The planter boxes along Main Street near 300 South, usually a popular gathering place, were mostly empty Wednesday afternoon, bracketed on both sides by signs warning of 24-hour video surveillance by police.

Bike cops issued smoking citations to the few young men who sat there.

After months of receiving complaints from Main Street business owners and visitors, the Salt Lake City Police Department is cracking down this week on the crowds that congregate each day between 200 and 300 South.

Officers were issuing citations for any and all violations they spotted Wednesday, including littering, jaywalking and skateboarding on the sidewalks, said Salt Lake City police Lt. Melody Gray.

"We've been hearing reports for some time ... about the criminal behavior among people who hang out in the area," she said. "We're enforcing the small stuff, and that way it prevents the big stuff from occurring."

Shop owners, employees and visitors have said they feel "intimidated" by some of the crowds that gather, Gray said. Police have taken reports of fighting, drinking in public, drug use and even a baby being tattooed.

"I can't tell you how many of my customers have told me they love coming to the store, but they don't feel safe walking here from 300 South," said Tim Stobbe, who manages the Cricket Wireless store on Main. "I have to make deposits, and I'm terrified. I keep a billy club. This is stuff you shouldn't have to do."

In recent years, Stobbe said panhandlers and vagrants have not been a problem compared to the masses of "street kids," who regularly spend their days in front of his store.

"I've seen people passing around a pot pipe. I've seen a kid chase someone down with a butterfly knife," Stobbe said. "This is at 4:30 in the afternoon."

Zen, 21, of Salt Lake City, said she hangs out with her friends on the corner most days. She said police officers consistently "harass" her.

"The police treat us like we don't have any rights," she said Wednesday, as she smoked a cigarette on a curb near the TRAX platform.

Billy, 20, said the crowds are a natural part of city life.

"It's a metropolitan area," Billy said. "Every part of the city meets right here."

Stobbe agrees that the Main Street corridor is the heart of Salt Lake City, but said the crowds that gather there are "killing my business."

Andrew Gordon, who has managed the Barbacoa at the corner of Main Street and 300 South since it opened in 2009, said the crowds moved to the planters on Main when police started cracking down on problems at Pioneer Park.

"It's something we've had to deal with," he said. "We've had some situations you don't want to see — people hassling customers. ... Our biggest issue is any time our customers don't feel safe and, at different times of day, it is kind of rough. You get bombarded with people panhandling and asking for stuff."

Police said they are not cracking down on vagrancy in the area, but Gray said even something such as littering can be a problem for business owners.

"These small business owners struggle as it is," she said. "But to have an area where the city spent a lot of time and money to help these businesses thrive and to have an element that really trashes up the area doesn't help in any way."

Gray said officers have issued more than 80 citations since the action began Monday. The increased presence will continue through the week, she said.

afalk@sltrib.com