Electrician Contractor in Roswell, GA

ROSWELL, Ga. — The latest step in the Canton Street closure saga of Roswell has city leaders and the yet-to-be-disbanded task force in agreement that they need more information to understand how closing the busy street would affect businesses and the community.

Roswell city leaders confirmed to Channel 2 Action News that a Friday morning meeting had both the seven-member task force and Roswell City Council moving to hire an analyst before making a decision to temporarily close Canton Street to cars for several weeks.

The proposed closure itself has been a sticking point for business owners and residents alike since it was first announced by Roswell Mayor Kurt Wilson in April.

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As a debate amongst community members and leaders unfolded in the intervening months following Wilson’s announcement, city council meetings held public discussions about the potential closure.

The plan, as proposed by Wilson, said Canton Street would be closed to cars and other vehicles but open to pedestrians from Elizabeth Way to Webb Street from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day.

While Wilson said it was a trial run for future planning, residents pushed back due to what they called a lack of transparency and public input, though not all in the community were against the plan.

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As previously reported, the mayor has repeatedly cited safety concerns in the bustling area, and a way to boost business for the shops there, as reasons to close the street to vehicles.

While the task force was given 45 days to make recommendations, they instead moved to stop their work less than a month in, citing a need for more planning and an urban planning study.

Friday’s city council meeting had both the task force and council aimed at the same goal, being t get more planning data before making a decision.

“Roswell’s mayor and city council agreed in principle to follow the recommendation of a 7-member task force to adequately study the impacts of a potential closure of Canton Street to vehicular traffic,” according to a spokesman for the task force. “Roswell leaders say they would like to complete a city-wide economic study first before moving ahead with any trial closure on Canton Street.”

City officials echoed the sentiment.

“Mayor and Council agreed today that they would like the City’s economic development team to finish its work on the City’s economic development plan which includes Roswell’s downtown area before moving forward with an independent planner to study the economic impact of a trial open streets promenade on Canton Street,” a city spokeswoman said. “The City’s economic development team is slated to finish the City’s economic development plan by the end of this year. At that time, Mayor and Council will consider hiring an independent planner to study the traffic and economic impacts of the promenade.”

As it stands, the next steps for the potential closure and other developments for Canton Street are set as yet to be determined.

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The Roswell City Commission approved the fiscal year 2024 budget last week, including another round of hefty funding to grow the city’s fire department.

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - The Roswell City Commission approved the fiscal year 2024 budget last week, including another round of hefty funding to grow the city’s fire department.

Roswell is one of the larger cities in Georgia, but its fire department is made up of part-time employees. It’s a five-year plan, beginning with the 2023 budget.

“If we’re not already, our goal is to be the number one family community in America and the first priority is safety,” said council member Christine Hall. “Here we are, the seventh or eighth largest city now in the state of Georgia, I think we were the largest city in the United States that did not have a full-time fire department.”

Last year, the city brought on 21 new fire captains and this year, they’ll grow their staff by even more. The budget will allow them to hire 25 new full-time employees including three new battalion chiefs to help the only one they currently have, nine new lieutenants, and even a full-time logistics captain to help with day-to-day operations like uniforms and fleet maintenance.

“In cities like Roswell where we’re almost 100,000 people and we respond to more than 10,000 calls for service in the fire department every year, it’s important to have dedicated staffing that’s always going to be there,” said Roswell Fire Chief Joe Pennino. “The heavy focus in the fire department is on personnel, as it should be.”

Pennino says staffing the department at full tilt also could cut down on response times, especially for battalion chiefs who are often in charge of running emergency responses smoothly on-scene. He added that having a full-time staff will also allow crews to train together for real-life emergencies, instead of responding to calls with people they may never have worked with or worked with very little.

“They need to train together, just like a sports team or military unit to make sure that they’re well-rehearsed,” he said.

Roswell had been using an unworkable system, Pennino says, of scheduling part-timers and volunteers based on who was available in a given week. The department has 42 square miles to safeguard, and Pennino says the more people the better.

“Public safety it’s a calling, serving the citizens is a calling,” he said. “A lot of people are excited right now at the opportunities that Roswell has to offer.”

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Armed with umbrellas, the couple worked their way through the home, trying to shepherd the stubborn bird out the back door, finally succeeding in shooing it out.

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ROSWELL, Ga. — A metro Atlanta couple is reliving the bizarre ordeal when they came back to their house to a surprise: a vulture making itself at home inside their living room.

It was all caught on doorbell video, shared with 11Alive by Roswell resident Vernalisa Rougeux.

According to Rougeux, she and her fiancé Jake Troti had popped out for a quick lunch on Saturday. When they were back home, Troti opened their front door to find the scavenger bird inside.

"I just couldn't believe what he was saying," she told 11Alive on Monday.

Rougeux said she initially thought it was an intruder inside the home, based on Troti's reaction. However, she said when Troti repeated that it was a vulture, she was in shock.

"There's a vulture in the house!" Troti can be heard saying in the doorbell video, to the disbelief of Rougeux.

"Liar!" she replies back in the video.

"Swear to God!" Troti says back.

In an interview, Rougeux said at that point, she thought it was a vulture inside attacking her dog, Georgia.

"Where's Georgia?" Rougeux asks in the video. "Is she OK?"

Both call to the pup, who then trots out the door, tail wagging. Rougeux said she believes the dog, who normally barks when people approach the door, was sound asleep and their call to her woke her up.

Knowing that Georgia was safe, Rougeux said their attention then turned to devising a plan to get the bird outside. Rougeux said Troti started recording on his phone, using it to see around the corner so he didn't get attacked. When they watched the video back on the porch, Rougeux remembered thinking to herself, "This thing is just living it up!"

Rougeux said she ran to the garage to try and let it out, but remembered she couldn't open it because the button was only accessible from the inside. So, she ran back around to the front and decided, "I'm just gonna get an umbrella," so she could "get bigger" than the bird to scare it.

Armed with the umbrella, Rougeux said she started screaming at the bird and flapping the umbrella to be bigger than it. Rougeux said she battled the vulture from upstairs to downstairs for a full five minutes, but, "I was determined to get him out," she said.

Cellphone video shows the moment Rougeux finally succeeded in shooing the bird outside in triumph.

"F----g got it!" she says in the video, as the bird alights on the roof of a neighboring home.

As for how the bird got inside, Rougeux said she believes it made its way in through the couple's doggie door, which they left open into their fenced-in backyard -- something they rarely do, but did on this occasion because of the quick outing.

She said she learned that while vultures cannot smell, they have a keen sense of sight, and she believes the scavenger was attracted to her kids' stuffed bear that she believes the bird mistook for a dead animal.

"We're never opening that doggie door again," Rougeux says in the video.

Photos: Couple finds vulture inside living room

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Once all the immediate excitement settled, Rougeux said she and Troti reviewed the video and had a good laugh about the whole thing. "It's hilarious!" she told 11Alive.

She said she posted the video to her Facebook page because she thought it was funny and wanted her friends to have a good laugh.

"People are loving it," she said. "It just seemed unreal -- I was just in shock watching!"

Rougeux said she spent the next two days sanitizing her entire home, but she won't soon wipe away the memory of duking it out with a vulture any time soon.

"It was the craziest thing ever!"

Vultures in Georgia

According to wildlife officials, there are two species of vultures found in Georgia: turkey vultures and black vultures. Both species can cause nuisance problems in urban areas and in rural settings, officials say.

According to the Georgia Wildlife Resource Division, there are some things homeowners can do if they think they have a problem with vultures.

Habitat modification

Sometimes it is as simple as removing roost trees or food resources.

Harassment

Homeowners who have a problem with roosting are advised to harass vultures when they arrive to roost and should be carried out for at least three days in a row.

"The ultimate goal of dispersal is not allowing a single bird to roost/loaf," according to the wildlife officials.

Officials say using pyrotechnics for visual and audio harassment, coupled with the use of "effigies" of dead vultures is often the most successful way to disrupt a roost, although officials recommend contacting local authorities to let them know before using pyrotechnics.

Other harassment strategies include lasers, air horns, and paintball guns.

Exclusion

Another option is to install "perch inhibitors," like bird spikes, bird wire, coyote roller, etc. to discourage perching and loafing.

Lethal control

The final method is to use lethal force, but property owners are required to have a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service migratory bird depredation permit before they can use lethal control for vultures.

Taskforce to assess future of Canton Street

It's been a growing issue in Roswell, but now plans to turn busy Canton Street into a walking promenade have been paused. City leaders formed a taskforce to take a closer look at the plan and how it may affect businesses in the area. FOX 5 spoke to people on both sides of the issue.

ROSWELL, Ga. - The plan to turn a busy section of a Roswell street into a walking promenade has been paused. Tuesday night, city leaders agreed to form a task form to take a closer look at the plan and its impact.

"Nothing says ‘Welcome’ like a closed street in front of your restaurant," said Ryan Pernice, who owns two restaurants along Canton Street.

Like other business owners in the immediate area, Ryan Pernice was shocked to learn several weeks ago that there were plans to shut down a portion of the bustling road to traffic.

"We have these businesses we've invested millions of dollars in and all of a sudden we see on Facebook that the street in front of our restaurant is going to be closed," said Pernice.

While the mayor and other city leaders believed it would bring an even more energetic vibe to the area, many business owners believe it will add to the parking and traffic problems, and would hurt their businesses.

City leaders agreed to form a task force made up of city leaders, business owners, and residents to take a closer look at the impact of Canton Street becoming a walkable promenade.

"Look at the impact and make sure we have all the plans as we go forward, if we create a promenade," said city council member Peter Vanstrom.

A plan to close of a busy section of Canton Street in Roswell has been paused to allow business owners and community leaders to take a closer look at the proposal. (FOX 5)

"I want to make sure we're listening to them, but I also want to make sure they're thriving and making money," said council member Lee Hills.

No matter what happens down the road, Pernice sees this as a step in the right direction.

"It went from this is happening, the road is closing, to now we're at a point where we have a little more insight in the process. That I call a win," said Pernice.

While there's no timeframe as to when the task force will be formed and how long before they come up with a recommendation on how to proceed, it won't be Memorial Day, as was the initial plan.

ROSWELL, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - One week after Roswell business owners accused Mayor Kurt Wilson of being short-sighted and unconcerned about their livelihoods, Wilson assured them there’s no longer a timetable for closing off Canton Street to thru traffic during weekends this summer.

He did, however, ask for their collaboration as he and other city leaders develop a plan to make it happen.

Earlier this month, city leaders posted a 20-minute video on Roswell’s Facebook page featuring Mayor Kurt Wilson. In the video, Wilson described a pedestrian-friendly promenade concept designed to create a more vibrant downtown historic district. Wilson said he and other city leaders had been discussing the idea for almost a year and a half and that they planned to close the area starting Memorial Day weekend and keep it closed through the summer as a trial run.

The mayor said he believes Canton Street is currently a dangerous area for pedestrians, especially on weekends as cars drive through the district just feet away from crowded sidewalks.

Several Canton Street business owners said they felt blindsided by the plan. Some told the mayor that during occasional festivals, shutting down the streets inevitably leads to a drop in revenue, mainly because street parking is no longer available.

“You close it off, you’ll ruin our businesses,” said Judie Raiford, owner of Raiford Gallery last week. “We have evidence that every time the street is closed, we all lose money.”

Several business owners and residents urged city leaders to wait until a planned parking garage is built before moving forward with the promenade concept.

A quorum of city council members was not present for the May 16 discussion, so there was no vote.

Mayor Wilson said city council members won’t hold a vote until there’s a detailed plan on the table. He asked business owners and residents to be part of the collaboration process.

“I need your help,” said Wilson. “We need to do this together.”

Business owners said they want the city to table the plan until at least August. Wilson said there will be another discussion on the topic Friday, this time in a more formal setting.

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