Plan for ‘Sensible Metropolis’ kiosks in North Berkeley sparks debate

An promoting agency’s effort to put in extra of the touch-screen info kiosks that made their debut in downtown Berkeley final yr is working into resistance from some residents.

Individuals can use the modern units from IKE Sensible Metropolis to seek out details about native companies, neighborhood occasions, public transportation and different close by providers. Metropolis and tourism officers have described them as a device to advertise Berkeley’s retailers and assist guests get round.

However when somebody isn’t utilizing the 8-foot-tall units, their screens show a rotating choice of photos that embody commercials. That has prompted pushback from Councilmember Sophie Hahn, who represents two well-liked North Berkeley purchasing districts the place IKE Sensible Metropolis needs to put in its units.

“I don’t need promoting within the public proper of manner,” Hahn stated. The first perform of the kiosks, she contends, is to be “backlit, digital, 24/7 promoting billboards,” and the truth that in addition they present info “doesn’t make them right into a public service system.”

IKE Sensible Metropolis is a enterprise of the Columbus, Ohio, promoting agency Orange Barrel Media, which describes itself as “a number one out-of-home media firm that has been redefining the ‘billboard’ since 2004.”

IKE Sensible Metropolis says its kiosks are a solution to encourage “exploration and discovery of a metropolis.” Jessica Burton, a consultant for the corporate, advised about 80 attendees at a discussion board for Berkeley residents Thursday afternoon that the units supply a “best-in-class digital wayfinding and navigation useful resource.”

The Berkeley Metropolis Council accredited an settlement in 2018 that permits IKE Sensible Metropolis to deploy as much as 31 of the units. Hahn voted in opposition to the deal on the time. The town receives a share of the income generated from every kiosk, which was estimated in 2018 at $27,000 per system per yr, or about $830,000 yearly if the agency put in all 31.

IKE’s first Berkeley system went reside in December, and eight extra have been put in since then — 5 downtown, three alongside Telegraph Avenue and one in South Berkeley’s Lorin District. The kiosks additionally present free Wi-Fi and have an emergency button that connects to 911.

The corporate now needs to put in one other 17 units in a number of different enterprise districts round Berkeley beginning subsequent yr, together with on Gilman Road, Fourth Road, North Shattuck and Solano Avenue.

“We actually simply wish to make the most of these kiosks to welcome guests,” Jeffrey Church of Go to Berkeley, town’s tourism and advertising and marketing bureau, advised attendees at Thursday afternoon’s discussion board.

The digital discussion board was meant to take enter on the place within the North Shattuck neighborhood the units may very well be positioned; IKE and town are contemplating placing two within the purchasing district, at Shattuck’s intersections with Cedar and Vine streets.

However attendees have been having none of it — they expressed their opposition to the kiosks altogether, calling the units eyesores that might muddle sidewalks whereas offering the form of info individuals can already get extra simply on their cellphones.

A number of additionally raised considerations about what knowledge the units might entry from individuals utilizing the kiosk or those that occur to be strolling by.

Burton, the IKE Sensible Metropolis consultant, stated the corporate collects anonymized knowledge from its kiosks in regards to the content material individuals use it to seek out, and likewise acknowledged the system’s Wi-Fi service registers the “ping” of close by cellphones even when their house owners don’t use the system. Clayton Collett, the corporate’s senior growth director, stated in an e-mail to Berkeleyside that such a ping was similar to how public Wi-Fi networks at espresso outlets or airports acknowledge units of their neighborhood, and stated IKE kiosks don’t retain that knowledge.

“We don’t promote knowledge, we don’t retailer knowledge,” Burton stated, “we don’t acquire personally identifiable info.”

Berkeley’s guidelines for the units embody extra stringent privateness requirements than these in different cities, together with a provision that the units not embody cameras, which they sometimes have. Hahn, who lobbied for Berkeley’s tighter requirements, stated she stays involved about how the corporate might use the information its kiosks acquire.

IKE Sensible Metropolis can also be working to put in its units in Oakland, which has sparked related debates over knowledge and privateness.

The Metropolis Council will get the ultimate say on the place the following spherical of kiosks is positioned, a choice that’s anticipated someday this fall. Hahn stated she’s going to advocate for protecting them out of the North Shattuck and Solano purchasing districts altogether.