Breakfast Links: DC’s questionable property tax collection program pays up
DC will pay residents who lost homes
DC will pay out $1 million to DC residents who lost their houses due to a much-criticized and now-defunct tax collection program. The program sold unpaid tax debts, as small as $134, to private investors who charged additional, exorbitant fees and forced foreclosure. (Post)
Smoke wasn’t the responsibility of Fire
Following Metro's claims that DC Fire and EMS was at fault for 2015's fatal smoke incident near L'Enfant Plaza, Mayor Bowser, the local firefighter's union, and the head of Metro's biggest union say firefighters responded with professionalism during the incident and that Metro's safety culture is to blame. (DCist)
Uber will share its DC data
Starting in February, Uber will begin sharing its ridership data through a new website, Movement. Eventually the site will provide travel time data for cities around the world, but DC will be the first featured city in the US. (WBJ)
Loudoun draws the lines around developer perks
Loudoun has finalized a map of areas exempted from new state laws that forbid developers from giving “proffers,” or funding public projects to sweeten a deal. Areas around the Silver Line expansion are included in the exemptions. (WTOP)
Greater Washington residents stay in their homes longer
There are relatively few houses on the market in the region. One reason is that residents are moving less on average; a homeowner today stays in their house for eight-and-a-half years, up from six-and-a-half in 2000. (Post)
Medical Center tunnel is getting off the ground
Work starts this week to build an underground pedestrian tunnel that will connect NIH, Metro, and the Walter Reed Naval Medical Center. The tunnel should be in place by 2020. (Bethesda Beat)
New art on U St promotes public safety
An art installation on U and 14th St called “The Walkway” has viewers walk through a gallery of images and city sounds that seek to capture both harmless and threatening interactions in public spaces. The piece was developed in partnership with DC's Vision Zero initiative. (Curbed)
Priority shift for US mayors
More mayors in cities across the country are focusing on socioeconomic issues, according to an annual survey of US mayors. Nearly half of mayors listed poverty, rather than income inequality or growing the middle class, as their primary economic concern. (Next City)
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