No crackdown on Valentine's Day street vendors

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Valentine's Day typically brings a lot of street vendors to the metro area, but this year, code enforcement isn't cracking down on them.

Local vendor Kevin Vlado and his family have worked at the corner of Mercy Drive and Colonial Drive on Valentine's Day for five years.

"All I really do is eat, sleep and breathe baskets all year long," Vlado said.

He lives in the Orlando area, but many vendors come up from Miami to sell as many roses as they can on Valentine's Day.

"People out there selling flowers on the street or doing some other kind of business, we're just trying to make a living," Vlado said.

Officials with the city of Orlando and Orange County said licenses and permits are required. WFTV rode along with code enforcers as they patrolled a few years back, hitting unlicensed street vendors with $150 fines. But in 2014, there's no crackdown, only a response to complaints they receive.

Vlado has a permit and permission from the owner of the gas station where he operates. The women running a flower shop along Semoran Boulevard have no permit, but said they've never had a problem. Customers said the local government should leave the vendors alone.

"They ought to stay out of it. They're trying to make a living," resident Joe Concepcion said.

WFTV