CHAPTER 8
NEWS RACKS
Sections:
§ 3805 Notice – Removal – Storage.
3800 Definitions.
(a) News Racks. As used in this Chapter, “news rack” shall mean any self-service or coin-operated box, container, storage unit or other dispenser installed, used, or maintained for the display and sale of newspapers or news periodicals.
(b) Street. Shall mean all that area dedicated to public use for public street purposes and shall include, but not be limited to, roadways, parkways, and alleys.
(c) Roadway. Shall mean that portion of a street improved, designed or ordinarily used for vehicular travel.
(d) Parkway. Shall mean that area between the sidewalk and the curb of any street, and where there is no sidewalk that area between the edge of the roadway and the property line adjacent thereto. Parkway shall also include any area within a roadway which is not open to vehicular travel.
(e) Sidewalk. Shall mean any surface provided for the exclusive use of pedestrians. (Ord. 74-304, § 1; Ord. 77-412, § 1)
3801 Prohibitions.
(a) Public Streets. No person shall install, use or maintain any news rack or other structure which projects onto, into or over the part of the roadway of any public street, or which rests, wholly or in part, upon, along or over any portion of the roadway of any public street.
(b) Public Sidewalks. No person shall install, use or maintain any news rack which in whole or in part rests upon, in or over any public sidewalk or parkway, when such installation, use or maintenance endangers the safety of persons or property, or when such site or location is used for public use, or when such news rack unreasonably interferes with or impedes the flow of pedestrian or vehicular traffic, including any legally parked or stopped vehicle, the ingress into or egress from any residence or place of business, or the use of poles, posts, traffic signs or signals, hydrants, mailboxes, or other objects permitted at or near said location, or when such news rack interferes with the cleaning of any sidewalk by the use of mechanical sidewalk cleaning machinery. Notwithstanding any other provision of this subsection (b), no news rack shall be placed, installed, used or maintained:
(1) Within three (3) feet of any marked crosswalk.
(2) Within fifteen (15) feet of the curb return of any unmarked crosswalk.
(3) Within three (3) feet of any fire hydrant, fire call box, police call box or other emergency facility.
(4) Within three (3) feet of any driveway.
(5) Within three (3) feet ahead of, or fifteen (15) feet to the rear of, any sign marking a designated bus stop.
(6) Within three (3) feet of any bus bench.
(7) At any location whereby the clear space for the passageway of pedestrians is reduced to less than six (6) feet.
(8) Within three (3) feet of any area improved with lawn, flowers, shrubs, or trees.
(9) Within three (3) feet of any display window of any building abutting the sidewalk or parkway or in such manner as to impede or interfere with the reasonable use of such window for display purposes.
(10) In any manner so as to obstruct or impede access to the sidewalk, of a person going legally to or from a legally stopped or parked vehicle.
(c) Offensive Material. No person shall place, keep or maintain in any news rack which in whole or in part rests upon, in or over any portion of a public sidewalk or parkway any publication in a manner which exposes to the public view from the street any of the following:
(1) Any statement or words describing explicit sexual acts, sexual organs, or excrement, where such statements or words have as their purpose or effect sexual arousal, gratification, or affront.
(2) Any picture or illustration of genitals, pubic hair, perineum, anus, or anal region of any person where such picture or illustration has as its purpose or effect sexual arousal, gratification, or affront.
(3) Any picture or illustration depicting explicit sexual acts where such picture or illustration has as its purpose or effect sexual arousal, gratification, or affront.
(4) “Explicit sexual acts,” as used in this Section 3801, means depictions of sexual intercourse, oral copulation, anal intercourse, oral-anal copulation, bestiality, sadism, masochism, or excretory functions in conjunction with sexual activity, masturbation, or lewd exhibition of the genitals, whether any of the above conduct is depicted or described as being performed alone or between members of the same or opposite sex or between humans and animals, or other act of sexual arousal involving any physical contact with a person’s genitals, pubic region, pubic hair, perineum, anus or anal region.
(d) Advertising. No news rack shall be used for advertising signs or publicity purposes other than that dealing with the display, sale or purchase of the newspaper or news periodical sold therein.
(e) Harmful Matter.
(i) No person shall sell, offer for sale, or keep or maintain for sale any harmful matter, as such term is defined in Section 313, Chapter 7.6, Title 9, Part 1 of the Penal Code of California, in any newsrack on any public sidewalk unless such sale or offer of sale is made or such matter is kept or maintained for sale in the presence of an adult person authorized to prevent the purchase of such matter by a minor.
(ii) No person shall, within five hundred (500) meters of any elementary school, high school, or public playground, or any part thereof, knowingly sell or offer to sell, in any coin or slug-operated vending machine which is located on a public sidewalk, any harmful matter (as such term is defined in subsection (e)(i) of this Section) displaying to the public view photographs or pictorial representations of the commission of any of the following acts: sodomy, oral copulation, sexual intercourse, masturbation, bestiality, or a photograph of an exposed penis in an erect and turgid state. (Ord. 74-304, § 1; Ord. 74-412, § 1)
3802 Standards.
Any news rack which in whole or in part rests upon, in or over any public sidewalk or parkway, shall comply with the following standards:
(a) Size. No news rack shall exceed five (5) feet in height, thirty (30) inches in width, or two (2) feet in thickness,
(b) Location. In addition to the requirements of CMC 3801, news racks shall be located as follows: News racks shall only be placed near a curb or adjacent to the wall of a building. News racks placed near the curb shall be placed no less than eighteen (18) inches nor more than twenty-four (24) inches from the edge of the curb. News racks placed adjacent to the wall of a building shall be placed parallel to such wall and not more than six (6) inches from the wall. No news racks shall be placed or maintained on the sidewalk or parkway opposite a newsstand or another news rack.
(c) Attachments. No news rack shall be chained, bolted, or otherwise attached to any property not owned by the owner of the news rack or to any permanently fixed object without the express permission of the owner of such property or object. News racks may be chained or otherwise attached to one another; however, no more than three (3) news racks may be joined together in this manner, and a space of no less than eighteen (18) inches shall separate a group of three (3) news racks so attached from any other news racks. No news rack or group of attached news racks allowed under this subsection shall weigh, in the aggregate, in excess of one hundred twenty-five (125) pounds when empty. (Ord. 74-304, § 1; Ord. 77-412, § 1)
3803 Maintenance.
Each news rack shall be maintained in a clean and neat condition and in good repair at all times. (Ord. 74-304, § 1; Ord. 77-412, § 1)
3804 Identification.
Every person or other entity which places or maintains a news rack on a street in the City shall have his or its name, address and telephone number affixed thereto in a place where such information may be easily seen. (Ord. 74-304, § 1; Ord. 77-412, § 1)
3805 Notice – Removal – Storage.
(a) Notice. If any public officer designated by the City Administrator determines that a news rack is installed, used or maintained in violation of the provisions of this Chapter or that a news rack displays offensive or harmful matter in violation of the provisions of this Chapter, he shall take reasonable steps to notify the owner thereof in writing as follows:
(1) The news rack is in violation of the provisions of this Chapter for reasons set forth in said notice, and
(2) The owner must within three (3) days of receipt of notice remove the news rack or the offensive or harmful matter, or
(3) The owner must within three (3) days of receipt of notice request in writing that the City Administrator set a hearing within five (5) days thereafter to determine upon sworn testimony whether the news rack or the offensive or harmful matter displayed within it violates the provisions of this Chapter, or
(4) The public officer will remove the news rack or the offensive or harmful matter and store it as provided in subsections (b) and (c) of this Section unless the owner removes the news rack or the offensive or harmful matter pursuant to subsection (a)(2) of this Section or requests a hearing pursuant to subsection (a)(3) of this Section.
(b) Removal. After complying with the notice requirements provided for in subsection (a) of this Section, the public officer shall remove the news rack or the offensive or harmful matter displayed within it unless the owner removes the news rack or the offensive or harmful matter displayed within it or requests the hearing as provided in subsection (a) of this Section. If the City Administrator determines at said hearing that the news rack or the offensive or harmful matter displayed within it violates the provisions of this Chapter, the owner of the news rack shall within twenty-four (24) hours after the decision remove the news rack or the offensive or harmful matter displayed within it. News racks or materials not so removed shall be forthwith removed by a public officer.
(c) Storage. If the public officer removes the news rack or the offensive or harmful matter displayed within it, he shall store the news rack or such matter in any convenient place designated by the City Administrator. The owner of the news rack may reclaim the news rack or such matter from the officer within thirty (30) days of its removal by identifying himself, showing evidence of ownership and paying the expenses of removal and storage. Upon failure of the owner, following notice, to claim such news rack or the matter displayed within it and pay the expenses of removal and storage within thirty (30) days after such removal, such news rack or matter shall be deemed to be unclaimed property in possession of the City and may be disposed of pursuant to law. The fee for such removal and storage shall be fixed by the City Council by resolution.
(d) Special Procedure. In the case of a violation of this Chapter relative to (1) restrictions upon attachments of news racks to property other than that owned by the owner of the news rack, or (2) to fixed objects or each other, or (3) relative to location of news racks, any public officer designated by the City Administrator may as an alternate to the procedure specified in subsections (a), (b), and (c) of this Section 3805, remove such attachment and/or move such rack or racks in order to restore them to a legal condition, after taking reasonable steps to notify the owner. (Ord. 74-304, § 1; Ord. 77-412, § 1)
3806 Abandonment.
In the event any news rack installed pursuant to this Chapter is not serviced with the publication it is designed to disseminate for a period of over seven (7) consecutive days, City may remove same pursuant to the procedure set out in CMC 3805. For purposes of this Section abandonment shall include, but is not limited to, circumstances where no publication is in the rack for a period of over seven (7) consecutive days. (Ord. 77-304, § 1; Ord. 77-412, § 1)
3807 Cumulative Remedies.
The remedies set forth in CMC 3805 and 3806 for violation of the provisions of this Chapter are cumulative and in addition to the penalties provided for in Article I, Chapter 2 of this Code. (Ord. 74-304, § 1; Ord. 77-412, § 1)