CAPE CORAL, Fla - Some small signs are causing a big fuss in Cape Coral. Business owners in one Del Prado Boulevard plaza put up small signs to attract customers, but had to take them down. An ordinance doesn't allow the signs, but the owner's say in today's tough economy the city should go a little easy on enforcing the rules.

Barbershop owner, Robert Mercado, says strict sign rules are cutting into business. He and other owner's in his Del Prado Boulevard plaza say they need to stick small signs outside of their stores to attract customers. "The way the economy is today we need those signs to say "open" 7 to 7, "haircuts special", or like my friend down the road "oil changes"," said Mercado.

"I'm advertising what I do for a living and that's not OK I don't understand that," says Ken Schuman who used to hang a large oil change sign over his pick-up truck in his parking lot.

Code enforcement made him put the sign in his window instead.

The city doesn't allow the small double sided ads in medians anywhere in the cape but these businesses fall under the Cape Redevelopment Agency.
The C.R.A. is in charge of the entire downtown area.

"You simply have to regulate signs or you'd have 3, 30, or 300," said John Jacobson of the C.R.A.

Jacobson says the signs could distract drivers and clutter city streets but some worry its their only hope to attract customers.

"Well they do look bad but it sure looks a lot worse than seeing empty buildings and everything looking like a ghost town," said Lindsay's Attic owner Michelle Grew

Jacobson says they are forming a committee to look into relaxing the sign rules. "We want citizen input. We will listen, we don't want to enact a rule because 7 people want it, we want to enact a rule because everybody wants it," he says.