03 21 2018

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VOL. 15 ISSUE 10 MARCH 21 - APRIL 3, 2018

Real Stories

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“I was a #MeToo” a new report examines the trauma and dangers women face on the streets of D.C.

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EVENTS

// 3

NEWS IN BRIEF D.C. Council reviews amendment to D.C. General replacement plan

Training for volunteer wayfinders Thursday, March 22 // 6 pm // Washington Convention Center (Exhibit Hall A), 801 Mt Vernon Place NW The mayor’s office of volunteerism is calling for volunteer wayfinders to assist the 500,000+ anticipated participants for the March For Our Lives-Washington, D.C. on Saturday, March 24. Volunteers will assist participants in safely getting to and from the rally. Register at www.tinyurl.com/OurLivesWayfinder

THURSDAY, MARCH 29

UPDATES ONLINE AT ICH.DC.GOV

MARCH 23 - 24

Ward 1 Candidate Forum

D.C. Interagency Council on Homelessness Meetings

BREATHE: THE MUSICAL

7pm - 9pm Busboys and Poets 2021 14th St. NW

Questions will focus on housing affordability, equitable development, gentrification and the role of local government on these issues.

Candidates: Kent Boese, Councilmember Brianne Nadeau, Lori Parker, Sheika Reid, Jamie Sycamore* (running as Independent) Moderated by Tom Sherwood, WAMU. ASL and Spanish nterpretation available. Questions or accommodations?

Contact ward1gpc@gmail.com.

Medicaid Work Group (WG) March 21, 2 pm // TBD - 441 4th St NW Strategic Planning Committee March 27, 2:30 pm // TBD - 441 4th St NW Tenant Barriers Work Group March 28, 10 am // TBD - 441 4th St NW Shelter Capacity Monitoring WG March 28, 12 pm // TBD - 441 4th St NW Emergency Response Committee March 28, 1 pm // TBD - 441 4th St NW Youth Work Group March 29, 10 am // TBD - 441 4th St NW Singles Housing Placement April 3, 1 pm // TBD - 441 4th St NW Housing Solutions Committee April 4, 1:30 pm // TBD - 441 4th St NW

3/23 @ 8 pm, 3/24 @ 3pm & 8pm THEARC 1901 Mississippi Ave., SE A great deal of American history has attempted to take the breaths away from African Americans through rape, lynching, Jim Crow laws, KKK terror, injustice and police brutality.

Breathe: the Musical is the story of the Jones family, a post-slavery family of sharecroppers in the early to mid 1900’s, as they seek refuge from America’s violent racial climate. With the help of five timeless midwives, the ghosts of historic lynching victims and a vibrant close-knit community, they navigate through the everyday trials of the era to reformation.

Submit your event for publication by e-mailing editor@streetsensemedia.org

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7:07 PM - 16 MARCH 2018

4:35 PM - 14 MARCH 2018

Members of the D.C. Council and advocates for people experiencing homelessness questioned the timeframe for closing the D.C. General family shelter at a March 14 oversight hearing. They expressed concerns that closing the shelter and beginning to deconstruct it by the end of 2018 may endanger residents and will push some into even worse housing conditions, as only three of the expected seven replacement shelters will be online by the end of the year.

Ward 8 Councilmember Trayon White Sr. said he was concerned that, to meet the closing deadline, families at D.C. General would be pushed into hotels or rapid re-housing programs that were not right for them.

In addition, some buildings within the D.C. General complex contain lead and asbestos, including one building where demolition began earlier in the week.

Public witnesses and councilmembers questioned the need to start demolishing these buildings while families are still living in other buildings on the campus. “Why are we taking a risk on the health and lives of people that live in that building?” said Amber Harding, a staff attorney at the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless.

Brian Butler, from the Capital Construction Division of the Department of General Services, said that department has often carried out demolition of buildings with asbestos and lead in densely populated areas while prioritizing safety concerns. He added that because D.C. General is in a populated area, the safety protocols for demolishing it would be the same regardless of whether families were living in the complex.

Mayor Muriel Bowser first promised to close the shelter during her 2014 election campaign, and she released a specific plan to do so in early 2016. After D.C. Council amended the locations chosen for local shelters, delaying their construction, the project’s deadline was pushed back to 2020. However, in January, Bowser renewed her promise to close the shelter by the end of year, before all replacement shelters will be open.

Aja Taylor, the advocacy director of Bread for the City, argued that the city created a “manufactured sense of urgency” for the construction of the shelters by stating at first that all local shelters needed to be done by the time D.C. General closed. She said this led the city to cut corners when building the shelters, for example, by not building private bathrooms.

But Laura Zeilinger, director of the Department of Human Services, said the mayor’s plan had always been to close the shelter by the end of 2018, and the department’s efforts at homelessness prevention had successfully limited the number of homeless families seeking shelter. Zeilinger said the reduced number of families will allow the department to absorb those leaving D.C. General with the resources it currently has available, via the three replacement shelters that will be completed on time, housing programs and overflow capacity in hotels. She said the recent start of demolition was in line with the department’s broader goal of leaving D.C. General as quickly as possible.

“We have a plan … that allows us to serve families better and achieve this goal on time,” Zeilinger said, “which we think families will be really excited about.”

—jake.maher@streetsensemedia.org

4 // ST REET SENSE ME DI A / / MA RCH 2 1 - A P RIL 3, 2018

NEWS

Ahead of the “State of the District” address, residents held their own forum to demand an end to displacement and call for accountability

BY KJ WARD AND ANDREW SIDDONS // Volunteers

J

ust ahead of Mayor Bowser’s State of the District address, demonstrators gathered to highlight city policies they said either increase the risk of homelessness or lead to the displacement of the District’s long-time low- and middle-income residents.

Several dozen clergy and community organizers and city residents held the March 15 Rally Against Displacement, outside the University of the District of Columbia, where the mayor’s speech was to be delivered.

A banner that read “The People’s State of D.C.: Speak Out Against the Displacement of Our Communities” served as the literal and figurative backdrop of the rally.

Central to all of the topics discussed was an ongoing process to update the Comprehensive Plan, the District’s 20-year framework for infrastructure, public services and capital investment. D.C. Council held its first public hearing on the Comprehensive Plan Amendment Act five days later, on March 20.

Rally organizer Parisa Norouzi of Empower D.C. said Bowser is supporting developers’ desire to weaken elements of the plan, including a requirement to conduct impact studies. “[Developers] don’t want to do the math because they know the impact,” she said.

Public transportation figured prominently among the issues the group called upon the mayor to address. Residents’ access to food, schools and community services is limited by fare hikes, service cuts and the privatization of public transit, according to Siggy Meilus, executive director of Americans for Transit.

“What good is a job if you can’t get there?”

Meilus said.

What’s more, race is a factor in job

opportunities and the income they provide, according to a 2017 report by Maurice Jackson, who chairs the D.C. Commission on African American Affairs and teaches in the history department at Georgetown University. The annual median income for White D.C. families is $120,000, while it is $41,000 for Black families, according to the study. Jackson also documented an increase in both the number of African Americans leaving the District and the number of White people moving in.

“The fact that we are currently living in one of the most racially segregated cities with one of the largest wage gaps between races is not by accident but rather by design,” Aja Taylor, the advocacy director for Bread for the City, said at the rally.

Taylor also presented a list of demands that included public restrooms for residents experiencing homelessness, emergency rental assistance, and full funding and implementation of the Neighborhood Engagement Achieves Results Act. The bill went into effect in 2016 and approaches violence prevention through the lens of public health by investing in communities.

“This city has been making promises and commitments to residents for as long as we can all remember,” Taylor said, “It is past time to make good on those promises.”

Accountability was a demand that 40-yearold Washingtonian Tyrone Chisholm also made clear. He described himself as having “a good work ethic and skills” but said that he is seen as “not hirable” despite submitting dozens of job applications. He described being in and out of homeless shelters since his youth and experiencing displacement and declining health for most of his life. Chisholm is in a rapid re-housing program but fears he

Outside of the UDC Theater of the Arts, where the mayor’s State of the District address would be given, Cheryl Brunson describes to protesters the feeling of being pushed out of her neighborhood to make room for new development and new residents. PHOTO BY KJ WARD

may lose the apartment when the short-term subsidy runs out if he cannot find work soon.

“We are calling on Muriel Bowser to prioritize us as an asset,” Chisholm said.

“When the people speak, Bowser, move your feet! … No more lip service.”

A resident from the Brookland Manor apartments in Northeast D.C. agreed with this sentiment. Cheryl Brunson said the planned redevelopment of the community she has called home for 24 years will have a reduced number of affordable apartments. She accused Bowser of being ignorant to what is happening in low-income communities and letting developers “take over.” Brunson also cited stories of the criminalization of residents as an effort to ease the path to redevelopment.

She questioned, for instance, infractions for leaning on a fence, smoking a cigarette or having a visitor.

“Bowser works against the best interests of citizens,” said Sean Blackmon of Stop Police Terror Project D.C., an organization looking to change what it calls a racist and militarized system of policing. “She’ll paint a rosy picture, and she won’t speak to the depth of the severity of the issues facing many citizens.

We’re here to call her out on her role.”

In her address, Bowser committed to bringing the District more affordable housing and new job-training programs, and introduced an effort to integrate mental-health services into local police responses.

Despite criticism that her administration is moving too quickly to shut down the family shelter at D.C. General — before new, smaller replacement facilities are built across the city — Bowser reiterated her desire to close it this year. In a year in which she is running for re-election, the mayor suggested that she

didn’t want to leave an important campaign promise unfulfilled.

“When it comes to closing D.C. General, we cannot move fast enough,” Bowser said. “That shelter is an embarrassment to our city, and I will not be the mayor who passes up on the opportunity to demolish it.”

She argued that in the three years since she’s taken office, the city has made progress on helping people prevent homelessness or find housing. She said that 3,900 single adults have been connected with permanent supportive housing and called for more investment in permanent supportive housing for seniors on fixed incomes. In the past year, the city provided $1 billion to affordable-housing efforts, on top of 5,300 units that she said were built since 2015.

Bowser also announced a new program called “Roots to Roofs D.C.,” which she said would be aimed at supporting long-time District residents who are at risk of losing their housing as home values, rents and taxes rise. She said that more details on the program would be presented in the coming weeks.

In last year ’s State of the District address, Bowser promised to launch a new “Infrastructure Academy” that would partner with local institutions such as WMATA and D.C. Water to train employees for public works jobs. On Monday, March 12, the academy opened for business, and in her Thursday address, Bowser said it would be “a pathway to the middle class” that would help Washingtonians pursue “sustainable careers.”

“As Washington grows, we’re going to make room for everyone,” Bowser said. “If we all stick together, then the state of the District, and we, are stronger.”

Reginald Black contributed to this report.

Inside the UDC Theater of the Arts, Mayor Muriel Bowser gave her fourth State of the District address.

PHOTO BY REGINALD BLACK

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

Mayor and councilmembers present conflicting visions of D.C. affordability at housing rally

Steve Glaude, executive director of the Coalition for Nonprofit Housing and Economic Development, Mayor Bowser and Susanne Slater, president and CEO of Habitat for Humanity D.C., on stage at the March 17 rally. Signage in the background advertises the mayor’s new “Roots to Roofs” program to support long-time D.C. residents at risk of losing their housing. Glaude and Slater are wearing t-shirts bearing the slogan “Equitable Communities.”

PHOTO BY JAKE MAHER

BY JAKE MAHER // jake.maher@ streetsensemedia.org

M

ayor Muriel Bowser, D.C. councilmembers and other community leaders spoke at the Coalition for Non-Profit Housing and Economic Development's Rally for Racial Equity, Housing and Jobs on March 17. Discussion focused on gentrification and efforts to keep Washington D.C. affordable for all residents, including people experiencing homelessness. However, the mayor and councilmembers disagreed on the extent to which D.C. government has tackled these issues.

At-large Councilmember Robert White emphasized the role that citizens can play in holding the government accountable, in particular as the council decides on the city's budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

"What accountability looks like is saying 'yes, D.C. does more financially to build low-income housing than almost any other jurisdiction in the country by investing $100 million a year ,'" said R. White. "But when we look at displacement happening, we know that $100 million is good, but it's not good enough."

He added that the money the city has set aside through the Home Purchase Assistance Program to help first-time homeowners buy

a home is not enough, as more people have applied for assistance than the city can provide for.

Ward 8 Councilmember Trayon White also emphasized the importance of accountability as the council works on the city's budget. He said much of the money the city apportioned for the Housing Production Trust Fund does not reach those who need it most.

"We said we were going to put $100 million into affordable housing. We put in $130 million, but most of that money went to [people who make] 80 percent [of the Area Median Income," White said. "Most of my family doesn't have $89,000 to spend on housing in Washington D.C." Councilmember T. White’s criticism is consistent with the recently released audit of the Housing Production Trust Fund, which contains data indicating that 60 percent of “affordable” units supported by the fund are designated for renters with yearly incomes between $56,000 and $88,000.Bowser, who is running for reelection in November, presented a more optimistic vision of the progress the city has made on affordability, especially through contributions to the Housing Production Trust Fund.

"So what has $100 million meant each and every year for the last three years? It's meant that we've been able to create 5,000 units of affordable housing," she said. "We will be able to double that, and in the next five years we will be able to create 10,000 more units of affordable housing."

“$100 million is good, but it's not good enough."

Robert White, At-Large Councilmember Bowser also recognized the efforts of her Housing Preservation Strike Force and its recommendation that the city complete the regulations to enforce the District Opportunity to Purchase Act, which allows the city to step in and purchase residential properties to preserve affordable housing.

"We have 8,000 units that could lose their affordability covenants in our city,” Bowser said. “Getting DOPA complete and funded will allow us to step in that gap and preserve those units for D.C. residents."

She also highlighted the accelerated closure of D.C. General as a step forward towards ending homelessness in the city.

"That shelter is an embarrassment to our city," she said. "We can and we must do better for our most vulnerable children and families."

// 5

What’s in the Housing Production Trust Fund audit?

In the District of Columbia, private companies that seek to construct new affordable housing and/or maintain existing affordable housing may apply for loans from the Housing Production Trust Fund, which is part of the Department of Housing and Community Development.

An audit of the fund, covering years 2001-2016, was released on March 20 by the Office of the D.C. Auditor.

A major concern stated in the audit is that the Department of Housing and Community Development and the Office of the Chief Financial Officer have not maintained easily accessible documentation on how loan and grant money was spent. Consequently, it took DHCD more than a year to provide some documents to the auditors and DHCD was unable to provide complete documentation on $13 million distributed from the fund, though they did provide some incomplete information on those projects.

To address the problem, the auditor’s office developed a publicly searchable database with information on the amount of each grant or loan, the project developers, property location and number of affordable units. The first recommendation in the audit calls on DHCD to maintain an accurate and accessible database.

Another major concern is that $16.6 million from the fund was used to repay the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Repayment was necessary due to mismanagement of federal funds by DHCD. “Reprogramming” is the term used when funds approved for one purpose are used for a different purpose. The audit states that the DHCD development did not consistently follow regular protocols for reprogramming and the failure to properly reprogram funds “obscured HPTF spending for the D.C. Council and other oversight bodies.”

The audit recommends that the Office of Integrity and Oversight, which operates under the Chief Financial Officer, look into matters relating to reprogramming and develop a plan for improvement.

Language in the D.C. Code establishes loan repayments as one of the sources of revenue for the Housing Production Trust Fund, yet collection of these payments has been lax. According to the audit and based on the District’s 2016 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, only 11 percent of loan repayments due to the fund in 2016 will be repaid, a shortfall of $442 million.

The audit recommends improvements to this process and restates a 2016 recommendation that the D.C. Council codify a requirement that information

on loan repayments be included in the fund’s annual and quarterly reports.

The audit notes that in 2009, 2012 and 2015, funds that should have been spent on affordable housing were used for administration of the program, a combined excess of $10 million.

However, the audit also notes, “Over the 16 years we reviewed, the cumulative percentage of HPTF administrative spending was 7 percent of the total funds deposited, far below the cap.”

The audit criticizes DHCD and the Office of the Chief Financial Officer for being inconsistent and unclear about how they determine the amount of administrative spending that occurred. It recommends the agencies develop clear standards for administrative spending and monitor spending monthly.

The audit criticizes DHCD for “continu[ing] to undermine D.C. Council oversight by failing to … publish HPTF annual and quarterly reports [in a timely manner], and recently publishing annual reports that contain inaccurate information.”

To address this concern, the audit repeats a recommendation made in 2016 that DHCD ensure there are sufficient staff to ensure timely and consistent publication of quarterly and annual Housing Production Trust Fund reports. Further, DHCD should create detailed standard operating procedures for compilation of these reports.

The Office of the Chief Financial Officer and the Department of Housing and Community Development were both shown advance copies of the audit and provided detailed responses. Both agencies agreed fully or partially with many of the auditor’s recommendations.

However, some responses clarified what the agencies saw as fundamental misunderstandings. Regarding the criticism that not enough is being done in the area of loan repayments, the Office of the Chief Financial Officer responded, in part: “The majority of the loans in the HPTF portfolio are deferred loans that do not require scheduled repayments for many years into the future and/or at maturity after 40 years, or in the event of a refinancing of the loan or sale of the property.”

“OCFO and DHCD have taken seriously our findings and recommendations,” concluded D.C. Auditor Kathleen Patterson. “We are confident that this spirit of improvement can continue as both agencies move to implement our recommendations.” . —Roberta Haber

6 // ST S T REET SENSE ME DI A / / MA RCH 2 1 - A P RIL 3, 2018

NEWS

Report shows “Me Too” stories are a constant among homeless women

BY OLIVIA RICHTER olivia.richter@streetsensemedia.org

A

t Calvary Women’s Services in Anacostia, Courtney has been trying to catch up on what the rest of the world has been doing in the last few years. She has battled addiction and housing instability. She left an abusive relationship.

Now, she reads, writes, watches Netflix — she just finished “Bloodlines” — and has dreams of starting a career as a tattoo artist and shop owner.

Courtney has been homeless in Kentucky, Ohio, and the District. While she was living in Kentucky in 2016, the man she had been staying with became violent with her. Soon after, her cousin bought her a bus ticket and she returned to D.C., where she was born, with no plan for what to do when she arrived.

Her struggles with domestic violence and homelessness are not uncommon. According to a report by the D.C. Interagency Council on Homelessness, 42 percent of homeless women in D.C. have been victims of domestic violence, and nearly one-third of women surveyed indicated that the violence they faced was a direct cause of their housing instability and homelessness. Sixty-three percent of the women who reported histories of violence and trauma said they also experienced at least one act of violence against them during their current period of homelessness.

“I was a ‘Me Too’ at a young age and at an older age.” Courtney said, referring to the popular movement encouraging women and girls to speak out about their experiences with sexual harassment and violence. “So I appreciate not feeling alone. Even the small things that people don’t realize, like someone touching you the wrong way — you don’t know how that makes me feel. So that’s ‘Me Too.’” Kris Thompson, executive director of Calvary Women’s Services, spearheaded the ICH survey, called the 2017 D.C. Women’s Needs Assessment Report. Thompson co-chairs the ICH Women’s Task Force with Wanda Steptoe, executive director of New Endeavors by Women. Both Calvary Women’s Services and New Endeavors by Women offer housing, education and employment programs for homeless women in D.C., seeking to empower them and ultimately end the cycle of homelessness.

The Women’s Task Force designed the survey with the help of domestic-violence service providers from around the nation, including a work group that previously designed a similar survey in Los Angeles.

“We are trying to get a deeper look at women’s experiences, particularly around the areas of violence and trauma,” Thomson said. “The starting point needed to be taking a deeper dive at looking at the issues and needs of women who are homeless in our community.

Doing that first would set the stage for what sorts of advocacy we need going forward.”

The results of the D.C. survey showed that 29 percent of participants reported they had engaged in survival sex, which refers to sex in exchange for extreme needs like food, shelter, or addictions in their lifetime and 28 percent had been forced or threatened into sexual activity. Of that 28 percent, a third had been trafficked.

Courtney, who identifies as a lesbian, began a relationship with the man who became abusive with her in order to finance her own addiction. After leaving that relationship and returning to D.C., she lived in two treatment centers before entering Calvary. Courtney credits her case manager, Rachel, for getting her into the center.

“She called [Calvary] almost every other day and eventually she called me and said ‘I got you an interview,’” Courtney said. “It was so great because I was just about to be out of my extension at the rehab, so I’d have been back where I was, and that wasn’t okay.”

Calvary is a women-only facility, something that three out of four women surveyed reported they preferred for obtaining physical and mental-health services as well as shelter.

Being in an environment with only women made the transition much easier for Courtney, who suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

According to the survey, 72 percent of participants self-reported that they are currently experiencing mental-health issues including depression, anxiety, trouble sleeping, and thoughts of self-harm.

“When one has experienced trauma and violence, they are more likely to have depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress experiences,” Thomson said. “The report really does try and point out that women who have had those long histories are the same women who are currently experiencing mental illness.”

“We are offering things like therapy and group work as ways for women to engage with their experiences with violence and trauma,” Thomson said. “We want to make sure that women have access to the resources that are available in our community.”

Wanda Steptoe, Executive Director of New Endeavors by Women (left) and Kris Thomson, Executive Director of Calvary Women’s Services (right). spearheaded the ICH 2017 D.C. Women’s Needs Assessment Report. PHOTO COURTESY OF CALVARY WOMEN’S SERVICES

On March 8, International Women’s Day, activists wrote statistics from the 2017 D.C. Women’s Needs Assessment Report in chalk on the sidewalk in front of the Wilson Buildings for the city’s elected leaders to see. PHOTO BY KEN MARTIN

For Steptoe, the greatest need for women experiencing homelessness who are victims of abuse is more specialized housing. For this to happen, she says, the District government needs to be made aware of the survey results and the dangers that homeless women in D.C. face in regard to sexual abuse and violence.

“It needs to be brought to the attention of the council and those people who can actually change the law so that there is more funding available,” Steptoe said. “None of this is going to happen without funding.”

Courtney, Thomson, and Steptoe each echoed the sentiment that ‘Me Too’ is a movement that affects women from all backgrounds. An objective of the ICH Women’s Task Force is that the survey results will raise awareness about homeless women’s experiences. Greater awareness in the D.C. community will hopefully lead to more resources being implemented to help these women recover from their trauma, according to Thomson and Steptoe.

To women currently facing domestic violence, especially women experiencing homelessness, Courtney shared advice she gained from her own experiences with both: “Don’t give up. It might seem really hard, but just never, ever give up.”

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

// 7

AT A GLANCE

Shortages at Saint Elizabeths Hospital leave people languishing in D.C. Jail

BY ANNIE ALBRIGHT annie.albright@streetsensemedia.org

A

report released Feb. 26 by the Office of the D.C. Auditor and the Council for Court Excellence documents serious shortcomings in the D.C. Department of Behavioral Health, including instances in which staff without formal forensic training made decisions regarding patients’ competency to stand trial and their criminal responsibility for the charges they face.

Saint Elizabeths Hospital in Congress Heights, D.C.’s only public inpatient psychiatric facility, was a focal point of the Council for Court Excellence’s investigation. The hospital served as a federal public psychiatric facility from 1855 to 1987, when control was transferred to the District of Columbia. Today, one-third of inpatient beds are occupied by individuals with voluntary or civilly committed status.

The other two-thirds are occupied by pretrial patients, including those waiting to be evaluated for competency to stand trial, and post-trial patients, including those who have been declared not guilty by reason of insanity.

While it is considered best practice for psychologists and psychiatrists conducting forensic evaluations to have received specific forensic training, D.C. law does not require it. In fact, no formal forensic evaluation training and certification program exists within the District. The audit recommends that the D.C. Code be amended to mandate formal training for mental health care providers who will be performing forensic evaluations.

The Division of Forensic Services oversees the forensic work at Saint Elizabeths but does not have direct authority over its staff. The audit calls the management structure an “organizational quagmire” and says the division’s role at the hospital “was unclear to almost everyone with whom we spoke, including DBH staff.”

The report’s recommendations include centralizing that management structure and giving the division greater authority over a unified budget for its forensic program. Complicating matters, the Division of Forensic Services has faced funding shortages since its inception. In fiscal year 2017, $0 were allocated for inpatient services. This means the division has no financial control over the programs it oversees at Saint Elizabeths.

D.C. Auditor Kathleen Patterson, in a Feb. 23 interview with ABC7, emphasized

$15B

U.S. TAX DOLLARS SPENT HOUSING PEOPLE WITH SERIOUS MENTAL ILLNESSES IN JAILS AND PRISONS

$255M D.C. DEPARTMENT OF BEHAVIORAL HEALTH FY2018 BUDGET

$954

AVERAGE DAILY COST PER INPATIENT BED AT SAINT ELIZABETHS HOSPITAL

291

INPATIENT BEDS AT SAINT ELIZABETHS

$7,000

TAX-PAYER COST FOR 1-WEEK STAY AT SAINT ELIZABETHS HOSPITAL

25,000

D.C. MENTAL HEALTH SERVICE CONSUMERS IN FY2016

7,000

SUBSTANCE USE DISORDER SERVICE CONSUERMS SERVED BY DBH IN FY2016

the impact of the long waiting lists and slow services that plague Saint Elizabeths. Bed shortages at the hospital mean that some people must wait to receive their courtmandated evaluation. “The courts have been very concerned about this,” Patterson said.

This concern was echoed at the D.C. Council’s Department of Behavioral Health Performance Oversight Hearing on Feb 26.

As Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen recounted, a D.C. Superior Court judge in 2017 ordered Saint Elizabeths to explain in court why individuals with court orders to be transferred to SEH were being held at the D.C. jail instead.

A 2006 study from the Bureau of Justice Statistics found that more than half of all U.S. prison and jail inmates in 2005 had mentalhealth problems, yet only around 30 percent of state prisoners and 20 percent of federal prisoners had received any mental-health treatment while in prison.

Because of capacity issues, Saint Elizabeths has struggled over the past few years to admit all those who have been ordered to undergo competency evaluation and restoration services, according to the testimony of report author Michael Hays. This has resulted in “an admissions waitlist causing defendants to remain incarcerated without receiving services,” Hays said, which “eventually delayed many defendants’ evaluations beyond the statutorily admissible time frame.”

Staff shortages are another issue. During a period of several weeks, while the Council for Court Excellence carried out its review, Hays said roughly one-quarter of full-time positions in the division were vacant. “Even if fully staffed, DFS would be unable to fulfill its responsibilities without overburdening staff,” he said. Hays referenced a finding that only three forensic-psychologist positions exist to perform more than 1,000 evaluations annually.

At the oversight hearing, DBH Director Tanya Royster claimed that mandating forensic training would only further limit the Department’s ability to hire qualified staff.

She also pushed back against the idea that DBH is too overextended to initiate the prearrest diversion program that it has scheduled for rollout this year.

“As a newly created division,” Royster said, “we are proud that the work we have already initiated and planned is in line with many of the recommendations within the auditor’s report.

Reginald Black

Robert Warren.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF @DISTRICT_ICH // TWITTER.COM

Vendors Reginald Black and Robert Warren are both appointed members on the D.C. Interagency Council on Homelessness this year and participated in the first 2018 meeting of the full council on March 13.

BIRTHDAYS Joe Jackson March 24 ARTIST/VENDOR

Charles Armstrong March 26 VENDOR

Subscribe. Listen. Empower.

Street Sense Media provides a vehicle through which all of us can learn about homelessness from those who have experienced it. Sign up for our newsletter to get our vendors' stories in your inbox. www.StreetSenseMedia.org/subscribe

8 // ST REET SENSE ME DI A / / MA RCH 2 1 - A P RIL 3, 2018

ART

Cora Masters Barry.

PHOTO BY KEN MARTIN

On Marion and gentrification

BY KEN MARTIN// Artist/Vendor

A

s a native Washingtonian who has known Marion Barry in many roles over the past 50 years, from Pride Incorporated to the School Board to D.C. City Council, the Mayor's Office and his fall from grace, back to Mayor again and other stops along the way, one might say I've known Barry to wear many hats.

As someone that was here when Meridian Hill Park became Malcolm X Park, lovingly referred to as "Malcolm," I found myself conflicted and frankly offended by the decision to schedule on March 2 the talk entitled, "History of Meridian Hill Park" at a similar time to the unveiling of Marion Barry’s statue outside the John A. Wilson District Building. Why? Because as D.C. natives would know, this man also known as the "Mayor For Life" is at the very least responsible for many of the improvements that have made D.C. the gentrifiers’ choice. They would also know that after more than a half century’s labor, Barry is the most famous and arguably infamous character and benefactor of the history of the nation's capital.

I'm offended because whoever decided that this was appropriate never considered the inclinations of folks like me: black city natives that did our share --fair or not -- to make this place worthy of this gentrification. Likewise I'm offended that they disrespected Malcolm X by omitting his name, then calling the park memorializing him by its original name. This might have been avoided had Mr. Barry and others pressed for a statue in the park bearing his likeness. Even the pigeons must wonder about that. I digress...

It’s beyond understanding how a person gets a posthumous memorial, then a revocation.

How does the decedent offend? Yet that is what occurs to the black community with gentrification. We get bought out, the culture gets stripped, and property values miraculously,

suddenly increase. This is followed by the historical landmark signs with a pictorial synopsis being posted … Well, La-dee-da!

Such signage exists on many of these gentrified streets as a reminder of "what was then and now it ain't no more." My favorite such reminder is the marquee at the Lincoln Theater. I recall bygone days of a vital U Street corridor. More vital in the days of my parents, though, when folks celebrated the work week's end as though it was a major holiday and filled the streets with excitement and entertainment.

If there were no live acts at the Lincoln, the Booker T and Republic movie theaters had feature-length films, and one might even offer a double feature. I can recall both a live act and a film. There was a sign of good cultural experience to come in the form of a marqueed announcement. The marquee today says we've gentrified because it bears no sign. Neither now showing nor coming attractions. Nada.

Once, I witnessed a line wrapped around the block for ticket purchase at the Lincoln, with no marquee and no clue what all those folk were trying to see. What I could see was the property value of the area was unreasonably high.

The price, you ask? If you have to ask you really don't want to know.

So there's "no props" for Malcolm, none, no "Pride, (Inc.)” for "Hizzoner" and none for the neighborhood. And no words on a marquee to tell us why. How could I trust the historians’ lessons? I can't. Three guesses where I went?

The part that offends me the most is that when I was brought into the District it had a history.

We didn't read street signs or go to the park for lessons on it. We got that from our elders and our neighbors because we talked to them. We got to know them. We got to know ourselves and how we related to them. We knew our environment because we actively participated in its cultural evolution. We don't seem to do that anymore. I guess that's a sign of these gentrified times that we're unable to comprehend.

Marion, our Marion

BY MARCELLUS PHILLIPS // Artist/Vendor

When I was growing up, my grandmother spoke very highly about Mr. Marion Barry. I was puzzled and always wondered why. He once came to visit us at our house on Delefield Place NW. There was a signed picture of him on the wall you saw as soon as you entered our house.

Barry was a positive force for our communities. His thoughts, rules and regulations still help them. He worked for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), a leading civil rights group, and was involved in fund-raising and protests about bus fare increases.

Barry also founded Pride, Inc., a group to help unemployed black men find work. After all this, Barry was shot near his heart by radical Black Muslims who attacked the Wilson Building and took hostages.

He gained his political chutzpah by taking risks and working hard. Of course, he had his faults, the most public of which were using drugs and hanging with prostitutes.

His reputation plummeted after those incidents.

Hey, no one's perfect!

But somehow he got his mojo back, so that by the time he left us, he was once more a respected politician and community leader.

The hands of sculptor Steven Weitzman (bottom), who was chosen through a competative process to craft the monument to Marion Barry (top) that was installed at 1350 Pennsylvania Ave. PHOTOS BY KEN MARTIN

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

A parade float during Mardi Gras 2018.

PHOTOS BY GERALD ANDERSON

Going Home

BY GERALD ANDERSON Artist/Vendor

I

My newphew, Trouble.

PHOTO BY GERALD ANDERSON

My newphew, Bear.

PHOTO BY GERALD ANDERSON

My aunt.

PHOTO BY GERALD ANDERSON

My niece, Keisha.

PHOTO BY GERALD ANDERSON

// 9

The Anderson family celebrates Mardis Gras together. Gerald is surrounded by his older sister, younger sister and younger brother. PHOTO COUTESY OF GERALD ANDERSON

would like to thank everyone who helped me go home to New Orleans for Mardis Gras. I had a good time with my family.

I can’t hold this back. We went out to eat and it was an ALL-you-could-eat place. It was everything you would look to eat. And me not eating that good in a while, I was being big-eyed! It was fun, but I told them to get me out of there before I hurt myself. I was walking out the door still eating! The whole family was looking at me making jokes. I told them I don’t get to eat good food like this up here. My sister said, “Brother, we will come back before you leave.” The food was really good.

If you ever go down there, go to Golden Dragon Buffet.

I saw a lot of my old friends too. I talked with them and told them about my new life, since they know me from the old hustlin’ days. When I showed them my book, “Still Standing,” they couldn’t believe it until they saw my picture inside. I told them I’m working on a new one, “My Life In Jail.”

My aunt couldn’t believe the book either. She said she never knew me from doin’ good. She was very proud of me and took me out to eat.

My family asked if I would come back and stay.

Honest, New Orleans don’t look the same to me. I love seeing my family and friends. But I’m not looking to stay. I know what will happen: jail or die. It would be hard for me to get a job, and if that happened, I would go back to my old past.

“Brother, I understand you. Do what you think is best for you,” my sister told me. “I love you so much, I hope the best for you.”

We talked about my mother, if she could be here to see my new life. My little brother and I hooked up. I went over to his house a few times and ate with his family. He was glad to see me down there and I was happy to see him, too.

Honest, I would love to make this trip to see my family twice a year. I wish I could get the food from down there sent up here, too! What if New Orleans was just around the corner, like Arlington? What a dream.

Here, I have work. I don’t have the best job, but I’m working. It helps me to make it, day to day, and visiting the family helps me to make it too. I try my best to stay strong. Yes, times get hard for me. But I never let it take me back to my old days. Honest, I never thought a paper-selling job could help me to be a better man in life.

When I got back to work in D.C., a lady I know downtown told me she went down for Mardis Gras, too.

She thought she passed me riding a bike while she was taking an Uber. And that’s how I was getting around the whole time! It’s a small world. I also met two new people visiting from D.C. while I was down there. They didn’t believe me when I said where I come from until I showed them my I.D. Then they each bought a copy of my book.

They even invited me to go eat with them at a seafood place by the river, but I had to work on selling my book.

God’s got me in a good way to mingle with people like I do here. I even sold some books on the bus. It takes 26 hours to get down there, but it is nice to be able to get up and move during the trip. And it was a good opportunity to meet new people.

My old friends say they would like to come up here and see how things go. I told them it ain’t easy. You gotta stay out of the way and not think everyone you meet is your friend. Watch what you’re doing and watch who you’re with. Do that and you’ll make it here in some kind of way.

I’ve been makin’ it here for 12 years. It was hard at first, but God helped you to make it. Also my new family — my customers, Street Sense, especially Susan — it’s a whole new generation of people that support me.

I get homesick sometimes, but so does everybody. I feel it the most around the holidays when everyone is visiting their families. I don’t let it keep me down, just like I don’t let this crazy weather we’ve been having keep me down either!

Thanks to everyone who helped make the trip possible through GoFundMe, and also thanks to my good friend Thomas and his wife for all their help and for being by my side.

1 0 // S T REET SENSE ME DI A / / MA RCH 2 1 - A PRIL 3, 2018

OPINION LETTER TO THE EDITOR:

Too much McNeil!

BY HOWARD FREED

I have never written a letter to Street Sense before, but I’ve been a reader for years. Let me get to the point: I am a Democrat — a liberal Democrat — and I am tired of being insulted by Jeffery McNeil. I am tired of him insulting people who have a viewpoint different from his.

In his last column, he said Black progressives “shill for the White man.” I’m not sure what White Man he is talking about when he writes, “None of them is capable or qualified to govern a nation.” Isn’t that a silly thing to say? Haven’t we gotten past categorizing people based on the color of their skin? Are all White men the same?

How about if someone says a certain point of view is what “The Black man” thinks?

Mr. McNeil shouts out strings of totally unnecessary insults. Here are three just from his March 6 column: “The left is not interested in solving social ills,” “According to the left, only White men can be racist” and “Liberals turn people into weak minded snowflakes… They’re disgusting!”

Under the Constitution, Mr. McNeil is 100 percent entitled to his opinions, and to write down his opinions, or speak about them whenever he wants. That is his First Amendment right.

No doubt about it.

However, under the Constitution, Street Sense is under no obligation to print his insults week after week, particularly when Mr. McNeil categorizes people by skin color and says what “The White man” thinks.

Street Sense has an open submission policy, but it would not be suppressing the viewpoint of the right if Street Sense were to stop printing any column that insults people with differing viewpoints.

And it would not be trying to deny Mr. McNeil or anyone his/her rights to make political points if Street Sense were to have an editorial policy to stop printing as a regular column, what “The White man” thinks, or what The Black man thinks.”

Honestly, I’m starting to wonder why I am paying $2 a week to see myself publicly insulted.

It would not be suppressing the viewpoint of the right if Street Sense were to stop printing any column that insults people with differing viewpoints.

Howard Freed is a Street Sense Media reader.

Up from Homelessness

BY JEFFERY MCNEIL

Before I came to Washington I saw myself as a warrior for social justice. Although I was poor myself, I believed it was my moral duty to be a voice for the downtrodden and dispossessed. Nevermind if the people I claimed to be speaking for had asked me to be their spokesman. I wanted to be a moral crusader in a noble cause.

Besides being self-righteous, I suffered from low selfesteem. I was a victim, I made excuses and blamed society for my misfortune. . I didn't know it but I had a defeatist mentality, chalking everything bad that happened up to systematic racism, or Republicans. All my life I was told liberals cared about me while Republicans hated me.

During this period, I was conflicted because I found myself agreeing with the people I was told hated me. I began realizing that the people I had put my faith in were not my friends. Friends would not permit or tolerate drugs, crime, bad parenting and the bad habits that undermine society — that I found myself wrapped-up in.

You can rely on a friend to be honest.

America isn't perfect, but you do have freedoms and opportunities not available anywhere else. Although it seems slow and arduous, you can change things in America, where in Iran or North Korea people that think differently aren’t celebrated but jailed, tortured or executed. While at times we can be inhumane to foreigners, we rarely turn them away and eventually they assimilate to our nation.

Everybody has a sad story. A couple of months ago I was diagnosed with high blood pressure. The doctor told me that if I don't follow directions, I will die. It wasn't what I wanted to hear but it was the truth.

I never thought setting standards and goals for yourself was considered conservative.

Jeffery McNeil is a vendor for Street Sense Media.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR:

Stop printing White House propaganda

BY COLLY MUK

The whole Street Sense Media organization should be ashamed for allowing its platform to be blown as a PR trumpet for Trump. At what point can we all agree that the White House propaganda mill is using you?

Our paper is not, and should not be, the right station for Trump preachers and delusional believers. The views and opinions expressed by your so-called “Revolutionary Black Conservative” writer are deliberately provocative. There is simply no space for this sort of hatred in a paper about marginalized people and empowerment. Some opinions should be left to outlets such as Fox News, Yellowhammer, Daily Wire and Breitbart. Those sites are well-versed in a lot of topics that your writer is trying to discuss.

I have nothing against the man, only his divisive manuscript.

Street Sense Media should not be involved in any kind of political discussion, unless it is about politics that affect homeless and poor people.

This is especially true when a political institution of government is preying on someone’s voice to send out its deceitful propaganda.

The vultures in the White House communications department recently found themselves drooling over an opportunity to promote their boss's agenda and policy. They had found a supporter in the nation’s capital, where only 4.1 percent of voters chose Trump—and he had a publishing platform.

They couldn't pass it up. Phone calls were placed. A special meeting was promptly set up in the West Wing. With the full support of our editor, the black conservative went to the White House. They marched like hens into a fox’s den. Every propaganda machine is good at putting on a show, and boy-ohboy did they get a queen’s royal treatment. The White House played them like a damn fiddle.

This administration has been engulfed in scandal since the 2017 inauguration. Now they’re grasping for any foothold.

When someone tries to save a drowning victim, they accept the risk of being pulled in by the victim and drowning themselves.

As the president’s administration continues to spiral, I don’t want to see that happen to our paper and our livelihood.

I don't care if you are a Democrat, Republican, Independent or whatever—I only care that you open your eyes and judge without bias. But it is hard for some people to do that on an opinion page where your conservative columnist freewheels all day with his absurd thoughts, opinions and ideas. There is not enough balance. If you’re going to keep publishing about broad politics, you need more voices to consistently represent other viewpoints. We all have the right to live in a safe and secure environment. But I don’t think that those in power, or the writers who support them, agree.

Colly Muk is a vendor for Street Sense Media.

Join the conversation, share your views - Have an opinion about how homelessness is being addressed in our community?

- Want to share firsthand experience?

- Interested in responding to what someone else has written?

Street Sense Media has maintained an open submission policy since our founding. We aim to elevate voices from across the housing spectrum and foster healthy debate.

Please send submissions to opinion@streetsensemedia.org.

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

/ / 11

ART Open your big mouth!

Listen to the children!

BY ANGIE WHITEHURST // Artist/Vendor

BY SHARON SMITH

During my morning commute on both March 13 and 14, I witnessed middle school students in Maryland starting their march toward the Silver Spring Metro station. They were heading to the White House and the U.S. Capitol. My Metrobus driver pointed them out because he was proud of his own kid taking part and standing up for what they believe.

They walked out of school in conjunction with students across America to protest in favor of gun control along with students across the America. This group didn’t have many signs, but the mass number of children marching across the nation has an obvious message: #ProtectUs. Democracy has been re-energized by these young citizens. The first march I saw was on February 21 in response to the Valentine’s Day massacre—one year and one month into the presidency of Donald J. Trump. They were begging for protection after another tragic, life-altering, senseless slaughter in our schools.

A dastardly, cowardly act.

More marches are planned for this month and on into April. Our children want results. On March 24, the children of the world will protest gun violence. There is a major demonstration planned here in the nation’s capital, and there are reportedly 700 “sibling” marches scheduled internationally on that same date.

May God’s blessings be upon all the children on Earth!

To plan the murder of innocents in a sacred place is barbaric. (As a teacher, I consider all educational institutions sacred.) Their minds are on their lessons, friends, plans for lunch or what to wear to the party on

Saturday night. Not one child is thinking “Someone is going to kill me today.” If they had thought that, I’m sure they would have stayed home.

Our children are afraid. Time and time again these horrible acts have been covered by the news media with with mini biographies of the shooters. The attention of the victims becomes secondary as we huddle to come up with explanations and new gun laws. If the shooters cared about laws, they would never have gone into a “Gun Free Zone” with a gun.

Our children deserve our protection with solutions that inspire good teachers to remain on the job, without fear that they too will have to become a human shield one day. They deserve to sit in class feeling safe so they can focus on their studies. Most of all, they deserve the security of knowing that they do not have to take matters into their own hands by bringing weapons to school to protect themselves.

The adults have been creating reruns of their fights with the NRA. Lets go where the shooters go, to the classrooms of America, with real plans and real solutions that will stop these cowards who kill kids and teachers.

Our president has asked the American people to offer suggestions to this overwhelming problem. Please feel the zeal that the children of the world have for making our lives safer. Let them know we care about what is happening to them and, more importantly, how these horrible acts make them feel. #WeStandWithYou! Sharon Smith is a vendor for Street Sense Media.

MOVING UP:

Creating job opportunities for the homeless

BY ARTHUR JOHNSON

So many times when the subject of how to reduce and possibly end homelessness, so much of the discussion is focused on building more housing and trying to convert much of the presently available housing to rents that are affordable.

But a major problem is hardly discussed: how to provide the homeless with the skills and job experience that will allow them to acquire gainful employment and a livable hourly wage. You can have all the housing you want, but if the homeless have no jobs, and therefore no income, it will not help them.

Recently there have been several alliances in California that have helped homeless people acquire the skills needed to become self-sufficient and employable. The first is in San Francisco, where a project called Code Tenderloin is helping the homeless learn coding, a skill that pays extremely well and is in very high demand by many technology companies, both large and small.

Code Tenderloin was founded by Del Seymour, a 70-year-old formerly homeless crack addict, who created the nonprofit to help the homeless gain the skills that would allow them to access to many of the opportunities presented by the technology companies that have become the dominant employer in the Tenderloin section of San Francisco -- which happens to be one of the largest gathering spaces of many of San Francisco’s homeless population.

The organization partners with other companies such as Twitter and Salesforce to teach coding, as well as other job readiness skills. Their efforts that have helped almost half of their graduates land positions with companies such as Microsoft and LinkedIn. This is an excellent example of how a nonprofit can help solve a problem by focusing on a realistic solution that helps train people for the skills that are in-demand with today’s employers.

In San Diego, an organization called the Alpha Project, which runs a homeless shelter, is partnering with a new venture called Wheels for Change, which was started with a $70,000 donation by an emergency room physician at the University of California-San Diego School of Medicine. According to a story in the San Diego Union Tribune, they are helping several of the shelter residents by providing them with the opportunity to work cleaning up the streets for $11.50 per hour. The efforts have been recognized publicly by the Mayor of San Diego and replicated in other cities.

Whether it is in computers or performing general labor, getting skills and confidence to become more marketable is an essential ingredient to helping the homeless get on a path towards self-sufficiency.

If you have any questions or comments about this article or have a topic you want me to cover in this column please email me at AJohnson@streetsensemedia.org. Arthur Johnson is a volunteer writer for Street Sense Media.

On March 12, ten years after the financial crisis, I again joined the Fed Up Campaign (the "green shirts," as they have been named by the government bureaucrats), along with members from Spaces D.C., to march on Wall Street.

Participants came from North Carolina, Georgia, Maryland, Arizona and California to support the coalition. We held court in front of George Washington's statue at the historic site where he was sworn in as the first President of the United States in 1789 and diagonally across from the New York Stock Exchange aka Wall Street.

"We are Fed up and not going to take it anymore" the hundreds strong marchers said, with posters, banners and signs in hand and flying high despite the wind and the cold.

We then marched to the very secure and barred-to-the-max New York Federal Reserve, led by Ruben Lucio Jr., Victoria Ruiz and Sean Sebastian. We stopped traffic.

New York is the seat of the most powerful of twelve Federal Reserve presidents. Nearly all appointees to these fiscal seats of power have been culturally Snow White and have come from the Wall Street they are meant to regulate.

These twelve presidents and the Federal Reserve Board of seven are part of a process that reviews and sets the country’s interest rate every six weeks. They bailed out Wall Street and left non-bankers (“the people”) holding the bag. No relief, forgiveness or checks to us. Millions lost their, jobs, homes, good health, emotional well-being and esprit d' vive.

After 10 years, we are still not back up to par and the rumor is that these guys want to increase interest rates unnecessarily and push us into another

crash. No one except the filthy, dirty rich can afford that. The rest of us cannot survive government-dictated unaffordable interest on our money.

Therefore, we cannot be silent.

Je f f H a e d t l e r, c a m p a i g n manager for Fed Up, reinforced and reaffirmed these sentiments and leads the effort to galvanize a consensus to push forward a change.

“When the economy crashed ten years ago, the New York Fed was at the center of the crisis,” Haedtler said. “With a vacancy opening up there, we have an opportunity to do things differently this time. The New York Fed president is the most important position in the economy that Donald Trump doesn't control.

It is crucial that the person chosen be someone who represents our communities, who understands that the economic recovery still isn't over in many places, who is independent from Wall Street, and is committed to fighting for full employment and a stable financial system.”

We must read up, educate ourselves and demand our constitutionally mandated rights over the governance of our money!

We cannot sit by and allow so many people to toil paycheck-topaycheck at the edge of the poverty cliff only to become poorer than poor, homeless and on the street.

Nor should low wage earners and new Americans have their families torn apart and shipped away like some excess commodity. We are better than that. It's all about money and man-made legalities.

So, we all need to have big mouths and use them to share our real life stories. We must insist that wages, jobs and social/racial/ gender disparity and discrimination be alleviated, permanently.

Bring back the ban

BY DWAYNE BUTLER // Artist/Vendor

An AR-15 once again made an appearance at a mass shooting, this time in Parkland, Florida, at a high school, on Valentine’s Day. The suspect in the shooting purchased the semiautomatic rifle about a year earlier, according to a law enforcement official. AR-style rifles have appeared in some of the deadliest shootings in the past few years: a concert in Las Vegas, a nightclub in Orlando, a church in Texas and an elementary school in Connecticut.

In 1994, an assault-weapons ban signed by President Bill Clinton outlawed the AR-15. But the law had a lot of loopholes and gun manufacturers circumvented it by modifying the weapons. The ban was written to expire after ten years and was lifted in 2004. Democrats tried to renew it, but there wasn’t much interest in Congress. I think President Trump can do the same but make stronger impact on banning assault-weapons. If you buy an AR-15 for sports, gun stores should ask the buyer for sporting proof. This weapon should not be used for hunting.

1 2 // S T REET SENSE ME DI A / / MA RCH 2 1 - A PRIL 3, 2018

ART Remembering Rev. Billy Graham

A musical experience:

Dark Side of the Moon, pt. 2

BY LEONARD HYATER // Artist/Vendor

BY CONRAD CHEEK JR. // Writer/Vendor

The second side of this LP starts with a song that has always lifted my spirits, “Money.” The stereophonic sound effects of change, cash registers and bill counters begin this song.

During my youth, and to this day, I am reminded of the optimism and probable delusions of grandeur that I’ve had all my life about becoming wealthy. As the song goes on, the two verses in the lyrics — “Think I’ll buy me a Football team” and “I’m in the Hi-Fidelity first class traveling section. I think I need a Learjet” — inspired me to think big.

At about four minutes into this song, there is an interlude where the lead guitar and the organ are emanating from separate speakers, feeding off one another with their stereophonic effect. As the song ends, it leads into “Us & Them.”

From my perception, it speaks of the poor versus the rich and powerful. The lyrics state, “Forward he cried from the rear, and the front rank died. The general sighed and the lines on the map moved from side to side.” Then there’s the segment of a poster-bearer being kidnapped and forced to take part in a robbery.

The person with a British accent explains, “a quick, short, sharp, shove.”

In my interpretation of the song’s next two segments, the saxophone plays a blues type of melody as they await this criminal act, and plays a more profound solo as the robbery is occuring, leading to a crescendo. Then, later in the song, the poster-bearer comes to realize that “the old man died!” The sound then leads into “Any Colour You Like,” which starts with an organ playing through an Echoplex set to six repeats, going through a spectrum of sounds as if there is a rainbow of colors to choose from.

Then, at one-and-a-half minutes into this instrumental, two guitars in opposite speakers create a flurry of stereophonic riffs, and they are later joined by the organ.

Next, the song “Brain Damage” has lyrics that I can relate to these days, “The lunatics are in my hall. The paper holds their folded faces to the floor. And every day, the paper boy brings more.” The lyrics of the last song, “Eclipse,” are self-explanatory if you have a good friend that you are close to.

In part one of this series, I made a mistake identifying the source of the seemingly pure sinusoidal waveform on the first side of the LP as the sounds of the helicopter. A chopper doesn’t produce a sustained note or sound. But the wave I had in mind was constant for about two or three seconds. I have since remembered that it was the second note of the bass guitar in the song “Breathe.”

The inside cover art of my Dark Side of the Moon LP.

PHOTO BY CONRAD CHEEK JR.

I also wrote about the design of the double album cover, which the single LP comes in, when one buys this music. The inside cover shows the spectrum of visible light continued from the front cover, leading to the back cover, with an obvious modification. Just as the LP begins and ends with the sound of a heartbeat, the green line of the spectrum of light displays a sinus rhythm that one would see on an EKG or electrocardiograph, a record of the electrical activity of the heart. I see this as a graphic symbolism of the heartbeat at the beginning and end of the LP. In the early 70s, my dad told me that Stereo Review Magazine reported that there was a new speaker, with such clarity, that one could determine whether the heartbeat on the LP was a true sound of the heart or a synthesized one.

The “Dark Side of the Moon” has provided me with countless hours of inspiration and entertainment over the last four-plus decades.

My next article will be about the two amazing Pink Floyd concerts that I have been to. A very similar concert will be performed by Brit Floyd on April 24 at the Warner Theater here in Washington, D.C. I will be there.

Trying to make a living

ILLUSTRATION BY PATTY SMITH

BY BRIANNA L. BUTLER Artist/Vendor

It's cold out here, Trying to make a living Sometimes have aches and pains, Trying to make a living Get to meet new people.

Trying to make a living.

They're caring, funny And understanding.

Trying to make a living It makes me happy with Encouragement and it makes Me push to fulfill my dreams To one day Run a little café.

So I'm gonna keep on Trying to make a living With Street Sense papers Til success comes.

On Feb. 18, the great evangelist Billy Graham died at the age of 99 years old. He lived a good life! I can remember my grandfather listening to him.

He loved the man; he loved his preaching.

I watched a documentary on Graham soon after his death, and it was amazing. He was a true man of God. He drew 92,000 people to Yankee Stadium in 1957. And when he asked anyone who accepts Christ to step forward, more than a thousand joined him at the front of the pulpit. He really preached the entire Bible, the

The Third Month

BY AIDA PEERY Artist/Vendor

We’ve made it to the third month of the new year, which, to me, is a blessing.

Being homeless or about to become homeless can be very scary. At least, it was for me.

And sometimes we all have to blame the circumstances as to why we became homeless on either ourselves, a divine power greater than ourselves, or another person. There are all different situations as to why this happens to a person.

Being homeless doesn’t mean you have to feel hopeless. But we all do. I certainly did.

I didn’t have any money and had to do a lot of walking until I got tired of it and started doing odd jobs for people to make some money. It wasn’t a lot, but at least I didn’t have to walk around the whole city to get to my destination.

Then, one night while at the shelter, I met a lady who told me about Street Sense Media.

I was like, “nah, I couldn’t do it.” But the next night she came up to me and told me she had made $80 in a few hours, selling papers. The following day I found myself at orientation to sell newspapers.

I’ve been here for quite a few years now.

So, what I am saying is, God puts people in our lives for a reason. Sometimes, these people aren’t always meant to stay, either. It is a plan for all of us to go through something and to get where we all need to be. It’s still a blessing.

scriptures and how to be saved.

He never took credit for it — he gave it to God. Graham was a very humble man, for someone who has been around the world, and known multiple presidents.

There’s nothing bad to be said about him. He will be missed.

Reverend Graham, may God’s grace be upon you from here to eternity.

This Day in Time

BY CHARLETON BATTLE // Artist/Vendor

Staying on top of my life today gives me the chance to say I’m definitely on my J.O.B. Not for pay, just for me.

I’ve had a lousy four months.

So it means a lot to still complete my tasks for the day.

Courts, medical and my spirits, to say mental health.

Next step and my P.O. the right way.

Loving myself helps a lot.

When I’m taking care of the right things, that makes me happy.

No matter how hard they may be, it is all for changing my life for the sake of making me, me.

I’m not a bad guy you see, just never knew myself and what I could be.

I feared rejection for as long as I could see.

Never knowing how to love and be free, fear and shame took over me.

They turned into anger, which you can guess, took the best of me.

I’m praying and giving all that I can, so that I may be forgiven for at least one of my sins.

Money doesn’t make a man, I see the small things in life, it’s what has set me free.

Being on time and being trusted by me, has always been my problem.

“You’re going to be late. You can’t do this."

"You’re going to mess things up. Just give up.”

All things I used to tell me.

My thinking has never gotten me much money, you see.

So stay out of my head keeps me more happy, just being me.

Lovin’ myself is more important today.

As long as I continue to stay out of my way. and let someone, or something continue to lead my thinking in the right way.

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

// 13

Perception or Reality:

I believe in me, you believe in you

BY ROBERT WILLIAMS, USMC // Artist/Vendor

Life, it is what it is.

It’s not what it should be.

If only one was allowed to see, how much better it would be for you and for me.

You don’t want me to see, who you, want me to be And yes I know, it is because your own insecurity, consistently, you make a sneak attack.

But you’re not even strong enough to hold me back.

It doesn't really matter if I am White or Black.

You don’t want me in the Temple, or even near the steeple.

Like it or not, we are all still one people Why don’t you stop perpetrating, We were all wonderfully and beautifully created.

I won’t be, as you,see for me to be, It’s all about you, and it should be about we.

I am no better than you, and he is no better than we.

If you disagree, then you haven’t a clue.

We are a visual world, though, our perception isn’t always reality.

This world was designed, too, for us.

It is now a decision, if we should ride the back of the bus.

What’s the fuss? Why cuss? Where’s the trust?

What is it you fear in me?

Still yet you desire, to be as I aspire.

But you’ll never admit it, you’d rather burn in Hell’s fire.

To serve you, I think not I won’t be for your hire.

For one shall serve but one master.

Choose, do I, this day, as I have done in days past and far away.

That me and my house, shall serve the Lord.

For the things you have done prior, for you, awaits a lake of fire Hear you not, the town crier?

No weapon formed against me shall prosper, And every tone that rise up against me, thou shall condemn For this is the heritage of thy people, Know ye not, that rather than mess with me, a child of the most high God, One is better off with a millstone tied around the neck And cast into the sea.

Allow me to awaken your consciousness that you be not destroyed for the lack of knowledge For the best decision is an informed decision.

Wake up — Churches, Mosques, Halls and Synagogues!

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want; He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; he leadeth me beside the still waters; He restoreth my soul; he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake; Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me; Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over; Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. (Psalm 23)

Billy Hancock's band performing at a 2006 festival in France. Steve Wolf on bass, Barry Hart on drums, Billy Hancock on rhythm guitar and vocals and Dave Chappell on lead guitar. PHOTO COURTESY OF BARRY HART

Local music legend taken too soon

Pages featuring a twopart series about Billy Hancock written by Chris and Spence, published in the Old Town Crier in 2010.

IMAGES COURTESY OF OLD TOWN CRIER MAGAZINE. OLDTOWNCRIER.COM

BY CHRIS SHAW “The Cowboy Poet”

M

y experience with “Wild Bill” Hancock, Alexandria’s foremost favorite son and exponent of rockabilly music, spanned about 45 years.

At the dawn of this eon, in my roots and apprenticeship, I suffered Mr. Hancock the rare experience of “getting sick” all over the plush passenger seat of his pink Cadillac Eldorado sedan — not to mention my loud and flared plaid, wool “Disco Pants.”

But by 2013, with more than two decades of sobriety under my belt (not to mention up and down stewardship of my own blues and jazz band), I had authored five full columns on Billy’s album releases and his crazy but illustrious career.

Billy sang vocals and thumped the bass with Danny And The Fat Boys from 1973 through 1980, enabling the legendary Danny Gatton to reach a mass audience through albums on the revived Aladdin label (known for jazz, rhythm and blues and rock n’roll).

By ‘81, Hancock was busy launching his own dazzling career, largely on Ripsaw Records. “Boogie Disease,” a bone-shaking dance number with goofy nonsense lyrics, charted on both sides of the Atlantic.

This sudden surge of fame and acclaim ultimately allowed our Billy to establish his own label, Turkey Mountain Records, to spread his amazing electric catalog far and wide. He started it with his brother to uplift talented artists that

were otherwise ignored.

My top fave of the vastness of Billy Hancock’s output would have to be “Too Much Rock and Roll Music,” a revived obscurity from about 1958. The song unfolds, showcasing Bob Newscaster filling in with looping, swerving Fender guitar licks, and “Wild Bill” yelping and hiccuppin’ his way through the gripping narrative of “Line Tall Sally” changing the tone of a rural barn dance through “wrigglin’ on the hardwood floor!”

The accounts were well received during my tenure writing a culture column in Alexandria’s Old Town Crier magazine. My co-conspirator on the column, and bandmate, Spence Hiller, went to Rock n’ Roll Heaven when cancer seized him rudely away last August. Now, sadly, Billy has joined him. He passed Jan. 22 at a hospital in La Plata, Maryland. The previous summer, friends of Billy organized a benefit concert for him at Glen Echo Park to help cover his mounting medical bills. But he was called to the great gig in the sky while his devoted wife, Carrie, stood by his bedside.

PHOTO COUTESY OF BILLY’S WIFE, Sadly, Billy’s great dream of establishing CARRIE SLARK himself as a creative force in Nashville ended with his death. All of his devoted friends, family and fanatical fans await the release of a CD of the fabulous sessions known by the working title “Union Avenue,” which he largely completed in 2015, prior to his fatal illness.

Long may you wave, master Billy Hancock!

On Sunday, May 20 there will be a musical salute to Billy Hancock at Pearl Street Warehouse on the Wharf in Southwest D.C. Tickets are expected to go on sale the week of March 26.

1 4 // ST REET SEN S E ME DI A / / MA RCH 2 1 - APRIL 3, 2018

FUN & GAMES

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Terms and topics referenced in this edition: Intermediate Sudoku by KrazyDad, Volume 8, Book 2

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1 "Our vision is to speed up time, eventually eliminating it."

-- Alex Schure

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1) Federal Reserve 2) Age-Friendly 3) hookworm 4) implicit bias 5) payee 6) goggles 7) gym

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in information technology. Many thanks to Gene Weingarten and The Washington Post Writers Group for allowing Street Sense to run Barney & Clyde.

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

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All services listed are referral-free Academy of Hope Public Charter School 202-269-6623 // 2315 18th Place NE aohdc.org

Bread for the City 202-265-2400 (NW) // 561-8587 (SE) 1525 7th St., NW // 1640 Good Hope Rd., SE breadforthecity.org

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Friendship Place // 202-364-1419 4713 Wisconsin Ave., NW friendshipplace.org

Georgetown Ministry Center // 202-338-8301 1041 Wisconsin Ave., NW georgetownministrycenter.org

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Church of the Pilgrims // 202-387-6612 2201 P St., NW food (1-1:30 on Sundays only) churchofthepilgrims.org/outreach

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Community of Hope // 202-232-7356 communityofhopedc.org

Covenant House Washington 202-610-9600 // 2001 Mississippi Ave., SE covenanthousedc.org

D.C. Coalition for the Homeless 202-347-8870 // 1234 Massachusetts Ave., NW dccfh.org

BEHAVIORAL HEALTH HOTLINE Línea de salud del comportamiento

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Patricia Handy Place for Women 202-733-5378 // 810 5th St., NW

Samaritan Inns // 202-667-8831 2523 14th St., NW samaritaninns.org

Samaritan Ministry 202-722-2280 // 1516 Hamilton St., NW // 202-889-7702 // 1345 U St., SE samaritanministry.org

Sasha Bruce Youthwork // 202-675-9340 741 8th St., SE sashabruce.org

So Others Might Eat (SOME) // 202-797-8806 71 O St., NW some.org

St. Luke’s Mission Center // 202-333-4949 3655 Calvert St., NW stlukesmissioncenter.org

New York Avenue Shelter // 202-832-2359 1355-57 New York Ave., NE

JOB BOARD General Utility Worker Aramark // 620 Michigan Ave NE Full-time

The General Utility Worker is responsible for the maintenance and cleanliness of dishes, serve ware, equipment, etc. In addition, the individual may perform other serviceable duties as assigned.

REQUIRED: Must be able to work flexible hours including evenings and weekends, must follow basic safety procedures due to exposure to hazardous chemicals, requires frequent lifting of up to 25 pounds and constant standing/walking.

APPLY: https://tinyurl.com/yd8eytf7

Custodian Chimes // Pentagon

Full Time, Monday - Friday // 7am - 3pm The custodian provides a variety of cleaning and building services in public space areas and work space areas as well as policing public and secure areas and assisting with special events by setting up and taking down furniture. People with disabilities are encouraged to apply. REQUIRED: High school diploma or GED, ability to comply with safety procedures, ability to lift and move heavy objects. APPLY: https://tinyurl.com/y9dxms96

Kitchen Helper Hot N Juicy Crawfish // 2651 Connecticut Ave NW Thrive DC // 202-737-9311 1525 Newton St., NW thrivedc.org

Unity Health Care // 202-745-4300 3020 14th St., NW unityhealthcare.org

Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless 1200 U St., NW // 202-328-5500 legalclinic.org

The Welcome Table // 202-347-2635 1317 G St., NW epiphanydc.org/thewelcometable

My Sister’s Place // 202-529-5991 (24-hr hotline) mysistersplacedc.org

N Street Village // 202-939-2060 1333 N St., NW nstreetvillage.org

// 15

Whitman-Walker Health 1701 14th St., NW // 202-745-7000 2301 MLK Jr. Ave., SE // 202-797-3567 whitman-walker.org

For further information and listings, visit our online service guide at StreetSenseMedia.org/service-guide

Full-time or Part-time The kitchen helper is responsible for prepping, cooking, cleaning, and restocking the kitchen in a fast-paced restaurant environment.

Experience is a plus but training will be provided to the right candidate. REQUIRED: Must be able to lift at least 50 pounds and stand/walk for 8 plus hours. Must speak English, and being bilingual (Spanish) is a plus. APPLY: https://tinyurl.com/yb6s6cxo

Utility Worker Sodexo // 1775 Massachusetts Ave NW Full-time

The Utility Worker is responsible for maintaining kitchen work areas, equipment and utensils.

Responsible for dish washing, sweeping, mopping, and vacuuming floors, removing trash to designated areas, cleaning equipment using specific chemicals to ensure sanitary standards, and transfering supplies and equipment within and between storage and work areas such as pantry and dish room.

REQUIRED: High school diploma or GED, must be able to lift and move up to 40 pounds as well as stand for up to 8 hours, must be able to use a computer and work a flexible schedule. APPLY: https://tinyurl.com/y7rrr8qt

Submit your job opporunities to editor@streetsensemedia.org

A Springtime Day

BY TAMMY MICHELE RICE // Volunteer

Now that the cold weather is gone, Spring won’t be long!

On a springtime day, butterflies fill the air, and bees make their honey, while little kids prepare for Easter Monday!

The flowers start to bloom, with their pretty bright spring colors, and little kids hunt for Easter eggs, and eat marshmallow bunnies!

ILLUSTRATION BY LEVESTER GREEN

ILLUSTRATION BY LEVESTER GREEN

ILLUSTRATION BY REGINALD BLACK

The monkeys found flowers

ILLUSTRATION BY SHARON SMITH

BY MICHAEL CRAIG // Artist/Vendor

Snowe-flakes

It had been a harsh winter. There weren't many fruits out. The monkeys were struggling and conflicts were evolving. It was a difficult time in their environment.

But when Spring sprung, all these beautiful flowers erupted that are not present during the cold season. When the monkeys found the flowers, they got EXCITED. They started to share with each other. Conflicts began to dissipate, they began to congregate, and they shared love.

Fealds of nu snaw, tu, are flora; scher ices, siox-fold; te press glistenend withth hues. Win’ preues t’ dress this vues in the stress off squareness to. With depth-hoar, te crystallyn sort ov fealds...

BY FRANKLIN STERLING Artist/Vendor

MARCH 21 - APRIL 3, 2018 VOLUME 15 | ISSUE 10

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They weren't fightin' over food anymore.

And it wasn't long before they all gathered for another banana barbecue — singing and dancing. Life was renewed and the fruits were plentiful.

Springtime represents a new beginning and the flourishing all around us. Times can be tough and it is easy to get caught up in being malcontent. But life is beautiful if we are patient enough to find the flowers inside of our hearts. We've just got to seek them, every day!

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Happy Easter Everyone!!!