New devices taking head count along State Street

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A head count of people walking up and down State Street in the Loop is being taken as part of an effort to attract new investors and businesses downtown.

Retailers hope to bring in more business and investors by figuring out where people are going and how they are getting there.

It's an attempt to keep Chicago's State Street great, as one local retailers group steps up its efforts to bring more business to the area using tracking technology to count the number of people and cars on the street.

"Certainly the city has changed a lot and how people use the Loop a lot and we want to understand that," said Michael Edwards, Chicago Loop Alliance.

The Chicago Loop Alliance, which promotes the downtown business district, says the 18 counters will be placed atop buildings along State Street from Congress Parkway to Wacker Drive, including State and Adams and at the Macy's building.

The group has a three-year deal with UK-based Springboard to install and operate the white devices that resemble small cameras, but don't capture or store any facial features or other identifying information.

"It's not a camera. It's not taking images of anybody. It's simply putting a square around everybody's human form, counting them and then dismisses the information," Edwards said.

Three additional counters will be placed at other strategic locations for comparison sake. Until now, the group had to rely on data from the city's Department of Transportation from 2007.

"Retailers can tell, for example, how their windows are doing, have their window displays actually affect more people to their block? They'll be able to see that over time," Edwards said.

The program costs $65,000 the first year and $51,000 in the second and third years and is being funded with money that State Street properties owners pay for extra services.

The system will provide real-time data on an hourly, daily and weekly basis. It wasn't a tough sell to many state street retailers like the Beef 'n Brandy Restaurant, a family owned business on State Street since 1967.

"Whatever brings more people to the area is good for us, good for the neighborhood, good for the city, obviously," said Steve Salameh, Beef 'N Brandy restaurant.

The Loop Alliance says the counters will also help them determine where to focus their efforts to keep streets clean and helping to manage the homeless and panhandlers along State Street. For comparison's sake, three additional counters will be placed near Millennium Park and at other locations.

The counters should be up and running by the end of the week, meaning the valuable data collected will be available for State Street businesses just in time for the busy holiday shopping season.