Jeanne Straus, President of Straus News, looks over issues of her company’s newly acquired New York City weeklies with William Pecover, Tom Allon and Richard Burns of Manhattan Media. Photo by Aaron Adler.

Straus News, a leading community news publisher and owner of weeklies in the tri-state region, today acquired Manhattan’s premiere weekly newspapers.

The weeklies include one of New York City’s best-known papers, Our Town, along with its sister publications Our Town Downtown, The West Side Spirit, The Chelsea Clinton News and The Westsider, as well as NYPress.com.

These papers reach more than 180,000 unique weekly print and digital readers through free distribution to more than 3,000 upscale Manhattan apartment buildings, news boxes and in-store racks.

NYC roots

The purchase also puts the papers into the hands of a successful publisher owned by a family with longtime roots in New York City.

With the acquisition, the Straus family re-enters the New York City media market. The family made radio history when it owned WMCA Radio, 570 AM. Playing rock n roll in the 1960s, and known to Baby Boomers as the “Home of the Good Guys,” Straus-owned WMCA ranked #1 as the most listened to New York City radio station.

Later, the Straus family transformed WMCA Radio into New York’s premiere talk radio station, with well-known hosts such as Barry Gray, who also wrote regularly for Our Town.

“We’re committed to local news and covering the issues that matter to people’s everyday lives,” said Straus News Publisher Jeanne Straus, who lives in West Side Spirit territory. “We relish the opportunity to take over publishing these terrific papers in the greatest city in the world.”

Tom Allon, the long-time publisher/editor of the Manhattan Newspaper Group, will remain as president and CEO of Manhattan Media.

“I’m very happy that we have found in Straus News a buyer who understands community journalism, the neighborhoods of Manhattan and recognizes the need to keep these five newspapers vibrant parts of our city,” Allon said. “After more than a quarter century of being involved with West Side Spirit and Our Town, I look forward to being a regular reader of these award-winning publications.”

Richard Burns, general partner of Isis and chairman of Manhattan Media, added: “We’ve been pleased and proud owners of the newspapers for more than a decade. They’ve not only played important roles in their communities but have also produced consistent financial returns for us. We know that Straus News has the know-how and commitment to make these papers a continuing vital part of the New York landscape.”

Following today’s sale, Isis continues to own and produce media properties like New York Family, the New York Baby Show, City & State (for professionals in city and state government in New York), as well as AVENUE magazine and Dan’s Papers LLC in the Hamptons.

Isis bought the newspapers it is selling in 2001.

About Straus News

Prior to acquiring these five publications, Straus News has been publishing nine local weekly newspapers and associated Web sites in the New York-New Jersey- Pennsylvania region.

Straus News also publishes Dirt, a magazine covering the local “green scene.”

Owned for decades by the Straus family, the papers focus on neighborhood issues that matter to people’s everyday lives, with a commitment to reporting the tough local stories while highlighting neighborhood successes and achievements.

The newspapers have won numerous awards for news coverage and editorial and advertising excellence, including first place for in-depth reporting for a series about heroin addiction and a prestigious National Education Writers Award.

The newspapers are distributed weekly to more than 80,000 homes.

Points are awarded for differing health violations. Two points are deducted for minor problems such  as improper thawing techniques,  while critical violations that could be considered health hazards (such as hot or cold food being stored in improper temperatures) will cost a restaurant up to 10 points. However, if a restaurant doesn’t earn a grade of A during the initial inspection, they are able to appeal to the DOH and post a “grade pending” sign. According to City and State, the average grade in New York City, from the program’s inception in Aug. of 2010 to Dec. 2011, is a B.

An interesting (and stomach churning) divide is illustrated in the study that was released. It seems that some cultural cuisines are cleaner than others with German, Polish, and Bangladeshi restaurants getting the dubious honor of the highest number of violations per inspection. The city’s 24 Bangladeshi establishments, which garner average of 14.7 violations every time the health inspector comes around still get a grade of an A 58 percent of the time. In contrast, Pakistani establishments, which represent the mean of average scores, have nearly half of their locations posting a grade of B or Grade Pending.

Did the Department of Health consider the somewhat politically incorrect nature of the formatting of this report? Is dividing cuisine by country of origin P.C.?

Critics of the new system say that it was devised as a new source of revenue which is costing small businesses thousands of dollars. Currently fines are levied to all restaurants with violations, even those who earn an A. According to Andrew Rigie, the Director of Operations for the New York State Restaurant Association, the increased frequency of inspections is also forcing these restaurants to spend money on sanitation consultants, as well as attorneys to represent them during the appeals.

The city introduced the new system as a way to fast track restaurants into correcting health violations. Indeed many of them have cleaned up their act to get better grades. Pak Nashamen, a Coney Islandbased Bangladeshi restaurant, earned a stomach churning 111 points on an inspection in Sept. of 2011. This inspection wasn’t graded and they appealed the decision. During a follow up six days later, Pak Nashamen only racked up two points of violations. If that’s not progress, I don’t know what is.