Tony Lewis, Jr. wound up following a significantly different path than his father, who was locked up for life on drug charges in the late-1980s. Today, the younger Lewis works as a vocational development specialist at the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency, helping returning citizens in D.C. find work after incarceration.

I sat with Lewis in the living room of his home on Hanover Place, which was once a stash house back in the 1980s. It’s since been renovated with hardwood floors, a gas fireplace, and marble countertops, but below its modern amenities are the stories from its notorious stash house days.

“I probably served eight search warrants for [that] house alone,” recalls Commander Hickson. “They kept their stash in the cabinet, or under the sink, or in a cereal box sometimes.”

Lewis’s house serves as a kind of metaphor for the area at large. While the neighborhood has improved in recent years, the issues that beset these blocks for decades still lurk below the surface. Amid renovated row houses, disagreements occasionally escalate to violent incidents. The area has also seen an uptick in robberies and burglaries. Crack remains a mainstay, and dissociative drugs, like K2 and bath salts, are also on the rise.

An alley off of Hanover Place at dusk (Photo: Scott Rodd)

While the types of drugs have evolved over time, the rules of the game have stayed the same. During the Rayful Edmond-era, according to Lewis, lookouts yelled Olleray! — pig Latin for “roller,” or police — as squad cars rounded the corner. Today, when I walk through the back alleys of Truxton Circle, I hear lookouts yell Omaha! when patrol cars come into view — an audible for dealers to hide their stash.

The persistence of drugs and crime in the neighborhood hasn’t gone unnoticed by Mayor Muriel Bowser’s administration. Late last year, about a dozen executive agency directors — some of the most powerful officials in the District — gathered for a walk-through in the neighborhood to identify ongoing issues.

Along the blocks adjacent to the Bloomingdale neighborhood to the north, residents pointed out cosmetic issues like cracked sidewalks, graffiti, and overgrown shrubbery. Agency directors took diligent notes and a cadre of public works employees bagged litter en route.

Commander William Fitzgerald explains crime patterns in the area to Mayor Muriel Bowser (Photo: Scott Rodd)

As the group made its way into the heart of Truxton Circle, concerns shifted from beautification to crime, and the walk-through wound up tracing a timeline of violence that has rattled the neighborhood in recent years. At the corner of North Capitol and O Street, an agency director spoke to the owner of a dollar store where a clerk was shot during a robbery in 2013. Down O Street and through an alley onto Hanover Place, the group passed where a boy was shot two years ago (and where a shootout took place last month, leaving one man dead.) Through an alleyway onto New York Avenue, we walked past the corner where a gunman shot four people in front of Big Ben’s Liquor last year. The suspect turned and fled into Truxton Circle, remaining at-large until last month.

During a ride along with a 5th District police officer, I asked if he believed North Capitol Street served as a kind of firewall for crime between the two neighborhoods. His response left little doubt.

“I’d say so ,” he said. “Definitely.”

But some residents who live in Truxton Circle fear North Capitol Street may serve as a firewall for something else: opportunity.

Mark, who lives a few doors down from me on New York Avenue, earned his certification as a cook through classes offered at a local community center. After graduating from the program, he was excited to see restaurants opening a few blocks away in the heart of NoMa.

“I applied to a whole bunch of places over there,” he said, but he never heard back. He landed a job at the University of Maryland, but expressed frustration over having to travel 8 miles to work every day when he is qualified for the jobs in his backyard.

His experience, he adds, isn’t unique.

“I know a lot of folks out of work who can’t find jobs around here,” he said.

Tony Lewis, Jr., believes more needs to happen to ensure that opportunities associated redevelopment and gentrification emanate evenly — and equally — across socio-economic lines. (Worth noting: Approximately 80% of jobs within NoMa BID are held by individuals with a college degree or higher). Unless people in positions of power “put the same effort into building up the people” as they do building up city blocks, according to Lewis, the lives of the less-fortunate won’t improve.

But he isn’t optimistic that will happen any time soon.

“Folks don’t see a quick enough return when they invest in people,” he said.