Seattle council considers 8-foot-tall digital billboards in downtown

Hundreds of years ago, in Persia and the Ottoman Empire, a kiosk was an open-air pavilion, a garden encased in pillars, a portico in which sultans and kings might lounge.

In Seattle, it could soon be a touch-screen TV with rotating advertisements and a wayfinding app for lost tourists.

Boosters of the city’s business districts have hoped to scatter dozens of these 8-foot-tall digital totems in locations across Seattle since before the pandemic. Now, after years of planning and engagement, the question is finally before the Seattle City Council: Are the benefits they bring worth a change to the city’s streetscape?

The Downtown Seattle Association sees them as an easy win, particularly in advance of the 2026 World Cup: They’re privately owned and operated, and would passively generate millions that could be used for the betterment of downtown and other commerce hubs. They can display art, advertise community events, take a selfie, alert passersby to nearby events and call 911.

Around 20 cities in the country already use the kiosks, including Houston; Oakland, Calif.; Los Angeles; and Dallas.

Mayor Bruce Harrell included them as part of his road map for downtown’s recovery, the Downtown Activation Plan.

But the kiosks’ deployment has proved controversial at times. Questions about their utility, aesthetics, benefit and surveillance capabilities have made the glowing signs something of a tender spot among the city’s various commissions and advocates.

Beginning this week, council President Sara Nelson is pressing forward to grant the city’s approval to roll out 30 such kiosks in downtown, the first step in a multiphase process that could see a total of 80 across Seattle, including in Ballard, the University District and Sodo. On Thursday, her governance and economic development committee took up a resolution granting “conceptual approval” to the idea, in advance of an eventual ordinance possibly approving the broader rollout.

Their benefits are threefold, she said: a wayfinder for people who might be new to the area; a public service portal for users to access transit schedules or dial 911; and a revenue source, funneled to the Downtown Seattle Association and others to improve their respective business districts.

“Every block where these are located will have these additional benefits,” she said. 

To coincide with the committee resolution, representatives from IKE Smart City, which builds the kiosks, showed off an example of the flashy display in City Hall, scrolling like a towering iPhone over its users below. Development Director Jessica Burton clicked through the various apps — bus arrival, restaurant search, the city’s portal.

Nelson’s insistence about their benefit is not shared by all.

Seattle’s Design Commission, tasked with reviewing changes to public spaces, voted against their use last fall. It was a 5-4 vote and members questioned whether the objects’ benefit outweighed the downside. Seattle rarely grants advertising rights in public spaces and revolving digital displays would certainly be a change.

“I do think the introduction of advertising in a public place severely degrades the public realm, particularly in the context of Seattle where we don’t have much of it,” Commissioner Zubin Rao, a Seattle-based architect, said in a meeting last year.

The ACLU of Washington has also pushed back. From the start, Tee Sannon, technology policy program director for the advocacy organization, expressed concern about IKE’s privacy policy as well as how the kiosks could be used to surveil people.

Since then, IKE has clarified its policies and the kiosks will not have security cameras.

Nevertheless, she remains worried about “mission creep” of the kiosks. “Once those kiosks are in place you can still see new features added over time, including new surveillance,” Sannon said.

The push for the digital kiosks dates back more than six years, before the city knew it would host several World Cap matches and the pandemic hollowed out downtown.

Their rollout stalled due to the lengthy environmental reviews their construction required and because of a sometimes skeptical City Hall. Former Mayor Jenny Durkan previously backed off a proposal for similar digital displays in 2018 due to privacy concerns.

But Jon Scholes, president and CEO of the Downtown Seattle Association, kept pushing.

“We think they’re a great addition to help people find their way downtown,” he said.

Scholes said they’re not tied to the selfie app or other features that have raised privacy concerns.

“We never desired or proposed that they use cameras for security purposes,” he said.

The latest proposal is a sort-of three-tiered partnership, between the downtown association, the city and IKE.

The agreement would first allow 30 downtown, followed by 50 more in other parts of the city. Roughly one-third of the advertising revenue from each would go to the business associations representing the neighborhoods where the screens are placed, with the rest going back to IKE Smart City. For the Downtown Seattle Association, that would mean up to $1.1 million a year. The city would require the money to go toward the betterment of downtown by way of cleaning efforts, public events, the hiring of more downtown ambassadors and more.

Any dollars generated over $1.1 million would go to the city.

Each display would show a rotating selection of advertisements, mixed in with public service content from the city — notifying passersby of events or resources or, occasionally, emergencies.  

The cost of installation and maintenance would fall to IKE. Their installation would come with a bevy of aesthetic requirements, concerning their placement (no historic districts), brightness (dimmed at night) and upkeep (no graffiti).

The kiosks are “durable,” said Clay Collett, the company’s senior development director, and any damage would be repaired within days.

But, the biggest friction point is whether their aesthetic presence on Seattle’s streets is worth the benefit, particularly when everyone carries a small version of what the kiosks promise in their pockets.

“I’m concerned about traffic and pedestrian safety,” said Kate Clark, a member of the Seattle Design Commission. “I’m concerned about the effect on pedestrian activity. I’m concerned about the interaction of the existing streetscape and the view blockage.”

Environmental reviews of the devices suggest they do not pose a safety threat by distracting drivers. Still, the Design Commission voted against recommending them. The commission’s vote represents a formal recommendation, but is not binding and doesn’t restrict the City Council’s ability to move forward.

The most similar vote taken by the Seattle City Council was in 2014, when it granted Pronto bike share the right to install its docks in the public right of way. That permit was voided when the company stopped operating.

If IKE Smart City goes out of business, it will be required to collect its devices.