Those found guilty of passing out fliers on public streets will be fined $500.

Because South Beach is often littered with fliers and handbills, Miami Beach is moving forward with an ordinance that will effectively ban them in that area.

But it is our opinion that the city’s proposed solution conflicts with the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and this nation’s belief in the freedom of expression.

Proposed by Commissioner Saul Gross, the ordinance would make it illegal for people to pass out commercial handbills: fliers, posters, banners or any object that “conveys any information about any good or service provided by a business” on Ocean Drive, Collins Avenue, Lincoln Road or Washington Avenue. Those found guilty of passing out fliers on public streets would be fined $500. And any business advertised on the flier would also be fined $500. Immune from the ordinance, city officials insist, are fliers related to politics, religion or anything not deemed commercial.

At least in theory. One has to ask what happens if a flier has editorial content commenting on the Iraq War and, at the same time, advertises drink specials at a local pub. Will that flier be protected from the proposed code? If the answer is no, then could a newspaper — filled with both commercial and editorial content — be considered a flier and thus banned from being distributed on South Beach?

And why is commercial speech any less protected than any other speech? The fact that there are so many people from around the world walking around South Beach is the very reason many businesses choose to pay high rents to locate there. But now they aren’t allowed to reach out to this market because South Beach has a littering problem?

Or perhaps it is more accurate to say South Beach has a sanitation problem. Residents and businesses have long complained that the city’s Sanitation Division has not adequately cleaned up the streets after busy weekends or large events. Sure, many flier distributors purposely drop their materials on the sidewalks and streets and they should be prosecuted. But fliers, beer bottles and plastic cups are dropped on the streets by club and restaurant patrons all the time as well — especially if the trash cans are overflowing or not within a reasonable distance.

There are many weapons the city can use against those who litter the streets with handbills and trash. A new, selective ordinance banning free speech should not be one of them.