Two anti-billboard groups released a study yesterday suggesting that many of the thousands of billboards erected all over Philadelphia may be illegal.
That conclusion flows from a sampling of 132 billboards in two communities, the Tacony-Bridesburg area in the Northeast and the Belmont-Mantua area in West Philadelphia.
The Pennsylvania Resources Council and the Society Created to Reduce Urban Blight (SCRUB) released a report concluding that 89 percent of the billboards in the West Philadelphia sample and 59 percent of the billboards in the Tacony area had no permits on record.
L&I Commissioner Ed McLaughlin could not be reached for comment, though the report said L&I is now reviewing the report to see which billboards were erected illegally.
The report also says the city collected only $100 in annual license fees in 2000. The fee is $100 per year and there are an estimated 3,000 billboards in the city, according to the report.
But Frank Keel, Mayor Street's spokesman, said a court decision in the mid-1990s rendered fees purely voluntary.
"We're not against all billboards, but we don't think that they have a place everywhere in our communities," said Patricia Imperato, executive director of the Pennsylvania Resources Council.
The Rev. Jesse Brown, executive director of the National Association of African-Americans for Positive Imagery, said, "I'm angry because this study demonstrates again what we've already been telling you - the industry is putting up billboards illegally. And those that are illegal haven't been taken down."
City Councilman David Cohen, who pushed a landmark billboard bill in the early '90s, said flatly, "I can think of no faster way of making a major impact on the reduction of blight in the city. If I had my preference, I would ban all billboards."
Mary Tracy, SCRUB executive director, said, "We're not here to bash L&I. . .They cooperated with us in every way they could."
She said the coalition will push for more funding for L&I to regulate the industry "which has taken advantage of a beleaguered city." They also want the city to remove all illegal signs.
Finally, the group urges businesses that buy advertising to ask the question: "Will my advertising be placed on an illegal sign?" Tracy said.