Roswell Mayor's Race
In six weeks you and the voters of Roswell will choose who will be your city’s Mayor for the next four years. You deserve to know where I and the other candidates stand on the issues.
After listening to the voters, it appears to me that the biggest issues in this race are, in no particular order: Crime; Traffic and Transportation; the Need to Redevelop Blighted Areas of our City; City Spending; and Helping Local Businesses. If you will permit me, I will address one of these issues per week in an email to you over the next five weeks. If I have missed an issue which is important to you, please e-mail me and I will let you know where I stand on your issue.
Thank you for taking the time to make an educated choice in casting your vote for Mayor of Roswell on November 3rd.
Crime Prevention
Protecting the lives and property of Roswell residents is the City's most important job.
The biggest item in Roswell's budget, 26% of the total this year, is allocated for police protection. Under my leadership, the Roswell Police Department has added 32 sworn officers, a 24% increase, and our City's crime rate has fallen 31%. Today Roswell is ranked as the 18th safest city in the U.S. with a population over 75,000.
An excellent police department is only one factor in keeping you safe from crime. More crimes occur around Roswell's aging apartment communities than anywhere else in the City. For that reason, I have championed the need to redevelop our aging apartments. I led the State in requiring inspections to force apartments in Roswell to be upgraded. At my urging this year, Roswell became the first city in Metro Atlanta to offer a Crime-Free Multi-Housing Program, a partnership between the police department and apartment managers. (See http://www.crime-free-association.org.) With my support, the Fulton County District Attorney opened an office this year in North Fulton County to facilitate the prosecution of crimes committed in our City. I am working with Judge Downs to encourage Fulton County to start a "Drug Court" in North Fulton County.
Keeping Roswell safe has been and always will be my by top priority
Roswell's crime rate, as tracked by FBI crime statistics, is falling.
Any crime is too much, but you can be proud that Roswell is doing a good job in keeping the crime rate down. Roswell's per capita crime rate has fallen consistently over the past 12 years, despite the growth of Roswell's population. Roswell ranked as the third safest city in Metro Atlanta in 2008 based upon FBI statistics. The Cities of Milton, Alpharetta, and Sandy Springs were not ranked as safe as Roswell. (Statistics were not available for Johns Creek.). For rankings, go to www.ajc.com/news/ucr-2009. For January 1, 2009, through August 31, 2009, the FBI index crime rate is down 1% for Roswell.
Roswell is doing a good job in protecting you and your family, and we will continue to look for ways to make Roswell an even safer place for you to live.
Jere Wood
Mayor of Roswell