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Downtown Kissimmee
A city group has recently been formed to help keep downtown Kissimmee looking beautiful. The Downtown Clean Team is an initiative to provide a focused effort on the beautification of the public right-of-ways in the Downtown Community Redevelopment Agency’s Central Business District.
“The team’s purpose is to improve the level of services our businesses, residents and visitors experience in the Historic Downtown section of the city of Kissimmee,” said City Public Affairs Officer Melissa Zayas-Moreno.
Their projects include landscape and hardscape maintenance including tree trimming, weed removal, plant maintenance and lighting maintenance, litter removal and the care of the 53 city owned trash receptacles, sidewalk maintenance and pressure washing, as well as graffiti removals in the right of way.
“We want to showcase what we are doing, increase traffic and make it a destination,” said Kissimmee Community Redevelopment Agency Administrative Assistant Suzanne Negron.
She realizes there are things that can be changed and having a specific team will help.
The team consists of three people who are compensated, including Foreman Paul McCrimon. “We work each day on whatever the business owners need done.”
Business owners can put their concerns in an email or call the city, he said. The email is downtowncleanteam@kissimmee.org. If someone emails or calls, Negron says they can usually send someone out pretty quickly for simple tasks.
“People don’t want to see overflowing garbage cans,” she says. “This is our central business district and we need to be attentive.”
Carlos Ramirez owns Aviles Hair Studio at 23 Broadway and is happy the city is addressing some issues.
“It’s a good start with cleaning sidewalks, addressing landscaping and picking up garbage,” he said.
He’s been in business four years and recently purchased the building.
“Historical downtown attracts visitors and promotes property values,” he said.
As part of the initiative, the CRA also installed street banners throughout downtown and continues to highlight eco-tourism sites and parks within the city.
“We’ve always wanted to keep downtown clean,” said Negron. “We are doing as much as we can and trying to play catch up. In the last two years, we have really grown. Everyone likes to see a clean city. People will take pride in it and it will become part of a team effort.”
