Spring Garden St. 'Wall Wrap' Ad Is Dead on Mayor Nutter's Veto
By Mike Dunn
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- As Philadelphia City Council closed out its 2011 calendar today with a final meeting, a plan for a controversial "wall wrap" advertisement on a building near 6th and Spring Garden Streets was nixed, thanks to the mayor's veto.
First District councilman Frank DiCicco, in his final Council meeting before retiring, wasn't surprised to receive the mayor's veto of the bill that would have changed the zoning to allow the wall wrap ad.
The measure would have permitted the Electric Factory building, near 6th and Spring Garden, to have one side covered with advertising, facing drivers arriving into town via the Ben Franklin Bridge.
Even though the bill originally passed with 12 votes (see related story) -- enough for an override -- DiCicco opted not to call for an override vote.
"Some of my colleagues may not have been comfortable with really supporting the bill but were doing me a favor, if you will, on the way out the door. And I didn't want to put them in that situation," DiCicco said today.
So, the proposal is dead.
Nutter felt the wall wrap could have jeopardized federal transit funding because of its proximity to the Vine Street Expressway.
