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Today is Saturday, November 18, 2023. Could you please tell me your name? My name is Olabode Christopher Adeyeta-Olasupo. Perfect. And do I have permission to record this interview? Yes.

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All right. In your experience, how has Petworth changed over time? I'm a recent transplant to the area. I came into the area around 2018, though I lived in downtown Silver Spring then when I was still married. I was working at Mary's Center, so I used to come down to Georgia and Taylor Street. And there's been a little bit of changes over there since then. That was 2018 to now. But obviously I think there are more people around and more activities from what I can see, which is a good thing. And do you think anything has been lost as a result of all these changes? I noticed that now that I moved into DC proper, that I live in DC and having conversation with people that have been here for a long time, they'll talk about the affordability of the area, housing, and cost of living having gone up. That in essence has kind of pushed a lot of people out of the area. So there's an influence of new people but the older generation, people that grew up here, they're moving out bit by bit. So that's kind of the change that people discuss about.

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And do you think the community has gained anything from the changes that have occurred? Definitely. With anything changed, there's always the good part and the bad, the negative side of it. The area is being revitalized. There's a lot of new ideas coming up. But I would suggest that if they can be able to retain some of the old time, you know, the people like they had before, that would be good to be a good blend of both sides of it. What places in Petworth make you feel like you're a part of the community? Like the activity we're having right now, like having different vendors around that brings interconnectivity amongst people, makes the community kind of vibrant and people feel among, you know, brings inclusivity. So those are some of other things like, I think recently they had Art Night in the libraries. Stuff like that is good for the community.

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Do you have a favorite memory from your time here? Do I have what? Say it again. What was the question?

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Do you have a favorite memory from your time here? Uh, yeah. The cultural activities, and there was this show that they brought to DC once, I hope they can bring it back again by Pharrell, the Something in the Water carnival. That was really good. I was there. It brought a lot of artists and stuff like that. If they can have kind of something like that. I do know that there are other stuff like that, but not just on that magnitude. Yeah, so the cultural exchange, music festival, arts, which is a good, a good, I mean, is a future of DC. And, and they have, they also did something recently like the Go Go, Go Go Night stuff. Yeah, which I, I went to see. And that's good too. The, what's it called? The moving museum, museum on the wheels. Yeah, so things like that. Those are fond memories. And in five years from now, what do you envision for Petworth? More affordable housing, which is my field where I work at right now. I know right now Mayor Braza is kind of implementing like missed development in one building, which is very good, but also I think there's gonna be a need for dedicated standalone buildings at which I mean I do understand the reason why they're kind of, liked, making missed so that it won't be like segregation all over again, but at the same time there has to be some low-cost housing that is kind of dedicated to that population that needs it. So I envision that and a lot of more mental health awareness will be good for the community too.

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And is there anything that you would like to address about the community that I haven't asked you? The car jacking. There's a lot of car jacking around. I do understand, being from the social service industry, I do understand why they're the reason why they're doing catch and release, but at the same time, it's going to get to a point whereby there has to be consequences. Maybe not to incarceration, maybe implement more social workers, social services into the mix with the court system, whereby they will be able to kind of like reorientate the kids from high school and stuff like that. Because now they have, kids have this belief that it's a free for all, they're not gonna, there's no repercussion for their actions. So it's only gonna fester. But if they can like, set a boundary and let them know that if you do this, you might not necessarily go to be incarcerated, but you're going to pay for it. That would kind of go a long way to reduce the crime rates in the community. Well, that is all my questions. Thank you you so much for taking the time out to do this. Thanks for having me.