Pires recalled for me the day they announced the system was being dismantled—and before his heart gave out: “After we made the announcement, I went over for lunch to a coffee shop next to City Hall. It was called the Harvest Moon. And a guy at the counter there recognized me. He said: ‘Aren’t you the Wi-Fi guy?’” And then the man said something that blew Pires away. He said: “Too bad the company failed to get it to work. What is the city going to try next?” Too bad that didn’t work out. What is the city going to try next? “I never forgot that,” Pires told me. “The community can tell when you
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