By Neena Strichart
In the nearly ten years we’ve been publishing the Signal Tribune, we have encountered controversies galore. Some have been political in nature, while others were neighborhood issues or matters pertaining to quality of life.
Nevertheless, most of these matters have either disappeared or are deeply dormant, and new items of concern have come to light.
Years ago we ran advertising for a “gentlemen’s club” that is located out of town. The ads themselves were not in bad taste, and we decided that we would agree to run such ads because the establishments were licensed legitimate businesses.
After just a week or two of publishing the ads, we began hearing rumblings from our readership. We received calls, letters, emails and even in-person confrontations. It seems that our readers did not want to see such ads within the pages of what they deemed a “family newspaper.” We agreed to remove the ads, refund the advertiser’s money and put in place a moratorium on “gentlemen’s club” ads. Many years have passed, and we are still standing by our previous decision to honor our readers’ wishes— although we sure could use the advertising dollars.
We now face a new dilemma— should we accept ads for medicinal marijuana dispensaries?
Neither Long Beach nor Signal Hill has laws, regulations or policies in effect regarding such establishments and therefore does not issue business licenses to these merchants. Both cities are currently dealing with issues pertaining to these matters and have placed items on their agendas to help garner public input to help them establish policy.
What a quandary for us to face. Other local publications are running ads for these “collectives” and are making quite a boost in their newspapers’ coffers. With the economy being what it is, it is difficult to turn down the desperately needed revenue. One local publication sports 11 such full-color ads in its latest issue— and, believe me, that brings in a lot of green. Another weekly has just one or two this week, but I bet we’ll see more as the months go on.
What do you folks think? Should we jump on the bandwagon?
