Coming to sidewalks: digital kiosks with ads

Council OKs contract to install 75 machines after robust debate among residents, officials

Seventy-five digital kiosks are coming to sidewalks in Houston neighborhoods with high pedestrian traffic to display ads and point passersby to nearby amenities, following a robust debate among residents and officials at City Hall on Wednesday.

Council voted 10-7 to approve the deal after nearly two hours of debate, an unusually tight margin by council standards.

It took two votes: The first was to change a city ordinance regulating sidewalks to allow for the kiosks. The second vote was to approve the contract with Ohiobased IKE Smart City LLC to provide and operate the interactive devices and operate them for the next 12 years.

Councilmembers Amy Peck, Greg Travis, Robert Gallegos, Mike Knox, David Robinson, Michael Kubosh, and Sallie Alcorn voted against changing the city ordinance. All but Kubosh voted against the contract, and Letitia Plummer joined those voting no. Kubosh joined the majority in favor of the contract.

IKE Smart City LLC will install the devices, designed to mimic oversized smartphones or tablets, over the next three years. The company is due to submit a deployment plan within 30 days.

A slew of residents called into a City Council meeting Tuesday to voice their opinions on the kiosks, which will display advertisements, direct people to restaurants, businesses, transit options and other amenities in the area, provide free Wi-Fi and 911 access, and include air quality monitors and security cameras.

The city will get 42 percent of the advertising revenue, which officials projected could grow to more than $35 million over the life of the 12-year deal. The company will install the machines at its own cost with no public money.

The agenda item would have allowed for up to 125 devices on Houston sidewalks, but Mayor Sylvester Turner on Tuesday said the city would cap the number at 75. He promised council members, management districts and local businesses would have a say in where the signs are installed.

District C Councilmember Abbie Kamin won unanimous approval on an amendment that would require the company to notify district council members — in

addition to the local management district — about proposed locations to install signs, although it does not require their approval. The city’s chief development officer gets final approval over the location, but Turner emphasized that he would oversee that process closely.

District G Councilmember Greg Travis proposed an amendment to the contract to ensure the kiosks were equitably distributed across the 11 City Council districts, but it failed, 14-3. Knox and Kubosh voted for it.

Critics, such as Scenic Houston, have railed against the kiosk deal, likening the signs to digital billboards and arguing it erodes decades of progress limiting those in Houston, where new billboards have been banned since 1980. There also was significant concern among residents that the signs would be placed outside businesses that do not want them, or in residential neighborhoods. Turner said that would not be the case.

City officials said the comparison to digital billboards is not accurate.

They hailed the ad revenue and way-finding benefits of the devices. Turner pointed out that Dallas is putting 300 kiosks in its city.

“It aligns perfectly well with us designing and building a smart city and walkable, pedestrian, livable city, all of the things that we have been working on,” Turner said.

Kamin said she was excited the kiosks come with air quality monitors. Mayor Pro Tem David Martin, who represents District E, said he recently visited San Antonio and used its kiosks to navigate around town. District J Councilmember Ed Pollard, who pitched the idea to the mayor and pointed out that he was not born yet when the city banned new billboards, said the devices offer a mix of community resources and new technology for the next generation.

“We’re looking at the interface, we’re looking at the apps that are on there, the ways in which you can interact and maneuver around the city based on a cool new amenity,” Pollard said.

Opponents on council cited a flurry of opposition from residents at Tuesday’s meeting and in hundreds of emails and calls to council offices.

Travis said the city could put QR codes, which allow smart phone users to scan for information or a website link, on sidewalks instead of the large devices. He said the vast majority of feedback he has heard from his district, which includes the Galleria area, has been negative.

“I just have a hard time going against my constituents on this,” Travis said.

Knox pointed out that earlier in the meeting, Turner and other members stressed the need to remove clutter from the city when approving new regulations for donation boxes. Adding kiosks, he said, appears to counter that goal, and he argued smart phones that most people carry render the kiosks unnecessary.

“I suspect that, but for the fact that we’re getting revenue from this thing, the kiosk issue would not even be on the agenda,” he said.

Alcorn cited the city’s history in trying to curb billboards.

“Through the course of many years, there has been a conscious and deliberate effort to remove unwanted advertising,” Alcorn said. “These kiosks are adding ads to the public realm.”