Here’s Another Newsletter Article Published by the CCDC in January 1981

The article highlights three “bad actors” in Clarksville who victimized their minority tenants and contributed to gentrification and displacement. Together they owned 22 of the 50 rent houses in Clarksville in 1981.

One long time landlord thumbed her nose at housing codes and made her tenants scared to complain about the condition of their housing because they feared that the landlord might force them out of their rentals. The landlord believed that her tenants should consider themselves lucky because they lived in a good location and their rents were low even if their homes were in a state of disrepair.

A couple who were also irresponsible landlords, had purchased multiple rental properties in Clarksville six years prior to when this newsletter was published. They made no repairs to their properties, yet they raised their tenants’ rents am— sometimes more than once.

The article also includes information about Tao/Ono, a notorious and much-reviled real estate development company that at the time this article was written owned approximately 1/3 of all of the land and properties in Clarksville. It bought and demolished vacant properties and built expensive homes in their place. The company personified the dangers of gentrification in Clarksville.