Miami Beach city officials want business owners to mind their manners, specifically to not pluck potential customers off the sidewalk and into their stores.
A proposed ordinance that will have its first reading at Tuesday night's city commission meeting would ban businesses from soliciting on South Beach sidewalks.
South Beach is loaded with merchants, hanging outside their stores, looking for business. In some instances employees have actually come out of their stores, onto the sidewalk and have physically accosted people walking by.
"I think it is not really enjoyable as a tourist or as somebody who is walking by," one man said.
"If I am interested to go into one of the shops I can go myself, I have the freedom to go or not," said another.
City officials now want to designate areas where it's illegal to approach people. The areas include hotspots like Lincoln Road, Washington Avenue, Collins Avenue and Ocean Drive.
Some think the solicitation has created a honky tonk atmosphere on famed Lincoln Road.
Restaurateurs and other merchants know the value of making a personal contact. They also know that social skills matter.
"I would like to approach the customer but we have to wait for the customer to approach us," restaurant owner Walter Stefano said.
The second reading of the ordinance is set for November.
