Permit fee proposed for news racks

Tuesday, July 28, 1998 | 11:03 a.m.

The Las Vegas City Council is proposing a $25-a-year permit fee on each news rack in the downtown area.

The proposed ordinance, similar to a Clark County measure that is in effect along the Strip and in other resort-zoned areas, will go before a recommending committee composed of Councilmen Michael McDonald and Larry Brown at 4 p.m. Monday at City Hall.

It is not expected to go before the full council for final vote until late August or early September.

In other action on bills, the council unanimously approved three measures that will annex more than 50 acres of Clark County land into the city's limits. They are:

In addition to the news-rack bill, five other proposed ordinances, four of which deal with the latest editions of the uniform administrative, building, mechanical and plumbing codes, also were sent to the McDonald-Brown recommending committee.

The areas affected if the council passes the news-rack measure in its present form are parts of Fremont Street, Charleston Boulevard, Las Vegas Boulevard, Paradise Road and Sahara Avenue and some residential roads.

City officials say the city bill mirrors Clark County's. County officials say the news racks, if they become cluttered and force pedestrians to walk in the streets, present a public safety danger.

News agencies and other critics of the bill say the city's action would restrict the public's access to the news.

The ordinance would require news agencies to acquire a numbered identification permit for each rack from the city's Public Works Department at a cost of $25 apiece, with annual renewal fees of $25 and replacement fees of $10 for lost or stolen tags.

The ordinance also would limit where news racks can be placed -- for instance, "not within 6 feet of any public area improved with lawn, flowers, shrubs, trees or other landscaping." The county ordinance allows news racks within 3 feet of such improvements.

News racks without permits would be subject to seizure. The bill also seeks to boost the fees for agencies to recover seized racks from the current $50 charge to $75. The county charges $75 to release seized news racks to their owners.