The story that started it all:
Appleton Post-Crescent - August 5, 2008
Neenah seeks to regulate newspaper vending machines
Rule would add $25 permit, limit location and size
By Duke Behnke
Post-Crescent staff writer
NEENAH — City planners have introduced an ordinance to restrict the placement, style, size and color of newspaper vending machines along Neenah streets.
The ordinance, approved by a committee last week on a 4-1 vote, would require vendors to show proof of liability insurance and obtain a $25 annual permit for each machine.
"There has been a gradual increase in the number and type of newspaper vending machines within city right of way, particularly in the downtown, to the point the machines are becoming an issue for street and sidewalk maintenance, pedestrian and vehicular safety, and street aesthetics," city planner Chris Haese said.
The ordinance would restrict newspaper vending machines to locations along the curb that do not interfere with pedestrian access or public utilities.
It would require the machines to be a specified style, size and color (black), and be bolted to a concrete foundation sealed with brown caulk. The size of the lettering on the machines also would be regulated.
Ald. Nick Piergrossi opposed the ordinance in committee. He said dictating the color of the machines and size of the lettering goes too far. He said the ordinance was a prime example of overzealous government.
"I see some of this as ridiculous," Piergrossi said.
The Common Council will consider the ordinance Wednesday.
I read that article on Tuesday morning, the day it was published. I was gratified to see that my friend, Nick Piergrossi, was the only one on the committee to object to the proposed ordinance.
I decided that I was going to do something about it. I had to move quickly as the Council meeting was to take place the next night. So, I talked with Nick about the ordinance, drove into downtown Neenah to examine the vending machines there, and wrote a speech -- a long and pointed speech -- to be delivered Wednesday night.
Here is the text of that 13-1/2 minute oration:
http://www.thetowncrank.com/Home/tabid/153/EntryID/73/Default.aspx
...and here is the audio (Windows Media):
http://www.swerbach.com/speech/NeenahCouncil_6_Aug_2008.wma
[commentary by the Mayor and by the Council members on Ordinance 1374]
So, one good thing came out of that meeting: the ordinance was referred back to committee.
The Appleton Post-Crescent ran this story on the Council meeting:
August 9, 2008
Neenah officials offer tough criticism on vending machine plan
Committee told to rework rules on newspaper boxes
By Duke Behnke
Post-Crescent staff writer
NEENAH — A proposal to govern the location and look of newspaper vending machines along Neenah streets was sent back to committee this week after being criticized as the epitome of overregulation.
The ordinance would limit newspaper vending machines to spots along the curb line that do not interfere with pedestrian access or public utilities, and it would require the machines to be a specified style, size and color, and be bolted to a concrete foundation.
It also would require venders to have at least $300,000 in liability insurance and to obtain a $25 annual permit for each machine.
The restrictive nature of the ordinance quickly became fodder for criticism in online discussions and during the Common Council's public forum.
"This ordinance should be taken out behind the woodshed and killed with an ax," former Ald. Steve Erbach told the council.
Erbach ridiculed the ordinance for its "very high-sounding purposes," including the promotion of the "health, safety, morals, comfort, convenience and general welfare" of Neenah residents.
"Now I ask you, in what way do standardized newspaper vending machines promote public health?" Erbach asked. "What specific morals would be promoted by NVMs (newspaper vending machines) being bolted to the concrete?"
Ald. Nick Piergrossi criticized the specificity of the ordinance, which requires, for example, that the base of the vending machines be sealed with "a water-soluble, paintable, 10-year caulk of gloss brown color."
"This ordinance goes extremely beyond its limits, specifying brands, dimensions down to the eighth inch and the color of the caulk," Piergrossi said.
Ald. James Hemes said the ordinance appears to be an effort to regulate access to the press.
"I think it is a dangerous precedent," he said.
Mayor George Scherck said the ordinance is intended to improve aesthetics and safety, not infringe upon the freedom of the press. Still, Scherck recognized its flaws.
"This needs to be finessed," he said, "but let's not throw the whole thing out because there are some parts we don't agree with."
The Public Services & Safety Committee will reconsider the ordinance after it is re-examined by staff members.
The next scheduled Public Services and Safety Committee meeting was to take place the following Tuesday, August 12th, but that meeting was cancelled. I decided to deliver another, much shorter, address at the August 20th Council meeting. By that time I'd had correspondence with the editor of The Scene magazine, Jim Lundstrom. As I suspected, he hadn't heard a thing about the proposed ordinance, though by the time I'd written to him, two stories had appeared in the Appleton Post-Crescent.
Here is the audio of my speech before the Council on August 20th:
http://www.swerbach.com/Speech/Neenah_Council_Speech_Ord1374_0820.wma
This one's only four minutes long.
The Public Services and Safety Committee met on Tuesday, August 26th. I was there and so was Karen Harkness, the Executive Director of Future Neenah, Inc. Its mission statement reads as follows:
Future Neenah, Inc. is a community driven non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the economic and cultural vitality of Neenah.
Apparently, word had gotten out that some nut – yours truly – was trying to single-handedly derail the locomotive of city government and deep six this ordinance. So Future Neenah brought out the big guns.
(to be continued...)