All Over Albany

Phone book relief!

Help is on the way!

Phone book relief is coming to Albany! Last night A-Town's common council unanimously passed councilman Joe Igoe's ordinance restricting the delivery of phone books in the city.

No, it won't keep them from delivering a book to you-- but it's a start. Here's what it does do.

Under the new ordinance, phone books can't be left more than ten feet from a home or in a driveway. They also can't be left at vacant buildings. But maybe the most important thing is that the information to opt out of delivery must now be clearly listed on the first page or in the index of the phone book.

Igoe says the Yellow Pages Association sent some folks to lobby against the ordinance last night. It didn't work, but while they were there they let go of a key piece of info they'd been sitting on for the year that they've known he was working on this thing. Apparently, if you want to opt out of delivery, all you have to do is go to -- yellopagesoptout.com. Nice.

Since the books have already been distributed this year, things won't change much until 2010. The city won't police the phone book companies, but if residents complain about violations, the phone book companies will face fines under the city's handbill ordinance.

photo: Flickr user Wallula Junction