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Tom Ferrick Jr. | Winners in court, losers in Phila. By Tom Ferrick Jr. Inquirer Columnist Let's play a game called "You Lose." It's very popular in Philadelphia. It begins in 1999, with Conrail applying to the city's Department of Licenses and Inspections to build four billboards along property it owns adjacent to I-95 and Franklin D. Roosevelt Park in South Philly. Application denied. L&I says the signs would violate the city's 1991 billboard law three ways: They'd be closer to a public park than allowed; they'd be closer to a superhighway on-ramp than permitted; and the billboard firms Conrail contracted did not plan to take down four existing boards before it put up the new ones. Conrail next went to the Zoning Board of Adjustment, the five-member board appointed by the mayor to hear appeals of L&I zoning decisions. Various community groups, Councilwoman Anna Verna, and anti-billboard activist Mary Tracy all asked the board to reject the application. But this was at the end of the Rendell administration, which smiled benignly upon the billboard industry and pretty much ignored the 1991 law. For Tracy and the community groups, the political wheel clicked to a stop under "You Lose." The board approved the billboards and up they went. Tracy and the community groups - with the help of pro-bono lawyer Sam Stretton - appealed the decision to Common Pleas Court. They won. Winning isn't everything The court ruled that the billboards violated the 1991 law and denied Conrail's claim of an economic hardship if the boards were not allowed. Conrail appealed to Commonwealth Court. It ruled in favor of Tracy and the groups. Conrail appealed to the state Supreme Court, which last November refused to consider the case. It was one of a series of legal victories for Tracy and her group, the Society Created to Reduce Urban Blight (SCRUB). Last fall, the Supreme Court upheld SCRUB in four other billboard cases. In February, L&I was preparing the papers to bring down the billboards when it was stopped in its tracks. The agency got a letter from Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller asking it to hold such actions in abeyance because she was considering introducing a bill to amend the 1991 billboard law. As a rule of thumb, a letter from a Council member is not enough to stay a ruling of the Supreme Court. But this is Philadelphia. Once again for Tracy and the community groups, the wheel went around and landed on "You Lose." It's your move Miller has yet to introduce a bill to change the billboard law. Council is in recess for the summer and won't return until after Labor Day. I called Miller yesterday. I couldn't reach her (maybe she's too busy working on her draft legislation!), but I spoke to chief aide Steven Vaughn. Vaughn told me... well, rather than go into details, allow me to summarize. He fed me a line. There is no bill now. The councilwoman isn't sure what changes she wants to make to the 1991 law. She wants to sit down "with a whole lot of folks to work it out." Well, geez, how long do you think this could take: one month, one year, five years? "Hopefully, this year," Vaughn replied. "But I don't really know." (Memo to Mary Tracy: You Lose!) Allow me to speculate on what's going on: Miller has no philosophical interest in billboards. Heck, the boards in question aren't even in her district. She is merely serving as a - hmmm, how about - pawn to segments of the industry interested in keeping those boards up and bringing in revenue. Tracy - tired of seeing the wheel land on "You Lose" even when she wins - is considering going into court, asking it to hold the relevant parties in contempt until the billboards come down. "We have done all the work for the city on these cases," she said. "The one thing we are asking them to do is enforce the law." Round and round the wheel goes. Where will it land this time? Thanks, John Ellingsworth Project Leader Virtual Curriculum -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGPfreeware 6.5.8 for non-commercial use <http://www.pgp.com> iQA/AwUBPTV8XAbexkNIm1OFEQJHvACg3fylJQBK+hngq/9YoBjyWJp3gU0An2mV iUcODSZKo9rnC8jTUiBul2IH =G2AX -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- ---- You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the list named "UnivCity." To unsubscribe or for archive information, see <http://www.purple.com/list.html>.
