Kissimmee commissioners say it’s a priority to address safety issue
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A panhandler walks between traffic at the intersection of U.S. Highway 192 and Bass Road in Kissimmee. NEWS-GAZETTE PHOTO/BRIAN MCBRIDE
The Kissimmee City Commission is on the road to pass an ordinance that would allow police to arrest panhandlers after one warning.
The commission passed the first reading of a pedestrian safety law on April 20. Commissioners listed a panhandling solution as a top 10 priority item in their strategic plan during a January retreat to try to curb panhandlers at area intersections.
Under the proposed law, panhandlers would get a warning first to leave. If they did not obey that warning, Kissimmee Police Department officers would have the power to arrest them. Put forth by Kissimmee Police Chief Jeff O’Dell, it is the same law Osceola County and the city of Orlando has already adopted.
“This is basically a tool for our police officers to ensure that pedestrians and motorists stay safe on our roadways,” said City Attorney Olga Sanchez de Fuentes.
The ordinance was designed to discourage pedestrians from the use of narrow medians at specifically busy intersections with a proven record of higher incidents of accidents.
From Aug. 1, 2020 to Feb. 16, 2021, KPD received 77 calls for service regarding pedestrians unsafely soliciting in the roadway. Some of the intersections included Vine Street and John Young Parkway 31 calls); Vine Street and Main Street (16 calls); Osceola Parkway and Michigan Avenue (11 calls); and Vine Street and Bass Road (7 calls).
According to statistics from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, there were 145 traffic crashes involving pedestrians that led to 112 injuries and 17 deaths in Osceola County in 2019.
But arresting a panhandler on a second offense would tie up too much of an officers’ time, said Commissioner Carlos Alvarez. He suggested a fine on the second offense and then an arrest on the third.
During the public hearing, businesswoman Jackie Espinosa, who owns the Kissimmee Diner and The Matador restaurant in the downtown area, urged the commission not to show any leniency with the problem because it’s growing worse. She said she has had to call police to have panhandlers removed from the front of her restaurants. And at the intersections they sometimes get aggressive.
“I think we as a community have to start setting a stage to where these types of behaviors have got to be halted,” Espinosa said.
Some of the commissioners suggested that the law be placed on a Kissimmee workshop agenda, but City Commissioner Jim Fisher saw no need.
“I think we should take the suggestion of the police chief,” Fisher said. “I don’t see taking it to a workshop is going to make a big difference. It’s our job to try and do the right thing. I think this is heading in the right direction.”
The first reading was then passed 4-1 with Alvarez the opposing vote. The second and final hearing will be presented at the May 4 commission meeting.
