In many cities, however, the number of newspaper boxes on street corners seems to be growing like the mosquito population in July. As a result, city leaders are increasingly keen to crack down on newsracks- -even if it forces them into the undesirable position of picking fights, as the saying goes, with people who buy ink by the barrel.
Usually, things don't quite work out as planned. In Pittsburgh, for example, Councilman Alan Hertzberg recently proposed issuing permits for newsracks, after he received numerous complaints about their proliferation and unsightly appearance. In several parts of downtown, he says, there are walls of as many as 20 newspaper boxes lining the curb. But when the local broadsheets fought the regulations vociferously, council members ran for cover. "They asked whether it was an issue of such importance," Hertzberg says, "that we should upset all of these people who write about us."
Ultimately, the Pittsburgh papers declared they would regulate themselves. For example, they agreed to keep newsracks at least six feet away from fire hydrants, and to remove them from places where they might impede loading and unloading of city buses. But there are no enforcement teeth.
When San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown cited public safety as a reason to clean up newsracks, at least one city newspaper pulled no punches. "You, Mr. Mayor, ...have established yourself as a ruler willing to suppress a fundamental constitutional freedom in the name of a phony threat to public order," mused John Mecklin, a columnist for the alternative SF Weekly. San Francisco saw the number of newsracks on its sidewalks double in the 1990s. To clean things up, the city council decided in 1998 to boot some 12,000 individual boxes off the streets. The plan was to replace them with 1,000 fixed-pedestal racks, each of which has compartments to hold anywhere from six to 12 different publications. Newspapers could rent a slot for $30 per year.
The city's newspapers, however, filed suit against the law on First Amendment grounds. They contend that city officials would have too much say over which publications can be sold where. In addition, they argue that advertising to be sold on the backs of the pedestal racks would amount to a forced association between the papers and advertisers. A federal judge lifted a preliminary injunction against the newsrack law in December, but both the newspapers and the city are preparing for a long legal battle.
Indianapolis is one of the few cities where officials have peacefully cleaned up newsracks. Last August, the city council, with support from the downtown business improvement district, created a "modular newsrack district" in the core downtown area. The 1,030 freestanding newspaper boxes in that zone were banned, and replaced by some 80 modular racks similar to the ones proposed for San Francisco.
The local papers aren't crazy about the program. The Indianapolis Star, for one, worries that it will lose part of its corporate identity--and some revenues. Instead of the Star's familiar blue-and- white vending box, readers now have to pick the paper out of a crowd of 10. During a pilot using modular racks, the Star noticed a 5 to 10 percent drop in sales, according to Michael Womack, the paper's vice president for circulation.
This is bearable, he says, while the program is still limited to a small area. But two years from now, the city is expected to tackle newsracks in other parts of the town, "at which time," Womack says, "we would not be willing participants."
