Lamar Advertising is in a long running dispute with the city of Pittsburgh over the Mt Washington sign.  The dispute is before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court after Lamar prevailed in lower courts.  The Pittburgh Gazette says the PA Supreme Court appears skeptical of the city of Pittsburgh’s case to make Lamar take down the Mt Washington Sign.  During the hearing one Justice said that the record of the case “reads as if for some reason some reason somewhere in the city, people got angry at Lamar and decided they were going to punish it with an unnecessary fight.”

The city got caught trying to have it two ways.  The city argued that the sign violates the zoning code because the structure has been increased from 4,500 square feet to 7,200 square feet.  A judge noted that the occupancy certificated indicated the sign is 7,200 square feet in size.  And Lamar’s attorney pointed out that when Lamar sought to modernize the sign in 2014 the city acted as if the sign was 7,200 square feet by charging a $10/square foot permit fee of $72,000.

The city’s actions make Insider think of the White Queen in Lewis Carroll’s Alice Through the Looking Glass.

Alice: “One can’t believe impossible things.”

The White Queen:  “I daresay you haven’t had much practice…Why sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”

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