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January 23, 2013
To The President and Members of
The Council of the City of Philadelphia:
For the following reasons - largely the same reasons that I returned disapproved the nearly identical Bill No. 110563 - I am returning herewith to your Honorable Body as disapproved Bill No. 120920, which was passed by Council at its session on December 13, 2011.
As explained in letters from the Federal Highway Administration, PennDOT and the City Solicitor attached hereto, adoption of this bill would put the City in violation of an agreement with PennDOT to exercise specific controls over outdoor advertising in the vicinity of a federal highway, and subject the City to a significant reduction in funding for City street and highway funding.
The bill would allow a very large outdoor advertising sign, up to ten thousand square feet in size, to be hung on any building in the area bounded by 6th, Spring Garden, 7th and Willow Streets. The bill specifically authorizes the sign to be "digital," meaning able to transmit an electronic picture like a television screen. The bill also establishes rules regarding where the sign can be placed. As a practical matter, the bill would be used to hang a sign on a building that houses the Electric Factory music venue and that is commonly known as the Electric Factory building, facing the Vine Street Expressway.
Attached to the bill is a document entitled "Community Benefits Agreement," which purports to provide as a gift to several public school home and school associations and one CDC a portion of the profits made on the advertising from the sign. The City is not a party to this agreement, its enforceability has not been made a condition of the authorization in the ordinance and I am advised by the City Solicitor that it is not enforceable by the City. The Solicitor has not determined whether the commitment is enforceable by the community groups.
I have disapproved this bill for several reasons. ...
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