoused folks with shelter, housing, and community care on pathway to permanent housing. 
  • We believe that the county and city should play a role in trying to keep long-term rental costs affordable. Creating a portal to assist renters in finding affordable rental units, bringing renters and landlords into the marketplace as equals and increasing competition.
  • We believe the Housing Authority and Section 8 vouchers have a vital part to play in increasing the supply of affordable housing without isolating working families. Both the city and county governments should increase incentives for landlords to enter their units into the Section 8 voucher program.
• We believe every working family should have access to quality, affordable childcare. 
• We believe the city and county should invest in creating quality, living wage jobs for working people. There should be accountability along with tax incentives for corporations to ensure they hold up their end of the bargain by hiring Tennesseans and reinvesting in our community. 
• We believe food deserts pose a threat to the health and wellbeing of many neighborhoods in our community, and both our city and county governments should create a mobile grocery store unit, support the founding of nonprofit grocery stores, and recruit new community specific grocery stores.
• We believe the elimination of taxes on groceries and the closing of corporate tax loopholes are good for working families and Tennessee’s economy. 

EDUCATION AND YOUTH PROGRAMS

• We believe neighborhood public schools are the foundation of our community and we stand opposed to vouchers or any effort to defund and disrupt public schools. 
• We believe education should keep pace with our skyrocketing growth rather than reacting to it. Existing school maintenance should not fall behind as new campuses are built. 
• We believe our school system can make healthier, fresher school lunches and support local farming through a farm to cafeteria program. 
• We believe no child should have to navigate lunch debt or the inability to pay for their meal. City and county governments should work with our schools to provide free school meals for every public school student at Clarksville-Montgomery County Schools. 
• We believe the classroom is one of the most important places in our community. We support raising teacher pay to be competitive with the region, hiring more teachers, reducing classroom size, and hiring more teachers aides to support each classroom and student while increasing access to special education resources.
• We believe the classroom should be free from distraction, and that teachers shouldn’t be the ones primarily tasked with policing those distractions. Our school system should provide phone lockers for students to place their devices in during instruction time, that are managed by the SROs or other administrative staff.
• We believe greater access to early childhood education is vital to the development of our youth and pre-kindegarten instruction should be universal for all families. 
• We believe an understanding of our government and society is an important part of educating future citizens. Civic education courses should be offered to [insert length/year/age]. 
• We believe physical activity is good for the developing mind and body. Every student pre-k through 12 should have a daily recess period of [insert time]
• We believe the school to prison pipeline disproportionately targets black and brown youth and a large juvenile detention facility could drive up youth detainment. Montgomery County should invest in permanent youth resources to reduce juvenile crime and create opportunities for kids before investing in a detention facility. 

TRANSPORTATION, TRANSIT, AND WALKABILITY

• We believe in complete streets designed for everyone: pedestrians, cyclists, drivers, and public transit users of all ages and abilities. Future road projects should include more sidewalks, bike lanes, safe and accessible transit stops, and frequent pedestrian crossings as well as lanes for cars and trucks.
• We believe that dark roads and streets are unsafe. The City and County should install more street lights starting with accident prone areas.
• We believe that even where building sidewalks is cost prohibitive, the county and city should strive to make roads safe for pedestrians. County and city roads need a larger minimum shoulder.
• We believe Clarksville Transit System, our public bus line, should work for everyone. We need more routes and bus stops that connect residents to their work places like Ft. Campbell, the industrial park, and the Park and Ride.  Our Buses should run 7 days a week including holidays, before and after work hours.
• Bus stops should be protected, safe, with seating for residents, and, where possible, be set off the main thoroughfare to not impede traffic
• We believe that there are cost-effective measures to improve our traffic flow. Strip malls and other adjacent commercial centers should get surgical cut-throughs, connecting their parking lots along arterial roads while keeping entrances clear of major intersections.
• We believe City, County, State, and Federal agencies should build an additional Interstate exit to access Vanderbilt Hospital and the Industrial park. 
• We believe City, County, State, and Federal agencies should work towards a commuter rail line connecting Nashville and Clarksville downtowns. 

SUSTAINABILITY

• We believe a community’s tree canopy is one of its best assets. Our city and county should reverse the shrinkage of our tree canopy by working with the Tree Board and Replant Clarksville to plant more trees in all areas of Montgomery County. 
• We believe composting should be integrated into the Bi-County Waste program. Food Scraps to Soil Hubs can be established at existing convenience centers where residents bring kitchen scraps for free conversion to compost, with the finished soil distributed to community gardens, schools, and low-income households.
• We believe with climate change more extreme weather events will impact our county including flooding. The city and county should offer Rain Ready Rebates to homeowners and small landlords for simple rain gardens, tree planting, or permeable pavers, prioritized for flood-prone and low-income areas.
• We believe our youth benefit from work experience and can contribute to sustainability efforts. The city and county should hire Youth Green Crews, paid summer positions for youth (16–24) to work on real county and city projects like tree planting, rain garden installs, community garden builds, and park cleanups, with wraparound mentorship.

COMMUNITY SUPPORT

• We believe in supporting our veteran population, one of the largest in the state of Tennessee.
  • Clarksville should build a, first of its kind, Veterans Community Center in partnership with veteran services including meeting space for community organizations.
  • All county and city agencies should participate in veteran hiring programs.
• We believe in workplace democracy. Local governing bodies should negotiate with public sector unions to form and honor agreements improving working conditions for their employees. 
• We believe our diversity is our strength and every government website should include multiple language translations. 
• We believe voter participation is the bedrock of democracy. The city and county governments should send welcome letters to all new residents encouraging them to register to vote online. 
• We believe that our local governments should be easy to navigate. A combined County/City front desk ready to help direct citizens to the appropriate department to get their issue solved should be built, with robust ticketing systems to ensure accountability.
• We believe that police and sheriff’s deputies should have more support in areas outside their day to day expertise. The city and county should hire social workers and mental health experts trained in de-escalation and case management to respond to mental health crises, family and domestic disputes, while offering support and therapy to officers after calls.
• We believe everyone in Montgomery County is entitled to due process, constitutional rights, and rights guaranteed by the United States Supreme Court.