According to Bay City News, a group of about 200 people converged on City Hall today to protest David Chiu's proposed ban on unsolicited Yellow Pages - proving once again that San Francisco can get a crowd together to protest pretty much anything.

The Yellow Pages supporters, who would like to continue leaving their weighty directory of local businesses on your doorstep every year, appear to be mostly electricians and appliance repair companies who claim the books continue to bring in new customers. Switching the Yellow Pages to an opt-in situation, the repairpeople argue, would reduce the number of "customers" (if someone who has unwillingly received a directory of advertisements can be called a customer) and harm their businesses. Likewise, a spokesperson for the Yellow Pages spoke up for the paper-based system saying, "seven out of 10 people still use phone books."

In his own statement, Chiu said he was "not surprised by this well-funded opposition, but it's important that San Franciscans know the facts, and the fact is that this legislation is not a ban on the yellow pages and will not harm small businesses or other communities in San Francisco." As Chiu has pointed out in the past, San Francisco gets about 1.6 million phonebooks per year - or two for every resident.

Previously on SFist: San Francisco to Consider Unsolicited Yellow Pages Ban
[BCN/SFAppeal]