Honorable Mayor and Councilmembers,
I rarely, if ever, have agreed with Dave Price on an issue, but when it comes to instituting fees for news racks, we are completely aligned.
I understand the city is looking for ways to close a budget gap, particularly with the loss of VLF revenue from the state. But penalizing services that provide a free community good is not the answer.
Print newspapers are among the last physical touchpoints for local news in a world that increasingly pushes everything online. As a parent, I genuinely value bringing home the Daily Post or the Almanac and seeing my middle schooler pick them up…reading, learning, and connecting with what’s happening in our community. It fosters a real sense of place and belonging that’s hard to replicate digitally.
News racks also contribute to the vitality of our already struggling downtown. Picking up a paper is often what brings me there in the first place.
If we make it harder for these papers to exist and be accessible, we should ask: where will our local news come from, and what do we lose when it’s gone?
Not every gap should be closed by widening another. Please look elsewhere for revenue.
Thank you,
Julie Hartstein
