The City of Clarksdale held its quarterly community meeting last night at the City Auditorium. Present were the Board of Mayor and Commissioners, all the Department Heads, a representative from Clarksdale Public Utilities and a representative from Clarksdale Housing Authority. Approximately forty people from the community were present to discuss issues within Clarksdale.
The Mayor opened with updates on the sports complex informing everyone of what the complex will have to offer and how this project will be big for Clarksdale. He further reported that he met with about twelve Churches in the community to come up with a plan for a temporary homeless shelter for the needy during bad weather days and for those that may have been burned out of their homes. These Churches formed a committee and initiated a plan to raise funds from each church that would provide a place to stay when needed.
The floor was then opened to hear comments from the public. Topics that were discussed were about the cleaning of the streets and the drains; the alleys behind the downtown businesses needing to be cleaned; street lights out on Martin Luther King Blvd; several Clarksdale Public Utility complaints of power going out, rusty water and incorrect meter reading; installing more lights at Highway 161 and Highway 6; people parking in handicap spaces that are not handicap; properly marking the streets, properly marking the turning lanes and providing better stop signs; cable issues during the rain and could their be a reduced rate for cable service for the elderly. Positive comments were made about how hard the Mayor and Commissioners were working; appreciation of seeing a Commissioner out on the streets cleaning drains during the rain; several individuals spoke of how they love Clarksdale and that everyone should show pride and be willing to step up and help.
The meeting lasted approximately an hour and a half; it was a very productive meeting and notes were made to follow up. The Mayor and Commissioners appreciate all those that attended and always welcome comments to help make this a better community. As one Commissioner stated Unless you tell us of your problems we cannot come up with a solution.
