City Council Will Consider Appeal Of Defunct Mass Ave. Newsstand

The Cambridge City Council has authorized an investigation into the closing of Printed Matter Inc., an unroofed newsstand which ceased to operate last week after five months of business at 1210 Mass Ave.

Richard Skinner, manager of Printed Matter, appeared at a City Council meeting last Monday and blamed a Cambridge zoning law for the newsstand's failure. He said an investigation was necessary to look into what he termed "underhanded business" in the affair.

Freeze

The law in question froze business construction in the area of Skinner's newsstand prior to his purchase of the property. As a result, he has not been able to enlarge the premises to make the business more profitable, he said.

Two weeks ago, Skinner asked the Board of Zoning Appeals for a zoning variance to enlarge his newsstand, but the Board has postponed its decision for a month.

Pamphlet

In a recent pamphlet on their zoning problems, the owner of Printed Matter said, "If we had gone about things differently, perhaps paying certain city officials for the privilege to exist, we might now have a business that wouldn't be an eyesore... But we paid no one, and do not intend to."

City Manager John Corcoran, who is in charge of the City's investigation into the matter, said yesterday that he will have his information available in two weeks. Corcoran added that he "will investigate all the facts" but refused to indicate what direction the investigation will take.

Sheldon Cohen, owner of out-of-town News Service and a Harvard Square newspaper distributor for 28 years, yesterday said his company had nothing to do with the closing of Printed Matter Inc.

"They closed their own doors and should have examined the economies of business before," Cohen said.