To: Menlo Park City Council Members
From: Winter Dellenbach
RE: Fee for News racks
Please do not vote to impose a new fee on news racks. This would be a terrible burden and blow to our local independent newspapers such as the Palo Alto Daily Post.
The 5-day a week Daily Post is free to readers to pick up from many news racks in Menlo Park, and in Palo Alto where I live. To impose a fee would cost the paper thousands of dollars. This is unsupportable.
I rely on the Daily Post for much of the local news, as do most people I know. Small towns, big cities and our country’s democracy depend on a strong free press to keep us informed on local issues and events, support community cohesion, and more.
Menlo Park should support our free and independent newspapers, not undermine them. We are losing small independent newspapers in droves - I assume you are cognizant of this problem. Please see the except below from a recent New York Times article about this.
You may ask why am I writing to Council members in Menlo Park when I live in Palo Alto? Because I feel very strongly about this matter. Please do the right thing and do not place a fee on news racks.
Thank you for serving your community,
Winter Dellenbach
Palo Alto
1-18-2026 New York Times:
Since 2005, more than 3,500 newspapers have shuttered. On average, two close every week.
The consequences of the collapse of the local newspaper business have been severe. When communities lose their local news outlets, civic engagement drops, corruption rises, government waste increases and political polarization worsens. Communities no longer know themselves. No number of headlines about goings-on in Washington can change that.
