Moorpark Drops News Rack Ban

Fearing that the city might run into constitutional problems, the Moorpark City Council has dropped a proposal for an outright ban on newspaper racks in the Civic Center but is considering instead requiring newspaper owners to buy liability insurance for racks on any public right of way.

The publishers of the city’s two local newspapers said Tuesday that requiring insurance in the event that someone is injured using or tripping over a news rack would be ridiculous.

“I can’t see how the city is serving the need of the community by imposing these restrictions . . . news racks have been around a lot longer than any of those damned council members have been without one incident of damage,” said Daniel J. Schmidt, publisher of the Moorpark Mirror.

Schmidt said this latest twist in a continuing controversy over newspaper racks has done nothing to change his belief that council members “are trying to get at the Mirror.”

Charges Retaliation

The long-simmering news rack controversy flared in early June when the Moorpark Mirror carried a story and an editorial critical of a dinner sponsored by a bonding firm attended by several members of the City Council and staff.

After the articles were published, the city Parks and Recreation Commission recommended that all news racks be removed from the Civic Center patio. The Mirror was the only paper with a rack there. Schmidt charged that the recommendation was in retaliation for the articles.

On Monday night, when the proposed ban finally came up for council discussion, council members decided to drop the ban because of possible problems with First Amendment guarantees of free speech.

Instead, the council decided to look into an ordinance that would regulate all news racks on public rights of way, said City Atty. Cheryl Kane.

After a heated exchange Monday night between Schmidt and Councilman James Weak, the council asked Kane to bring back for review in two weeks an ordinance that she had prepared for the city of Glendora requiring news rack owners to carry liability insurance. She said such a requirement is fairly common.

Asked how much other cities require in liability insurance, Kane said the amounts range from $300,000 to $500,000.

Knock at ‘Little People’

Peggy Ford, publisher of the Moorpark News, the second local paper, also criticized the insurance proposal.

“It is, shall we say, ridiculous,” Ford said in an interview Tuesday. “It would sound in a way that they are trying to put the little people out of the way,” said Ford, who added that she would buy the insurance if required. She estimated that it would cost her paper about $1,000 a year, whereas Schmidt estimated the amount to be $300.

Both publishers said the debate on the issue is wasting time that the council could better spend on more pressing matters.

But Weak, who has continually denied any attempt by the council to strike at the Mirror, said Tuesday that all the city is trying to do is protect itself from lawsuits.