91茄子

In Foggy Bottom, wealthy retirees, seniors short on income, privileged college students and people experiencing homelessness compete for attention from neighborhood groups and the District’s government.

These populations rarely interact. When they do, results vary.

Kazimir McMahon, 27, and his mother, Dale Johnson, run on the neighborhood’s western edge. Since Johnson bought the gallery from its original owner 40 years ago, she and her son have seen the positive and negative changes the neighborhood has undergone.

McMahon said the neighborhood, which is primarily home to college students and adults older than 50, has become safer over the past decade.

鈥淲hen I was probably about 14 years old, it was really sketchy down here, to the point where my dad was even wondering if we should get a gun because there were some not-so-great people that were hanging out around here,鈥� McMahon said.

Although fewer homeless people hang out near the gallery since the public library in the Watergate complex closed, McMahon said he doesn’t attribute feeling safer to that shift.

鈥淚鈥檝e had more trouble with kids than I鈥檝e had trouble with homeless people,鈥� he said with a laugh.

Down the street from the gallery, dozens of people line up every morning for breakfast at , which provides nutritious meals and housing support services to people experiencing homelessness.

Johnson works with Tony Palmer, a homeless artist who frequents Miriam鈥檚 Kitchen. She said she has sold several of his pieces for his profit.

鈥淚鈥檓 happy to be able to help him,” Johnson said. “He has a camera, he takes pictures, he gets them made and he does paintings at Miriam鈥檚 Kitchen. He鈥檚 a good guy.”

People who are homeless sometimes come into the gallery and look at the art, Johnson said.

鈥淭hey used to have benches out front, and this homeless guy used to sit there,” Johnson said. “He loved looking at the art and he sang. He had a beautiful voice. I just got used to him being there.鈥�

Johnson said she has never had a problem with him or any other homeless visitor. But one day in 2005, she came back from a vacation and decided she was sick of having the homeless man outside her shop.

Johnson made a phone call and asked for the bench to be moved so the homeless man could no longer sit in front of the gallery. When he next came to the shop, Johnson said he was upset the bench had been moved.

鈥淚 told him, 鈥楪osh, they went and moved the bench on you,鈥欌�� she said. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 want him to think that it was me, because maybe he would have reacted in a negative way. I felt so bad.鈥�

George Washington University sophomore Jillian Wolons serves as president of Student Neighborhood Advocacy Core, a group dedicated to involving students in the Foggy Bottom and District communities. This year, she is planning the annual Thanksgiving lunch with St. Mary鈥檚 Court, a low-rent apartment complex that provides subsidized housing to residents age 62 and older.

Wolons, 20, said St. Mary’s seniors look forward to the event.

“Conversations with these residents, it makes their whole week,” she said.

St. Mary鈥檚 is directly across the street from Miriam鈥檚 Kitchen, and residents and guests regularly cross paths. Philip Schrefer, 80, has lived at St. Mary鈥檚 for five years and is an representative for Foggy Bottom. ANCs are District residents鈥� first line of defense when combating neighborhood problems.

鈥淚鈥檝e always been aware of the homeless,鈥� Schrefer said. 鈥淚 see them having meals nearby at Miriam鈥檚 Kitchen. I actually took a meal there myself once.鈥�

Tension can arise in ANC and meetings where fighting homelessness is the focus, Wolons said.

鈥淭here are members of the Foggy Bottom community that regularly attend ANC meetings that are very, very wealthy and hate that we focus on homelessness because they just want it to not be happening,鈥� Wolons said. 鈥淭hey find those people to be taking up space in their community, making noise and just a disturbance overall, for the people living there.鈥�

Barbara Kahlow, who has lived in Foggy Bottom since 1988, said homelessness is a problem for Foggy Bottom and threatens permanent residents’ safety. She said the Foggy Bottom ANC should spend less time focusing on homeless people and more time 鈥減rotecting the permanent residential community.鈥�

鈥淎 large percent [of homeless residents] need help with serious medical and psychological problems,鈥� Kahlow said via email.

Mark Blankley, known as 鈥淗uckleberry Finn鈥� in the neighborhood, is a lively, 38-year-old homeless resident who frequents Miriam鈥檚 Kitchen.

鈥淭hey have art therapy every day,” Blankley said. “All the bums in D.C. can come get a hot meal for breakfast here.”

鈥淚 play music,鈥� Blankley said. He regularly attends art therapy at Miriam鈥檚 Kitchen and performed during his interview 鈥渋n the spirit of Miriam鈥檚 Kitchen.鈥� (Whitney Petralia / 91茄子)

Blankley attends services at Western Presbyterian Church, which houses Miriam鈥檚 Kitchen. He said he occasionally interacts with George Washington University students.

鈥淭hey usually accuse me of being drunk and call the cops,鈥� he said.

Blankley isn鈥檛 the only community member who said GW students sometimes mistreat homeless residents. Marina Streznewski, president of the Foggy Bottom Association and founder of the Homelessness Task Force, said wealthy people who have never gone hungry often see homeless people as “the other.”

Streznewski said a friend of hers who is not homeless but panhandles to pay for his home told her a story that made her cringe.

鈥淭his kid is talking to his friends, and they鈥檙e laughing and everything, and they go over, and he reaches into his pocket and鈥� and Kenny said there were like hundred dollar bills in there,鈥� Streznewski said. 鈥淏ut he reaches in and pulls out a penny and gives it to him.鈥�

Streznewski said many students do try to combat homelessness in Foggy Bottom. The problem, she said, is newcomers are impatient to solve the problems and lack real knowledge of past efforts by other groups.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of energy,鈥� Streznewski said. 鈥淚t needs to be harnessed.鈥�

Streznewski said many people experiencing homelessness avoid shelters because of bad conditions. She recommends people stop by a shelter and see what it鈥檚 like.

She said she has seen many residents project fear and prejudice against homeless people because it makes them question their own security.

鈥淥ne resident at the Watergate told me flat out, 鈥業 pay too much in taxes to have to look at this,’鈥� Streznewski said.

on D Street is one of the better shelters in the District, Streznewski said, but it鈥檚 still 鈥渉orribly depressing.鈥�

鈥淛ust the idea of sleeping there and getting up in the morning to go to work,鈥� she said, her voice trailing off. 鈥淎nd it鈥檚 amazing how many people do that.鈥�

Johnson said the homeless artist who sells art at her gallery avoids shelters.

Dale Johnson, owner of the Watergate Gallery and Frame Design, said she thinks twice before she takes a parking space near Miriam鈥檚 Kitchen. (Whitney Petralia / 91茄子)

鈥淗e chooses to live on the streets,” Johnson said. “He doesn鈥檛 want to go into shelters and stuff because he doesn鈥檛 like the conditions of shelters, so he makes his choice.”

Wolons and Streznewski described a tactic lawmakers are considering to tackle health and sanitation issues homeless people face. While Miriam’s Kitchen provides nutritious food, building public restrooms throughout the neighborhood would give homeless residents a consistent place to wash and bathe.

鈥淭he first place I ever had roasted duck was here,鈥� Blankley said, pointing to Miriam鈥檚 Kitchen. (Whitney Petralia / 91茄子)

Proponents of the change have created model cards listing the locations of the restrooms, intended to be handed out to homeless residents. The cards would also note the available storage space in each restroom, since many homeless people carry their belongings with them, Wolons said.

The United Kingdom already successfully uses restrooms like these, Wolons said.

鈥淚f other countries are doing it, we should already have it here, too,鈥� she said.

The bill has been introduced but not revised or voted on. Since it鈥檚 the end of the two-year council period, when legislation must be introduced and voted on, Streznewski said she doubts the bill will survive.

鈥淚 consider the people who are homeless in this area just as much members of the community as the people with houses,鈥� Streznewski said. 鈥淭hey live here for the same reasons that we do.鈥�