An annual $10 permit fee for each newsrack will be considered by the San Diego City Council next month after a council committee voted 4-0 on Aug. 9 to charge a newsrack fee as part of more regulations governing newsracks.
The city’s estimated cost for inspections and processing permits comes to $9.88, according to the city’s neighborhood code compliance division. The city’s cost will be rounded off to $10 per newsrack, if the City Council adopts more regulations on newsracks.
For some time, publishers, circulation managers and employees of 12 area papers have been members of a task force that has studied the issue, including that of abandoned or broken newsracks on city sidewalks. Many attended and spoke before the Land Use and Housing Committee meeting about amendments to the city’s current newsrack ordinance.
District 2 Councilman Kevin Faulconer brought the motion to forward the idea of starting a $10-per-newsrack permit, seconded by District 3 Councilwoman Toni Atkins. Faulconer said the permit fee “will get rid of stuff that doesn’t look good,” such as abandoned or damaged newsracks.
The committee also voted to recommend that any newsrack should be considered abandoned if it no longer carries publications over 30 continuous calendar days or if other publications are placed in it that do not mach the name of the newsrack. Damaged newsracks that no longer carry papers or abandoned ones would be considered a public nuisance and removed by the city after 60 days.
No member of the task force objected to the new deadlines for removing abandoned or damaged newsracks. The San Diego Union-Tribune had three delegates on the task force. The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal and USA Today had two delegates each. Other delegates came from the Military Press, Gay & Lesbian Times, San Diego Reader, the Learning Annex, the Showgirls publication, as well as representatives from distribution firms that work for many newspapers.
Atkins said the $10 per newsrack fee “has to be justifiable” as it relates to actual city cost in overseeing all newsracks. The fee will go into the general fund, which pays for the city’s code compliance division.
Faulconer asked how prompt the city would be to remove abandoned or damaged newsracks. City staff said the $10 permit charge might cause newspaper publishers to be more responsive when told of a problem with a newsrack for which they have already paid the permit fee.
Publishers’ maintenance standards for newsracks will be expanded to include the words “continuously maintain.” This would include the removal of graffiti, trash, stickers or debris inside or outside a newsrack. Newsracks would also be required to provide weather protection, such as doors or some device that would ensure publications would not get wet or fly out of newsracks during rainy or windy conditions.
The new regulations would allow the city to correct minor newsrack violations. The committee added language to the ordinance that would allow city workers to correct minor newsrack violations considered “easily curable on the spot without the use of any tools.”
The city attorney will also work up an agreement that protects the city from liability associated with newsracks.
The San Diego Community Newspaper Group, which includes the La Jolla Village News, Beach & Bay Press, Peninsula Beacon, Downtown News and University City/Golden Triangle News, has approximately 123 newsracks located throughout its areas of coverage.
The San Diego Union-Tribune has 1,094 newsracks in the city. The Los Angeles Times has 650, USA Today has 167, and the Wall Street Journal has 100 newsracks, according to a report prepared by city staff for the committee.