In my San Francisco neighborhood:
-2 empty storefronts for lease on every block
-someone’s trying to get another pot dispensary ok’d by the Planning commission
-public transit prices have doubled
-gas is way up over $3 a gallon
-bridge tolls keep rising
-the roadways are 3rd world status
-a poor 83 year old Chinese man was kicked to death by 6 black youths, no provocation (he was going to visit his wife in a nursing home, took the bus) i.e., there is definitely racial tension to the point of murder in some neighborhoods
-we have a “health tax” added to our restaurant bills
-parking tickets are like $75 and there is no shortage of meter maids, if you can find a spot
-property values have gone down about 30%
-they’ve started charging for rec and park kids’ classes that used to be free
-”big box” stores like Home Depot are being refused by city planning folks (I guess we just get too many taxes. . .)
-there are derelicts and homeless and crazy pretty consistently out in public
On the positive side, there is very little Obama propaganda out any more (it used to be everywhere), Chinese food is still cheap, the weather is mild, many neighbors are decent, you can find anything you could want in the stores (shopping is fantastic here), there are some solid if small churches that are even actually truly inter-racial, Sen. Boxer has a poor outlook for her upcoming re-coronation, there are wonderful music and performance venues and acts, and ROTC is back in public schools, although only 70% of the kids go to public schools any more.
In my Asheville, NC area
-3 Doctors are running for the Senate in different districts in Western North Carolina and have townhall meetings to explain their views on the reform bill and How Real Reform could be accomplished
-Sign posted in my neighbors’ internal medicine doc: “We are no longer accepting Medicade or Medicare patients
-My internal medicine doc who deals with a lot of retirees and is in an office by himself said that last year he saw 120 new patients and earned $8,000. LESS. It’s only going to get worse.
-I’ve been visiting a lot of docs in the last few weeks since I’m having some cancer free check ups. The doctors are frightened and furious, even those who admit voting for Obama.
-The girls who take care of the billing are very frustrated especially with United Health Care which is AARP and Secure Horizons and one other because they are avoiding paying any bills, putting them off, refusing to pay, ignoring them. So all the back and forth paper work is constant and frustrating. The bigger the companies, like United Health/AARP are getting big Government pay backs and they are the worst to deal with, according to a few ladies I talked to.
-My internal medicine guy is considering going private.