Good news for EVERYBODY near downtown Kissimmee … the walkers, the fishermen, the commuters, the lakefront homeowners.
Construction on South Brinson Park, known operationally as Kissimmee Lakefront Park Phase IV, is complete, meaning that Lakeshore Boulevard is now open.
The final Friday before Christmas, the city delivered the present to city residents, and Parks and Recreation Director Elizabeth Harris hopes it can be part of folks’ New Year’s resolutions to get more fit.
“Christmas has come early in our city and I’m sure ‘Doc’ Brisson is smiling down on how it turned out,” she said. “It takes a lot of courage to set aside parkland, because this land could have been gobbled up for development, but there was the vision to protect it. None of this happens without a lot of work.
“I encourage everyone to down here with your phone and and walk and commit to a healthier 2020, so I say, ‘Merry Fitness.”
There is now far more actual park space between the new inside sidewalk and Neptune Road. A pair of sidewalks through the park can accommodate walkers and joggers on one side and bicyclists on the other, and in between, plenty of shade trees form a canopy over about a dozen park tables and a barbecue pit, making it a true park in every sense.
Lakeshore Boulevard is now a brick road with better drainage and — Tada! — a traffic signal at Neptune Road.”
“This will allow residents to explore our city and our award-winning lakefront park,” Mayor Jose Alvarez said. “This has been a vision going on for over 10 years, prior commissions saw into the future what this would do for the community.”
The upgrades and refurbishment also highlight Kissimmee’s eco-tourism gym, Lake Tohopekaliga.
“We often hear from our guests that they came on the last day of their trip here and wish they’d done it the first,” Harris said. “There’s no lines, food great and affordable downtown and they get to see our wildlife in its natural habitat.”
