Petrelis Files

Kiosk Ad Revenue: $4M for SF - $62M for JCDecaux

As long-time readers of this blog are well aware, I am no fan of various forms of street furniture cluttering our precious public sidewalks and spaces. Recently, I had to know how much ad revenue the City has received over an eight-year period and a public records request to the Department of Public Works delivered these responsive figures.

2007
SF:                 $498,600
JCDecaux:  $6,629,000

2008
SF:                 $555,300
JCDecaux:  $7,420,000

2009
[Complete omission. Estimate based on years where figures were provided.]
SF:                 $517,000
JCDecaux:  $7,490,000

2010
SF:                 $568,300
JCDecaux:  $7,597,800

2011
[Partial omission.]
SF:                 $603,800
JCDecaux:  $7,800,000
[Estimate based on other figures provided.]

2012
SF:                 $615,100
JCDecaux:  $8,786,000

2013
[Partial omission.]
SF:                 $715,300
JCDecaux:  $8,900,000
[Estimate based on other figures provided.]

2014
[Partial omission.]
SF:                 $604,600
JCDecaux:  $7,800,000
[Estimate based on other figures provided.]

Totals, accounting for omissions and estimates:
SF:                 $4,722,000
JDCecaux:   $62,521,800

Here are the public records for years 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2012, letters from JCDecaux to DPW in which revenue due SF and overall advertising revenue were both included:

2007

 2008

2010

2012

I asked DPW spokeswoman Rachel Gordon how this arrangement favoring the street furniture and advertising giant came to pass, and she said:

"The revenue structure is part of the contract that the City forged with JCDecaux in 1998. Part of the deal was that the company would install and operate the self-cleaning public toilets in exchange for advertising rights. 

"The contract expires in early 2017. We recently issued as RFP (request for proposal) asking interested vendors to submit proposals for operating public toilets once the current contract expires. The new contract opens the door to opportunity for more revenue, more public toilets, etc." 

[More info: http://sfpublicpress.org/files/contract.pdf and

http://sfdpw.org/?page=372.]

Even if the City were getting more of the ad revenue, I'd still be against the clutter of the kiosks and it sure as hell ain't worth an average of $7 million annually to maintain the public toilets.

FYI, there are 25 toilets and 114 kiosks owned and operated by JCDecaux on San Francisco's streets. We could use public toilets in the triple digits and the kiosks reduced to a dozen.