Boca Raton CRA weighs digital kiosks amid concern over advertising and scale

Ruby Riley, Downtown Manager for the City of Boca Raton, told the Community Redevelopment Agency on Feb. 24 that staff has identified digital-kiosk options and recommended Ike Smart Cities as the most feasible turnkey vendor for wayfinding, marketing and civic content.

Riley said the Ike license agreement would place kiosks on city right-of-way under an initial five-year term with renewal options and that staff had identified about 20 possible locations—Brightline area, City Hall, Downtown Library, Meisner Park, Palmetto Park Road and Royal Palm Place. She described key features including interactive directories, APIs to mirror city content, public-survey tools, art partnerships, an emergency-call system connected to police, a security camera with 14 days of recording, and a revenue model that staff estimated could average roughly $811,000 a year for the program with a total revenue share of about $16,000,000 over the contract life, of which 12.5% of the advertising loop would be reserved for city public content.

But several council members said the advertising-heavy model and the proposed deployment scale gave them pause. Mayor Singer said he was disinclined to support the advertising structure and questioned the public benefit of deploying as many as 20 units across a compact downtown, urging fewer locations and more city control over content. "I think we're buying a pony a little bit," he said, adding that the kiosks take up streetscape real estate and may not deliver a proportional public benefit.

Vice Chair Thompson echoed that concern, warning the non-ad model would leave the city with significant maintenance and replacement costs and calling it a potential "white elephant" if the city paid more than $1 million for units and then bore long-term upkeep without advertising revenue. Council members pressed staff on power and connectivity, whether kiosks could link to local transit or shuttle circuits, and whether alternative vendors or procurement vehicles could preserve city control of content.

Riley described a non-advertising alternative from Toshiba available via an Omnia contract that would let the city purchase or lease units with fully customizable content but would require the city to assume more installation, electrical and maintenance responsibilities; she said a five-year purchase scenario for a comparable 20-unit deployment was approximately $1,057,000, while a five-year lease figure was about $1,400,000. Riley said the Toshiba option lacked some civic safety features (no camera, no emergency call) and included shorter warranty and limited maintenance, meaning additional costs after warranty periods expire.

After questions and debate, the board directed staff to return with more options focused on fewer, key locations and on models that increase city control of content (including a non-ad or limited-ad pilot), with clearer details about procurement, maintenance responsibilities, site power, and a recommended unit count for a pilot. Mr. Brown summarized the direction as "no advertising, key locations only, and what will the content be?" and staff agreed to come back with refined options for board consideration.

The discussion did not produce a formal vote on a contract or procurement action; it ended with staff tasked to report back with options. The board also asked staff to consider transit adjacency and emergency-call integration in any pilot plan.