The purpose this article is to promote the public health, safety and general welfare of the citizens and visitors to the downtown area of Fort Worth through the regulation of placement, type, appearance and maintenance of newsracks on public rights-of-way so as to:
(a) Provide for pedestrian and driver safety and convenience;
(b) Restrict unreasonable interference with the flow of pedestrian or vehicular traffic, including, but not limited to, ingress into and egress from any residence or place of business, or from the street to the sidewalk, or from the sidewalk to the street by persons exiting or entering parked or standing vehicles;
(c) Provide for the safety of the general public and property during emergency conditions;
(d) Provide reasonable access for the use and maintenance of poles, posts, traffic signs and/or signals, hydrants, mailboxes, sidewalks, planters, pavers and access to locations used for public transportation;
(e) Allow for the placement and maintenance of newsracks in areas, as determined by the city, which afford easy, convenient service to pedestrians, but do not obstruct or interfere with access to abutting properties, and which do not impede or endanger pedestrian, bicycle or vehicular traffic;
(f) Relocate, replace and/or remove newsracks which result in visual blight and/or are not installed according to this ordinance on the public rights-of-way or which block or interfere with the aesthetics of store window displays, adjacent businesses, landscaping, street furniture, public or private, and other improvements as well as to allow the removal of abandoned newsracks;
(g) Maintain and protect the values of surrounding properties, and ensure that the aesthetics and historical attributes of the downtown area and businesses are not compromised by the unregulated placement of newsracks in the public right-of-way;
(h) Reduce unnecessary exposure of the public to personal injury or property damage;
(i) Maintain and preserve freedom of the press to distribute periodicals and newspapers; and
(j) Reduce visual blight and improve the aesthetic appearance of the city’s streets and sidewalks for the merchants, citizens and visitors to the city by coordinating the placement and number of newsracks on public rights-of-way.
(Ord. 17529, § 1, passed 5-1-2007, eff. 9-1-2007)