Pittsburgh Wrestling With New LED Billboards

"Pittsburgh City Council today passed a six-month moratorium on approving or erecting advertising billboards to give lawmakers time to write tighter zoning restrictions on the roadside placards -- particularly brightly lit, electronic ones.

"This is not about being unfriendly to business in any way, shape or form," said Councilman Bruce Kraus. "This is about taking a break to catch up with the technology of today."

The moratorium passed unanimously after a last-minute amendment stripped language that made the bill retroactive to March 12. Advertising companies have submitted dozens of billboard proposals in recent weeks in an attempt to beat when the moratorium takes effect.

"I would hope ... we could somehow put a policy in place in regards to swapping regular billboards for LED (billboards), which is what I think started this whole discussion," said Councilman Jim Motznik."