Public criticism and frustration with Roswell’s elected officials is rising.
Residents aired grievances during City Council’s open forum last week, saying the city is not listening to their many concerns ranging from transparency to the controversial Canton Street promenade project, and a denied request for sidewalks along a busy road that has been proven to be dangerous.
On the Canton Street project, a resident said Mayor Kurt Wilson’s approach is dividing the community. The project would partially close the road to traffic on weekends, which concerns businesses and residents who say there is not enough parking at this time.
Wilson was absent and criticized for missing the second consecutive open forum, which is held monthly at City Hall.
“... I think it’s absolutely shameful that the mayor does not deign to come to two open forums in a row,” resident Jason Yowell said during public comment. “I don’t know why he wants to be mayor if he doesn’t want to face the music, the consequences of his policies.”
The mayor was on vacation last week and neither he nor his office answered The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s request for comment on residents’ gripes. City Councilwoman Lee Hills told the AJC that residents’ overall negative comments felt like “gaslighting.”
Resident David Johnson lives on Roxburgh Drive and set a tone for other commenters. In a frustrated plea, he asked City Council to approve sidewalks where two women walking together on the side of the road last April were seriously injured when struck by a vehicle. About 50 people from that neighborhood were in attendance at the forum.
Johnson showed video of the hit-and-run and cited excerpts of emails sent from neighbors to officials, for years, stating their worries that such an incident would happen.
The hit-and-run victims are now using wheelchairs, according to Johnson and Bob Evers, president of the homeowners association for Country Club of Roswell Willow Springs.
“Myself, the HOA, and many of my neighbors in this room have been pleading to the city for sidewalks to prevent this tragedy, yet the city did nothing and continues to do nothing,” Johnson said during the forum.
Johnson questioned why Wilson and Council say they want more walkability in Roswell, but Roxburgh isn’t included.
“We’re asking for a 4-foot-wide sidewalk where people can walk separate from cars and not be run over,” he later told the AJC.
Credit: Courtesy City of Roswell
Credit: Courtesy City of Roswell
Roxburgh Drive is a public corridor located in the Country Club of Roswell Willow Springs community. Installing a sidewalk along part of the road and two nearby streets in the neighborhood of 700 homes is estimated to cost $3 million to $5 million.
Sixty-five percent of residents are willing to reimburse the city through a special property tax assessment if the sidewalks are installed, according to Hills, and Johnson, who serves on the homeowners association board.
Hills has been meeting with the neighborhood since early 2022 and said installing sidewalks would involve many factors beyond a tax assessment. She says she believes the project has no support on City Council.
The councilwoman said 100% of the neighborhood would need to consent for the tax assessment, which would take residents 20 years to pay off; more city staff would have to be hired to manage the tax assessment; and while any unexpected repairs over the years would be the responsibility of the homeowners association, Roswell would be viewed negatively for the sidewalk’s poor condition.
“I’m a no,” Hills told the AJC. “It’s political suicide … and we (the city) would be on the hook.”
Resident Lyndsey Coates received applause from the crowd during the forum after giving council members a rundown of actions that Wilson has been criticized for in recent months. She described city measures as questionable or secretive including how open records requests are managed, the mayor’s use of his personal email for city business and meeting with some officials at his home. The AJC has previously reported on those issues.
Coates said some residents are reluctant to file open records requests for fear of retribution by city officials.
Directing most of her critique toward the mayor, Coates admonished council members for not addressing what she called Wilson’s “bad behavior.”
She criticized council for choosing task force members for the Canton Street project in executive session last month: “Which begs the question, what all are you trying to hide,” she said.
The task force abruptly ended its work at the start of their second meeting on Tuesday. The group learned days earlier that Roswell had not performed an economic study before deciding to create a pedestrian promenade in the dining and business district.
Last Tuesday, the task force members voted unanimously to recommend Roswell hire an independent urban planner to conduct an economic study on the impact of the possible project.
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