Public Safety

DaEE-mail: David Cutting for David Cutting for Clarksville, TN City Council, Ward 8

PHONE 931-436-1373
E-MAIL Dave@DavidCutting.com

Photo by Bill Larson; used with permission.

PUBLIC SAFETY

The ineffectiveness of Clarksville’s public safety committee is disturbing.

We need tornado sirens throughout the city, within ear reach of all residents. Weather radios are fine when we are in our homes, but the rest of the time we are unprotected from potential catastrophe.

The current City Council systematically denies pay increases for our firefighters and police officers by first telling them they must accept salary reductions, so that when their current salaries remain uncut they feel good that at least they did not lose anything. However, the public loses, when seasoned officers leave for smaller cities, such as Ashland City and Oak Grove, for higher pay. We must then recruit and train replacements, at significant cost, when those funds, plus revenue from an increased property tax base (not increased property taxes) should have been used for parity increases to our already trained and devoted men and women.

We must curtail otherwise increasing crime, through police presence, unyielding continuation of enforcement of illegal drug and underage alcohol use, solicitation of new and better paying jobs and encouragement of continuing education for our youth and displaced adults, and government recognition of the value of family, church, school, and community involvement in the development of productive and law abiding residents.

We can eliminate many real safety hazards through non-costly means. I deal with one example, experienced Sunday afternoon, September 1, 2008, at Billy Dunlop Park. While the Clarksville park rangers do an excellent job of protecting our rights and our safety, they cannot be everywhere at the same time. I brought my two youngest children, ages 5 and 2, to the park for two hours of bicycle riding and free play, as park roads and pathways are supposedly safer even than the cull de sac on which we live. However, a large group of teens, uncaring about the safe enjoyment rights of small children, was drag racing and speeding, at up to 70 M.P.H. The simple and permanent solution is speed humps, on the Boy Scout Road entrance road and the parking lot. We do not need the speed bumps that ruin our cars’ alignment. Humps, designed to make drivers and passengers bump their heads on their car roofs will be a better deterrent. City maintenance employees could install them, at Billy Dunlop Park and other danger zones.

For pedestrian safety, especially for our children and senior citizens, we need sidewalks, at least on one side of every residential and commercial street.

To make our streets safer, we must cancel the contract for cameras at six traffic lights, since other cities experience increased rear-end collisions due to the cameras.

Finally, we must encourage valuable input from our police, firefighters, educators, social workers, and religious leaders. Public safety is the most important issue in this city, and to remain viable we must progress to a much higher level than currently exists.

Paid for by the Committee to Elect David Cutting; Treasurer David Cutting