NFL draft no-parking signs on Pittsburgh's North Side were unauthorized, city says

There are many moving pieces for any city to host the NFL draft. Parking and street closures alone can be a big headache, but some business owners along Western Avenue on Pittsburgh's North Side claimed draft preparations were negatively impacting business.

Peppi's on Western Avenue is about a 10-minute walk from Acrisure Stadium. They expected to be impacted by NFL draft traffic, but they didn't expect several no-parking signs to pop up on Sunday.

Peppi's owner, Jeff Trebac, said Western Avenue is a busy road for businesses, with limited space for parking. He said several no-parking signs showed up in front of nearly a dozen businesses on his block, days before the draft even starts. He said he kept an eye on updates about parking and road closures due to the draft.

"Not once was Western Avenue mentioned, no parking, not once," Trebac said.

He said he talked to "at least 10 different businesses (on the same street) yesterday. Wasted about two and a half hours of my time, and nobody knew about it."

As of Monday morning, the signs ran through West Park, including Brighton Road.

"It was a shock. Did I miss something? Did I not get the memo?" questioned Trebac.

Visit Pittsburgh's website promised weekly meetings for business owners. Draft maps on Monday morning also showed no planned closures along Western Avenue.

KDKA-TV received the following statement from Pittsburgh Mayor Corey O'Connor's press secretary.

"The signs were not approved by the city to be posted yesterday. We have been in touch with the permit-holding organization, who are removing them this morning."

According to the press secretary, that means the permit was for a footprint running from Ridge Avenue to the West End Bridge; to West Commons and South Commons; to Stockton and Across Worhol Avenue, which does not include Western Avenue.

The signs were removed from Western Avenue as of 1:15 p.m. Monday, according to video provided to KDKA-TV by Trebac.