After careful research, one prominent citizen finally figured out what keeps the corner dudes hanging out at the Euclid Market at 17th and Euclid Streets NW: instant soup. “I’ve just seen them standing around in there,” explains Peter Lyden, president of the Reed Cooke Neighborhood Association. “And they are by the place where the hot water [is].” This discovery quickly made its way to the market’s landlord, Robert Newmann, who then wrote to his tenant. “My advice to him is, if you are getting an element in there that you are not happy with, then don’t attract them,” Newmann says. Recently, the Euclid Market, which refused comment, stopped selling soup and removed the hot-water dispenser. Still, Officer Andrew Zabavsky of the Metropolitan Police Department sees a different menace at the market. “The soup is not really an issue. People got to eat. The only issue I have is the to-go cups. I don’t understand why he sells to-go cups with ice.”

—Jason Cherkis