They made it to this meeting.

More than 100 West Quincy residents who felt hoodwinked by a zoning board decision to allow an 82-foot billboard in their neighborhood persuaded city councilors to ask the zoning board to reconsider.

They also won a promise that City Solicitor James Timmins would plead the city’s case to the state Highway Department.

“We should be taking it down,” said City Councilor Leo Kelly about the sign at Biondi’s Service Center.

The large crowd was in sharp contrast to the turnout at the zoning board meeting that approved the billboard: one person.

Residents say they were not properly informed of that meeting, and a city computer glitch left some neighbors off the notification list.

“We won’t sit back and let someone else’s poor decision-making affect our lives,” said Ross Stiffler, a Crescent Street resident.

“The discord, mistrust and anger this has caused I would wish on no one,” said Tom Maloney, a neighboring business owner who was not legally notified of the first zoning board meeting that approved the billboard.

Nearly 40 people spoke at a two-hour hearing before the council’s oversight committee meeting. Many complained about the sign’s appearance – the word “monstrosity” was frequently used – while others were upset about a perceived lack of notification from Ward 4 Councilor Jay Davis.

Davis defended his efforts to notify residents, but apologized to those who felt wronged by any actions he took.

Councilors and Timmins used the meeting to review the process the zoning board used more than a year ago that led to the approval of the sign, noting the many state and local regulations with which the billboard did not comply.

Cheryl Vandine of Babcock Street said Monday that she did not sign the petition that Biondi’s used as evidence of neighborhood support for the billboard but signed a different petition opposing a 7-Eleven on Franklin Street from getting a beer and wine license.

Councilors Kevin Coughlin and Daniel Raymondi said they had also heard from several people in their wards that they did not sign the petition Biondi’s presented.