Who wants to put their product's picture on the side of a city of Pittsburgh trash truck? Yesterday, acting City Controller Tony Pokora said it's time to find out.

Mr. Pokora released an audit on the city's stalled efforts to reel in revenue from selling naming rights to city facilities and ads on city surfaces, renting out city buildings and designating, say, an official city soft drink. He urged the city to get the effort out of neutral.

"It's an issue that's catching on across the country," he said, noting that San Diego has led the way by landing $18 million in corporate sponsorships over five years. "Cities are tapping into corporations to help defray costs."

"I think you'll see in the coming months that my administration will deal with that," said Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, adding that he'll consider hiring a city marketer.

The city wouldn't be renamed Schlitzburgh, nor would kids be frolicking in Bic Park, under Mr. Pokora's plan. Naming rights would be restricted to park pavilions, pools and places like the Schenley Ice Rink. Ads could be placed on public works vehicles.

But public safety vehicles and buildings would be off limits. Ads for tobacco, alcohol and political candidates would be banned.

Nationally, such deals take different forms.

San Diego got four companies to pay $800,000 to put their logos on a firefighting helicopter, according to the audit. New York City worked a complex deal with beverage maker Snapple that brought in $166 million over five years. A Florida town got car maker Saturn Corp. to pay for "Saturn Kids Kingdom."

The idea of tapping corporate ad dollars to fill city coffers appears in the city's recovery plan, passed in 2004. Last year the city got proposals from would-be marketing consultants, but it never hired one.

Councilman Jim Motznik and then-councilman Ravenstahl sponsored legislation to jump start ad sales, but their bills haven't been executed.

With the city wrestling with its long-term financial plan, it's time to spend $60,000 to $80,000 to hire a marketer, said Mr. Pokora.

"We're looking for ways other than raising taxes here," he said. "It'd be nice to see if we can have this instituted by the first of the year."