Questions about alleged conflicts of interest involving the New Orleans Director of the Mayor’s Office of Utilities resulted in the New Orleans City Council approving a formal investigation Thursday into a “smart city” contract with communications giant Qualcomm.
Smart city projects are tech industry jargon for attempts to provide city-wide public internet and the large-scale collection of city data.
Proponents say smart cities increase government efficiency and provide greater public access to the internet. Opponents say it’s just a scheme to sell city residents' data to outside groups, and contend past efforts have been, at best, ineffective at providing "free" internet.
The seeming conflict of interest was first reported by New Orleans non-profit investigative news outlet The Lens, with additional context on the issue provided recently by Nola.com.
That reporting showed connections between Johnathon Rhodes and Qualcomm. Rhodes appears to own two smart city-related companies. One of those businesses was founded by Rhodes and a city IT employee, Chris Wolff, who worked as a consultant for Qualcomm. The consultant work is described as “pro bono”.
Further conflicts of interest involving the tangled web of deals and connections were detailed in the extensive reporting by Nola.com and The Lens. That reporting suggests a group involving Qualcomm and other entities, including a Magic Johnson co-founded investment firm, were given advantages in the bidding process and had ties to Rhodes and Wolff. Cox Communications, one of the bidders for the first sleight of smart city programs, filed a complaint about the bidding process.
Councilman JP Morrell spoke with WWL’s Tommy Tucker about the investigation, and what he said is a growing pattern of the Cantrell Administration's lack of transparency.
