NY City Council Passes Bill To Further Regulate Newsracks

The New York City Council has passed a bill that will update the regulation of newsracks. Known as Intro. 663, it will reportedly task the DOT–which already oversees them–with further standardizing the general structure of newsracks, including what materials they can be made up of.

A linchpin of the law requires organizations to put their names, address, telephone numbers, and email address on a “readily visible” surface of their newsracks. The ostensible purpose of this is to provide locals with a venue for complaint.

The bill also seeks to effectively ban commercial entities other than news organizations, which have apparently been colonizing newsracks for their own purposes, from utilizing them for advertising.

Bottcher explained why he was championing the bill at a Nov. 13 press conference held at the City Hall Fountain. “In true New York fashion, people have sort of a love/hate relationship with sidewalk newsracks,” he said. “We love easy access to favorite local publications, but we don’t love that they’re frequently neglected, poorly maintained, vandalized, broken, filled with garbage, tipped over, and just plain eyesores.”

More importantly, Bottcher said that he opposed newracks being used by commercial entities that aren’t news publications: “Until now, the city has not had many tools to address this. The law is not strong enough.”

Sally Greenspan, the President of the Council of Chelsea Block Associations, also gave brief remarks in favor of the soon-to-be-passed bill. “I just want to thank Eric Bottcher for paying attention to the smaller details that really affect our quality of life. These little things add up to big things, and makes it bigger for everyone,” she said.

Business improvement districts similarly praised the bill after its passage. Tom Harris, the President of Times Square Alliance, stated that his organization is “proud to support Intro. 663, Councilmember Bottcher’s bill which recognizes the importance of imposing standards on newsracks which are too often a blight on our precious and limited sidewalk space.”

“We support the creation of clear regulations regarding news racks,” Hudson Yards Hell’s Kitchen Alliance President Robert Benfatto said. “As a business improvement district, we aim to enhance the public realm in any way possible, this legislation will be a tool to help us do that.”

As of now, rules listed on the DOT website point to where newsracks are allowed to go, and how they’re supposed to be weighed down to prevent theft or displacement. They’re not, for example, allowed to be placed within “five feet of a corner area” or inside of a bus stop. They can’t be within five feet of a fire hydrant either, or within five feet of a driveway. Tips for weighing down newsracks involve using a “plastic or rubber-coated steel chain” to affix them to poles. Although single newsracks may not be bolted to the sidewalk, “multiracks” may, if a DOT permit is issued.

When the DOT decides on which regulations to update, the bill tasks the Mayor’s Office of Community & Ethnic Media with clearly communicating the news standards to to relevant news organizations–including Straus News, which maintains a number of newsracks.