The wall art, entirely at home in a neighborhood with murals galore, was the winner of a held by the NoMa Business Improvement District (BID) earlier this year.

The artist behind it is , an art professor at Gallaudet University for the past 15 years. Deaf since birth, McAuliffe said that when she heard about the opportunity, she knew that she wanted her design to be “a mural that represents the Deaf community” and familiarized ASL to people passing by.

“The day the mural was installed, I witnessed a man teaching his boy the alphabet in ASL. That melted my heart!” she said in an email interview.

The District has over deaf and hard-of-hearing residents and is widely considered a “Deaf-friendly city.” But most of that reputation can be attributed to the presence of Gallaudet University, established in 1864.

While Gallaudet University and its immediate community lie outside the NoMa Business Improvement District’s geographic boundaries, BID President Maura Brophy said that the BID views them as key stakeholders in the greater NoMa area. “The fact that the Red Line Metro stop in this neighborhood is named “NoMa-Gallaudet U” shows how inextricably linked we are to each other,” she said in an email interview.

The name of the Metro station was changed to its current form in 2012 and is indicative of the many changes the neighborhood has undergone in the last decade. However, even as NoMa develops into an urban, young neighborhood, issues such as public unfamiliarity with ASL, lack of translators, and rising rents are making life harder for its longtime Deaf community.

McAuliffe first visited Gallaudet University in 1994 and has lived a few minutes away from NoMa for the past decade. She said that often she gets flashbacks to how the neighborhood was in the 1990s and early 2000s.

“Whenever I’m at Union Market, I look at hearing customers and think: Where were they 20 years ago?” she said.

The growth for the Deaf community has been in Union Market, said Phyllis Brooks, a longtime former NoMa resident who now lives in neighboring Trinidad. She said that the presence of deaf workers and businesses in the area made it a popular hangout for the Gallaudet University community.

Brooks remembers NoMa back when it was “still full of nothing.” But the changes have come swiftly and fast.

“I told Edward that D.C. will look like NYC,” she said, referring to her son.

Her son, Edward Maloney, is 23, a repairman studying civil engineering, and a CODA – Child of Deaf Adults. Born to parents who both attended Gallaudet University, he grew up behind the school’s walls before moving to Trinidad. In a way, he grew up alongside NoMa.

“NoMa now has its own mini skyline of really modern buildings, which is really crazy to see,” he said. “Its center of gravity has really expanded over my lifetime.”

Maloney’s straddled both the hearing and deaf worlds, earning him a unique perspective and role in each community. He said it shaped his worldview as a child and gave him a front-row seat to how society treats its disabled population.

“It also was an education early on and just how unjust the world can be,” said Maloney. “I saw my parents face a lot of injustice, and they had to work harder and advocate for themselves more than a hearing person would.”

He recalled instances where finding interpreters for his parents to even attend public meetings or doctor’s appointments were tough. Maloney also noted the lack of access to education for deaf students and their entry into the workforce.

The result is that “they miss out on a lot of talent and a lot of intelligence that is held within the Deaf community,” said Maloney.

The District in 2021 finally established the ‘’ and joined a list of approximately 38 state agencies for the deaf and hard of hearing in the country. Robb Dooling, an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner (ANC) for the H Street Corridor, is one of the few deaf commissioners in the District.

His first response to the announcement of the new office was cautious relief.

“Disability representation still has a long way to go,” Dooling said in an email. “Despite our local victories, I know of no ward-level or citywide-level elected officials with a disability. This lack of representation leads to misguided decisions such as the D.C. government’s executive branch disagreeing with the idea of an Office of Deaf, DeafBlind, and Hard of Hearing throughout the full history of advocacy for the office.”

Dooling called the efforts made towards marginalized populations in rapidly developing northeast D.C. “a token approach,” with small gestures like “DeafSpace design principles and murals of people from marginalized populations on the exterior walls of luxury condos.”

Instead, he called for a more holistic approach encompassing disability, race, religion, and human diversity.

“We need deeply affordable housing and significant government support of minority-owned small businesses,” he said.

McAuliffe and Brooks also highlighted the lack of affordable housing and rising rents in NoMa as a big concern for students and faculty at the university and the surrounding Deaf community. But even beyond that, foundational issues like society’s unfamiliarity with ASL, leaves the Deaf community meeting the hearing world where they’re at and nowhere close to even halfway.

“People are more familiar with deaf people around today than the past,” Brooks said. “Still, we face some problems because they don’t know how to sign.”

“They know of us, so why don’t they learn how to sign?”

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The letter was born out of heated complaints from residents at an October online meeting of ANC 6C over crime spilling over into the neighborhood from H Street NE. The jurisdiction of the neighborhood committee in Ward 6 stretches from East Capitol Street NE on Capitol Hill to the intersection of Florida and New York avenues NE in NoMa.

“It’s great to have parks and other things that we’re talking about like transportation,” said one of the residents on the call. “But if we don’t get the crime fixed, none of that really matters, in my opinion.”

All incidents of crime in NoMa went up by 75 since last year, according to from the Metropolitan Police Department. Some of the biggest increases were due to higher motor vehicle and auto theft in the neighborhood.

NoMa, a residential neighborhood, borders the H Street corridor, a one-and-a-half-mile road peppered with stores and restaurants. Most residents on the call questioned whether the increase in crime near their houses has been due to a spillover effect from the more commercial street.

Joel Kelty, a commissioner with ANC 6C, has also been a resident of the H Street quarter for about 22 years. He recalled the evolution of the street from a not-so-vibrant place known for drugs to a lively, racially integrated neighborhood.

“We used to joke back in the old days that H was for heroin,” he said.

But according to Kelty, the District hasn’t done enough to maintain its investment into H Street.

“A lot of the cobblestones are loose or missing. A lot of the trees are dead. The tree boxes are just dirt,” he said.

While the District might have had a “great vision” for H Street, Kelty said that it’s become increasingly unclear and “there’s no follow through on maintaining it.”

“I think the lack of vision allows things like high crime to flourish,” he said.

Crime on the commercial corridor made headlines in August when Washington Commanders rookie running back Brian Robinson Jr. was shot on 1000 block of H Street NE during an attempted robbery. The suspects arrested by the MPD were juveniles aged 16 and 14.

But while this renewed attention to crime on the street might be new for some, for shop owners and workers on the corridor, it’s become normal.

“I’ve just grown so used to it,” said Nicolle Lettau, the general manager at Atlas Doghouse. “When the sirens go by I’m like, ‘Oh, look, something else is happening.’ So, I’ve definitely noticed more frequency in the sirens and things going on out there.”

Lettau said that she doesn’t see an easy fix for the safety on the street but recommended investing in more resources for the community who live there.

“Everything that pops up these days is like luxury condos and super fancy restaurants. And I feel like it’s at odds with the rest of the people around here,” she said.

Archie Twyman, who works at a store that “gifts” marijuana, agreed that more should be done by the District for youth in the area. While some might blame the crime on the ‘marijuana gifting’ in the area, Twyman disagreed.

“I don’t think the gifting or the marijuana is making crime go up. Crime has been going up in this city year after year since I was born,” he said.

Twyman argued that the ‘marijuana gifting’ in fact ought to be lowering the crime rate in the area.

“As a Black man that has been charged with misdemeanors for possession and felonies just for marijuana, and to see that as legalized, I felt like why I think we’re moving in a good direction as a nation,” he said.

Blaming the entirety of the neighborhood’s problems with crime on marijuana is “low hanging fruit” and “easy to blame” said Ralph McLean, commander of the Metropolitan Police Department’s fifth district.

McLean said that the District’s problems with crime go far beyond just one or two factors. As a 40-year-veteran of the MPD, he said he has been a first-line observer to the crime in the District and all the initiatives taken against it.

But as the police evolve, so do the criminals.

“We jokingly referred to this kind of crimefighting as ‘Whack-a-Mole,” he said. “Because you can press it down in one place, it can generally pop up in another place. They adjust to us as much as we adjust to them.”

The newest crime trend in NoMa is automobile theft, said McLean. It’s an observation that Kelty made too.

“You have to a little bit admire the entrepreneurial creativity of some of these people. The latest thing is stealing wheels off of Hondas,” he said.

As solutions to the problem, residents and ANC 6C commissioners in the letter to the Mayor specifically outline the need for upgraded MPD-monitored security cameras and as well as new installations of more cameras in high-crime areas on the street.

Since, Kelty said that they have received a response from the Mayor’s office but described it as unsatisfying.

“I’m not sure that the mayor and the council fully understand the scope of the problem,” Kelty stressed.

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“Even while I was casting my vote on that particular issue, I was still having doubts. So, I think I’m not the only one,” said the Silver Spring resident.

Rodriguez said that what finally helped in his decision were the experiences of his family members who benefited from medical marijuana.

But he isn’t wholly convinced yet.

“At the same time, there’s the issue of security and increasing crime,” he said. “Sometimes it’s linked to the use of drugs, and marijuana is a drug. So, I have to keep that in mind when I was thinking about how to vote.”

Paul Heithoff agreed. While he acknowledged that marijuana isn’t as “harmful” as other drugs, he said that legalization in the state should also come with better market regulation.

If “they can get it right, that’d be fantastic,” Heithoff said. “But certain states, I feel like they’re going to take it as a cash cow.”

Heithoff, a law enforcement officer, and his partner, Cheryl Chun, who works in the healthcare space, can’t smoke marijuana nevertheless due to professional reasons, they said. Instead, Chun would like to see more cannabis-infused edibles made legal in the state.

Jennifer Manguera, alongside her daughter, Amina Manguera, said legalization in the state “was kind of like closing the barn door after the horse got out.”

But like other residents of Montgomery County, it’s a welcome change for them and their hope for criminal justice and prison reform.

“Do I personally want to walk through clouds of marijuana smoke? No,” said Jennifer Manguera. “But it is there. So, I don’t think that it should be illegal and have the stigma of the arrests.”

Sam Shaffer, who identified herself as an independent who tended to lean Democrat, said that the legalization of marijuana is an inevitable path that not just the state but the country is on.

“I think that it should be legal,” she said. “I don’t think that by making it illegal it necessarily helps anyone.”

Besides Maryland, four others states––Arkansas, Missouri, North Dakota and South Dakota––across the country have the legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes as measures on their ballots. If passed, they would join 19 other states and the District of Columbia with legal recreational cannabis use.

(Reporting done from the polls in Silver Spring, Maryland, for the Washington Post)

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On a crisp October morning, the Planned Parenthood at 4^th Street Northeast in the NoMa area, had advocates on both sides of the issue lined up along the pavement out front. The Carol Whitehill Moses Center of Washington, DC offers a range of healthcare services including primary care and abortion.

On one side are anti-abortion activists––around 10 of them––standing around holding up signs or praying. On the other are volunteer escorts from the Washington Area Clinic Defense Task Force. The volunteer escorts were primarily women, identifiable by their bright orange vests with the wording “pro-choice clinic escorts.” According to the task force’s brochure, the escorts’ goal is to “promote peaceful and safe access to clinics for both patients and staff” and provides a “non-violent buffer” between the anti-abortion activists and the health center.

There are chalk messages scrawled on the concrete sidewalk between them. “Mothers and fathers regret abortion,” read one missive, while another said, “There is a better choice.”

And then there is the silence, a palpable tense quiet between the nearly 20 people this day.

The stillness outside the healthcare provider was only broken when someone exited or went in. One of the escorts walked the person back to their car or the next street while a protester tried handing out material supporting their cause. It’s a scene that repeated every time someone left or entered the health center.

Some passersby thanked the escorts for “being out here” and “doing what you do.” Others chuckled and said they were just going to Trader Joe’s a few feet away.

It’s a tension reminiscent of the mixed emotions around the country since the fall of Roe.

Signs of the times

For one of the anti-abortion protesters outside the clinic, who would identify herself only as a resident of Maryland, it’s her first time back on the sidewalk after the fall of Roe. Before that, she was here every week, she said.

Others like Lori Furstenberg have been coming out here for months. Furstenberg, who’s a former Democrat, described herself now as a “political activist, Republican, and a pro-lifer.”

For most hours outside Planned Parenthood, Furstenberg held up a sign that said, “Everyone deserves a lifetime. Say no to abortion,” showing a fetus in the womb. She said that people “just need to know my sign that I usually hold up.”

“It’s just that simple,” she added. “I usually don’t engage with people other than saying ‘good morning, you matter.’”

Michael New is the leader of this particular pre-election, anti-abortion vigil for “” outside the clinic. He is not new to these circles and has been involved in the anti-abortion movement for years. While the street-level organizing is something he’s still expanding in the District, New said that the Republicans had had their larger focus elsewhere.

“I mean, one thing that pro-lifers have certainly invested very heavily in, and I think pays some big dividends, is judicial nominations,” he said. “That’s kind of the one thing, more than anything, pro-lifers want from people we elect is getting like-minded judges on the Supreme Court and other lower courts.”

Lately, “the other side has seemed to kind of be a bit more organized than previously,” he acknowledged.

Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington, DC, turned down an interview request for this story.

“We emphasize choice”

Earlier in October, exactly a month before the midterms, a “” demonstration, organized by the Women’s March, was held nationally. In the District, it began at Folger Park and the large crowd marched down to the Capitol to rally ahead of the upcoming elections.

While the District has always been one of the sanctuary cities for abortions and access to reproductive healthcare, the Supreme Court’s ruling has rejuvenated the fight for abortion rights.

“We’ve had an increase in people wanting to join us,” said Megan, a volunteer trainer with the task force who requested her last name not be used for security concerns.

She stressed that the escorts outside Planned Parenthood are not “counter protesters.” But a patient’s interaction with a protestor is up to the individual.

“That’s their choice; we emphasize choice,” she said.

A new swell of support

The D.C. Abortion Fund has also had an increase in volunteers post-Roe, said Devin Simpson, the fund’s communications director. “We haven’t quite figured out exactly how to use them all yet.”

Simpson also said there’d been a swell of support for the fund from local businesses and the community.

“I mean, like the weekend Roe fell, I was monitoring our social media, and it was difficult to keep up with the amount of ad-hoc fundraisers going on across the city,” she said, referring to random restaurants and bars.

Elsewhere, more events centered around reproductive rights, have been organized with the proceeds going to various abortion funds.

At the Dupont Underground on Oct. 22 and 23, Duke and Duck––a D.C-based creative content studio––staged a for reproductive rights. The walls of the abandoned tunnel featured 16 unique animations from artists around the country. Katrina Soohoo, a Los Angeles-based motion designer, was one of them.

“Because, you know, we can read about facts,” Soohoo said. “And it’s important to know about facts, but sometimes it takes sort of like some emotional significance to really make it hit home for people.”

A safe haven

With the upcoming elections, while abortion is still protected and legal in the District, the fact that it is not a state still puts it at risk for the future, explained ACLU-D.C. Policy Counsel Melissa Wasser in an email statement.

“The midterm elections across the country could significantly impact abortion in the District,” the statement read. “On the other hand, a Congress committed to democracy could grant D.C. statehood, and as a state, District residents and lawmakers could protect and expand our status as an abortion safe haven.”

Back at the Planned Parenthood in NoMa, at around noon, everyone on either side of the pavement is packing up to leave. As New and the others gathered their material and carried away their signs, they stopped for a quick selfie in front of the clinic before parting ways.

“Will you be back here again next week?” Furstenberg is asked.

“Yes, Ma’am.”

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Swampoodle Terrace–a snug park replete with chess tables, small rolling hills, and a repurposed shipping container as an entertainment area–opened its gates to the community this month.

A public vote on the name of the park was held in March this year, and ever since, the opening has been a long-anticipated tease.

‘Swampoodle Terrace,’ a name paying tribute to the neighborhood’s Irish immigrant past, was the final selection.

The newly opened park is also one of the final pieces of the long-term plan that the NoMa Parks Foundation (NPF) launched nearly eight years ago.

“The NoMa Parks Foundation addressed a big question, which was how can we bring a green space and recreation space to a location that’s considered landlocked by concrete,” said Tiffany Moore, deputy director of Capital Construction Services, at the opening of the park Oct. 19. “Well, the vision was cast, and the answer is right here.”

Robin-Eve Jasper was one of the leading architects behind the neighborhood’s push for more green spaces.

Jasper has worn several hats in leadership in the neighborhood. She was the former president of the NoMa Business Improvement District (BID) and the current president of the NoMa Parks Foundation. She has held that position since 2012.

Jasper’s seen it all when it comes to the evolution of the neighborhood.

“I’ve seen it go from empty lots with no sidewalks and a scattering of, you know, old, mostly unused warehouses to what it is today,” she said.

But early on, Jasper noted the void left by the absence of civic spaces where the community could come together, hang out and be active in NoMa. The NPF struck a public-private partnership with the District of Columbia governments, and in 2013, former Mayor Gray included $50 million for NoMa parks and public spaces in the District’s capital budget in the fiscal year 2014.

In May 2013, the D.C. Council unanimously approved that funding, per the NPF website.

Jasper said the guiding question all these years as they’ve approached planning has been, “How do we build community?”

To this end, the NPF held community meetings pre-pandemic, with regular turnouts of 60 to 100 members. The discussions ensured public participation in the projects, from naming to design.

“It’s been a lot of fun to see how that plays out; in everything from park design and involving the community and people kind of forging bonds through that,” said Jasper.

While the success of the new Terrace is yet to be seen, if its name twin across the street is any indicator, it is sure to be a community favorite. Opposite Swampoodle Terrace is another of the NPF’s projects, Swampoodle Park which opened in 2018.

And a sunny fall day is the perfect time to capture the success of that community space. A pack of excited dogs runs around the manicured grass as their owners huddle around, chatting.

Chris DiLullo, the owner of five-year-old poodle mix Sparky and two-year-old bernedoodle Bo, is a daily visitor to the park.

“I like the green space inside the city to like to hang out in. It makes you feel a little less closed in on,” he said.

Wall-halla, a vertical obstacle course for children, flanked one side of the park. It’s the perfect after-school activity for the two boys Belle Evans babysits.

“They don’t have a backyard because it’s (their home) in the city. So, it’s really nice for them to be able to run around,” she said.

While Joe McCann’s one-year-old daughter, Claudia, is not old enough for the wall-halla yet, she’s sat smiling, across the street, on the soft grass mounds of Swampoodle Terrace.

“I expect we’ll be here a few times a week,” said McCann.

McCann, a resident of NoMa, is also a member of the ANC 6C Environment, Parks and Recreation Committee.

With the opening of the Terrace wrapped up, both Jasper and McCann are already looking forward to planning more community spaces in the neighborhood. But first, a thorough analysis of all that’s been accomplished over the past few years.

“We’re doing it (a report) to actually document the experience over the last ten years and what lessons were learned,” said Jasper.

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But lately, the marbled halls of the station have been but a dreary backdrop to empty stores and hallways, amidst safety issues and a slowly returning crowd.

Jamia Grinage has worked in the Blue Mercury store at the station for nearly a year.

“It’s kind of hard for the tourists to walk through the (station’s) hallway because it’s a little dark,” she said.

Since the pandemic, the station’s hallways, which were peppered with lively retail outlets and restaurants, are now just empty storefronts with no replacements.

“Me personally? I wouldn’t want to go into a dark hallway. So, me not seeing the H&M and the Victoria’s Secret at the end of the hall is kind of like…ugh,” she added.

But hallways dulled by absent stores aren’t the only problem at the station.

A recent shooting in the station’s west hall left one injured and has restarted the conversation around safety issues at the station.

“Like it’s kind of just the thing. You just know that Union Station is sketch,” said Hannah Reeter, a regular rider of the Metro.

Earlier this year, Starbucks announced the closure of 16 stores nationally, citing safety concerns. The store at Union Station was one of them.

Safety at the station was the recent topic of discussion at the September Advisory Neighborhood Committee meeting for Ward 6C, with newly appointed CEO and President of the Union Station Redevelopment Corporation (USRC) Doug Carr in attendance.

According to the of the meeting, the conversation was “regarding the need for law enforcement at the station, loitering and food waste in the front portico, homeless persons and people with mental health problems, and issues contributing to an unwelcoming atmosphere at the station.”

Some disagree.

“I know there’s homeless people here, but I’ve never felt unsafe,” said Sahar Curtis, a commuter at the station.

Others don’t.

“It is a matter of safety concern because you have some of the homeless population, and they can be a bit uneasy, and they can be a bit rowdy, you never know if they’re going to snap. We deal with that a lot,” said Marissa Wood, a longtime worker at the station’s The Body Shop.

Wood said she’s dealt with people wandering into stores yelling and screaming, but explained that it usually doesn’t escalate due to the heavy police presence at the station.

The police jurisdiction of Union Station is split among multiple law enforcement agencies, including the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), the Amtrak Police Department, United States Park Police, Metro Transit Police Department, and the United States Capitol Police.

“The MPD is constantly connecting with the community so that we’re constantly aware of safety issues around the station,” said an MPD spokesperson about its jurisdiction. “There has been no upward trend in crime around Union Station.”

According to, the incidents around the station have only slightly increased as compared to last year. There have been 36 incidents around the station this year.

from Metro Transit Police’s jurisdiction paints a similar picture. This year, it shows only 14 incidents in the District’s Metro facilities, with only one so far in October.

The Park Police have also been involved in maintaining safety in some areas of the station and just recently cleared a homeless encampment at Columbus Circle.

When asked if it has improved safety conditions around the station, most are conflicted.

“They’re not trying to solve the problem, just trying to get it out of our rear view,” said Grinage.

Wood was glad they finally moved it, calling it a “very unattractive sight.”

But for others, the concern around the station is no different than safety concerns over crime in the entire district.

D.C. Real Time news, a twitter account covering police, fire and emergency medical services news in the District, out a resigned “UNBELIEVABLE” on Sunday after three separate shootings involving teenagers happened across the city.  

UNBELIEVABLE, a horrible Sunday with 3 teens shot in 3 separate shootings in D.C. today.

— DC REALTIME NEWS (@RealTimeNews10)

“I don’t know if it’s any better or worse,” said Karl Fitzke. “Not necessarily right here, no more than other spots in D.C. I’m not overly concerned. I mean, you hear about shootings all the time.”

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A D.C. Fire and EMS spokesperson confirmed that the injured person was a young male with a minor gunshot injury to the foot.  The victim was taken to the hospital in a private vehicle.

The U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) released a confirming the arrest of the two shooting suspects. They were found near North Capitol Street and H Street by USCP officers, who also confiscated a handgun.

The west side of the main level of the station––which houses the restaurants Pot Belly, Shake Shack, and more––was cordoned off with tape for a few hours.

A Metropolitan Police officer at the scene said that it was an active crime investigation, while the Amtrak police officers at the station declined to comment.

The Amtrak Police Department is the lead on the investigation of the shooting, with the Metropolitan Police Department assisting.

The general manager at the eatery Chopt, also in the west hall, was a witness at the scene. She declined to give her name.

The manager said she noticed a group of five teenagers––four boys and a girl––sitting in a corner table of the store.

Soon, a fight broke out among them, she said, which eventually spilled out onto the front of the store.

“I was very scared,” she said, still shaken from the experience.  

Having been in the back of the store attending a meeting at the moment the gun went off, she recalled watching the customers run towards the back in fear.  

Despite having worked in the station restaurant for eight years, this was her first time dealing with a shooting near the store, she said.

Another witness on scene was Michelle Goldchain, a journalist with WTOP.

She took to saying, “Crazy to think I was right next to a shooting today.”

Goldchain heard the shot go off at around 3:50 p.m.

According to the released by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, there was only one crime at a Metro facility in August and 13 so far this year.

The issue of safety at Union Station was a recent topic of discussion in Advisory Neighborhood Commission 6C’s virtual on Sept. 15.

The newly appointed Doug Carr, president and chief executive officer of the Union Station Redevelopment Corporation (USRC), attended that ANC meeting to address the concerns of the commissioners and their constituents.

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The location on the tickets was vague and soon a nervous chatter built. Until, the booming voice of Kelly Towles cut through the noise.

Towles, a local artist and the director of the famed ‘D.C. Walls,’ an annual mural festival in NoMa since 2016, was the leader of the Saturday walk.

His instructions for the walk, from the Metropolitan Branch Trail (MBT) to the NoMa-Gallaudet metro stop, were simple – just shout out any questions.

A few murals in, a voice in the crowd asked Towles, “Is there a wall you’ve always wanted to paint?”

The answer came after a few more stops on the walk when Towles pointed at the former Wendy’s at the heart of the notorious “Dave Thomas” ­­––in tribute to the founder of Wendy’s­­––triad of roads.

The former fast-food joint had been a fixture in the neighborhood since the mid-1980s. But it served up its last burger a year ago on Sept. 30, 2021.

It was acquired by the District government for more than $13 million under eminent domain last year and is due to be torn down early 2023 to make the intersection safer for both drivers and pedestrians.

In its place, will be a community space, according to by the District Department of Transportation (DDOT).

And at its one-year anniversary of being shut down, it has been revamped from an eyesore into a mural bonanza covering every wall.

But painting murals on public walls or spaces in neighborhoods don’t just require loads of paint, skill, and an ability to operate a forklift.

You also need approvals. From whom?

“Everyone,” said Towles on the walk.

Getting approval from the NoMa Business Improvement District (BID) and the District Department of Transportation, who now own the building, came surprisingly easy.

“How cool would it be to make this (the former Wendy’s) a real focal point for the festival this year and bring some life into this space as a signal of what’s to come,” said Maura Brophy, president of the NoMa BID.

LA-based artists and were the chosen two by Towles for the mammoth task.

“He reached out to me a few months ago… [and said] he had something kind of special to show me,” said TRAV.

It was the perfect canvas for TRAV who’s entire work “pays homage to brick-and-mortar retail spaces.”

Nine days were all it took to change the drab walls of a shuttered outfit into a 360-degree mural covered by patterns, bursts of orange, and shades of blue.

But all that effort for it to only be torn in a few months? TRAV is no stranger to it.

His mural work for the festival in 2017 was eventually brought down for the construction of the CitizenM Hotel on First Street in NoMa. This time around, he stayed there while completing the new mural.

For Towles, it’s “c’est la vie.”

But even in its evolution, TRAV still got the full “Dave Thomas circle” experience.

“It was like constantly people in traffic yelling, what’s this going to be?” he said. “We saw a couple accidents. Oh, my God.”

For Brophy, the ever-changing murals on the buildings is also a reminder to the residents in NoMa that change is coming for the neighborhood.

“I often compare NoMa to neighborhoods like Downtown, Golden Triangle, Georgetown, and say that compared to those neighborhoods, NoMa is still a teenager and growing into what it’s going to become,” she said. “It’s still forming its identity.”

Since taking over in 2021, Brophy and the BID have leaned into creating and curating an artistic identity for NoMa. Apart from the murals, installations and artsy pole banners pepper the streets.

And it’s working.

The residents and even the new businesses coming in are buying into the idea.

Brophy said that newer buildings in the neighborhood are commissioning artists to paint on their walls to add to NoMa’s art scene.

“I think it gets people talking. It allows people to see their city differently,” said Melissa Arne.

Arne, who bikes to and from work, said she stops by the murals at Alethia Tanner Park in the mornings and takes in how the paint catches in the early-morning sunshine.

For Genevieve and Jeremy Kozne, enjoying the art on the walls is a perk while walking Quill Kozne, their 4-year-old Golden Retriever.

It’s also a sign of how much NoMa’s changed since they moved in over three years ago.

“We were in the first wave of people changing the neighborhood. And it’s continued to change with time,” said Jeremy Kozne.

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