EVEN IF THE CITY actually had enforced its billboard law in the past decade, Philadelphia still wouldn't look like Vermont. The 1991 City Council ordinance tried to limit billboards, not ban them.

Yet the cynicism spawned by city officials routinely ignoring the law turned out to be uglier than even the billboards that went up as a result.

Now, three court victories won by the community group SCRUB (the Society Created to Reduce Urban Blight) underscore a different message: The city must begin to enforce its own law. The Zoning Board of Adjustment no longer will get away with granting variances so obviously at variance with Philadelphia code 14-1604. In the past year, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has declined to hear appeals of three decisions by the Commonwealth Court reversing such variances.

In one case, the zoning board had OK'd a billboard on Vine Street even though it violated size limits established by law, while its location made it illegal three different ways: It was in the Vine Street Corridor, within 660 feet of an elementary school and near other billboards. In another case, then-Mayor Rendell had made a deal to allow a huge billboard to be erected on city land - even though it was too close to the Walt Whitman bridge (prohibited by the law) and the company had not agreed to remove a billboard in exchange (also required by the law.) In the third case, Conrail was allowed to put up four billboards near FDR Park in South Philadelphia, even though the ordinance prohibits billboards within 660 feet of a park. (Conrail is asking the Supreme Court to reconsider its refusal to hear the appeal.)

The court decisions mean the billboards erected under those variances will have to come down, but it took years of legal wrangling to get this far. And if it weren't for Mayor Street recently vetoing a law that would have limited taxpayer rights to appeal zoning decisions, SCRUB would have been blocked from this fight.

The billboards make big money for their owners (many of whom just happen to be political contributors) but only a pittance for the city - not enough to compensate for the fact that too many billboards make the city less attractive to tourists and potential businesses. Which is why the billboard law made sense in 1991 and why it's time now to enforce it.