DCentric

Good morning, DCentric readers! Here are your links:

Why Can’t We Put a Wireless Cloud Over the Whole City? Neighborhood pushers of internet: “…some new users will inevitably want the stronger connection they can only get from “fiber to the curb.” In that way, free or low-cost wireless is like a gateway drug.” (Washington City Paper)

Winding down Fannie and Freddie could put minority careers at risk “…despite several rounds of layoffs at the companies in the past few years, they have largely maintained diverse staffs. At the close of last year, nearly 50 percent of Fannie’s employees and 44 percent of those at Freddie were minorities.” (The Washington Post)

Accounts Of That Morning’s Foggy Bottom Escalator “Collapse” Eeeek! “The escalator was in operation and I was just about to step on to it when the panel below my feet rose and I head a great crashing noise. I saw the steps collapse in on themselves at the bottom and the woman immediately in front of me fell on her back in the middle of the wreckage, but not, thank God, into the chasm.” (DCist)

D.C. Social Worker Offers Brutal Choice To Homeless Mother “Because she is not being placed in a shelter, therefore she is unable to provide a safe place for her children to stay. If she does not agree to accept the arrangement that has been made for her [the bus out of town], we will be forced to take her children away from her.” (Washington City Paper)

Federal cuts in D.C. budget mean ‘sacrifices’ and higher taxes “For the District that means potential cuts to key D.C. programs, including public transportation ($150 million), courts ($25.5 million) education ($15.4 million), and water and sewer ($10 million).” (Washington Times)

Gray hires more senior staffers than Fenty did, and is paying them significantly more “Mayor Vincent C. Gray has hired more senior staffers than his predecessor and is paying his top managers tens of thousands more a year amid city employee furloughs and looming budget cuts.” (The Washington Post)