Billboard firm sues 5 council members
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Lamar Advertising filed a civil lawsuit yesterday against five members of Pittsburgh City Council, alleging that they have "developed a plot, under the auspices of their elected office" to nix a permit for a 1,200-square-foot digital billboard slated for the Grant Street Transportation Center, Downtown.
The Louisiana-based billboard company sued council President Doug Shields and his colleagues William Peduto, Patrick Dowd, Bruce Kraus and Ricky Burgess, all of whom have filed appeals of the permit with the city's Zoning Board of Adjustment.
The complaint filed in Common Pleas Court says Lamar has spent $2 million on the billboard, and demands that it be "made whole by the Defendants for any losses or damages caused" by the council members' "breach of Plaintiff's rights."
"The allegations are unsubstantiated, and they provide no background on them," said Mr. Peduto. "It seems like the latest tack in a week's worth of intimidation efforts by Lamar and their attorneys, which seems like the wrong approach to me ... It appears to be an act of desperation. We've done nothing wrong, other than defending the public's right to due process."
Last week, Lamar subpoenaed council members and staff demanding communications between them and city Planning Department staff and the media, including the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and scheduled depositions. Attorney Hugh McGough, representing four council members, has sought to quash the requests.
The complaint alleges that council members or staff knew, or should have known, about the billboard permit before a Feb. 12 article in the Post-Gazette. After the Post-Gazette wrote about a zoning administrator's decision to allow the billboard, council members "called for 'investigations,' 'hearings' and the permits and approvals for the same to be 'rescinded,'" the complaint says. Then they "met, clandestinely and secretly, to discuss the initiation of litigation to challenge the issuance of the permits for the billboards."
First Published April 9, 2008 12:00 am
