Mailboxes, News Racks Near Staples Removed

Citing the need for tight security during next week’s Democratic National Convention, Los Angeles city officials have ordered media outlets to remove dozens of sidewalk news racks around Staples Center, while the U.S. Postal Service has carted off nearly 60 mailboxes in the area.

City officials also have asked publishers to voluntarily remove racks from Pershing Square, MacArthur Park and other areas outside the immediate security zone that are likely venues for street protests.

In those outer areas, city inspectors have aggressively stepped up enforcement of a municipal law that allows news racks to be removed if they pose a danger to the public, sit too close to a bus bench or fail to meet a host of other conditions.

The city is following the advice of the Los Angeles Police Department and the U.S. Secret Service in pursuing its new removal policy. The two agencies made their recommendations after violent protests in Seattle last year. News racks were thrown through a store window in Seattle during protests over the World Trade Organization.

More recently, crowds vandalized news racks, mailboxes and trash cans--and used some of the items to damage nearby businesses--after the Los Angeles Lakers won the National Basketball Assn. championship at Staples Center.

“If you look at the media footage [from Seattle], you’ll see the racks . . . become weapons and obstacles against traffic,” said Cmdr. Tom Lorenzen, head of the LAPD’s convention planning unit. “We’ve definitely seen this before.”

Most of the city’s media outlets are quietly complying with the order, in a distinct contrast to similar circumstances before the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia. Newspapers there fought a city order to remove news stands and won.

The security measures reflect the sort of extra scrutiny that is routinely applied to national political conventions. Authorities have been known to weld down manhole covers, remove mailboxes and place marksmen on rooftops to protect the president and other high-ranking government officials.

On Monday, the Los Angeles Board of Public Works joined in with its news rack measure.

Citing a “clear and present danger to the public from terrorists,” the board passed a motion asking its Bureau of Street Services to “direct publishers of newspapers, periodicals or other publications” to remove their racks from an 80-square-block zone around Staples Center.

The zone is bounded by Grand Avenue on the east, Oak and Albany streets on the west, 8th Street on the north and Washington Boulevard on the south. It is roughly two blocks larger on each side than an existing security area that has been set up for the convention.

Most publications were complying with the order, and just a few expressed objections that their 1st Amendment rights were violated. Some groused about the short notice.

The Los Angeles Times had removed all of its news racks from the security zone--a total of 83--over the last three weeks at the request of city officials.

But the paper objected to removing additional units outside the security area that were not in violation of city regulations.

“The Times is always concerned about 1st Amendment rights being restricted or curtailed, especially during such an important political event,” said Rhonda Heth, a Times attorney.

The Spanish-language newspaper La Opinion had not removed its racks from the designated secure area by Wednesday and received at least seven warning tags from inspectors.

“Right now, we’re removing about 17 of them, but will probably need to take out a bunch more,” said Jose Rojas, who is in charge of the news racks for the paper.

Employees of Working World Magazine were removing more than 30 racks from the security zone and surrounding areas.

“It’s a major inconvenience, and I don’t quite understand their logic,” said publisher Richard Rhodes.

Rhodes said three of his racks were vandalized and thrown into a bonfire after the Lakers championship, but he attributed such activity to alcohol and doubts that it would be a problem during the protests. Bolted down, the racks are hard to rip off the sidewalk, he says.

“I think their biggest concern will be cars with bombs and trucks with bombs,” said Rhodes. “I think they’ve gone way overboard.”

The Los Angeles Downtown News was preparing for the convention by bolting down all of its racks when it was told to remove them. The operations manager, Dawn Eastin, said the company was not given any options to secure the racks with cables or chains.

The reaction here stands in sharp contrast to that in Philadelphia. Authorities there wanted the city’s newspapers and magazines to remove more than 2,000 news racks in the Center City area. A coalition of newspapers balked and negotiated a solution after meeting with city leaders and police. Rather than remove news racks, media outlets secured the structures with cables.

As a result, only one or two news racks were overturned during the convention, and they were promptly removed, causing no damage, city officials said.

“It was a very successful joint endeavor,” said Debora Russo, the city’s deputy managing director. “We contacted all the publishers. The police worked it out with the publishers in the managing director’s office.”

Katherine Hatton, general counsel to the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News, called the Los Angeles measure “an overreaction.”

“You can secure [news racks] in a way that should allay the fears that they will become projectiles,” she said. “I think there is a way to make this work.”

Postal Service officials are not taking any chances.

Postal officials, acting on a request from the Secret Service, are removing 58 mailboxes within a one-mile radius around Staples Center--a fraction of the 3,000 mailboxes in Los Angeles. Postal officials are trying to guard against protesters ripping mailboxes from their foundation and using them to cause damage. Officials also are wary of a bomb being placed in one of the units.

“We want to help ensure that our guests have an enjoyable and safe visit while they’re in Los Angeles,” said Larry Dozier, a Postal Service spokesman.

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Times staff writers Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson, Beth Shuster and correspondent Richard Winton contributed to this story.

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Boxes to Go

Los Angeles city officials and federal officials are removing sidewalk newspaper boxes and mailboxes in a large area around Staples Center during the Democratic National Convention because of safety concerns. Below are the boundaries within which most of the boxes will be removed.

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Sources: U.S. Postal Service, Los Angeles Board of Public Works *