The Roswell City Council has selected seven members to serve on a task force that will make recommendations on the issue of whether to close a portion of Canton Street to vehicular traffic on weekends — but at least one council member says applicants who were critical of the proposal were left off the committee.
The council’s 5-1 vote in approval of the people selected took place during a special called meeting Tuesday under controversy. Councilwoman Sarah Beeson abstained from voting, saying her vote was an objection to the process and not the members selected. Most of council’s discussion on who would serve on the task force took place during a closed-door executive session Monday evening.
Eighty-one people submitted applications.
Beeson said the public doesn’t have “the context needed to understand how we came up with the names.”
Canton Street business owners Laine Bristow of Bristow Hair Salon and Chad Hagan of Hagan Capital Group were selected for the task force.
Others were Dallas Bond, co-owner of The Standard at Roswell, and nearby property owners and residents Suzanne Pichulik, Ellen Rubin and Eric Vayle.
DeJuante Miller was picked for the task force as a resident at-large to represent residents who do not live in the immediate Canton Street district.
The task force will serve for at least 45 days before submitting recommendations.
Mayor Kurt Wilson and each City Council member suggested names for the task force and many were not considered, the officials said at the meeting.
Some of the Canton Street Stakeholders — a group of businesses and residents who have engaged Wilson with concerns about closing part of the road — said they believe there was a bias against their outspoken objections, which include closing the street before the city builds a parking deck for fear that it will hurt business.
“It’s possible this entire task force will be a sham,” restaurant owner Jenna Aronowitz said following the meeting. She applied for the task force and said she would attend their meetings and try to help the members who were selected.
Councilman Mike Palermo said the goal was to form a task force that was unbiased.
“The exact goal was if mayor and council decide to do a promenade on Canton Street, what are all the challenges and how do those challenges get solved?” Palermo told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Really the decision (on whether to create a promenade) is ultimately decided by the council.”
Beeson agreed with Canton Street Stakeholders’ statements saying people who were outspoken in their concerns about the project were not considered for the task force committee. She said they should have a voice on the task force.
“I felt like I brought forth qualified names of people who had been involved from the beginning and I don’t think that should be a black mark against them, just for being vocal,” she said. “They are highly impacted because of the possible closure.”
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