February 4, 2010
The number of important issues facing Ashland is endless: water (or lack thereof), wildfire dangers, sustainability, green technologies, alternative energy, economic development … the list goes on.
Each of these demands immediate attention, and I find it extraordinary that the City Council could put a non-issue, the placement of newspaper racks downtown, on the fast track and come up with a ridiculous ordinance that involved an inordinate amount of staff time and very little input from the public or the affected entities.
locations in the entire 13-block stretch of downtown Ashland where there was even a minor problem. Yet the City makes it sound as if there were papers flying in the wind everywhere, creating a butt-ugly mess that snarled traffic and threatened civilization.
Wrong! On the Plaza, there were two Sneak Preview racks in front of Louie’s, a Sentient Times rack in front of Grilla Bites, and a New Connexion rack in front of the Black Sheep. That really was the sum total of all the freebie racks in the entire 13-block downtown area. (The other “problem” area was in front of the Chamber, where daily newspapers and other enclosed racks were located.)
So when the City tries to argue that the freebie racks were ugly and impeding pedestrian traffic all over the downtown area, they are dead wrong. We’re talking about one little stretch on the Plaza, and now the City has gone to all the work and expense of placing mega-racks in nine locations around town at $25 a pop for each one.
This whole issue was visited fifteen years ago when there were ten times the number of free racks floating around. City Administrator Brian Almquist called us into the office, and we worked out a compromise by restricting the number of racks and promising to maintain them.
Since then, the Sneak Preview had only ONE location on public property in the entire downtown, and as I said before, there were two other racks right down from us. When this issue was revisited during the sign ordinance fracas, I pleaded with the City to allow my racks to continue in front of Louie’s, where they have been for the last ten years.
Nope, no compromising with this new group. They’re hell bent on total control, and the City Attorney “spent a lot of time” putting together an ordinance that would restrict freebies to nine locations in city-approved mega-boxes.
So instead of one location that seemed a little ugly to some people, we now have NINE locations that have added unnecessary clutter to the downtown. They may look better, but they impede pedestrians, they’re dangerous when you swing the doors open, and they harbor black widow spiders and untold numbers of yet identified species of salamanders.
When I met with City Administrator Martha Bennett in December to work out a compromise, I was apparently a day late and a dollar short. Every time I made an argument, all she could say was, “Nope, that’s against the ordinance.”
Who wrote this ordinance, anyway? “The City Attorney did, and he spent a lot of time on it?” Why was this ordinance even written? “Because the Chamber of Commerce wanted us to, and some merchants complained.”
Okay, what about the merchants who love the fact that there are newspaper racks downtown because it makes for a livelier, more vibrant community? Why weren’t their needs addressed? And trust me, I have talked to a lot of merchants downtown who are totally disgusted with the way the City has been strong-arming everyone these days.
Why did the City only listen to those who want to “clean up” the downtown and make it look sanitized? When they asked for my opinion, I told them it was a non-issue. All I wanted was ONE location, and most of the other freebies were on the same page.
The situation with the daily newspapers is another story. Yes, there were a lot of them in front of the Chamber and Starbucks, but so what? This is America, dude, we trust the dailies to keep government honest, and they should be allowed to put their racks on every street corner, just like they’re done all over the country.
I don’t understand what the big deal was. This City Council and the administration is wallowing in meaningless, nonsensical issues that should never have even entered the public consciousness. Please tell me there are people out there who will run for the City Council this November so that we can start cleaning house and getting some real work done.
