Several years ago, Smith obtained permits for two of the three digital screens in South Downtown Abilene. One is located at a wedding venue that also serves as an Airbnb, while the other stands in front of the former location of the Salt Dollar Brewing Company.
He purchased a third screen to install on the side of Bernard’s Refinishing in North Downtown Abilene, across from the Doubletree parking lot. That’s when the trouble began.
“A fellow downtown stakeholder’s son went to code compliance and showed them a code they didn’t even know they had that stated there can be no off-premise advertising in Central Business zoning,” Smith recalled. “I wanted the ordinance to be adjusted and changed. That didn’t happen. Instead, I got that one screen kicked out of downtown Abilene.”
Smith said he realized he wouldn’t be able to keep the North Downtown sign after attending a stakeholder meeting he hadn’t been invited to.
“That’s when I knew, yeah, there’s no way I’m going to be able to keep that sign in North downtown Abilene. Many of the people in that room are my direct competitors with one business or another, but I’m a stakeholder in downtown Abilene, so I should have at least been invited to that meeting,” Smith explained.
During the December 19, 2024, city council meeting, Smith’s item was removed from the agenda. He called for greater transparency among council members, describing the situation as being influenced by “some ugly downtown politics.”
“Nobody should have to kiss the ring… The private sector needs a seat at the table, but it hasn’t been given. It was a slap in the face to say you can’t promote anyone’s business on the side of the building. And then, lo and behold, Doubletree puts up the same digital ad screen directly across the entrance of their building to promote the bar and a restaurant that essentially is owned by the City of Abilene. I have an issue with that,” Smith told the council. “I could care less if they promote it. I support the hotel. But I also stand in the corner of small business. And oftentimes, cities are graded on the vibrancy of their downtown. Our small businesses that we operate should be a part of that — and not a second-class citizen.”
He emphasized that the sign in North Downtown was not causing any harm and that his only intent was to promote upcoming Paramount shows and feature a video clip of a juicy steak from the Beehive.
“Very few people are going to look at that elephant in the room. When certain groups or people start pulling strings behind the curtain, I have an issue, especially when it deals with small business, local advertising, certain groups and people need to stay in their lane. Let small businesses do what it does, and we should have every right to cross-promote our local small businesses,” Smith explained. “I was doing it because I’m an advocate for progress downtown and want to support our local businesses… It turned into an ugly thing, and my sign was literally kicked out of North downtown Abilene.”
In January 2025, the city council approved an amendment to establish development standards for a Type Three off-site advertising sign. Tim Littlejohn, Director of Planning & Development, reported that staff had met with downtown business owners to present the amendment proposal. While south-side business owners were generally in favor of it, two-thirds of north-side business owners opposed the proposal. As a result, the ordinance accommodates businesses in South Downtown, leaving the North Downtown area excluded.
“I thanked the council for approving that change, but I emailed them afterward, and I said, ‘Hey, I would like for you to proactively make this ordinance consistent now’ because now, I can legally do it in South downtown Abilene like I’ve been doing for years, but you still can’t have off-premise advertising in North downtown, so our city local government is still regulating content,” Smith said.
Moving forward, Smith hopes to see more transparency and consistency within the city government.
“I love our council. I think they do a great job. I don’t blame people. It’s the circumstances and the situation that I want to change. I want things to be consistent. I want any disagreement or disapproval of certain things to be done in the open forum, not behind the scenes, not pulling strings, and not using connections to prevent things, especially when it has to do with small business advertising. This should not have been a big issue,” Smith explained.
When asked if he believes there’s an uphill battle with all of this, Smith responded, “I don’t. Now that the ordinance has been changed, I think it proves my point. I mean, what is the reason that it’s not allowed in North Downtown Abilene, but it is in South Downtown Abilene? And that reason is dirty politics.”
In early January, Smith made a Facebook post regarding three TVs stolen from Peacock Patio, stating, “Sorry, but something has to be done about the homeless problem. It’s getting bad folks!” He added that action is needed to address issues within those experiencing homelessness, something he has witnessed firsthand on numerous occasions.
“It’s offensive when somebody comes onto your property and then does that to a small business owner who’s trying to make a living. These people who are homeless tend to do that often, and they arrested this man yesterday, I believe… His rap sheet is a mile long of similar instances,” Smith shared. “Pam and I, my wife, lived in the soda district, and we’d walk under the bridge of North and South first and frequent downtown all the time. There were instances where we were threatened just for walking by, and I mean, cussed out and encountered aggressive people. I can tell you other stories of other people who have had similar situations, business owners finding feces on their front steps, all kinds of things.”
Smith says one of the challenges in addressing these concerns is simply bringing them up in conversation, as doing so often leads to being “demonized” by the public.
“First comment on my post was, how do you know he was homeless? Well, I did happen to know that he was homeless, but then I have to defend my comment. I’m being judged for saying that he’s homeless,” Smith explained.
Smith shared that he supports local nonprofits and ministries that assist those experiencing homelessness. However, he expressed concern about the resources being spread across town.
“I would like to see a campus where all our homeless ministries are in one location. They can continue to do their individual assistance for this group of people that they help administer to, individually or collectively, but it needs to be on one campus, in a location with the least negative impact on our community,” Smith explained. “You have organizations all over, and I’ll just bring up one: Salvation Army. You can’t tell me there’s not a direct correlation with the demise of what I’ll call the friendly mile as a result of the Salvation Army being there for years and years and years, I’ve seen it. I’ve watched it. I owned a building on Butternut. I sold it because I was like, Yeah, this isn’t good. Needles every day in the back alley. The homeless population stays where they’re going to get their resources.”
Walkability and a vibrant downtown atmosphere are goals shared by business owners, city officials, and community members. However, Smith explains that these goals can’t be achieved if people feel unsafe or threatened.
“I’ve seen instances where they’ll walk up to someone’s window or heard stories where they’ll walk up to a lady knocking on their car door. They scare people. Homeless people tend to be desperate people. Thus the crime, that’s the theft, thus you know, and there are all sorts of issues with that, mental illness, drug use. But the bottom line is that homelessness causes desperation, and desperation causes them to wreak havoc on the community around them,” Smith stated. “I feel like the solution is one area where everybody’s working together on a campus that has the least negative impact for the entire community. Right now, we have pockets that are very negatively affected, not just downtown. Go over to the creek on South 7th and North and South 1st because of some of the ministries that are located right there; that’s the problem.”
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