Will Seattle Like IKE? Beware Invasion of the Giant Kiosks
By Kathy Cain
The world is in turmoil. Crisis abides. We’re up to our alligators in assholes (even the metaphors are upside down) who, when they’re not trying to shut down the government, are roaming the streets kidnapping harmless and hardworking people. There’s even a new detention-without-due-process center in Florida that’s named for alligators—a creepy jape that our current President finds amusing. Things couldn’t possibly get worse. So they probably will.
At times like these, it’s important to remember that when we’re constantly distracted by macro problems, things can start to go awry at the micro level. If we don’t pay attention, one day when we eventually wake up from this national nightmare — and I believe we will — we might discover that all kinds of strange things have slipped by unnoticed. In short, don’t forget to sweat the small stuff.
Last week, when I was looking around at a local disaster that needed a closer look, I discovered that the Seattle City Council has approved one of the silliest and possibly most useless “civic improvement” schemes it has ever entertained. If you are a follower of city politics, you’ll know that is a high bar. Remember the collapse of the Pronto bike-share system in 2014? It collapsed in just over two years. And that was after the council threw in an additional $2 million trying to save it, earning Seattle the dubious distinction of becoming one of a handful of cities in the world that had to scuttle a bike-sharing program.
Briefly, here’s Seattle’s latest moment of civic lunacy. A billboard company called Orange Barrel Media (if there is a name that evokes a more vivid image of obstruction and public inconvenience, I can’t think of it) has sold the city on allowing it to install as many as 80 of its 8-foot-tall IKE (Interactive Kiosk Experience) illuminated and animated digital advertising kiosks on our sidewalks. According to the plan, about 30 of them will be installed downtown, while the rest would be scattered around in Sodo, Ballard, and the University District.
https://www.postalley.org/2025/07/14/will-seattle-like-ike-beware-invasion-of-the-giant-kiosks/