News Rack Regulation Advances
The Los Angeles City Council advanced a proposal Wednesday to regulate the placement and color of news racks throughout the city, setting the ordinance for final approval next week.
A majority of the council is concerned that the 35,000 news racks on Los Angeles sidewalks are creating blight, with racks of many colors clustered chaotically around the front doors of businesses.
The ordinance, given a first reading Wednesday, would limit the number of racks to 16 for every 200 feet of sidewalk, set height and width limits, require that clusters contain no more than four racks and require that all be painted ivy green. Because the measure lacked unanimous council support, however, it was scheduled for a second reading next week when the votes of eight of the 15 council members would be needed for passage.
Council members Jan Perry, Bernard C. Parks, Janice Hahn and Ed Reyes supported allowing a range of approved colors for news racks, but the council majority favored requiring ivy green.
“It removes the clutter from our community,” said Councilman Greig Smith, who spearheaded the effort. “We want to clean up our communities, make them more uniform, less cluttered.”
Councilwoman Wendy Greuel said her San Fernando Valley district is the “poster child” for the problem, with 169 racks on one block alone.
![Los Angeles, CA - May 19: Carlos Vargas, left, and Paulina Rubio, members of the harm reduction team from Homeless Outreach Program Integrated Care Systems [HOPICS], a leading homeless services and housing agency, look for drug addicts to help and pass out supplies at a homeless RV encampment along 77th St. in South Los Angeles Friday, May 19, 2023. The team hands out syringes, fentanyl test strips, overdose reversal nose spray and medication to prevent overdoses, infection and disease transmission, including the HIV virus. Fenanyl is particularly insidious because it can be found in all other drugs, especially meth and heroin. The handouts are also meant to reduce infection through broken pipes, which can cut users mouths and open them to infection. . (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/bc99ba0/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3900x2608+0+34/resize/1024x685!/format/webp/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fe9%2F77%2F4b8bd35d4881a3edec6b945b143b%2F1298639-me-soaring-fentanyl-deaths-24-1-ajs.jpg)
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