The Sunnyvale Sun
News
Standardized news racks coming to Murphy Ave.
By Stephen Baxter
To clear heavily treaded sidewalks on Murphy Avenue, Sunnyvale is expected to replace its newspaper boxes with standardized racks.
The city council decided last week to replace 39 boxes with six dark brown double-stacked boxes on S. Murphy between Evelyn and Washington avenues.
The move would keep the same number of boxes, and it follows similar efforts to clean up downtown areas in Mountain View, Cupertino and Palo Alto. The program also may be expanded in other areas of Sunnyvale.
Councilman Ron Swegles said he is interested in possibly replacing more boxes.
"Some of them are in pretty dismal shape," Swegles said.
The council approved the standardized racks in a 6-0 vote, with Councilwoman Melinda Hamilton absent because of illness.
Newspaper distributors such as Silicon Valley Community Newspapers, the San Jose Mercury News and others are expected to split the installation and maintenance costs of the new racks, according to a city staff report. The racks cost more than $300 each, but representatives from the newspaper companies said they preferred to own the racks rather than the city because it reduced confusion in upkeep responsibilities, the report stated.
The 41/2 foot tall racks will have slanted tops to reduce trash accumulation, and will be bolted to the ground. They may be up to 10 feet wide.
There is one Sunnyvale Sun box on S. Murphy Avenue to be replaced, and Bean Scene and Coffee & More will continue to carry copies.
David Cohen, publisher of Silicon Valley Community Newspapers, said the move would not significantly hurt distribution.
"Since all of our newspapers are home-delivered, the news rack issue is not pertinent to our circulation," he said.
Cohen added that many standardized racks in other cities have not been properly cleaned and maintained, and failed to beautify sidewalks in the long run.
