Billboard disputes

City and Lamar need to set aside differences

The ongoing disputes between Pittsburgh and Lamar Advertising over billboards around the city are serving no real purpose other than tying up the court system. It’s time for all parties to work on compromise rather than litigation.

The latest dust-up is over a billboard along Route 28 on the North Side. The city’s Urban Redevelopment Authority claims Lamar is trespassing on the property because the URA terminated the month-tomonth lease with Lamar. The authority has sued in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court to stop Lamar from using the billboard.

Lamar’s response is that it has a legal right to remain as a holdover tenant under Pennsylvania law, and the action by the city and URA amounts to little more than retaliation over the court victory Lamar won in August against the city. In that case, the city sued to stop Lamar from draping advertising banners over a Mount Washington billboard, something Mayor Bill Peduto dubbed an “eyesore.” Commonwealth Court sided with Lamar, and the advertising firm contends that led to the latest legal action.

One would be naive to believe that the timing of the latest legal action is not related to the Mount Washington billboard dispute. The Commonwealth Court ruling came in August; the URA sent Lamar a lease termination notice for the Route 28 billboard in September.

There are claims and counterclaims aplenty in this dispute, and skepticism abounds when it comes to sifting through them all. The URA claims it is being prevented from developing the property in question; Lamar says there’s nothing to develop. The advertising firm says it pays $15,000 a year in lease payments and has offered to increase that figure; the URA says Lamar failed to respond to a communication outlining new rates.

As is usually the case in most disputes of this type, the truth likely lies somewhere in between the various claims. The bottom line is that the city and Lamar would both be best served by finding a path toward agreement, and setting aside the obvious hard feelings that have infected the negotiating process.