Publishers Oppose S.F. Plan to Consolidate News Racks

SAN FRANCISCO —  Newspaper publishers criticized this city’s efforts to consolidate publications in 1,000 uniform news racks, a plan they said is an attack on freedom of the press.

Mayor Willie Brown said the plan, which would ban individually owned and operated news racks, is needed to rid streets of clutter.

“In politics, things are rarely what they claim to be,” said Phil Bronstein, executive editor of the San Francisco Examiner. “This is being presented as a measure to neaten the streets. What it would really do is make the city safer for politicians, or so some of them think. And less safe for citizens.”

Brown spokeswoman Kandace Bender insisted the project had nothing to do with quelling free speech.

“Those allegations that this is an attack on the press are absolutely absurd,” Bender said. “The only thing Mayor Willie Brown is trying to control is the number of errant newspapers flying throughout the city and making a complete mess of the street.”

A six-month pilot program using the racks was deemed a success in January by the Department of Public Works. Ninety-three percent of residents responding to a public works survey said they favored the new display racks over the old, individual news boxes.

San Francisco Weekly publisher Jim Rizzi said that during the six-month trial run, far fewer issues were picked up by consumers. In one case, he said, 50 were picked up from a rack that normally serves 250 readers.

“They can make us go away,” he said.

Publishers said their street sales and access to readers may suffer dramatically.

Officials of the San Francisco Newspaper Agency--the business arm of the San Francisco Examiner and San Francisco Chronicle--met this week with publishers of periodicals sold in the city to begin outlining a federal court challenge to the ordinance, said Steven Falk, president of the Newspaper Agency.

Disarray around the current racks “is something the public has complained about for many years,” Supervisor Barbara Kaufman said.

San Francisco newspaper readers agreed that the free-standing news racks clutter the street, but they disagreed about whether they should be replaced.

“They look junky, but they’re part of San Francisco,” said Dolores Manthey, who said she prefers the separate racks because she can more easily identify the different papers.

But Kevin Johnson said the hodgepodge of racks has bothered him since he moved to the city 12 years ago.

“This looks messy. If anyone were to come here and really look at this, they’d be embarrassed,” he said.

Johnson said it would be tough to distinguish the papers from one another in the fixed-pedestal rack and suggested a compromise, such as allowing a multicolored design.

Publishers argued that they will lose their identification and, eventually, readers and customers for their advertisers.

Harry Versen, publisher of Oakland-based MicroTimes, a free monthly business technology magazine, said he would support the plan.

“The concept is right as long as they give us legitimate access and adequate distribution capabilities,” he said. “Also, a lot of people with free publications are lower-rent players who do not produce quality products and do not maintain their distribution facilities.”

The policy and contract are expected to be finalized by the Board of Supervisors on Jan. 5.