Editorial
City Cracks Down on Our First Amendment Rights

Have you ever thought about what it takes to publish a newspaper? What first comes to mind is reporting, writing, checking facts, editing, interviewing, assigning stories to reporters and editors, keeping up with the latest trends and the news, and dealing with important issues of the day. On a secondary level are layouts, graphics, dealing with office staff, outside printers, and truckers. The third level, and perhaps one of the most important, is disseminating the news. Education Update, an independent, non-partisan newspaper that I founded almost nine years ago after a career as a teacher and college professor, has become an integral source of positive education news that our city’s other publications have historically underserved. Since our newspaper’s launch, we have grown to inform 200,000 readers and over three million hits monthly on our website. We have interviewed some of the most illustrious people in our society, individuals who make a difference in education, medicine, law, indeed in the very fabric of our daily lives. We have provided valuable information for students, such as where they can find scholarships, or where they can attend special programs. We have advocated more attention to special education students and to those students who need additional academic help.

Free distribution has been the key to make our information as accessible as possible. Of what use is it for a concert artist to play to an empty hall? Our words and hard work can only be effective if the paper is in your hands and you read it. We drop it off in your apartment building (2000 buildings receive it), you get it in your public and private schools (we deliver it locally and mail to all others), you find it in your local supermarket or bank (we place it there with permission), it’s mailed to you at our expense, it’s distributed to our city’s public libraries (each library gets copies), and finally, you can find it in street corner boxes (just lift the door and it’s yours).

But there’s trouble in Gotham. The New York City Department of Transportation has passed new regulations that dictate where a box can be placed and how it has to look. If the box has graffiti, the publisher has to scrub it off. If the box has been vandalized, we have to replace it immediately. If there are sticky labels like the ones provided by the post office (a favorite because of their mighty glue) affixed to the sides, back or front, the publisher has to scrape them off. The publisher’s identification has to appear in a readily visible place. The box cannot be on a grate or near a crosswalk or close to a bus stop. If any of these regulations are not obeyed, penalties of $500 per box are levied. To fight the penalties, I had to appear in court. I waited for four hours to be heard. My company’s identification was obvious as soon as you opened the door to remove a newspaper. The administrative judge considered it not visible enough. I hired two people to scrub and clean the boxes. After several weeks, the light yellow and red exteriors were dirty again. Again, graffiti covered our boxes; it was a never-ending, expensive war that I could ill afford.

After paying about $2000 in fines, I have another court date in September about my dirty boxes. My assistant editor and I just spray painted several of our boxes dark blue. The city’s incentive is to collect millions of dollars in fines for its coffers, supported by some citizens who think the boxes deter the beauty of our city and want them removed.

But think of this: those multitudes of news boxes represent the freedom of the press, the freedom to share ideas with your fellowmen, the freedom to be inventive, original, challenging and daring. Walk the streets of Los Angeles and Chicago, Miami and San Francisco and you will see those brightly colored news boxes, symbols of our democracy.

Our current policy should focus on heavily fining those who do the graffiti, paste the glued papers and deface the private boxes belonging to each publisher (purchase price: $150-$200).

Small publishers are slowly being forced out of business. The dream of helping one’s fellowman, my dream, will soon be a part of the boulevard of broken dreams.