Clarksville, Relocating?

[LONERANGER1]

Hear This Hear This,

Clarksville Tennessee has got to be the most forgotten place on mankinds map.
I've known at least 25 people that have either died there,put in jail for life by being involved with someone or killing somebody. I spent 24 years in and around this town, each day it gets worse and worse.

There are areas in outside the City that are OK, but botton line is that it breeds drugs and killing for some reason. I think the town is cursed by the devil himself. It must have been built on a grave yard or something.

I left there in 1992, if I had not left I would be dead today also, as you read in this post Willard Ross the Northwest High School Coach shot at his Fireworks stand. Willard was a good man hard working and made his life from nothing. I worked with him many days and always respected the fact that he was such a hard worker.( I say a Prayer for his Family)

As he had some punk bastard shoot and kill him , your and your family are putting yourself in the same boat if you move to Clarksvegas thay call it.

There are good towns people there, I new many of them, but as the one guy said above if your not in the military it's most likely your town, I would never put a child at APSU because of the murder rate in this town, drug dealings and crazy people.

I thank God for giving me the guts to leave with 250.00 and a bag, today he's blessed me with a great family and a great business.

GOD BLESS this town.

[cashmannsdq]

Some real tough opinions of Clarksville on this thread. I see that many focus on the tragic events that have occured here - and make no bones about it - the Taco Bell murders, the Baskin Robbins Murders and the murder of Willard Ross are truly tragic.

That said, I can speak as a person who has lived in this town since 1990 (My wife has been here since 1967) and tell you that there are many good points and areas in Clarksville.

- APSU is a great university. Relatively small in size, but the campus is not stretched out and beyond the murders back in the mid 90's (off campus but in close proximaty) there have not been any issues that are not seen at other campuses of its size. Many of our Family have attended and graduated and went on to higher education.

- While Clarksville is coined a 'Military Town' and proud of it, they do not soley rely (economy wise) on Fort Campbell as once was the case. It is however one of the top retirement areas due to the facilities located on Fort Campbell and the relatively low cost of living Clarksville offers.

- The downtown area has seen a re-emergence in the past six years with many local shops and resturaunts located there and just off the river. The addition of the river walk and the marina to come will only assist to this lure.

- Rivers and Spires, Riverfest, the Clarksville Half Marathon are just a few of the events that are gaining notorarity in Clarksville.

- Between Exit 4 and Exit 11 of I-24 the city has seen tremendous growth in industry and residential areas with many Nashville Commuters calling Clarksville home which is due to the convenience, the quality of schools and great communities.

In the end, whether you choose Clarksville as your home or some other town, it is what you make of it. You can focus on the negative if you choose, but I would rather focus on the good and try to help fix the issues that a growing city like Clarksville faces today and in the years to come.

[sigmaphi01]

Great post Cashmann. I read this thread and was thinking, are they talking about the same town I know? It sounds like people are comparing Clarksville to Camden, NJ. Clarksville is a great place to raise a family and it has also seen tremendous growth.

APSU is one of the safest universities in the state and is currently the fastest growing public university in the state. It's an excellent university with great faculty and students. If Clarksville or APSU were bad, then why the growth? I think your last statement summed it up best, a town is what you make of it.

[tapdace]

Originally Posted by cobalt

My wife and I will be bringing our Son to Clarksville to attend APSU. Seems strange that the T.B.I/F.B.I ranked APSU as one of the safest campuses in TN/Nation and yet the crime in Clarksville seems very bad for a medium sized city. We questioned some of the faculty and they were very reluctant to refer us to a certain nieghborhood or section of town to live in. Is there a specific source of the crime ie. Meth,gangs etc. ?? We currently live in very "liberal" Oregon and it is a cesspool of miss guided politics and never ending taxes. Everything in Tennessee is more affordable across the board,housing,food,gas etc. Should my wife and I look to live closer to Nashville instead of staying closer to APSU..?? I,m disabled and my wife is a nurse and was looking forward to working at the new hospital in Clarksville. Any and all opinions are most welcome because we have never lived in the South but are looking forward to a change. Thanks Thomas in Central Oregon.

I just wanted to say if you think Clarksville has alot of meth you would be wrong. Try alittle further south like Humphreys County. Oh and APSU isn't the safest place since the projects (Lincoln Homes) are located very close to the campus. And yes in certain parts of town gangs are a probably, but not usually on or in APSU.

[br3440]

If you make a wrong turn out of APSU campus, you almost immediately end up in what is arguably the most dangerous section of Clarksville (i.e., Farris Dr., Summer St., Parham Dr.).

As the previous poster said, meth does seem to be a bigger problem in the rural areas south and southwest of Clarksville, including Waverly, Erin, and Centerville. That entire region has some pretty serious socio-economic problems and is known for its relatively high unemployment, welfare, and drug use. This is pretty typical of any area with rugged terrain and limited roads/infrastructure to attract industry and business, and hence jobs. I would not exclude rural sections of southern Montgomery County from the above, although it is somewhat moderated by job opportunities in Clarksville since it's a reasonably short commute.

Fort Campbell definitely has a strong influence on the town. The resultant transient population has some negatives, of course. However, the Hemlock Semiconductor (now under construction) will bring many jobs to the area. This investment is large enough that it will likely spur additional industrial and commercial growth as well. Clarksville desperately needs this diversification.

As long as Fort Campbell remains at least steady state (no real reason to believe it won't) and as long as industrial and commercial investments continue to be made, Clarksville's future (at least economically) looks bright.