An independent consultancy, specializing in the development and implementation of innovative public space programs.
Intro
Leveraging decades of hands-on experience, CityRax is uniquely qualified to source, create, market, implement and maintain transactional street furniture custom-designed to fit your project’s specific needs.
(02 - 08)
Work
CityRax has the expertise needed to create bespoke solutions from concept through implementation, or a la carte. Recent public space programs include custom waste management solutions, newspaper vending rack programs, and more. Services include project management, public space management, street furniture development, marketing, creative branding, design, and community engagement.
01
DSNY Smart Compost
New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY)
Composting is beneficial in many ways, but explaining how and why citizens should compost required a nuanced and clear approach to communicate a message to take action.
The DSNY contract was awarded in October 2021, and the first 14 Smart Bins were installed just two months later in December 2021.
Pilot Program Approach
CityRax immediately recognized that a successful pilot program required an equal emphasis on the citizen-facing marketing campaign, as well as the smart-managed access control compost bins, maintenance, and program management. The best smart bins and technology along with excellent maintenance, cleaning, and management could have still resulted in an unsuccessful pilot program had CityRax failed to engage citizens and educated potential users to understand the benefits of composting and how this smart composting program works.
Following demographic research conducted directly with DSNY, Astoria, Queens was selected as the pilot neighborhood. DSNY chose 20 locations for bin installation.
CityRax selected the manufacturer of these prototype secured-access smart bins, and enlisted an NYC-based outdoor maintenance company to install, repair, clean, and maintain the smart bins.
Action Items
Working with DSNY, CityRax built a custom website, signup process and mailing list management system, initial email blast, postcard mailing, mailing list acquisition, marking plan, RFID trifold mailer and envelope, posters, and custom smart bin wraps. Shortly thereafter, CityRax helped develop a mobile application to further simplify the program’s usage, maintenance, and data analysis.
CityRax continues to study and analyze the daily number of users, fullness levels of the bins, and the success of the program’s various marketing strategies. With CityRax’s guidance, DSNY is focused on learning the best way to manage these bins with the intention of expanding them to more neighborhoods in 2022.
02
Grand Central Partnership
GCP Information
Grand Central Partnership (GCP) is a business improvement district (BID) located in the heart of midtown Manhattan. GCP is a private, non-profit organization that provides supplemental city services such as sanitation, security homeless outreach, public events and visitor services.
CityRax Involvement
In 1994, GCP embarked upon a then-unique program to help clean up street clutter created in part by individual newspaper boxes. Under CityRax’s guidance, GCP approached newspaper publishers and proposed a multiple unit newsrack program, which it agreed to underwrite and where publishers would get space in the modular news racks at a very small cost. In return, publishers agreed to remove their single newspaper boxes from the GCP service area.
The GCP program is unique because it operates in a non-regulated environment, dependent on the voluntary participation of the publishers for its success. As established by CityRax principal Kathy Kahng, all publishers with newspaper boxes were approached by GCP and convinced to participate in the program on a totally voluntary basis, with no signed agreements or regulations.
GCP’s modular newsrack is an attractive custom designed structure with space for six to twelve publications per location.
03
34th Street Partnership
34SP and CityRax
Following the success of the GCP newsrack program, the same program was rolled out in the 34th Street Partnership business improvement district in 1997. 34th Street Partnership was under the same management team that handled GCP as well as the Bryant Park Corporation until 1999.
34th Street Partnership’s district is an approximately 40-block area around 34th Street, from Park Avenue to Tenth Avenue in midtown Manhattan. 35 modular newsracks were installed throughout the district to handle the increasing demand of the newspaper publishers.
04
Bryant Park Corporation
BPC and CityRax
Bryant Park Corporation (BPC) is a not-for-profit, private management company established to manage Bryant Park and surrounds from Fifth Avenue to Sixth Avenue, 40th Street to 43rd Street.
05
Madison Avenue BID
MAB and CityRax
Madison Avenue BID the business improvement district encompasses Madison Avenue between 60th to 86th Streets. Founded in 1996 by property owners, merchants and residents, the BID has worked in partnership with the community to enhance the quality of life within the district.
Madison Avenue BID began working with CityRax in 2000 to develop detailed plans for a modular newsrack program and issued an RFP for design services in 2001. Several well-known architectural and industrial design firms submitted proposals and in 2002, world famous designer Karim Rashid was chosen for the project. Mr. Rashid has been designing for companies such as Nambe, Umbra, Issey Miyake, Totem, Estee Lauder, Tommy Hilfiger, Giorgio Armani, Prada, Sony, Yahoo, Citibank and others.
06
Hunter College
HC & CityRax
Hunter College’s main campus is located on Lexington Avenue between 67th and 68th Streets in Manhattan. They had been trying to undertake a modular newsrack program in front of their buildings on Lexington Avenue for a number of years.
They contracted with CityRax in 2009 to create and implement a modular newsrack program. They were awarded a grant from City Council Member Daniel Garodnick in 2010. We worked with DOT, Community Board 8, Landmarks Commission and The Public Design Commission to win approval for this program.
07
Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA)
New York
MTA and CityRax
The Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) engaged CityRax in 2002 in a multi-year agreement to create and implement a modular news rack program for many of the stations on the Metro-North Rail Road and Long Island Rail Road commuter rail lines.
CityRax was charged with creating a modular news rack program to eliminate the clutter of the individual newspaper boxes scattered throughout many of the high volume train stations on the Metro-North and Long Island Rail Road systems. CityRax implemented a physical survey of the existing newspaper boxes and conditions at each station. Based on this information, CityRax standardized placement of the modular news racks with standards that were applied to all stations throughout both systems.
08
Clear Channel Adshel
CCA and CityRax
For more than 30 years, Clear Channel Adshel has been the market leader in the development of street furniture solutions in partnership with municipalities and transit agencies around the world. Today, Adshel is a wholly owned subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications, Inc., one of the leading diversified media companies in the world.
Adshel designs, manufactures, installs and maintains the highest quality street furniture amenities including transit shelters, information kiosks, automatic public toilets, newsstands, bicycle racks and news racks, and has contractual agreements for a broad variety of products with over 3,000 municipal and transit partners in more than 36 countries worldwide.
Kathy Kahng, CityRax principal worked at Adshel as Director of Publisher Programs for three years. During her tenure, she was responsible for the development of modular news rack programs and newsstand programs in major cities throughout North America. Some of the cities where programs were proposed are Boston, MA, Chicago, IL, Los Angeles, CA, Annapolis, MD, Miami, FL, Washington, DC and Minneapolis, MN.
https://missionlocal.org/2022/09/san-francisco-removes-its-last-city-operated-ad-free-newsracks/
Kathy Kahng, Principal
Kathy Kahng, CityRax principal, has a proven, 26-year track record of working with New York City agencies (DOT, EDC, SBS, PDC, Consumer Affairs) as an employee and consultant to Business Improvement Districts (BIDs), New York State (MTA, Hunter College) and private sector public space clients (Park Tower Group – 535 Madison Avenue). She has also worked with numerous other cities and transit agencies during her tenure in the street furniture business.
Previously, she worked in the publishing business as a senior executive in consumer marketing at mass publications, such as The New York Daily News, New York Post, Newsday, USA TODAY, Rolling Stone and US magazines. She has launched numerous new publications and understands how to reach consumers on a grassroots basis.
Kathy leads each CityRax project with the utmost care and attention, managing the various subcontractors and suppliers, and communicating with public agencies and community groups. She also is responsible for the reporting requirements of the project.
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