Four months after he faced a grilling at the New Orleans City Council, a central figure in the controversial “smart city” broadband plan has left Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s administration.
Jonathan Rhodes, the former director of the Mayor’s Office of Utilities, had his last day at City Hall on Friday, according to an automatic response from his email address.
The city, which did not respond to a request for comment, told The Lens that he had resigned.
Rather than technology driving smart city projects, today’s efforts focus on outcomes and ecosystems.
The term “smart cities” arose in the 1990s and has broadly referred to an urban area that uses information and communication technologies to increase operational efficiency. And like the technology involved, the specifics of how to do that – and how to measure the success and value of “smart” implementations – have evolved.
Local internet connectivity could be accessible for all Huntingtonians in the near future.
The City of Huntington has taken steps to establish a fiber-optic backbone across the city. After an engineering plan is finished, work to install 183 miles of lines will begin. The project is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2024.
Earlier this year, the Huntington City Council approved $7 million of the city’s American Rescue Plan Act funds to expand broadband in the city. The total estimated cost of the project is $14 million. The city is seeking other sources of funding, such as federal and state grants.
Mobile hopes to reduce traffic congestion in downtown with its new “Smart City Project,” unveiled Thursday.
Thirteen traffic lights along Government Street, up to Broad Street, are now connected to the Traffic Management Center (TMC) at Wallace Tunnel, run by the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT).
ALDOT monitors the traffic in real time and adjusts the light timing as needed. In addition, the lights have different timing cycles depending on the time of day, in order to decrease congestion at peak times.
Read more: US: Alabama: Mobile: Can a new ‘Smart City’ traffic system make Mobile more navigable?
Lafayette Utilities System has made progress of the city-wide street light project available to customers via an online dashboard.
The project is geared toward upgrading the current phosphorous/incandescent/high-pressure sodium lights to LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes).
The project began in July 2022 and is expected to be completed in 18-24 months upgrading over 20,000 publicly-owned street lights. So far, the LUS has deployed LED upgrades to several areas in Lafayette as pilot projects to test optimal street light color.
Read more: US: Louisiana: Lafayette Utilities System introduces online dashboard for new project