Opportunities
Being in and around our city for over the last 10 years, I constantly see opportunities for us to do better - to be better. From enhancing our economic centers in East Roswell to ensuring that our community-driven development plans are executed appropriately, I see opportunity all around us. This vision, coupled with having ZERO special interests - other than those of the tax-paying residents and my overarching belief in our success as a city - is key to parlaying our opportunities to build our better future. No matter our differences, the same chances to find, build, and grow our dreams in Roswell are ours for the taking. Let's go get it. In whatever capacity I can help, I'm anxious to get started.
From rebuilding a better business environment to ensuring we are advertising our city to potential employers; we have a great need for Economic development - primarily on the East side of Roswell. Let's not only drive our economic abilities, but let us never forget the sheer beauty in Roswell that we are blessed to live in. From our award-winning park system to our bustling city centers, we offer so much potential to future entrepreneurs and residents, but we must promote that in a more meaningful way.
One huge consideration? Bringing back the State/Local Opportunity Tax zone credits offered a couple of years ago in economic corridors that were in need of new life. These credits, along with our prime, suburban-like location, are what won me and my company over versus other surrounding, more urban-centric cities. You just can't beat our parks and recreation system!
Low business taxes, great tax credits for hiring locally, and the perfect area to build our businesses and our families in, is the perfect recipe for managed growth and drawing more companies to invest their future in Roswell.
Sensible Development
My strategic plan for Roswell involves balancing what I consider to be three key elements for a successful city to thrive and prosper. The three elements are places to live, places to work, and places to play.
We have 2 of those 3 key elements covered handily. As far as places to live, our residential population base is growing - new residential construction is occurring across our city at a very healthy pace. Regarding places to play, Roswell has an award-winning parks and recreation system with over 900 acres of parkland and 22 parks!
The third element, and the one nearest to my heart, is encouraging entrepreneurship and creating new places for our residents to work. This is the single biggest issue we MUST tackle to bring our city in balance as well as even out the overall tax burden between homeowners and businesses.
Without creating an economic climate conducive to attracting businesses to Roswell and encouraging and supporting entrepreneurs in bringing their ideas to life, we will continue to maintain our 'feeder' city status - meaning that since Roswell residents can't find quality, high-paying jobs IN Roswell, they leave our city daily, create additional traffic, and contribute their tax dollars to neighboring cities. I strongly believe we can find equilibrium between the three key elements for us to be successful as a city in the long-term. I promise to bring my strategic vision and entrepreneurial perspective to the Roswell City Council on November 7, 2023!
East Roswell Investment
Reinvigoration along the Holcomb Bridge corridor is necessary. There are opportunities to repurpose empty shopping centers into new hotspots and areas of entertainment.
Most importantly, my plan also includes adding a police substation for our police officers working in East Roswell to operate out of and perform their work more effectively and efficiently.
Read MoreAttracting New Business
Economic development is important for bringing the high-quality, great paying jobs to our city that will in turn, attract great talent. With our abundant natural resources, it is an easy sell for those looking to build their families and futures. Whatever help I can provide to move the needle, I'm all in!
Read MoreStrategic Planning
Roswell is a beautiful city from border to border, and with careful planning, we can ensure the longevity of our city with prudent, growth-driven practices that protect the best interests of our citizenry and our future development of Roswell. We've had a very rough and expensive go of it with what we've done in the past. From the Oxbo Road debacle to the Gateway project to the Roswell Exchange Shopping Center, we have lots of work to do and we have certainly learned from our past mistakes and missteps. I am excited to see what Southern Post brings to our city. We must make sure nothing falls through the cracks with that project.
Driving around nearly every square mile of our city over the last few weeks, I have found some very thoughtfully developed neighborhoods with great greenspace included. We need more of this thoughtfulness in our overall city design and future planning.
I'm looking forward to an opportunity to meet with various members of our committees to understand their thoughts on development too.
Traffic
Home to nearly 100,000 residents, our City requires careful traffic planning to ensure our continued safety and to make certain things continue to run smoothly within our departments that help manage traffic situations - whether our transportation, public works, or police departments, communication is key.
I see our transportation department hard at work daily making sure things are running smoothly. We have round-abouts in place throughout our city which generally allow for better traffic flow versus red lights and stop signs. Plus, these round-abouts provide us opportunities to create visually appealing greenscapes. I do see drivers speeding through these areas though, so these areas could use rumble strips to alert drivers to their speeds.
I will continue to update this topic as I meet with citizens and hear feedback on what affects them.