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Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Unisys sign dispute gets a speedy hearing
This is an artist's rendering of one of the proposed Unisys signs for Two Liberty Place.

Here's a PhillyClout zoning pop quiz:  What Center City skyscraper issue is so contentious that former Democratic mayoral candidate Tom Knox, Greater Philadelphia Film Office Sharon Pinkenson and Bon Jovi band-mate Richie Sambora have all written to the city Zoning Board of Adjustment to object?

Answer: It's the Unisys corporate logo dispute, of course.  The Blue Bell-based technology firm has a lease to relocate its headquarters to Two Liberty Place and wants the ZBA to approve a request to hang two 16-foot-tall illuminated red signs from the 37th and 38th floors declaring its name to the skyline.

The ZBA held a hearing on July 24 but had to continue it because there were too many people there to testify and too many facts to consider.  ZBA chairwoman Susan Jaffe told the crowd the hearing would continue in September.  But attorneys representing people opposed to the sign, in letters to the ZBA, said the agency started pushing for a faster schedule.  The new hearing date is tomorrow at 9 a.m. 

PhillyClout noted that the ZBA web site has an agenda for future hearings all the way to December but this particularly controversial matter was nowhere to be found on that agenda.  The Department of Licenses and Inspections called that an oversight and put up a notice on the web site this afternoon.

Knox and Sambora, by the way, oppose the sign along with their fellow condo owners in Two Liberty Place because they fear it could detract from their new high-end digs.  Pinkenson worries the sign will impact whether filmmakers want to put the city's skyline on the big screen.

Posted by Chris Brennan @ 3:39 PM  Permalink | 3 comments
Comments   
Comment removed.
Posted 07:30 PM, 08/13/2008
TheReck82
I thought unisys was one of those big computer companies?
Posted 08:43 PM, 08/13/2008
Mark55
They were very big years ago. They may have invented the stupid terms "downsizing" and "righsizing" used by the idiots in corporate America. All of them.
3 comments
About Chris Brennan and Catherine Lucey
PhillyClout
Chris Brennan, a native Philadelphian and graduate of Temple University, joined the Daily News in 1999. He has written about SEPTA, the Philadelphia School District, the legalization of casino gambling, state government, the mayor, the governor, City Council and political campaigns.

Catherine Lucey joined the Daily News in 2002. Since then she has written about murderous drug gangs, political protesters and Harry Potter. For the past two years, she covered the 2007 mayoral election. Now that the battle is over, she has moved down to the City Hall bureau where she will report on the Nutter administration.
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Catherine Lucey
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