10 03 2018

VOL. 15 ISSUE 24

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Visiting a NoMa homeless encampment the night before a city cleanup.

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EVENTS

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NEWS IN BRIEF Fire displaces seniors from public housing

The damage is most visible on the top floor. ZACHARY HEADINGS

Healing after domestic abuse

UPDATES ONLINE AT ICH.DC.GOV

2:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. // Sherwood Regional Library, 2501 Sherwood Hall Lane, Alexandria, VA 22306

D.C. Interagency Council on Homelessness Meetings

It’s “Time to Thrive!” This domestic abuse awareness event celebrates the brave individuals who have chosen to end the cycle of domestic violence by separating from an abusive partner. We’re celebrating this decision for life, and assisting survivors with recovery.

This event is for: survivors of abuse (physical, emotional, mental, financial, sexual, etc.), ministers and churches, community leaders, and family and friends of survivors. The event features, refreshments, county resources, prayer, give-aways, housing resources, a free Thriver Roadmap, and more!

Don’t just survive, thrive!

Housing Solutions Committee Nov. 3, 1:30 pm // TBD Likely 1800 MLK Jr Ave SE, 20020

MORE INFORMATION: tinyurl.com/thrive-event-dv

Executive Committee Oct. 9, 1:30 pm // TBD Likely 441 4th St NW For more information about these meetings or ICH workgropus, contact ich.info@dc.gov

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

This year, several Street Sense Media contributors were recognized as finalists for the Best Photography and Best Vendor Contribution (2) categories in the International Network of Street Papers awards. We were proud of the work that was recognized and and equally delighted to win the Best Breakthrough award for our evolution from Street Sense the newspaper to Street Sense Media, the multi-platform media center. This speaks to the hard work of our vendors, artists and staff members, as well as the strong support from readers like you.

D.C. Fire and EMS responded to a blaze at the Arthur Capper Senior Public Housing complex (900 5th St SE) shortly after 3:20 p.m. on Sept. 19. The fire was primarily in the fourth floor and roof levels of the complex.

Neighbors and about 100 U.S. Marines assisted with non-ambulatory evacuations. By 5 p.m., officials reported that all residents were safe.

However, five days later, resident Raymond Holton, 74, was discovered in his apartment by engineers assessing the structural integrity of the building.

According to reporting by the Washington Post, Holton was in good spirits and was taken to the hospital for evaluation. He had no serious injuries.

Laura Zeilinger, director of the D.C. Department of Human Services, said the building management mistakenly had Holton’s name on a list of residents that were accounted for after the evacuation. A representative of Edgewood Management told The Washington Post the company is relieved everyone has been accounted for and they are investigating why Holton was mistakenly accounted for during the emergency. The company has been otherwise unavailable for comment.

The fire destroyed much of the 162-unit complex and displaced 160 residents. All displaced residents are currently in short-term housing, hotels, or with family and friends. After the incident with Holton, Mayor Muriel Bowser said D.C. government will double check each resident’s temporary situation and verifying where they are staying.

Residents said the building’s fire alarms and sprinklers did not activate. According to Fox 5 News, officials reasoned that the smoke and flames were initially above the fire detection systems. However, some people who were present for the incident said the alarm failed to sound even after it was pulled.

Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen has announced that the Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety and the Committee on Housing and Neighborhood Revitalization will hold a joint roundtable session on Oct. 25 at 10 a.m. to discuss the procedural shortcomings during and after the fire.

The Capitol Hill Community Foundation has partnered with the Van Ness Elementary School Parent Teacher Organization and ANC Commissioner Meredith Fascett to create a recovery fund for displaced residents. One hundred percent of funds collected will be dispersed to displaced residents to help them rebuild their lives.

Interested community members may donate at tinyurl.com/acapperfire.

—zachary.headings@streetsensemedia.org

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NEWS

Spice overdoses spike for a second time this year

BY KATIE BEMB katie.bemb@streetsensemedia.org

F

or the second time in three months, a potentially fatal batch of synthetic cannabinoids caused a spike in local overdoses associated with the drug commonly referred to as “K2” or “Spice.” District agencies and community organizations have collaborated to caution citizens about the danger of the drug, which is plant matter sprayed with frequently changing chemical compounds.

“It’s more like synthetic PCP,” Metropolitan Police Department C o m m a n d e r Wi l l i a m F i t z g e r a l d told concerned citizens and ANC commissioners at a recent meeting at the Fifth District police station on Bladensburg Rd, NE. D.C. government re-circulated a flier about the dangers of the drug that was first used in July when overdoses spiked, several resulting in fatalities. The flier emphasizes the importance of staying hydrated and provides phone numbers to call in case of emergency.

From July 14 through Sept. 27, D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services treated or transported 1,855 patients to hospitals for symptoms consistent with synthetic drug overdoses. Both call volume and transport numbers were “significantly higher than normal,” similar to the July spike of more than 300 overdoses, according to an e-mail from the D.C. Interagency Council on Homelessness.

The ICH has been tracking several K2 “hot spots” where the drugs are used and sold. Before so many people had been sickened by these “bad batches” of the substance, Street Sense Media Vendor Frederic John observed one such hot spot while traveling on a Metro bus in the Eckington neighborhood. He noticed flashing lights and first responders surrounding some people on the sidewalk of North Capitol Street.

“EMTs were attending to people who were staggering or sprawled on the sidewalk — like a war zone,” he recalled.

“They’re selling this as potpourri packets, like a treat … but it’s wreaking havoc in local neighborhoods.”

Weeks later, because so many people had overdosed at the intersection of North Capitol Street and Florida Avenue NE that John described, FEMS stationed an ambulance there to reduce response time.

“It’s like they’re targeting indigent and homeless individuals who can pay $2 or $3 for a hit,” said a resident at the community meeting in Fifth District Station. “We gotta get a handle on this.”

When MPD first started seeing synthetic

drugs in D.C., the substance seemed to be marketed toward a younger population, according to Lt. Andrew Struhar, who specializes in narcotics. When the city enacted legislation to allow regulatory agencies to fine distributing stores and close them down, K2 shifted user bases.

“For whatever reason, K2 seemed to get focused in places where homeless people gathered,” Struhar said. “Places like [Martin Luther] King Library, Union Station and Starburst Plaza, it was probably a couple years ago that we saw synthetic drugs going in that direction. [Dealers] also know that they have a population that’s using the drug in shelters, so they’re taking the drug to where that population is.”

A K2 hotspot is located near So Others Might Eat, a nonprofit organization that helps D.C.’s poor and homeless community members, just off North Capitol Street NW. In response to fatalities in the area, SOME has created an on-call clinician team to assist with addiction treatment Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.

“K2 and other synthetic drug abuse is an epidemic in our city,” SOME tweeted on Sept. 14. “Its cheapness and unpredictability make it highly dangerous and, as we’ve seen today, deadly, particularly among the vulnerable population that SOME serves.”

Neighbors at the meeting in Fifth District Station noted that shelter vans typically bring shelter residents to SOME as early as 5:30 a.m., before the organization opens to serve breakfast.

The homeless passengers may be left without shelter, restrooms or recreation for a couple of hours.

To address this, SOME has revived the practice of opening their dining room earlier, before and between meal services. The “ABLE” program helps clients get off the street and engage in activities, according to a spokesperson for the organization.

Michelle Busch, a local business owner and former D.C. government employee, lives in the Trinidad neighborhood and passes by the North Capitol Street and Florida Avenue intersection frequently.

She said synthetic cannabinoids are nothing new.

“I think [K2] has become the new it-drug because of the pricing – it’s cheap,” Busch said. “K2 came across my radar around 2010, 2012. I noticed it at a lot of gas stations and liquor stores.”

Shiloh Baptist Church, Busch’s place of worship, shared an announcement in September during a Sunday service to

D.C. Fire and EMS responded to this screne, where three men had overdosed on synthetic cannabinoids. PHOTO BY MICHELLE BUSCH

educate the congregation about the recent uptick in synthetic drug overdoses in the local community.

“I have seen the emergency alert sent out by D.C. government, and I think it’s important that this goes out,” Busch said.

“But for me, having worked in criminal justice and now in mental health, I believe you need to do intervention where people are... Go to the corner of North Capitol Street and Florida Avenue, set up a pop-up with coffee, tea, water, etc. and just talk to people.”

Jennifer Stoloff, a D.C. resident who lives off H Street NE, encountered a man who was convulsing on the ground after overdosing outside of Union Station.

Though she was commuting to her job in Bethesda, Maryland, she and several other women stopped to assist the man. “[We] were going to roll him over, and when he started retching we held him on his side,” Stoloff said. “A guy wearing surgical gloves came up to us and … he sort of took over... He said he thought it was K2 and pointed out all these folks lying on the ground either zoned out or passed out. I really hadn’t noticed it before.”

Responding to these overdoses has caused a drain on MPD and FEMS resources, according to Commander Fitzgerald.

“That’s what drives me crazy with this K2 thing. It’s got all my officers pulled into one area. When police officers are concentrated in one area of the city, it

means that their response time is slower for other incidents,” Fitzgerald said.

In response to the increase in K2 overdoses this year, Mayor Muriel Bowser proposed emergency legislation to make it easier for law enforcement to pursue and arrest K2 dealers. The bill bans the common chemicals found in synthetic drugs based on the class of the compound, rather than the individual compound.

The legislation likely won’t solve the synthetic drug issue, according to Lt. Struhar, but adjusting law enforcement procedure is a step in the right direction.

The new bill would enable officers to use their experience and knowledge to determine whether a substance is an illegal cannabinoid rather than having to wait for a laboratory analysis.

“It’s going to make it easier for us to address the people who are selling the drug,” Struhar said. “We’ve seen this before and gotten through it, and we’ll work together to get through this one.” ” RESOURCES: According to the flier distributed

by D.C. government agencies, not drinking enough water in warm weather can make an overdoes from K2/Spice more likely. Overdose signs include collapse, unconciousness, vomiting and physical aggression.

- Water delivery: 202-399-7093 - Substance use treatment: 202-727-8473 - Overdose/emergency: 911

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

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Court-appointed receiver sues more than 100 affordable housing tenants

BY CHRISTIAN ZAPATA AND ERIC FALQUERO Editorial Intern, ericf@streetsensemedia.org

E

arlier this year, D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine negotiated that Sanford Capital would divest its real estate holdings in the District by December and stay out of the city for the next seven years. The consent order, voluntarily agreed to by both parties but enforceable like a court order, prohibits the Bethesda-based company, founder A. Carter Nowell, and any affiliate LLCs from acquiring or renting residential housing in the District of Columbia “unless they are able to supply habitable housing to any prospective tenant.”

This negotiation was the result of two years of litigation parallel to investigations by Washington City Paper and The Washington Post that discovered a pattern of neglect throughout the company’s more than 1,300-unit portfolio.

The Superior Court labeled these “slum conditions,” referring to the extensive pest and rodent infestations, backed-up sewage, mold and lack of heat, as a “complete disregard for the District’s housing laws.”

Mayor Muriel Bowser ordered an inspection of Sanford’s entire portfolio by the D.C. Department of Regulatory Affairs, who had already fined the company and its affiliates for extensive infractions, and asked the agency to innovate a way to proactively flag future “bad actors” that operate multiple properties in the city.

Despite these reforms, peace of mind was not guaranteed for all former Sanford tenants.

Of the company’s at least 20 housing complexes, all but seven had been sold off or otherwise changed hands by the time the attorney general’s consumer protection suit was resolved in April. Four such properties are now managed by E&G Group, a McLeanbased developer that was appointed by D.C. Superior Court to manage four Sanford Properties in Southeast D.C. that Nowell lost when his LLCs defaulted on several loans amounting to more than $25 million.

All four receivership filings submitted to the court on July 12, 2017 were consent agreements, agreed to in advance by the lender, the various Sanford Capital affiliates, and E&G Group.

Impressed with E&G Group’s management, Wilmington Trust, the Delaware lender whose loans were defaulted on by Sanford Capital, petitioned the court in May and June to amend the receivership agreements for Elsinore Courtyard Apartments and Fitch Place apartments in order to empower E&G Group to market those properties for sale, solicit bids and negotiate on behalf of Wilmington Trust.

Leading up to these changes, E&G Group sued more than 100 residents from those complexes for eviction, according to court

records. Forty-six of those suits were filed on a single day in April, while another 51 were filed on a single day in September 2017. Each defendant had failed to pay rent, from as little as $336 to as much as $17,952, after E&G Group took charge in 2017.

Cases involving non-payment of rent are generally a landlord’s way of getting a tenant to pay back rent or move out, according to Shaina Hagen, a staff attorney with Neighborhood Legal Services Program, an organization that offers legal counseling to low-income residents who cannot afford lawyers. Hagen has worked on numerous cases involving Sanford properties that are now owned by E&G Group.

“Often a case will end with a tenant agreeing to move out in exchange for back rent being waived,” Hagen said. If a tenant does neither voluntarily, then the landlord can seek a judgement allowing for the tenant to be evicted unless they pay the back rent.

When asked to expand on their role as receiver and explain why there were so many eviction lawsuits related to the two properties they were recently empowered to sell, the company supplied a short statement.

“E&G Group is a developer, owner and manager of affordable housing communities.

In July 2017, E&G Group was appointed as the receiver for four properties—Elsinore Courtyard Apartments, Fitch Street Apartments, Sayles Place Apartments and Wayne Place Apartments. Since that time, consistent with the Court order appointing the receiver, E&G Group has managed the properties in a manner that it believes has been fair and respectful to all the tenants at the properties.”

A Street Sense Media analysis of 46 lawsuits E&G Group filed on April 20 found the company could have recouped more than $260,000 if each suit resulted in the full payment of rent owed. However, only seven led to full or partial payment of back rent, according to available court records. Six tenants agreed to move out in exchange for the forgiveness of all or partial rent owed, nine were evicted and five cases remained open.

Others cases received a default because the tenant did not show up in court or three attempts to deliver a summons failed. In those situations, E&G Group has the option to pursue an eviction with no further court hearings. All but one of the cases that remained open from the April 20 bulk-filing involved tenants who had legal representation. In the other 41 suits, tenants represented themselves while E&G Group was represented by one or more attorneys.

Multiple tenant defenses submitted to D.C. Superior Court claim E&G has collected rent on a voided lease or collected more rent than the

property is worth due to the company’s “breach of the implied warranty of habitability.”

Several residents also included counterclaims in their response to the lawsuit, aiming for the court to compel E&G to address long standing maintenance needs. As part of her legal defense, one Elsinore Courtyards resident included a long list of health and safety risks she said had been present since she moved in: a front door that doesn’t lock, no smoke detectors, rodents, leaking pipes, and more. Her trial is set for this month.

Similarly, a Fitch Place resident swore in her written defense that there has been insufficient heat, plumbing problems and a malfunctioning stove in her unit since she moved in, December 2015.

The Fitch Place resident stopped paying rent in January when conditions did not improve after E&G Group took control of the property.

Her stove was finally fixed in May, shortly after one of the April 20 eviction suits was filed against her. She took the stove and some other small repairs as a sign of good faith and entered into a protective agreement where she would routinely pay a small sum directly to E&G every month as the case continued. A leaky third floor toilet has since caused repeated water damage to her first floor apartment. Her trial is also scheduled for this month.

While most resident counterclaims address maintenance issues deferred and willfully ignored by Sanford Capital, pre-dating E&G Group’s management, the defendants seem to think withholding rent is necessary to seek meaningful and long-overdue repairs to the property. One 2017 counterclaim by an Elsinore Courtyards resident that is about to go to a jury trial argues they have had pest, stove, mold and water issues since 1998 or ‘99. Sanford Capital was founded in 2006.

E&G Group’s role as a receiver is clearly outlined by the consent agreement that empowers the company to protect, preserve and improve the property; hire, fire or bettercompensate whatever employees and partners necessary to accomplish this; and “enter into,

enforce, modify or cancel leases ... and to obtain and evict tenants.”

The company filed another 38 eviction suits against Elsinore Courtyards and Fitch Place tenants on Aug. 15.

A resident of Sayles Place Townhomes, one of the Sanford properties under E&G Group’s receivership, sued E&G Group for a wrongful eviction in February, according to court records. The resident said they were in the process of moving items between their apartment in D.C. and their recently deceased father’s estate in North Carolina when they received a call from a neighbor saying their belongings were being thrown out.

“I came home and confronted the management team because I didn’t even know that they had switched over [to a new company],” the Sayles Place Townhomes resident said. “And then E&G shows me that Sanford Capitol had me in the system as my unit being vacant.”

The resident had a housing voucher, but it was terminated while she was focused on her father’s estate. E&G Group refuses to lease the apartment back to her at a lower price to compensate for her lost subsidy. The lawsuit she filed claims she has lived in the unit since 2008.

The tenant currently lives in the unit, unlawfully, while she works with her attorney to muster some evidence that shows she did in fact lease with Sanford. She was told any documents proving such proof were lost when building management removed her belongings.

“They never took me to court, I don’t have anything in court saying that they put me out and why they can obtain the property,” the Sayles resident said.

“The shortage of affordable housing is one of the most pressing issues facing the District,” Attorney General Karl Racine said in an email to Street Sense Media. “My office is focused on protecting tenants and we plan to look into the allegations that the receiver at these properties is not living up to its legal obligations.”

Orion Donovan-Smith, Zachary Headings, Katie Bemb and Santul Nerkar contributed reporting.

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NEWS

Advocates ask D.C. Council how they will address homelessness

BY KIRA BARRETT Kira.barrett@streetsensemedia.org

More than 30 advocates for people experiencing homelessness asked the D.C. Council whether affordable housing is on their agenda the morning of Sept. 17, the first day of the fall legislative session.

In a recent DCist article interpreting the council’s priorities this season, ending homelessness was not mentioned. This upset advocates from Miriam’s Kitchen, the Fair Budget Coalition, Pathways to Housing, the National Coalition for the Homeless, and other organizations who joined together for the Way Home Campaign’s third annual Welcome Back Council Walk Around in the Wilson Building.

Council Chairman Phil Mendelson’s office did not respond to requests to comment on priorities for the fall.

“Homelessness should have been addressed in their agenda,” said Alicia Gordon, a D.C. resident, “We did a lot of testifying, a lot of lobbying this summer.

Supporters of the Way Home Campaign gathered and split into groups to informally meet with the councilmembers to ask for their support in ending chronic homelessness. “We are here to show the council that we have been working over the summer, meeting with our

campaign partners, national experts, people experiencing homelessness, to really put our minds together to set forth a vision of what it takes for D.C. to end chronic homelessness,” said Jesse Rabinowitz, advocacy specialist at Miriam’s Kitchen.

The Way Home Campaign proposed a 2020 vision to end chronic homelessness to present to councilmembers. Citing data from the local “coordinated entry” system that is designed to match the most vulnerable people to available housing placements, the advocates said there are more than 4,160 individuals experiencing homelessness in D.C. over a one-month period.

To fill the gap in housing resources needed to meet this need, the campaign proposed a budget of roughly 71.5 million more dollars put towards Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH), Rapid Rehousing (RRH), and Targeted Affordable Housing (TAH).

Mayor Bowser invested over $54 million in recurring funding to house nearly 2,000 vulnerable individuals through a combination of PSH and TAH during her first term. For her second term, advocates are hoping that council members invest in more proven interventions like PSH. This is not the first time that The Way

Home Campaign has proposed their vision to the D.C. Council. In April, over 100 activists gathered for the “March to Make Chronic Homelessness History,” which also included a trip to the D.C. Council offices in the Wilson Building. While staff members voiced support for the movement, the Council took no concrete action following this event.

“We know that that is a big number,” Rabinowitz said, “but it’s only about .5 percent of D.C.’s budget, and I think that it’s important that we are honest about the scope of D.C.’s homelessness crisis and aren’t scared of big numbers. With a $14.5 billion budget, no one should be homeless.”

While many councilmembers were busy with first day meetings and getting back into the swing of things, advocates were able to pass their proposal on to each office and speak to some staff members.

“You are preaching to the choir. We get it,” said Michelle Loggins, legislative counsel in the office of Brianne Nadeau, who chairs the Committee on Human Services. “But we can’t do it if we don’t have the budget. Tell the other councilmembers to put the budget towards human services.”

Other staff members echoed the same

PHOTO BY KIRA BARRETT

sentiment, taking the materials and expressing interest in hearing what advocates had to say.

While some advocates left hopeful, others were more jaded.

“You hear the same story over and over,” said Ivan Rose, an advocate experiencing homelessness. “You know the story. They can do so much, they are going to propose this, the mayor will propose, etc. All this money the mayor has- I’ve been going to the meetings and hearings so many times.”

Staff members of Anita Bonds, Trayon White, and David Grosso said they would like to set up future meetings to address these issues and solutions.

“We got 5-7 councilmembers who basically support us, then you have those other councilmembers who are kind of neutral on a lot of issues,”said Robert Warren, a member of the People for Fairness Coalition and a Street Sense Media vendor. “A lot of times, those neutral councilmembers kind of hinder us.”

While Bowser’s first term resulted in an overall decrease in homelessness, a success, Rabinowitz and others who attended the demonstration stressed that there is urgent work to be done.

“I have had way too many clients die and the city has had way too many people experiencing homelessness die,” Rabinowitz said.

Other advocates echoed the same sentiment, emphasizing that not only is it urgent, it will save the city money. The Way Home campaign has already met with officials in the mayor’s office and nearly all of the D.C. Council offices. They plan to continue to attend hearings, schedule meetings with council members, and craft a full budget proposal, asking for more money for specific housing interventions to end chronic homelessness.

“It is so much cheaper to house people than to keep them in a state of survival mode,” Warren said. “We’ve already lost members at Street Sense [Media] this year. This is really hardening to me.”

D.C. opens its first affordable housing community for grandfamilies

BY SAMANTHA CARUSO samantha.caruso@streetsensemedia.org

Plaza West, a first-of-its-kind affordable housing community in Washington catering to the needs of grandfamilies, celebrated its grand opening on Sept. 13.

The building’s conception resulted from a joint effort between the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, led by Brian T. Kenner, and Golden Rule Plaza Inc., which is funded by the Bible Way Church.

The 12-story building is located in the Mount Vernon Triangle neighborhood.

It was important to keep get an all-affordable-housing project up and running in the quickly changing neighborhood of Vernon Triangle, the deputy mayor said.

The building has 223 units with 50 allocated to grandfamilies, or families in which grandparents raise their grandchildren in the absence of biological parents. These 50 units are known as Plaza West. The remaining 173 units, known as Plaza West

on K, are open to individuals and families.

“One of the unique things about this is the grandfamilies concept,” Kenner said. “It speaks to a demographic that doesn’t get a lot of notoriety and, in Washington, D.C., grandparents raising grandchildren is a real fact of life.”

Plaza West and Plaza West on K have separate entrances and amenities. The entrance to Plaza West is located at 1035 4th St. NW and the entrance to Plaza West on K is located at 307 K St. NW. Affordability is the hallmark of Plaza West’s appeal: the 50 units reserved for grandfamilies accept only grandfamilies with incomes between 30 and 50 percent of the area median income (AMI). The rest of the 173 housing units will be available to persons with income of less than 60 percent of the AMI. (The AMI for the 2017 fiscal year was $110,300, according to the D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development.)

The city is proud that two-thirds of the 173 units are occupied by residents with less than 50 percent of the AMI, the deputy mayor said.

Plaza West offers amenities and services targeted to senior citizens and young children, including onsite social services for senior citizens and children, a kids activity room, a library reserved for grandparents and a fitness center exclusively for Plaza West residents. Residents can choose from either two or three-bedroom layouts.

Plaza West on K’s amenities include a club room, an outdoor terrace, a business center and access to the K Street Fitness Club. Residents have the choice of a studio, junior onebedroom, full one-bedroom, two-bedroom or three-bedroom apartments.

Plaza West and Plaza West on K also share a number of amenities, such as a playground, a landscaped courtyard, 24-hour concierge services and laundry services on all floors.

The deputy mayor said he plans to explore more “unique” housing projects.

“This is the one we wanted to get across the finish line first,” he said. “We’re definitely going to look into more unique housing opportunities in the future.”

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

// 7

AT A GLANCE

Metro Transit Police target Black youth for fare evasion, report says

BY KIRA BARRETT kira.barrett@streetsensemedia.org

T

he Washington Lawyers Committee recently released a report showing racial disparities in fare evasion enforcement by the Metro Transit Police.

The research has gained traction as members of the D.C. Council consider whether to advance the Fare Evasion Decriminalization Act. Fare-evasion is categorized as a crime that can result in arrest, up to 10 days in jail, and a fine of up to $300.

Metro Transit Police started “cracking down” on fare evaders last year according to an internal WMATA report. Indeed, the report from the Washington Lawyers Committee found that the number of people given citations more than doubled between 2016 and 2017, as did the percentage of people who were given a citation or summons rather than a warning.

The extra enforcement is will ostensibly help Metro’s bottom line. A Metro spokesperson told WUSA9 that The Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority loses up to $20 million annually due to fare evasion.

“This is a hyper-policed environment where mainly poor Black and brown residents are targeted and overwhelmingly saddled with citations,” said Nassim Moshiree, policy director for the ACLU. “This increased enforcement is a distraction from the reason that Metro is losing money. There have been years of mismanagement, including service cuts and interruptions.

People who can afford other transportation are just availing themselves of that because of service issues.”

Moshiree said the Metro has no evidence to support that fare evasion is causing their $20 million loss. She suggested that longterm mismanagement, service cuts and disruptions have driven higher-income riders to alternative transportation and left lowerincome riders to experience Metronew enforcement strategies.

Street Sense Media reached out to WMATA for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

The Lawyers Committee report analyzed data provided by WMATA associated with Metro Transit Police’s enforcement of the fare evasion law between Jan. 1, 2016, and Feb. 5, 2018. The group found that residents of color were disproportionately targeted for fare evasion and received a disproportionate amount of citations.

“At Gallery Place, 46 percent of stops were young Black people.

It is also a center point of gentrification. That area has completely transitioned. It asks the question, ‘who is supposed to be in that community?’” said Marques Banks of the Lawyers Committee.

Ninety-one percent of citations and summons were issued to

Black people – 72 percent Black men, 20 percent Black women and 46 percent Black youth (under 25 years of age). The Metro police also targeted specific Metro stations used heavily by youth of color. For example, 15 percent of stops occurred at Gallery Place and 14 percent of stops at Anacostia Station.

“Our immigrant youth are profiled and harassed by [Metro Transit Police Department] and the public. Many don’t speak English and do not know how to maneuver the complicated eligibility process for the Kids Free D.C. One Card,” said Claudia Barragan, a District. resident who testified at a hearing discussing fare evasion decriminalization last year.

She described finding a One Card on the ground last year and taking her time to mail it back to its owner. She told the councilmembers at the hearing that she now realized the youth missing the card was probably at risk of facing arrest by MTPD without it, which she called disturbing.

“A 7-year-old was stopped for fare evasion. What are we really trying to do?” Banks asked rhetorically.

Criminalization of this low-level offense affects low-income D.C. residents the most by amplifying existing pressures, according to Moshiree of the ACLU. Rising Metro fares can contribute to gentrification by silently determining who can afford to be downtown.

“Many long time D.C. residents, because of rising costs of living, have been pushed further out and away from the center — from services,” Moshiree said. “They end up having to pay the most for Metro, because they have the longest distance to travel, just to meet their basic needs.”

She calls this a criminalization of poverty and estimates that it has affected 30,000 residents in the past two years.

“People have been detained and beaten because they didn’t have ten cents or a dollar,” said Dornethia Taylor, an activists with Black LIves Matter D.C. “They still have to choose between food, rent and metro, but at least with a civil offense and a ticket, that person doesn’t have to worry about being locked up.”

The Decriminalization of Fare Evasion Bill of 2017, which would make fare evasion a non-criminal offense and cap fines at $100, is still under review by D.C. Council.

“With this bill, and others that may follow, we hope to decriminalize behavior that should face appropriate consequences but not impair a person’s future for all time,” said Councilmember Cheh, a co-introducer of the bill.

While decriminalizing fare evasion will for the offense, it won’t address the poverty that prevents some D.C. residents from paying fares to being with, according to Banks.

O

n Sept. 26 Mayor Bowser cut the ribbon on the first "short-term family housing" facility, one of seven to replace the capacity of D.C. General family shelter. The Kennedyis located in Ward 4 and Mayor Bowser was joined by Ward 4 Councilmember Brandon Todd and D.C. Department of Human Services Director Laura Zelinger. “These programs are the centerpiece of the transformation of our emergency response system for adults with children,” Zeilinger said in a press release.

PHOTO BY RODNEY CHOICE www.choicephotography.com

Name of vendor pictured

IMAGE COURTESY OF JENNIFER MCLAUGHLIN

A new poster from Collectivew Action for Safe Spaces features an artistic rendition of Street Sense Media artist and vendor Jennifer McLaughlin.

BIRTHDAYS Martin Walker Oct. 19 VENDOR

Vincent Watts Oct. 19 VENDOR

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8 // ST REET SENSE ME DI A / / O CT. 3 - 1 6 , 2 0 1 8

Are you a veteran who is literally homeless or “at-risk” of

being homeless?

Supportive Services for Vet V eran Families (SSVF) may be able to assist you.

PRIMARY RY ELIGIBILITY RY Y CRITERIA A member er of a “veteran family”: Eitherr a veteran or a family member in which the veteran is the head of household.

“Very Very low income”: Household income does not exceed 50% of area median income.

V Must not have a discharge status of dishonorable or been dismissed by General Court r Martial. rt SERVIC R RVIC ES Case Management Assistance w/ VA V & Otherr Benefits Personal Financial Planning Housing Counseling

T porary Financial Assistance Tem Legal Servic r es rvic Child Care Services Transportation and More!

U.S.VETS - Washington D.C. 111 K St. NE, 3rd Floor Washington, D.C. 20002 dcinfo@usvetsinc.org | 202-683-8357 www.usvetsinc.org

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

Ms. Bobbie, 66, has been surviving on the streets for four years.

During periods when there is little foot traffic where she stays, she sweeps and keeps up the area.

James and his tent before he took it down for the Aug. 30 cleanup.

PHOTO BY RODNEY CHOICE // WWW.CHOICEPHOTOGRAPHY.COM

“

I’ve already done the same thing twice Another encampment cleanup in NoMa

BY SAMANTHA CARUSO samantha.caruso@streetsensemedia.org

A

series of encampment cleanups took place on Sept. 27 between First and 2nd streets near the NoMa-Gallaudet U Metro station in Northeast Washington. The first cleanup occurred at an underpass at the intersection of 2nd Street and K Street. The process then moved to L Street, then M Street, and concluded at First Street. Prior to the 10 a.m. start time, people residing in the area scrambled to gather their belongings and relocate them outside of the cleanup zone. Dennis, who had set up his tent at the underpass between 2nd Street and K Street after his apartment was destroyed, only arrived three days before the scheduled cleanup.

“I had my own place and my whole ceiling caved in so I had to come here. Stuff got damaged and this was the only stuff I could save,” he said, pointing to six large trash bags filled with his belongings and a green tent. “It’s hard. It’s really frustrating.”

He’s waiting on the city to fix the apartment.

“They’re taking forever and it’s so frustrating,” Dennis said.

He was disappointed by the lack of notice given by the city to those living in the affected area. He hadn’t seen the signs or heard anything from his neighbors on the street.

“They didn’t give me enough time to move my shit. I can’t move all this stuff by myself,” Dennis said. He started to cry and pointed to his left hand, on which he wore a black brace.“I got a broken hand! It hurts. My wife won’t even help me move, you know? I had to send my kids away because I don’t want them seeing their stuff get thrown out.”

A representative from the Office of the Deputy Mayor of

// 9

PHOTO BY RODNEY CHOICE // WWW.CHOICEPHOTOGRAPHY.COM

Health and Human Services patrolled the cleanup along with government outreach workers, a Metropolitan Police Department officer and Department of Public Works employees.

Clean NoMa, a division of the NoMa Business Improvement District funded by NoMa residents within a specific 35-block radius and an independently contracted cleaning service worked around the city crews to clean the sidewalks after the encampment were removed.

According to a spokesperson for the deputy mayor’s office, there is no official partnership or memo of understanding between the interagency encampment removal effort and the NoMa BID, which contracts these extra services for the neighborhood and schedules them around the city’s work.

For the past two months, this specific area has experienced encampment cleanups every two weeks, Aug. 14 and 30, Sept. 13 and 27. The deputy mayor's office anticipates another cleanup on Oct. 11.

It is illegal to live in a “temporary abode” on public property in the District, such as a tent, car or trailer. Shortly after Mayor Muriel Bowser instituted stricter enforcement of this regulation during her first year in office, a detailed update to the city’s encampment protocol was put in place to guide the process.

City officials posted signs around the area — on street lamps, on walls next to tents — to provide at least two week’s notice that a cleanup would occur. Since the area has been re-cleaned so frequently in recent months, the signs have not been taken down, new dates are simply taped over the old ones.

Another man forced to evacuate from the K Street underpass had experienced previous encampment cleanups at the site and planned to return to the same spot after the cleaning finished.

“I got my couch and my [moving cart] and I’m coming right back here when this is done. I’ve already done the same thing twice,” he said. But the couch was discarded by the city.

Barry planned to return to the NoMa encampment site after the Sept. 27 cleanup. PHOTO BY SAMANTHA CARUSO

From the perspective of the deputy mayor’s office, the couch was large and rather soiled. Egress and cleanliness are priorities for public space. “This is not our response to homelessness.

The cleanup itself is an acute health and safety response,” said Sean Barry, the communications director for the Office of the Deputy Mayor of Health and Human Services. “Outreach is an important component so we can move these people into strategies that are working for individuals and families. But it’s not overnight, it’s an ongoing conversation.”

Residents of the First Street encampment next to Union Station shared a different view of city outreach efforts during an Aug. 14 NoMa cleanup.

“It’s just harassment,” said Ms. Bobbie, 66, who has lived in that area for four years. She said the only option she has ever been presented with is shelter (“not an option”) and nothing has changed through all the cleanups and outreach efforts she has experienced.

Ms. Bobbie’s neighbor, Monica, echoed these sentiments.

She and her husband have been homeless since their building — The Lynnhill Condominiums in Temple Heights, MD — was condemned. “It’s the first time I’ve been on the street and I’m exhausted, it’s just overwhelming,” Monica said. “This is our fifth tent. I’m missing work right now so that I can be here and keep them from throwing away my stuff.”

Monica views outreach workers as nosy. She cited her experience waiting for almost a year after giving her personal information to someone who had said they could help her obtain a new ID, with no results. “They claim they want to help you but they just want to know your information and that’s it. They don’t want to help you with nothing,” she said. Her old ID and Social Security card were discarded during an encampment sweep.

The city’s encampment protocol specifically outlines that important papers and priceless items such as family photos are not to be discarded. But individual accounts vary and a pending class action lawsuit on behalf of homeless District residents alleges that people’s property is being improperly thrown away.

The city’s policy also entitles camp residents to storage bins that may be used to save belongings for up to 60 days.

However, unless storage is specifically requested, the bins are stored in a government vehicle at the cleanup site, according to the deputy mayor’s office. City workers are tasked with verbally letting people know they can ask for storage.

“I don’t expect sympathy from people,” Ms. Bobbie said.

“People don’t want you to feel sorry for them. They just want a place to live so they can get a job. Mayor Bowser has this plan for building nice new shelters. Why not build nice new affordable apartments?”

Eric Falquero contributed reporting

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OPINION

A Copycat Tyrant and Dictator in the Making

BY VALENTINE CLOVER

BY COLLY DENNIS

I have been to many countries and studied history, geography and the politics of past civilizations, and it seems to me that the world's greatest superpower might have a scary super baby dictator in the incubator, developing at a fast and alarming rate.

The characteristics exhibited by this president fall in line with the leadership tone of dictators and authoritarian rulers of the past. They share the same stripes and, like a tiger, they never change. It is sad that the United States is slowly crawling back to the past century, just to fulfill one person’s ego.

Typically, dictators surround themselves with people from their immediate family and circle of friends, disregarding experience or expertise in politics as long as they feel they have their loyalty. That is what we are currently witnessing with this White House.

Dictators crave power and ego. They need to feel liked by the masses; they hold huge rallies to instill fear both in their opponents and in the people working for them. They like to brag to their cabinet ministers or secretaries about being loved by the people. They use this tactic to instill fear into their subordinates in order to create the feeling that the “Boss” is always right, never wrong. They want to make their staff and high-ranking officials — all the way up to Cabinet members — live and work in fear. The feeling is deeply instilled that the “Boss” was voted into office by millions of people because the “Boss” is smarter than the rest of the administration.

So who are you to question the “Boss” when he or she is much better, bigger and more loved than the rest of the peasants working at his mercy? You can be replaced in a heartbeat for insubordination.

This kind of manipulation can make some cabinet secretaries or ministers afraid to correct the “Boss,” even when it is clear that the “Boss” is wrong. It can lead to wrong decisions, bad judgements and poor laws. It can lead a whole nation into a crisis: a trillion dollar debt, a recession or depression or unnecessary wars worldwide.

Adolf Hitler’s quotes are still used to this day, like this one: ”The victor will not be asked afterwards whether he told the truth or not.” Does that sound familiar? Maybe it should. The truth doesn’t exist anymore because of the lies that the White House spews every single day.

Another Hitler quote: "Humanitarianism is the expression of stupidity and cowardice.” Maybe that’s why little kids and babies are being caged and separated from their parents. Does that seem familiar?

In the last century, people were put into

Privatization of D.C. mental health services

camps, starved and gassed to death, only for someone 60 years later to say Nazi Germany was all a hoax. Yes, there are people in the present day who believe the whole thing was a hoax.

All dictators seem to have the same style.

Military power is their bread and butter.

Without a strong, powerful military and intelligence officers who can intimidate and instill fear into opposition leaders — or anyone standing up for the civil rights of the general public — they feel naked.

Their tones of communication are the same, though times have changed and social media — Twitter, Facebook, etc. — have taken over. There is less need for a press secretary when a strong man armed with a cheap cell phone can reach much larger masses and audiences than ever before.

The scariest part of it is that the greatest power on the planet is on the fast track to the top of the list of dictatorships. Is that an exaggeration? I honestly don't know, but history will judge.

It is chilling that so many past dictators expressed the same views as the current U.S. president. For insistence, Idi Amin Dada expelled all Asians from Uganda.

That decision was taken in the context that it was for the "national economic interests of Uganda.” Now, in our new, modern world, the current administration is viciously forcing immigrants out of the country, regardless of all the contributions immigrants have made to the country.

Some agendas and ideologies are built out of spite, hate or a feeling that some people don’t belong here. Human beings are going back to a time in the 20th century when life was not a right but a privilege.

Young immigrant children have been put in cages, and we might not have heard of them for years but for the determination of some lawmakers who put the issue into national headlines. That’s the way the world got to know about these horrific acts that are happening in the modern world.

Threatening cabinet officials and administrators is not the right way to govern. Ensuring that officials work in fear throughout the entire day is not the right way to lead. The only results you will get will be disaster and disarray among staff like we are witnessing now.

It’s starting to feel as though this current administration is bringing yellow journalism back into the mainstream, with some media reporting different facts to appease their audience. Anyone familiar with that part of history knows how that ended.

Colly Dennis is an artist and vendor with Street Sense Media.

Most of the mental health services in this city are privatized — a trend that has been going on for years. Some of the providers are nonprofit organizations, but some are for-profit.

In recent years, the healthcare industry has become a major force in our city, with all of our city's politicians desiring their friendship and financial support.

In August of 2009, the D.C. Department of Mental Health (now Department of Behavioral Health) fired 300 employees and replaced them with contractors. I was among the employees to be informed that they were going to lose their jobs in order to make way for privatization.

I wanted to stay with the Department of Mental Health. I really liked my job and the people that I worked with. I also believed that we were better able to serve our patients than any privately run organization and had more resources. The D.C. government provided us with vehicles, computers, cell phones and our own office space, but private providers made their staff use their own. The government had sufficient human resources to meet the needs of patients and even gave them free bus tokens. But to private industry, these things would cut into profit margins.

In order to justify privatization, the D.C. government hired an accounting firm called KPMG. The firm’s report recommended privatization on the grounds that it would save money. But union officials found discrepancies in the reports. Part of KPMG’s reports outlined services unique to the Department of Mental Health and verified that the department had the lowest staff turnover rate: 11 percent annually. But the director of the Department of Mental Health insisted on privatization anyway.

One of the dirty secrets that private providers don't want you to know is their high staff turnover rates, estimated at 40% to 80% annually according to the KPMG report. These high turnover rates are due to low morale in their workplaces. The private sector staff not only get lower pay but also fewer or no benefits. Many are trying to find

better jobs with better pay.

KPMG also reported that private providers provide comparable services to those the government provides. But according to the Community Services Review — an annual report monitored by the District Court — the Department of Mental Health has provided the best quality services of any D.C. mental health agency for each of the three years surveyed.

In our efforts to prevent privatization, the union turned to the D.C. Council. We first went to Council Member Harry Thomas.

In December of 2008, he presented a bill that was supposed to save our jobs, but modifications made to the bill rendered it useless. According to an account by union officials, Thomas complained that Council Member David Catania pressured him to support privatization.

Council Member Marion Barry also agreed to present a bill to save our jobs, but announced that he was withdrawing it in May of 2009, saying it did not have enough votes. However, I think that he should have gone through with it so that we would know which council members were in favor of privatization and which were against it. But I believe Barry withdrew it in order to protect councilmembers who supported privatization but who also wanted union support.

August 1, 2009, was my last day on the job and it was a sad day. One of the D.C. government employees who lost his job committed suicide over the weekend. What makes this bad for the patients is that those who run our mental health system care more about the business people who benefitted from the loss of our jobs than the patients. No one has been addressing this matter.

Valentine Clover is the pseudonym for a mental health professional with an MA in Counseling and professional license to practice counseling in Washington, D.C. who has experienced the mental health system as a D.C. government employee, as a private sector employee and as a patient. Clover wrote the book "Mental Health for Profit: An Expose of Mental Health in Washington, D.C.” and uses a pseudonym to avoid career damage.

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We live in a time...

BY ROBERT CONRAD

We live in a time when people should really think about experiencing and flexing their independent muscles. Let the Democratic and Republican parties go and vote Independent.

The picture and evidence are clear: Neither party upholds the moral and spiritual Christian values this country was founded upon. People want to make it a “bad thing” to wish someone a “Merry Christmas” and find fault with people’s religious beliefs based on their own biases and racist views.

Some people in the Democratic party would be all right with former president Barack Obama calling a Trump supporter a rabid dog who needs to be put down. The way our current president talks about the Democratic party and the media as the enemy of the people is beyond belief.

He called one of his former advisors, Omarosa Manigault Newman, a crazed dog. Sarah Huckabee Sanders defended this comment, saying he says nasty things like that about all people. She couldn’t promise that no tapes exist in which he uses the N-word. Donald Trump has wrought havoc upon our values. He has been accused of sexually assaulting 19 women but he has not had to address those accusations.

The shortcomings and corruption we find in both parties

push us far away from the Judeo-Christian values this country was founded upon. These values, which brought about Social Security, Medicaid, public housing and other programs that help the less fortunate, are in danger of being destroyed by those claiming to have our best interests at heart.

As Independents, we could bring about the changes we seek by choosing candidates who are unbeholden to party, but rather beholden to the American people.

The question is, is there a middle ground in America for people to go to? The percentage of people who found their way to vote for Trump’s nasty ways for economic or racist reasons will probably support him all the way to the gallows of Hell.

Trump really might make America great again, if America were able to get rid of all that he represents. He talked about draining the swamp, but he is the swamp. His former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, swindled money from a small bank in Chicago that was set up to help veterans. Somehow, $16 million was taken from this small bank, yet we hear nothing about it from the Republican party or Fox News.

What the American people have now is more questions than answers. People in America who call themselves Democrats and Republicans are determined to be right at all costs. We have to be independent of these people if we are going to bring some healing to our country. Many people will take up the banners of reform, hopefully to actually change their party’s platform from within. But can the two parties be reformed when they are up against silence and wealth?

Voters in America are getting younger, and it’s almost up to them to bring about the changes we desperately need. When it comes time to vote, we hope they won’t listen to the Democrats and Republicans when they tell the same lies, or to a president who is famous for saying the sky is green.

Now, with all those lies floating in the airwaves, let’s consider Sanders, President Trump’s press secretary. She talks about how Trump has been a savior for Black folks, and says that President Obama has done nothing to help poor Black and brown Americans. But the truth is that everything Trump has done has been to demonize them, calling them socialists and the worst people in the world. When did calling someone a socialist without cause become fair?

Some Democrats and Republicans want to limit healthcare and housing to Americans. They also want to limit the Americans’ ability to access capital in their communities and to build for themselves.

Those same Democrats and Republicans tell young people they can’t do anything about our Second Amendment rights to carry guns and to murder each other on the streets of Chicago.

But when you look at Chicago, it perfectly shows why we need to get rid of guns in America and its inner cities. Weapons are made for war, not for sport, and we need them off our streets.

We could do well voting independently. We need to really think, and let go of these partisan and poisonous platforms.

Robert Conrad is a vendor and artist with Street Sense Media.

Go Mystics!

Lindsey Spoke For America:

The Mystics have made it to the WNBA finals for the very first time in franchise history!

Congratulations, Washington!

Washington, D.C., that is, seeing how their opponent is the Seattle Supersonics. The Supersonics feature a D.C. hometown favorite in Crystal Langhorne: a University of Maryland alumnus and former college teammate to our team superstar, Kristi Tolliver.

Speaking of Tolliver, she has already earned one championship with the L.A. Sparks, leading the way and inspiring teammates to come along the road she paved to the championship . Tolliver's position has proved pivotal as she navigates her team towards the familiar territory of the finals. She currently has her hands full with the likes of longtime WNBA star Sue Bird, who has several championships under her belt.

This has been a learning experience for both of D.C.’s bigger names and heavyweight mainstays, Elana Della Donne and Brianna Stewart. Seattle went on to seize the wnba title & championship this 2018 season. Stewart was award not only the league regular season mvp but she also achieved the same feat as the wnba finals mvp & now the fiba world cup championship & mvp trophy!

That's three mvp titles in 35 days!

Ironically, this year marks the 40th anniversary of the Washington Bullets — now the Wizards — defeat of the Seattle Supersonics back in 1978 for their sole championship!

The Washington Monumental Sports group has already secured two championships this year: with the Washington Capitals in hockey, and the Washington Valor in indoor or arena football. This also marks the inaugural season of the Capital City Go-Go, which is in the NBA G League.

The Brett Kavanaugh hearing was like watching a seven-game World Series. It had the makings of an epic Hatfield-McCoy rivalry. Two teams have bad blood, the stakes are high and one person can emerge victorious.

It looked very good for the Republicans and Brett Kavanaugh. They were doing what they could to ram Kavanaugh through.

However, the Democrats started throwing banana peels.

Brett Kavanaugh, a man of impeccable moral character, has been a credible judge and has made 300 rulings that have been well thought and constructed. None of his rulings have ever been sexist or racist. Now, he was having his reputation smeared by Kamala Harris and Cory “Spartacus” Booker. By the time they were ready to vote, Kavanaugh — a father, husband and basketball coach — was seen as a Nazi, white supremacist and rapist.

It had looked like Kavanaugh would be confirmed until an anonymous letter claimed that he sexually assaulted a teenager in high school.

It seemed very suspicious because Dianne Feinstein held onto this information until shortly before the Senate was going to vote.

When Christine Blasey Ford’s accusations dissipated, four new allegations emerged. A damning one from slimebag lawyer Michael Avenatti suggested that Kavanaugh was participating in a rape ring in 1982 in Chevy Chase, Maryland. What was weird about Avenatti’s client, Julie Swetnick, was that she claimed to have been gang raped, yet she appeared to be at these parties nine times.

It looked like the Republicans were being routed. Seeing Mazie Hirono, Kamala Harris and Dianne Feinstein kick Republicans in the teeth was disheartening. I’m sure Rachel

BY LEVESTER GREEN

Levester Green II is an artist and vendor with Street Sense Media.

/ / 11

BY JEFFERY MCNEIL

Mitchell was a nice lady, but she was out of her depth.

The Democrats had the Blue Wave.

Christine Blasey Ford had me welling up in tears. I believe her, I’ve seen the pain in her face, I hope whoever abused her gets justice. But I believe she was being used by scumbag lawyers in the Democratic party.

Republicans changed their game plan and Brett Kavanaugh spoke. He came in flipping over the tables. Some didn’t like his crying, but I loved it! What the Democrats did to Kavanaugh, an honorable man, and the way they exploited Christine Blasey Ford was despicable and gross, even by the Left’s standards. They need to look back at what #MeToo and feminism is doing to their party.

Watching Brett Kavanaugh was like watching Tom Brady go through a defense.

Democrats couldn’t handle the heat that Kavanaugh was giving. The best part was the exchange he had with Dianne Feinstein. He stuck her smears and lies in the gut of the Left.

Lindsey Graham put the greatest smackdown since Joseph Welch looked Joe McCarthy in the eyes and said “Have you no shame?” I’m not a fan of Lindsey Graham, but he spoke for America — maybe not the radicals on the Left, but he tapped into the rage of the American people. We’re fed up with the politics of division, rage and hate. Donald Trump won! Get over it. He’s your president; the American people are not intimidated by your temper tantrums and hissy fits.

I don’t know how America will heal.

Destroying people without fair hearings or due process is something they do in Venezuela or Cuba. I was disgusted by the

theatrics of Kamala Harris and Cory Booker.

I once liked Cory Booker, but he’s not the same Cory Booker I knew when he was mayor of Newark, New Jersey. He’s become vicious in his quest for power.

The Democrats may have played to radical feminists with Brett Kavanaugh, but there are not enough abused women or single women to win elections. The Kavanaugh hearing wasn’t a good look for Democrats.

They look angry, petty and mean. While it may have energized their base, moderates and independents were appalled that a man who spent 30 years on the bench and had seven security clearances was smeared as a neo-Nazi and a rapist. What really sickened people was that the Democrats were trying to throw the Constitution out the window and to suspend due process.

Men everywhere should be alarmed if #MeToo and radical feminists can smear Brett Kavanaugh. Remember, the Left eat their own: look what they did to Al Franken while ignoring alleged abuse by Keith Ellison and Sherrod Brown. Do Democrats show any shame? For Cory Booker to sit on his high horse about Brett Kavanaugh when Booker had admitted molesting a woman was one of the lowlights of history.

Lindsey Graham spoke for guys in the middle who are tired of being demonized as Nazis and white supremacists. I’m not a Republican, but I wholly reject the Marxist, fascist ideology of those who claim to be progressives today.

Jeffery McNeil is a artist and vendor with Street Sense Media. He is also a regular contributer to the Washington Examiner.

1 2 // S T REET SENSE ME DI A / / O CT. 3 - 1 6 , 2 0 18

ART

My Queen

I’m working here!

BY LATICIA BROCK A.K.A. “PWEZZY” Artist/Vendor

BY LEVESTER GREEN II Vendor/Artist

This past Sunday I was confronted by a stranger, who at first appeared to be a potential consumer, with money in-hand. Suddenly, he seemed to turn into a terrorist.

The fella, Korey D. Gosa, tried to urinate next to my cart as I was attempting to sell my Street Sense paper. I was at my regular vending location, so I was not usurping some else's spot. The guy seemed to feel insulted when I asserted myself and suggested he move on, at least go down the alley near Dunkin' Donuts, which was just across the street.

He then began uttering threats of popping the trunk of his car and getting a gun, because he said, “I don't fight.” Well, I was only out to sell my papers, not get into a fight with someone because he wanted to disrespect my space. He repeatedly approached me with his hand under his shirt as if to be reaching for a weapon of some sort.

I got away from him as fast as I could, because I just didn't want him up on me. I said to myself, “If you're gonna pretend to have a gun, I gonna pretend to run!”

However, that didn't work as I expected! He started to run after

me, trying to intimidate me with more verbal threats of violence.

Once I realized we were not going to engage in any fisticuffs, I prepared myself to take a defensive stance. He continued his aggressive movements and backed me into a wall. I thought quickly when he said he had a gun and said, “I got some gun specialists myself.”

I saw a police patrol car come into view and waved my hand.

The police saw us and pulled up.

He called for a breakup of this “encounter.” Gosa spouted a string of curses toward the officer, saying he was parked up the block and this was his girlfriend's car.

He was quickly overpowered by the officer, who then wanted to know why the trunk was wide open. The officers interest peaked on the open trunk but then Gosa failed to take the suggestion that he should just leave the neighborhood.

On searching the car, the officer found a jar of weed, a scale, and other paraphernalia in it.

I had just got out of the court system, not bothering anyone, just selling my papers when I ran into this guy — or, he ran into me.

What do I want for myself?

BY MICHAEL DANIELS Artist/vendor

I want to live a life of God. I want God in all of my thoughts, all the things I do, and my whole life as a person. I try very hard to treat people in a godly manner. That means looking at people in a positive manner no matter what mistakes they may have made in their lives.

I also want to help people as much as I can. I would like a part-time job so I can help my four grandchildren achieve their goals. And I want them and my five great-grandchildren to have beautiful, productive futures.

Crazy

BY ALICE CARTER, A.K.A. “BABY ALICE” Artist/Vendor

Define “crazy” — Spittin’ crazy rhymes All the time People live, then they die I live to live life My whole life is a fight I’m just tryin’ to survive Tryin’ not to do more time Fighting the good fight Fighting for my life You only live once And I’m giving it all I got Define “crazy” Am I crazy?

Why, ‘cause I rap for a living And pay attention to politics?

My Queen, Ernestine, why did you keep me?

I could have been an abortion.

Instead, you birthed me, raised me and nurtured me.

For that, My Queen, I am forever grateful.

So, I am speaking to you with this pen, hoping I can repay you.

I have made mistakes that you might not approve of.

But with that tough love tactic you showed me apogee love.

Thank you for putting me on the right path, and being a major blessing in my life.

You once said to me, that I changed your life, and you are still faithful to me, no matter what I do.

Even when I was in jail, you were the only one to come through.

People, please give your loved ones these flowers, these words of praise, while you can.

Smell them and dedicate them to your loved ones, especially your mother.

Dedicated to my mothers, my birthmom Queen Bee Ernestine Brock and my godmoms Towana Wilson and Hazel Shirley. Also for my angels, Mary Young and Susue McCane, may you continue to rest in paradise. I hope I’m making you proud.

Self-Expression

BY GWYNETTE SMITH // Artist/Vendor

Being Cool

BY DWAYNE BUTLER Artist/Vendor

I like being cool when I sell my papers on the corner. I have a tremendous selling style that looks great and feels great to me and my customers.

When I’m paid for my paper, my money feels cool and awesome as God watches over me. I feel my time is great.

Who am I? Mr. Cool.

Where do I come from?

The Land of Coolness.

And my world is at peace.

Writing helps me present my feelings and beliefs, like in a story or poem. It also helps me develop creative expression. I can think of ideas and how to put them in a story or say them in a poem.

Some people have suggested a group of people could write stories. I don’t know whether this is done often. There could be a lot of economic remuneration because there would be more people and maybe better stories.

Many of the tales today, especially in movies or TV, retell a previous story. The camera work is often not good. The scene is too dark, and because of the poor lighting, the action cannot be seen at times.

I want to write books. The reader pictures the scene the way that seems real for him or her. The author’s words become more important.

Sometimes I get an idea and think, “this could be a story.” I am going to produce more and try to make more stories.

I also like to write poetry. Sometimes I express my ideas melodically and succinctly. I thought I was clever several years ago to write “Home is the sailor, home from the sea, and the soldier, home from the war.” I didn’t realize that I had probably heard it from a former poet, one Robert Lewis Stevenson! He expressed a similar idea with almost the same words.

Melodic verses can stay with you for a very long time. This is because of the rhythm and beauty of the idea or the way it strikes the soul, as in these lines by Shakespeare:“Out, out brief candle! Life is but a walking shadow, a poor player, That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

I like the poetic type of artistic expression, mainly because I hope it will help provide some type of financial support for me.

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

Black Fields screams,

“Keep D.C. 4 Me!!!”

BY DUANE FOSTER Artist/Vendor

“...’DA POLICE-MAN IZ ON ‘DA PREMISES Y’ALL—WHAT IZ HE DOIN’ N HERE?...” echoed the chants of Chuck Brown throughout the parking lot.

Black’s head quickly snapped around in search of the source of this temporary colloquial pleasure.

“RUN JOE…RUN JOE…’DA POLICE WON’T LET ME GO…” Black’s head started bopping and his foot started tapping as the song rang out from a Cadillac Escalade with Maryland tags that was occupied by three Department of Public Works employees that had pulled into the 7-11.

He could remember when the sounds of go-go music prevailed throughout the city and there would be a go-go somewhere in the city every night. Black thought about Go-Go Live at the Capital Center, Rare Essence at the Eastside and the Black Hole, Junkyard Band at the Taj Mahal, Northeast Groovers at the Met, and Backyard Band at the Ibex. He had been a regular attendee to these and the countless other venues that spotlighted the art form. The streets seemed to be filled with electricity on these nights. The memories filled him with elation as he thought about all the good times he’d experienced.

Black began to reminisce about the days when him and his friends from around his neighborhood would all get together and go to the go-go. It was a regular routine.

They would begin by shopping for clothes and shoes to be as fresh as their wallets would allow.

Black could remember shopping on F Street at Up Against the Wall, Cavalier, and Snyder’s Shoe Store; Madness Connection on Georgia Avenue; the H.O.B.O. shop on Rhode Island Avenue; Britches of Georgetown; and countless other places.

F Street was his favorite. The bass of the music being played by the vendors selling hats, T-shirts and other bootleg items would meet the ears of all before their ascension to the street, even before stepping on the escalator. There were times when he’d travel all the way across town to go to the Popeye’s on 14th and F Street, passing by four of the franchise’s other locations along the way.

Black could still remember the disappointment he felt with the distorted sound of the Biz Markie “Goin’ Off” cassette he grabbed from one of these vendors. He thought he was getting a deal when he saw it being sold for five dollars instead of the $6.99 it was being sold for across the street at the Wiz record store. That was the first and last time he spent his money with a vendor for an album.

He began to focus on a group of teenagers as they pranced passed him. With exception of the brands that they chose, they seemed to be doing just the opposite of his generation. Black’s generation tended to wear loose-fitting clothing, mostly black and gray color schemes. This new generation wore tight, fitted clothing. They also sported box haircuts like Kid from the rap group Kid & Play, dressed loud, wore a lot of florescent colors, and let their pants sag so low that you could see all the designs on the underwear that covered their backside.

“Pull your damn pants up boy!” Black hollered out as the group of teens proceeded past him.

They all turned and looked. Then the shortest and youngest looking one out the group sneered, “#@$% you, OG!”

Black just laughed about the youngster’s brashness.

“Where the hell my nephews get they style from?” questioned Black.

He thought about all the styles and brands he had seen over the years—Troop shoes and sweats, Used Jeans, Filas, Le Coq Sportif, Skids, Sergio sweat suits, DDTP, one pants leg up or both, EK sunglasses, New Jack Swing Denim Jackets with the rhinestones, and he could go on and on. The go-go was a literal fashion show, and Black and his crew always wanted to be center stage.

“JOEY-O…JOEY-O…TALKIN’ BOUT JOEYOHWY-O…” Chuck continued to sing as Black’s memories were soon tarnished by his thoughts of the friends that didn’t make it back from the go-go.

Simon, a neighborhood friend, was shot to death in the parking lot of the Mirage nightclub. It was alleged that he was sitting at the bar drinking when one of his friends got into a dispute with someone who felt he was dancing too close to his woman. Simon and his friends were sitting in his car smoking when shots rang out. When the dust cleared, Simon was dead behind the wheel.

Then there was Hammer, who was stabbed to death in a fight at the Oxon Hill Fire House after a Northeast Groovers performance. It was suspected that a group of guys that called themselves Smokin’ Gunz, from Landover, Maryland, were responsible. This was just one of the episodes between these two factions, and Hammer was just one of almost a dozen casualties related to this particular “beef.”

Another was Damian—a classmate and football teammate of Black's. Damian's body was found burnt to a crisp in the driver’s seat of his car outside the Ibex nightclub on Georgia Avenue. He was waiting to pick up his younger brother and his crew from a Junkyard Band performance. Unbeknownst to him, his brother and his friends had got into an altercation on the inside. No one knew who killed him or where they were from, all that was known was that he had nothing to do with it. Autopsy results revealed that he had been shot twice in the head before the car was set afire.

Black just shook his head, bewildered and disappointed by the untimely deaths of the young men. To this day, none of these cases has been solved and all are still open; the go-go, however, has been shut down. “We just can't have nothing.”

Things took a turn for the worst for the genre of go-go, as well as the culture of D.C. On February 8, 1997, Metropolitan police officer Brian T. Gibson was shot to death while sitting in his patrol car in front of the Ibex nightclub during a Backyard Band performance. This marked a turning point in go-go music and the culture of D.C. as a whole.

The Ibex was closed and now is a gourmet bistro for a customer that’s totally on the opposite end of the spectrum as the patrons of the Ibex. Slowly, steps were taken to eliminate the go-go scene from the city altogether by using tactics some call de facto censorship.

Now instead of restaurants that serve chicken and mumbo sauce and fried fish, you got sushi bars and falafel shops. Instead of nightclubs and stores that cater to hip-hop heads, you got yoga studios and high-end coffee shops. Where had the Washington gone that Black had grown to love. What happened to “Chocolate City”?

“Why can’t they keep DC for me?” he fumed.

To be continued...

// 13

Still Standing

BY BARRY HOBBS Artist/Vendor

“… Humanity is won by continuing to play in face of certain defeat.” — Ralph Ellison All love and admiration to Ralph Ellison, author of the great classic and timeless masterpiece, “The Invisible Man.” I am homeless. Like the narrator of this story, I move through a bizarre reality that requires a daily coating of pretense. Others refuse to see me.

My humanity is assaulted and tested daily, but I use my skills to continue seeking a breakthrough in my displacement. Homelessness means no job. There is no money to speak of, although the Social Security check is some consolation. I cannot rent an apartment. I have no checking account or savings. They ran out.

I am an expert with Metro bus and rail since I have no car. No dating is allowed for homeless people! I call it the 5 No’s: no job, no money, no savings, no apartment…. and no dating!

The way homelessness removes you from legitimate social interaction weighs down on your soul.

So, who am I? I am Barry Hobbs, 63 years young, born and raised in New York City. We call it “The Big Apple.” I am the first born of seven sons. I did well in school and even played point guard on my high school basketball team. I attended St. John’s University in Queens in the 1970s, when they were called the Redmen. I was young, talented, energetic and full of dreams.

The second half of my life has been spent in the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C. One day I left New York to visit my grandmother for two weeks in the Maryland suburbs and wound up staying. Before long I secured great employment in the field of television broadcasting, as a cameraman working on field and studio production. For more than a decade I worked for Howard University’s fledgling TV studio (WHUR) now WHUT, the early startup Satellite News Network (SNN). I freelanced for the Larry King Show, did vacation relief at WJLA#7, NBC- 4/WRC and BET. Eventually, I secured permanent employment with the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) as a computer tech assistant at McKinley High School, where I later worked as a substitute teacher. I also assisted with the communications magnet program as a field producer for the advanced video production crew. My life was meaningful.

My economic situation changed incrementally. The school system revamped substitute hires and payment. For a while I was a salesman with Koon’s Automotive, and after that with Mattress Discounters. By this time I was around 53 years old, I was living with my elderly mother who relocated from New York with my younger brother, Michael, who suffered from mental illness. She survived a series of strokes and two heart attacks in the D.C. Metro area but gave up the fight at 80 years old.

My mom died when I was 59. Eventually I had to send my brother back to New York for services and support from my other brothers. Rent began to drain my funds. Substitute teaching in various school systems and freelance video production did not guarantee enough money for me to keep the unit.

First cable goes off. Then Pepco cuts the lights. Now I have no shadow.

Dollar store candles help with the heat and give me back my shadow.

Eventually, I was evicted for not paying rent.

I have used the services of Catholic Charities and Central Union Mission for shelter — I thank God for them and other community outreach organizations such as Street Sense Media.

Social Services have sent me on a goose chase with no resolution, but I continue to freelance, submit resumes, fill out applications, and visit offices — unfortunately to no avail. No one can recommend me to any place or service for relief. Turning 63 has not helped me secure housing, a hip replacement, or temporary assistance.

Maybe someone will see my story and read my essay. Maybe they will understand that homelessness is not a crime or some punishment sent from above or from down below. It is a cross you have to carry to receive your crown. I still volunteer in the community. I have become a pretty good video editor with a following of my visual music essays on YouTube. I make calls, talk with service providers, and know that I still have a voice and my humanity.

1 4 // ST REET

FUN & GAMES

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Sudoku #8

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Fill in the blank squares so that each row, each column and each Sudoku 3-by-3 block contain all of the digits 1 thru 9.#7

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BY SYBIL L. TAYLOR 1 8 7 2 3 6 9 4 5 His memory is a legacy and his spirit lives on forever and 5 6 and 4 his7 pain 9 that 1 3 8 suffering, 2 ever. Out of sickness he was never again will he suffer again.

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Visit to the Cemetery and Dad’s Birthday

Want to help me replace my broken pencil sharpener?

You can make a donation at http://krazydad.com Or by mail: Krazydad, P.O. Box 303 Sun Valley, CA 91353 USA Thank you!

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Henry Matthew Taylor, this visit would be very nice.

To see my father, looking good, smiling, in his Heavenly robe and halo and his Heavenly wings, he would sit with us at a glass table, saying I miss all of you so much. I’ve been gone for 4 years. He hugged us and kissed us. We all cried.

We all had a million questions to ask him. The heavenly trip was very nice. It was beautiful, with fresh scents of frankincense and myrrh.

No more suffering there. Our visit was worthwhile. Dad we love you. Rest in peace. Enjoy your birthday celebration in Heaven. This is your biggest birthday celebration. With all the family and from both sides, my Dad’s side and Mom’s side. Lovely visit in Heaven and the grave site.

We love you so much, Dad.

and his angel wings. Shouting Amen!!

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9 1 2 8 6 5 4 7 3 We all got a chance to speak to him 6 7 2to him 3 with 1 9 8 4 and we all spoke5peacefully tears. He was glad that we visited him, 2 8 4 9 5 7 6 3 1 smiling, resting in peace; afterwards, 1 3 9 4 8 6 2 5 7 we had a small celebration over at my mom’s house in tribute to my Dad. Now his birthday is in Heaven with Jesus and Sudoku #8 the rest of his loved ones, his family all 9 3is enjoying 2 4 1 5 7 8 6 reunited as one. Dad himself.

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4 5 3 9 7 8 Dad, we are here for you, missing your 4 5 8 9 1 7 3 6 2 smile and alone without us. One day 5 6We 9really 1 miss 7 8you2 3 4 we will all see you.

Dad. I wish that 3we 7could spend 4 2 9 all6day5 8 1 in Heaven with you, talking and laughing 8 1 2 5 3 4 7 9 6 with you. If God could let us in to visit you, 7 and 9 1 2 3 4 5 one invitation pass, enter6 the8 golden Gates of Heaven,2 going 8 3up the 4 1 6 5 9 7 stairway, to Heaven, and God would lead us to you. PHOTO COURTESY OF SYBIL TAYLOR 6

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Author Gene Weingarten is a college dropout and a nationally syndicated humor columnist for The Washington Post. Author Dan Weingarten is a former college dropout and a current college student majoring in information technology. Many thanks to Gene Weingarten and The Washington Post Writers Group for allowing Street Sense to run Barney & Clyde.

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

COMMUNITY SERVICES

SHELTER HOTLINE Línea directa de alojamiento

(202) 399-7093

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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

Calvary Women’s Services // 202-678-2341 1217 Good Hope Rd., SE calvaryservices.org

Catholic Charities // 202-772-4300 catholiccharitiesdc.org/gethelp

Central Union Mission // 202-745-7118 65 Massachusetts Ave., NW missiondc.org

Charlie’s Place // 202-232-3066 1830 Connecticut Ave., NW charliesplacedc.org

Christ House // 202-328-1100 1717 Columbia Rd., NW christhouse.org

Father McKenna Center // 202-842-1112 19 Eye St., NW fathermckennacenter.org

Food and Friends // 202-269-2277 219 Riggs Rd., NE foodandfriends.org (home delivery for those suffering from HIV, cancer, etc)

Foundry Methodist Church // 202-332-4010 1500 16th St., NW ID (Friday 9am–12pm only) foundryumc.org/ministry-opportunities

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

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

Jobs Have Priority // 202-544-9128 425 2nd St., NW jobshavepriority.org

Loaves & Fishes // 202-232-0900 1525 Newton St., NW loavesandfishesdc.org

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

Martha’s Table // 202-328-6608 2114 14th St., NW marthastable.org

Community Family Life Services 202-347-0511 // 305 E St., NW cflsdc.org

Miriam’s Kitchen // 202-452-8926 2401 Virginia Ave., NW miriamskitchen.org

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

(202) 749-8000

Housing/Shelter Vivienda/alojamiento

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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

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

JOB BOARD Automotive Repair Technician/Mechanic National Tire & Battery // Silver Spring, MD

This position conducts vehicle inspections for mechanical services, performs general mechanical repairs, assists in tire installation, balancing, and repairing, and performs schedule maintenance services on vehicles. REQUIRED: Valid driver’s license.

APPLY: https://tinyurl.com/automotive-job

Package Handler - Warehouse FedEx // Alexandria, VA

Daily activities include assisting with warehouse operations and performing entry level warehouse and dock-related tasks, loading and unloading trucks, shipping and receiving, moving, handling and tracking packages and other material and assisting with transportation and distribution operations. REQUIRED: Valid driver’s license.

APPLY: https://tinyurl.com/fedexpackage-job Search for Alexandria, VA.

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

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

Unarmed Special Police Officer Metro One Loss Prevention // Wasington, D.C.

This position provides assistance to customers, employees and visitors in a professional manner and performs security patrols of designated areas on foot or vehicle.

REQUIRED: Valid MD, VA, or DC Driver’s License.

APPLY: https://tinyurl.com/m1-security

Groundskeeper Southern Management // Oxon Hill, MD

This position assists with landscaping, lawn care, and shrubbery/plant upkeep, assist hundreds of people to live comfortably and feel at home 365 days of the year.

REQUIRED: High School Diploma/GED, working knowledge of grounds keeping, valid driver’s license.

APPLY: https://tinyurl.com/grounds-job

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

Hiring? Send your job postings to editor@StreetSenseMedia.org

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

Todd Murphy’s “Homeless”: A memoir of a forgotten man

BY ZACHARY HEADINGS zachary.headings@streetsensemedia.org

Todd Murphy’s “Homeless: A Day in the Life” promises an interesting read from the preface, where Murphy explains that nearly every event in the novel’s 197 pages happened to him during the two and a half years that he lived on the streets.

While not written autobiographically, “Homeless” weaves a grim story — a raw portrayal of the harsh realities of living on the street. The protagonist has no name and is simply referred to as “our friend.” In the preface, Murphy states “nobody remembers the names of derelicts and beggars.”

Our friend’s life is a hard one. He scavenges through dumpsters, looking for food and items that may be worth selling. He sits on the street with cleverly worded cardboard signs, such as “$2 short of the minimum deposit for Swiss Bank Account.” Even though he never steals anything for fear of being caught, he still avoids the police as best he can, knowing most of them are “alright” but wary of any bad apples.

Even with all this trepidation and worry, Murphy’s protagonist is not bitter. He carries a macabre humor through

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OCT. 3 - 16, 2018 VOLUME 15 | ISSUE 24

the pages. It would be all too easy to write a morose, somber story about being homeless. But Murphy’s dark sense of humor and clever aloofness carry our friend— and probably Murphy himself — through his time on the streets.

The only disappointment with “Homeless: A Day in the Life” is that the reader never finds out the circumstances that forced our friend onto the streets. “When people live paycheck to paycheck, unless they’re a serious, hard-core drug addict, then the [cause of their homelessness] is always the same: a series of problems,” Murphy said in an interview.

This uncertainty forces the reader to remember that when we see a person experiencing homelessness on the street, we do not know how they got there. Our friend’s story is a reminder that each person’s story is unique and that we should never assume we know or understand someone’s experience.

Our friend is a static character. He ends the story the same way he starts it, homeless. The restraints of his economic situation have limited his progress. However, the reader’s slow introduction to the character serves as a replacement for typical character development.

The novel’s subtitle is quite literal. The whole book consists of a single day in our friend’s life. Murphy said he was inspired by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s “A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich,” which follows a Russian gulag prisoner through one day of his experiences.

Due to the short timeframe, the book is almost hyperdescriptive of the setting and our friend’s thoughts. His mind grasps at lofty subjects like the merits of Marxism or the overarching causes of the homelessness epidemic. The most interesting parts of the book are when the narrative dives into our friend’s head for an extended stay.

Just as there is not a typical character arc, there is no all-encompassing plot. Because our friend is not bound by societal schedules and the constant need to stay one step ahead of the clock, he simply decides to do something, setting off a small story arc. Once he has done it, he moves on.

Everything he decides to do is a short adventure, down to the seemingly innocuous task of finding a restroom to use.

Rather than including delicately placed metaphor and flowery prose, Murphy writes direct, snappy sentences. The abbreviated voice leans into the uncertainty our friend experiences while living on the streets. Murphy said his writing style reflects our friend’s need to stay in the moment, to live his life day to day.

“Homeless: A Day in the Life” is a compelling read, a memoir of a man whose memory never stayed too long in the minds of those who passed him by.

The Bird Man

BY ANTHONY CARNEY // Artist/Vendor

The bird man on 14th and N Streets, NW, feeds the birds while sitting in his wheelchair. Birds are flocking all over him.

Birds are on his hat and his shoulders! He loves the company of the birds. The birds are eating from his hand.

The bird man said the rich want to live good and so do the poor. In other words, can we help each other live a good life?

Help the Street Sense Media vendors that are poor and the homeless to end homelessness. Thank you.

“Homeless: A Day in the Life is available on Amazon.com.

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