Wednesday, May 14, 2008

And The Feud Escalates


Are things really so out-of-control here in Pittsburgh? Yea, Lamar Advertising erected a multi-million dollar, 1200 sq ft LED sign in broad daylight, in the middle of Downtown, without permits, without approvals. And true, when caught, Lamar completely disregarded a (belated) mayoral directive to cease construction, instead speeding up the assembly in a brazen push to “beat the clock.” And yes, they additionally sued five city councilmen who filed appeals with the zoning board in an attempt to get a handle on the run-away situation. But is all of this really so horrible? So unusual?

As it turns out … no. (Read More)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

pay the damn LEGAL bill and let's get a citizens petition to have the attorney general conduct an investigation OF ALL OF THESE stupid ass goings on.

Look, these Council Members who stood up for THE LAW AND THE LEGAL PROCESS deserve a break and some PUBLIC SUPPORT INSTEAD OF DITHERING HERE IN THE BLOGS.

The LNMAR 4 have been beat up, intimidated and they have their own political limitations as well.

How's bout we, the people of Pittsburgh take the responsibility for getting to the bottom of all of this!

So here is a petition. Copy, paste, circulate, get signitures. Mail petitions to the PA attorney general.


Tom Corbett
Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General
16th Floor
Strawberry Square
Harrisburg, PA 17120

It's an of the people by the people for the people thing. Get the AG to get to work and clean up this mess.

PETETION

WE THE UNDERSIGNED RESIDENTS OF THE CITY OF PITTSBURGH HAVE SERIOUS CONCERNS RELATED TO THE FUNCTIONS OF OUR LOCAL GOVERNMENT. WE HAVE NO CONFIDENCE THAT LOCAL AUTHORITIES CAN FAILY AND WITHOUT PREJEDICE INVESTIGATE THE MATTERS BELOW.

THE CITY GOVERNMENT HAS ACTED TO ALLOW AN ILLEGAL BILLBOARD OWNED BY LAMAR ADVERTISING TO BE ERECTED.

THE DIRECTOR OF THE URA, MR. PAT FORD IS ON LEAVE AND UNDER INVESTIGATION BY THE STATE ETHICS COMMISSION AS A RESULT OF AN IMPROPER RELATIONSHP WITH A LAMAR LOBBYIST.

MR. FORD, AS PLANNING DIRECTOR AND THE URBAN REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY HAS ALSO HAD INTERVENED ON BEHALF OF A LOCAL REAL ESTATE COMPANY HEADED BY A CONVICTED FELON TO ALLOW ILLEGAL BUILDING PERMITS TO BE ISSUED.

MR. FORD RENTED AN APRTMENT FROM THIS AME CONVICTED FELON'S AND HAS REFUSED TO DISCLOSE WHAT, IF ANY, RENT WAS PAID.

THE DEPARTMENT OF LAW HAS ISSUED CONTROVERSIAL LEGAL OPINIONS AND HAS FAILED TO PROVIDE THE COUNCIL WITH OPINIONS IN A TIMELY MANNER ON THE LAMAR ZONING CODE VIOLATIONS AND OTHER MATTERS.

THE LAW DEPARTMENT NOW ACCUSES OUR REPRESENTATIVES OF CONFLICTS OF INTEREST BASED UPON THEIR OBJECTIONS TO THE CITY CODE VIOLATIONS BY LAMAR.

WE DEMAND THAT THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL CONDUCT A THROUGH AND COMPREHENSIVE INVESTIGATION INTO THESE MATTERS TO DETERMINE IF THE LAWS OF THE COMMONWEALTH OR CITY CODE WERE BROKEN.

WE DEMAND THAT THE ATTORNEY GENERAL INVESTIGATE WHY A STATE AUTHORITY, THE PARKING AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF PITTSBURGH, ISSUED A NO BID CONTRACT, WITHOUT BOARD APPROVAL TO ALLOW LAMAR TO ERECT AN ILLEGAL BILLBOARD ON PUBLIC PROPERTY. MR. FORD WAS CHAIR OF THE PARKING AUTHORITY AT THE TIME.

WE DEMAND THAT THE ATTORNEY GENERAL INVESTIGATE WHY THE PITTSBURGH STADIUM AUTHORITY SOLD PUBLIC LAND TO THE PITTSBURGH STEELERS WELL BELOW MARKET RATE ($0.80 A SQ. FT.) WITHOUT STADIUM AUTHORITY BOARD APPROVAL.

WE DEMAND THAT THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY AND ALL LAW BREAKING IN THESE MATTERS BE BROUGHT TO JUSTICE AND RESTORE OUR FAITH IN OUR INSTITUTIONS OF GOVERNMENT IN THE CITY OF PIITSBURGH.

NAME ADDRESS ZIP CODE

Anonymous said...

http://docs.google.com/View?docid=d53p42p_24gcdhsgdg

copy of the council letter to ethics commission.

Anonymous said...

well char are you going to circulate the petition or not?