In an unusual move, a judge has ordered that a huge illegal, wall-wrap billboard at Seventh and Callowhill Streets, visible from the Vine Street Expressway, be removed and the owner pay more than $65,000 in fines and forfeit thousands more in advertising revenue from the sign.
Anti-billboard activists say it is the first time they know of that a judge has ordered a billboard owner to forfeit ad revenue.
"Finally, there is no incentive for a billboard company to continue to break Philadelphia's outdoor advertising sign control laws," said Mary Tracy, executive director of the Society Created to Reduce Urban Blight.
The judge's decision caps years of unsuccessful appeals all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court by the building's owner, Callowhill Center Associates, and Callowhill partner Myron Berman to have the billboard made legal.
During those appeals, the building's owners continued to generate revenue from the 65-foot-by-100-foot vinyl mesh sign. It currently displays a Subaru ad featuring world-renowned cyclist Lance Armstrong.
"For years, that sign was up there making money," Tracy said. "It's this attitude that you have such a slim chance that the city's going to enforce the law, and even if you do get caught, it's worth it."
The city's Zoning Board of Adjustment granted a variance for the sign in April 2001, but a Common Pleas Court judge reversed the board's decision later that year, setting off Callowhill's and Berman's string of appeals.
Berman could not be reached for comment yesterday. His attorney, Marianne Brown, said neither she nor her client would comment on the judge's ruling.
Barry Rush, president of Metro Lights L.L.C. in New York, which used to help Callowhill find advertisers for the billboard, was mentioned in the judge's ruling. But Rush said the company severed its ties with Callowhill several years ago.
Common Pleas Court Judge Alan K. Silberstein on Monday cited a variety of reasons the billboard violates city laws.
Such signs are banned in the Vine Street Parkway special control area, he said, and the wall wrap, at 9,750 square feet, "far exceeds" the maximum allowed sign area of 1,000 square feet.
The judge called the sign "a public nuisance" and a "threat" to health, safety and welfare. He gave the building owner 30 days to remove the wall wrap and issued a $150-a-day fine, starting from Dec. 17, 2002, for every day that the wrap stays up - a total that amounted to $65,850 as of Monday.
It was on Dec. 17, 2002, that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court denied Berman's appeal. Berman then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which denied his appeal in June.
Silberstein also ordered that the owner forfeit all advertising revenue received from the sign starting from Dec. 17, 2002, and send it to a trust that will benefit Philadelphia residents. He said the owner "knew that its actions were illegal and either knew or should have known that any profits from the wall wrap display would have to" go to the citizens of Philadelphia.
The judge also ordered the building owners to place the fines in an escrow account, pending further court action.
Joseph Kuter, Subaru's corporate counsel based in Cherry Hill, said the company never would have advertised on the billboard if it had known it was illegal. But Kuter said Subaru had been led to believe the billboard was legal. He also said Subaru has notified Callowhill that it would not renew its contract for the ad when the contract expires March 31.