February 13, 2012 · www.gothamgazette.com

Gotham Gazette
Loading
Recent Posts
NYC Blogs
Click here for a list of NYC blogs
Newsfeeds
Search This Blog

Something Not About Hevesi: First Amendment Versus Fires And Floods, Envy And Wrath
October 27th, 2006

One of the two gleeful editorials in the New York Post today does not mention the name “Alan Hevesi.” (although the other one is all about him). Entitled Freebies, Floods, & Fires, it expresses deep concern over “massive flooding” and “fire in the tracks” in the subway purportedly caused by….the Post’s competitors, AM New York and Metro:
“The papers, designed to be read quickly and then thrown away, blow on the tracks and clog up drains – which is what happened in the flood. An earlier MTA report found that added trash from the giveaways played a significant role in increased subway fires. “

The Post is outraged: “Let’s be perfectly honest: The Post is not a disinterested party in this affair. The free papers, after all, compete for readers and advertisers with the one you’re reading right now.
But the problem is that the publishers of the freebies don’t obey the rules, and the NYPD refuses to enforce them – out of wholly unwarranted First Amendment concerns. “

The blog Gawker seconds the Post (though perhaps they’re being snarky ): “We agree that, if nothing else, careless distribution of the papers adds to the litter and find the First Amendment rationale to be specious.”

Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign has a different take:
“The reality is that we have a record number of riders, the highest since the 1960s, and there is going to be more litter. So, the solution to me is not to blame the free newspapers, it’s to provide more cleaners for the subway.”

By Jonathan Mandell on October 27, 2006, 11:13 am
In category: Civil Rights, Gotham City, Transportation | 1 Comment »

| More

RSS Feed RSS Feed


One Response to “Something Not About Hevesi: First Amendment Versus Fires And Floods, Envy And Wrath”

  1. Daniel Millstone Says:
    October 28th, 2006 at 4:09 pm

    If is amazing how nothing ever happens that is the fault of MTA management. Newspapers on the track cause track fires. Newspapers in the drain cause flood. Cleaners who work on the right of way rid the system of litter and prevent fires and flooding. Add cleaners, have fewer fires and floods.

Leave a Reply


RSS Feed