Billboard battle was a waste
It took seven years and untold — literally, untold — numbers of man-hours and money to reach a conclusion that could have been settled on long ago: a Mount Washington billboard will remain a part of Pittsburgh’s landscape until and unless the owner chooses to remove it.
The state Supreme Court has issued the final word (short of a federal appeal) on the matter, disagreeing with the city’s contention that the billboard is an illegal use.
The grudge match between Pittsburgh and Lamar Advertising, and a grudge match it was, dragged through the municipal and state courts for seven years. Lamar owns the billboard, which has occupied the site for nine decades and has been used to advertise for Alcoa, Sprint, the National Flag Foundation, Bayer and Iron City Beer — which is being advertised now as it had been some 70 years ago.
A spokesman for Mayor Bill Peduto said he is disappointed by the 4-3 ruling but is “ready to move on.” It’s about time.
The court battle dealt losses to Pittsburgh repeatedly, after a favorable local zoning board decision. Despite the adverse rulings from the county court and Commonwealth Court, the city kept fighting and kept spending taxpayer dollars to do so, in amounts publicly untabulated. Lamar had to pony up money for litigation, too.
It was all for naught, leaving the community to wonder what exactly was the cost of these go-nowhere legal battles. The question centered on whether a vinyl static drape over the existing electronic sign constituted a different — and illegal — use.
In a 14-page ruling written by Justice David Wecht, the high court stated that the “record here does not support the board’s legal conclusion that, by draping the vinyl static sign over the existing electronic sign and sign structure, Lamar violated [the zoning code].”
Mr. Peduto has called the billboard an “eyesore.” Many may agree with him. It’s irrelevant. Because one person’s definition of ugly, even many people’s definition of ugly, does not trump another’s property rights when the use of that property has been deemed legal. And that’s been the case with the Lamar billboard almost from the start.