There is more than one Champion for the Village of Rowlett Downtown! There are many and they make it great to live and visit downtown.

Scott Fundling and Janet Miller live in the Village of Rowlett on Main Street. Rowlett residents since the 1990's, they have seen many changes in downtown Rowlett and the surrounding area. They said they "love living in Downtown Rowlett because of the walkability to nearby restaurants and the Farmers Market, as well as the parades throughout the year. Santa Claus comes every year to see us via the firetruck and tosses candy canes to us."

Scott retired from the Rowlett Police Department and now owns and operates a mediation service, Paragon Resolution. An active member in the Village of Rowlett Downtown Association, Scott is a welcome face walking around downtown. Scott learned a lot about conflict resolution in his career as a Rowlett Police Officer. He served as the hostage negotiator and continues to hone his skills as a negotiator by lecturing and judging with Texas State University. In addition, he volunteers with the Dispute Resolution Services of North Texas.

Janet is a Crime Analyst for the City of Rowlett. Her job is analyzing police data to provide strategic, statistical, and investigative support to our local officers. We appreciate her work to help prevent crime in our City!

Both Scott and Janet love living in the heart of Rowlett. "We use DART to visit friends in downtown Dallas all the time. It saves us from the headaches of traffic and parking." Scott walks the neighborhood almost daily and enjoys seeing their neighbors. When asked about downtown safety, Janet said, "We do feel safe. It's enjoyable to watch people walking, cycling, and jogging through the downtown area day and night." Scott and Janet enjoy people watching from their balcony and say there are pop-up football or ultimate frisbee games almost every weekend and it's just good, clean fun. They have watched people learn to skate and absolutely love seeing all the people and their pets. "Downtown Rowlett is so pet friendly and it is a great way to meet your neighbors. We also recently had a socially distanced impromptu parade for a graduate which was amazing to watch!"

Scott and Janet's favorite restaurant is, without a doubt, Bankhead Brewing Co., but also enjoy grabbing a sandwich at Book Club Cafe. Barroco's Latin Cuisine recently opened and they're looking forward to trying it.

When asked about the importance of having a dynamic downtown Scott said, "It's been said that downtown is the heart of a city; they remind people where the city began and the history of the city. Green spaces like the one Rowlett has brings people together. With the summer movies, concerts, and parades, our downtown has become a gathering place. We would love to see more activities downtown, which in turn would bring more people here to enjoy it."