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This is Ethan with the Humanities Truck. It's September 7th, 2025, and we are at Petworth Day. Could you please tell me your name? David Helfant.

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And do I have your permission to record this interview? Yes. You do. Fantastic.

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So what brings you to Petworth Day celebration today? Our daughter-in-law and son-in-law—My daughter in law and son in law and two little boys live in this neighborhood. And so we have come to visit them several times over the past few

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years. And we love the neighborhood. And so, did you know much about the neighborhood prior to your daughter-in-law moving to? Not really.

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I, over my lifetime, have not spent very much time at all in Washington, D.C.. So it's been very immersive and nice.

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Yeah. And from your experience in Petworth, what are some, you know, some core, some good memories that you have. Walking around the neighborhoods, observing the beautiful

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architecture that's one hundred and fifty years old and the types of modifications people have done and the greenery, the trees. Just really lovely. Have you noticed much change in

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the neighborhood or community over the course of the years that you've been coming to Petworth? It's only been a few years, so, I haven't observed that many changes, except that, the daughter-in-law has moved into a different area, and it's

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wonderful. It's even nicer than the first place they lived in. Fantastic.

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That's very cool. And so you said that you haven't, you hadn't spent much time in D.C. prior to that.

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So what, are you living in D.C. here now, or did you just come from out of D.C. to visit for the week? Yes, we're just visitors.

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We are based in Berkeley, California. And the daughter in law has plenty of room in her home for us to hang out and take care of the kids as

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necessary, things like that. Is there anything that you hope to see change, or continue, or improve, of the—around the community in Petworth? Over the course of the next five

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years? How do you kind of want to see that? I'm not sure I have that much to add to the situation or analysis. I think the sidewalk improvements

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are a good thing because some of them are still at a level needed to be grinded, but otherwise, it's a lovely area. Yeah. Pretty good.

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I guess. You know, the the experience that you have in DC is a little more limited. So I'm not totally sure, if there are— Are there other areas of DC

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that you see like some similarities with from your, your time visiting or? I have to acknowledge I'm an outsider. I really can't embrace any sort of

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overall analysis. But, I love the Petworth area. I do that. And we've been to a couple of

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museums over the years and other places. So it's been it's been very nice. Well, I guess that's all of the questions that I have for you.

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Is there anything else that I didn't ask you that you wanted to talk about today? I think you've done a great job covering the issues. Thank you.

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Thank you.