A war may be erupting in Chelsea between two weekly newspaper chains: Straus News and Community Newspaper Group.

Starting Thursday, residents of the West Side neighborhood will see about 50 distribution boxes for the Chelsea News, a new weekly being introduced by Straus.

The free weekly is being spun out of the paid-circulation Chelsea Clinton News, already published by Straus.

Not to be outdone, Les Goodstein, the former Daily News and News Corp. executive who is president of Community Newspaper Group, said he will take the every-other-week circulation of rival Chelsea Now to weekly frequency “very soon. ”