I fought for nearly three years to get a city ordinance on the books to clean up the blight of masses of unsightly, disorganized newsracks cluttering streets and sidewalks. We won that fight and the new law went into effect in January. But now that the dust has settled, some Valley residents, myself included, have continued to drive past street corners that are particularly clogged with newsracks, wondering, “When the heck will they clean up that one?” An elected official cannot pass legislation, then forget about it and move on to the next issue. So I ordered a report from the City of Bureau of Street Services to get answers and walk the law through to make sure it is carried out as planned. Some residents may not have seen problematic newsracks removed from their neighborhoods yet, but they will soon. This is a seven-year program, so it may take some time, but the work is underway. In all, the four city inspectors assigned to this task have tagged 650 newsracks for removal and in my Twelfth District alone, 141 illegal newsracks have been impounded. Another 109 have been removed from other areas of the city. The permitting fees paid by publications to be allowed to place newsracks on sidewalks have already generated more than $500,000 and pay for the program’s costs. Currently, 89 publications have been granted permits. The process would have gone even faster, but a software problem with the Bureau of Street Services’ GPS location system stalled some newsrack tagging. I’ve been told that problem would be solved by Jan. 30 and the tagging and removal process is moving forward, with expected completion within five months. Long process Getting the newsrack ordinance in place and removing this blight has been a long process that has just recently gotten underway. Believe it or not, this is the fast part. The community members who demanded long and loud that we crack down on the newsracks have waited patiently while we worked to balance the community needs with the First Amendment Implications of press freedom as well as the freedom of businesses to sell their wares. I had to weigh this matter very seriously. I am a strong supporter of a free, independent press that operates unhindered. But I gave my support to the Coalition for LA’s Enforcement Applied to Newsracks (C.L.E.A.N.) and worked as Chair of the City’s Public Works Committee to address this problem because they demanded it and because I am a strong believer in the Broken Windows theory. What may appear as superficial deterioration of our community environment leads people to stop caring, which enables crime to flourish. Newsracks of every shape, size and color blossomed seemingly overnight on street corners citywide. They blocked bus riders from stepping onto buses, were neglected by their owners when they fell over and gathered trash and graffiti. They blocked parking meters and taxi stops and detracting from the obscuring businesses’ front doors. One city block in Studio City had 157 of them. This ordinance has not unduly burdened publications or discriminated against any one type of publication. It required a permit to place a newsrack. To be granted a permit, a publication pays $21.69 per newsrack, and has seven years to paint it a uniform green color. The program targets those unpermitted newsracks that obstruct parking meters or bus zones, that are abandoned, or that are in front of locations designated as “regionally historic” or “culturally significant” places. One reason that some areas have been cleaned up faster than others is that the investigators have focused first on unpermitted newsracks that are a public safety hazard and whose removal has been specifically requested by the LAPD, the Metropolitan Transit Authority and the City Council. I am also a Valley resident and I have a personal interest in having clean, safe sidewalks and public spaces, so I will continue to monitor the enforcement of this program and see it through as long as I am in office. If you believe that one or more newsracks in your neighborhood constitute a safety hazard, you can report the exact location to the Bureau of Street Services by calling 3-1-1.
