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Newspaper boxes, often broken, littered and sprawling with graffiti along sidewalks across the Big Apple, will soon be yesterday’s news — thanks to a new City Council bill approved Wednesday that aims to cleanup the “public nuisance.”
The legislation requires the owners of the boxes to display their contact information – including a name, telephone number and address – so passersby can expeditiously report ones in disrepair.
“We love convenient access to favorite local publications, but we don’t love it when the newsracks are broken, abandoned, filthy or tipped over,” said City Council Member Erik Bottcher, (D-Manhattan) the bill’s sponsor. “Our legislation will establish clear guidelines and help ensure that our local publications get to maintain their newsracks while also helping to alleviate sidewalk congestion.”
In addition to displaying contact info, the legislation will also grant the city Department of Transportation – which already regulates newsracks – the authority to establish size, shape and material standards for both plastic and metal ones.
All newsracks are registered to distribute printed material with the DOT and maintain a commercial insurance policy, according to the agency’s website.
Under this new proviso, the DOT will also work with the Mayor’s Office of Ethnic and Community Media to ensure the changes are communicated to the publishers of the newsracks — oftentimes free periodicals in a language other than English.
“Newsracks, which are such a familiar part of our cityscape, are crucial for ensuring that people can pick up the latest publications,” City Council Member Sandra Ung (D-Queens) said in a statement. “But without proper oversight, we’ve also seen that these newsracks can fall into neglect and become a blight on our neighborhoods.”
Maintenance worker Casito Torres told The Post “the boxes would look good if they were maintained” better.
“I think it looks really nice when the newspapers are all in it and the paint is nice,” Torres said.
“I sometimes wipe them down when I pass by and see they’re dirty. They sometimes look horrible, they can look so ugly. I hope they follow through.”
Others in Greenwich Village, part of Bottcher’s district, suggested the newsracks are better off as a vestige of the past.
“I remember seeing lots of those colorful boxes that were pretty beat up, especially around here because there’s a lot of smaller newspapers,” NYU graduate student Elianne Del Campo told The Post.
“Now that I think about it, I haven’t been seeing them recently,” Del Campo added. “I think I like it better now: They were kind of an eyesore and now we don’t have to dodge them on the sidewalks.”
Yoshi Okuba, a Greenwich Village resident who was spotted walking his dog near a news box, echoed Del Campo’s remarks.
“They’re unnecessary,” Okuba said. “I don’t think the bill is pointless though, I think they should take [the boxes] away.”