How you navigate around Downtown Dallas on foot may change in the next few years. The City of Dallas is exploring adding digital kiosks to sidewalks, but NBC 5’s David Goins reports there are concerns about making the city more unfriendly for pedestrians.
Downtown Dallas on a Thursday is a buzz of drivers, walkers, considerable street construction and some sidewalk advertising Kevin Jones admits he’s rarely ever noticed.
Jones works downtown and says it’s not uncommon for visitors to approach him and ask where to go or what to see.
“I’ll go into 7-Eleven or somewhere and tourists will come up and say, ‘Hey man, what should we go check out?” Jones said.
Jones added he rarely ever notices the 137 large round advertising “static kiosks” located throughout the city, with a majority in the Central Business District.
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The city’s Planning and Development Department recently presented data to a city council committee that included three options related to adding digital kiosks.
District 6 Councilmember Omar Narvaez says digital kiosks, which are already in cities like Houston, Philadelphia and New York and feature large bright displays, could help visitors find their way around downtown, especially as Dallas gears up to host the World Cup in two years.
“I know I’ve used them when I’m out of town in other major cities,” Narvaez said. “They’re taller, but they're not as obstructive as those big round static kiosks that we have that everybody adamantly hates, all of us.”
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The static kiosks will be removed when the current contract expires in 2028.
The nonprofit Downtown Dallas Inc. would prefer nothing replace it.
“We get concerned when we start to clutter that space that aren’t directly productive to a pedestrian,” Evan Sheets with DDI said.
DDI adds many building owners want sidewalks more open for pedestrians, not adding another distraction to walkers and drivers.
Dallas already slowed down on the digital kiosk idea last April, but after city staff gathered public input this summer, it’s possible the Dallas City Council could make a decision in the next few months.
