'Aggressive' Panhandlers Blamed For Broken Lease

A lack of protection from aggressive panhandlers has prompted a community outreach program to ask the courts for permission to break its lease.

In court papers filed last Thursday, the Hernando County Enrichment Center threatened to shutter its Brooksville office on Jan. 31 if its landlord did not fulfill promises to increase security.

The center was able to make good on that threat because it had someplace to go: It is now operating at the city of Brooksville's Jerome Brown Community Center.

Last December, the Enrichment Center board of directors struck a deal with the city of Brooksville that would have the center use the Jerome Brown building until a permanent home at the city's Quarry Golf Course is ready.

A building at the golf course will be renovated to house the Enrichment Center, a pro shop, and a mining museum, and also will serve as a special needs emergency shelter.

But the Enrichment Center had to make a hasty exit, fearing for the safety of its clients and staff, according to court documents and the center's attorney Joe Mason.

The Enrichment Center caters to adults and people with special needs by providing them recreational programs. It also offers a chance to socialize and learn more about ways to keep healthy, according to its Web site.

But vagrants and "disreputable" people have been harassing clients at Brook Plaza for years, causing physical and psychological trepidation, documents claim.

Staff are not immune, either. The front desk was always manned by two people because transients walk into the Enrichment Center demanding food, clothing and "everything else imaginable," according to court records.

The homeless community that camps out on the property bounded by Broad Street and Ponce De Leon also broke the glass of the rear door to the Enrichment Center, the documents state. The outside faucets and electrical outlets have been capped to keep the homeless from using them.

Court documents state the program recently had to cancel night meetings at its Brooksville office because of safety concerns. That leaves the elderly to drive to the Oak Hill Hospital campus and many don't drive at night, documents state.

The vagrant issue was brought up in 2006 when the Enrichment Center renegotiated its lease. In return for signing up for five more years, the Brook Plaza landlords promised they would improve parking lot lighting and hire night security, the documents state.

With no sign of those improvements in the past two years, the Enrichment Center decided to pack up and leave, Mason said.

"They constructively evicted us by not providing a safe and secure premises," he said.

The lease, however, doesn't expire until April 9, 2011. That's why Mason filed a petition asking a judge to rule that the Enrichment Center has the right to break its lease under these circumstances.

For its part, the landlords deny any wrongdoing. Brook Plaza is owned by Pennsylvania-based The Brandywine Companies and managed by offices in Clearwater and Orlando.

A message left Tuesday with the registered agent, Jack Russo, was not returned.

In a rebuttal to a letter from Mason, Russo writes that his company has filled in pot holes, repaired lighting and cleaned up the rubbish in the plaza. It also adds that the tenants always have the right to call police and trespass someone.