SCRUB hits billboard plan
by Mark McDonald
Yesterday, the nonprofit group that's been battling the billboard industry for a generation said, "Not so fast."
The Society Created to Reduce Urban Blight (SCRUB) is set to intervene
in the suit this week, arguing that the Street administration is gutting
current billboard laws and usurping City Council's role as a lawmaker, according
to Mary Tracy, SCRUB executive director.
Under the proposed deal, the city would be rid of about 900 hated small
billboards (called 8-sheets) attached to buildings, all to be brought down
at industry expense at a cost of roughly $350,000.
An industry suit against the city's 2005 billboard law would be terminated and, in turn, the industry would be regulated under a new cooperative agreement, overseen by former state Supreme Court Justice Russell Nigro.
But Tracy said that although getting rid of the illegal 8-sheets is "commendable," it's not worth the price that Street and City Solicitor Romulo L. Diaz Jr. are willing to pay.
Street's proposed deal with Clear Channel Outdoor Inc., H.A. Steen Industries
Inc. and CBS Outdoor Inc., would enable the firms to legalize previously
illegal billboards, weaken safety inspections and elbow neighborhood groups
out of the permit process, Tracy charged.
"We'd worked with the city for 15 years and then they pull out a treacherous
agreement like this," Tracy said. "It sets a dangerous precedent.
"
Diaz said the city will be able to contest any billboard under the proposed
rules and that the regulatory process is strengthened.
"We can focus on the bad actors and bring the entire industry into
compliance," he said.
As part of the proposed settlement, the city and the three billboard companies agreed to a dramatically reduced fee structure. Under current law, the company pays $650 per sign face. A typical billboard has two sign faces.
The Street administration wants to cut that number to $300 per sign face this year and down to $50 for the period 2009 through 2013. Calling the new fees "chump change," Tracy said the proposed fee schedule "will not allow for effective oversight" by the Department of Licenses and Inspections.
Diaz said a more cost-effective regulatory process, based on industry disclosure of its signs, will allow the city to charge less for handling permits.
Not part of the proposed settlement is the industry's lawsuit in state
court against the city's new excise tax, which was included in the 2005
law.
Asked how many illegal billboards there are in the city, Tracy said the
estimates run from 200 to 1,000, not including any of the 8-sheets.
She said that in roughly 15 cases, courts have declared the billboards illegal, but the city hasn't taken action to get the signs down. Before any new certification process begins, she said those billboards should come down.
And it's the certification process that has Tracy and her supporters particularly worried. Under the proposed settlement, the companies are to produce an interim inventory of billboards in 30 days and a final, certified inventory 90 days after that.
Tracy contends the process will enable the companies to skirt zoning laws and legalize unpermitted and illegal billboards.
Lou Iatarola Jr., vice president of the Tacony Civic Association, said
his group will join with SCRUB and try to stop court approval of the deal.
He pointed to a billboard at the edge of Disston Park near the entrance
to the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge where PennDOT and a local group have spent
thousands of dollars landscaping and beautifying the gateway to the city.
"The billboard there isn't maintained. It gets graffitied and we understand that it may not be legal," he said. "We fear that this settlement will mean the legalization of many billboards in a blanket movement."
Tracy contended that the Street administration deal "could harm a group like Tacony as they continue to beautify their neighborhood. Will communities be able to weigh in on these billboards?"
Diaz said the new system will enable the city to put on the Internet all the data provided by the industry, thus helping SCRUB and other community groups.