ORLANDO, Fla. — Some downtown Orlando business owners say concerns about safety continue to affect customer traffic, even as the Orlando Police Department reported a 20% drop in overall crime from the beginning of the year.
Business owners in the Central Boulevard and Orange Avenue area said the numbers are encouraging, but they believe the perception that downtown is unsafe will take more work to change.
Scott Kotroba, who owns several downtown businesses, including Bullitt Bar and McQueen’s Social Lounge, said some issues remain hard to ignore.
“A lot of people standing and hanging out if you will. I’m not sure what else they’re doing whether it’s open containers, alcohol, or drugs, anything like that,” Kotroba said. “But there’s a lot of cat calling, a lot of uncomfortableness for the average citizen to walk around.”
Kotroba said sales are down 60% to 70% across his businesses over the past three years. One of his venues, The Attic, closed two months ago.
He said he has seen a decline in downtown nightlife and believes businesses and customers are increasingly choosing not to come downtown.
“My daughter’s a teenager and the parents ask me, ‘Hey what’s happening? Why is this not going well?’” Kotroba said. “I ask them a question immediately and said, ‘Hey will you allow your kids, your 21, 22-year-olds downtown?’ They’re like no way, it’s too dangerous.”
Kotroba said he wants stricter enforcement of the city’s Youth Protection Ordinance, open-container laws and After Midnight Sales Permit rules.
“Right now with the way AMS works, we pay for those officers and the OPD and the chief decides where they’re stationed,” Kotroba said. “So a lot of times, we’re paying for those officers, the $3,400 a month per venue, and we don’t know where those officers are set to patrol.”
District 5 Commissioner Shan Rose said keeping downtown safe is a priority.
“We continue to pour into downtown to make sure this is a 24/7 spot and how do we work to make sure the nightlife doesn’t overcast that?” Rose said.
Rose said Orlando police work to address issues when they happen, but she also pointed to the demands on officers.
“Do we want to say we want our officers to take people for a misdemeanor crime? Take their time and take officers off of our streets to be able to say you had an open container, let’s take you to jail,” Rose said.
Eric Fuller with Celine Orlando said the venue has paid nearly half a million dollars into the After Midnight Sales Permit program, which allows the business to sell alcohol until 2 a.m. He said the cost has become a strain, and he does not believe the business is seeing enough return in customers or enforcement.
“Now you basically have to call 911 or hope one of the police officers on a bike rides by at that time which is again, we don’t see it,” Fuller said.
Kotroba said he would like all parties involved to sit down as a group to address the issues facing downtown.
Rose said Orlando police hold quarterly meetings with downtown bars and restaurants and that her office is open to suggestions.
Spectrum News 13 reached out to Orlando police for more information about downtown enforcement efforts but has not heard back.
A city of Orlando spokesperson responded to our request for more information:
“A significant focus of the city’s efforts is bringing more people downtown and creating a vibrant, welcoming and accessible place for residents, visitors and businesses from improving infrastructure and pedestrian walkability to promoting events, enhancing placemaking, and highlighting arts and culture.
A major part of that work is the Downtown Orlando Action Plan, which is focused on rethinking Downtown’s infrastructure and public spaces to increase visitation and make it more pedestrian-friendly, while creating an environment that encourages more people to spend time downtown when they are here. This includes looking at how people experience and move through downtown, while creating more opportunities for people to gather, dine, shop, experience arts and culture and enjoy our amenities and venue activations.
The city, through the CRA/DDB, has also invested in the “See the Progress” integrated marketing campaign, which is a year-long effort designed to showcase the momentum and investment happening across downtown and encourage people to experience it for themselves. The campaign will also support businesses by promoting visibility, access, and foot traffic, while strengthening community pride and local ownership.
We are also creating a new Office of Placemaking, which will bring together many of the city’s signature public spaces and placemaking initiatives in downtown, including Lake Eola Park, Luminary Green, Creative Village, the Public Art Program, See Art Orlando, the Downtown Clean Team and Ambassador Program and the future Canopy project. This new office will help enhance the experiences they provide for residents and visitors, with a particular focus on arts, culture, public spaces and creating a stronger sense of place.
Beyond these larger initiatives, the city continues to promote downtown through its social media channels, website and newsletters, highlighting events, activities, businesses and experiences available throughout downtown.
We place a high value on our downtown stakeholders and continue to regularly meet with businesses and other partners to hear their concerns, understand the challenges they are experiencing and identify opportunities to strengthen the neighborhood.”
More information on the ‘See the Progress’ campaign can be found here.