Pittsburgh Councilman Bruce Kraus will push for a City Council vote Tuesday urging the cancellation of a permit and contract to put a digital billboard at Grant Street's northern end, he said yesterday.

"The public has been excluded from the process," he said of a proposed 1,200-square-foot sign allowed by city officials without public votes or hearings. Grant Street "is the Main Street of the entire city of Pittsburgh. ... People have a voice in how that Main Street progresses or doesn't progress."

Mr. Kraus said the resolution he'll introduce is nonbinding, but didn't rule out council taking other actions. Council President Doug Shields has said council may go to court to reverse the permit.

Mr. Kraus said he wants the sign permit application to go before the Zoning Board of Adjustment, the City Planning Commission and council for hearings and votes. Some city code provisions call for those measures for signs, and for Downtown construction, but Urban Redevelopment Authority Executive Director Pat Ford has argued that they don't apply.

Also a must to Mr. Kraus is a competitive process by the Pittsburgh Parking Authority to decide who gets the opportunity to put a sign on the Grant Street Transportation Center, a parking garage and Greyhound Lines station to open this summer. The building will sit at the intersection of 11th Street and Liberty Avenue, but the billboard atop the structure will face down Grant Street.

Authority officials offered the opportunity only to Lamar Advertising, as part of a deal in which it would take down six other, nearby billboards.

"Now we have other contractors coming in and saying they want the opportunity to bid," said Mr. Kraus, referring to a Post-Gazette story in which Craig Heard, president of Huntingdon-based Gateway Outdoor Advertising, said his and other firms should have had a shot at the spot.

He acknowledged that Lamar could conceivably sue if the authority scrapped its contract, which would have it paying the cost of the sign plus $3,000 a month rent, but said competitors could sue if it doesn't. "Had this followed the proper process, we wouldn't be in the position of worrying about who sues whom over what," he said.