July 10, 2007

StreetTalk

by Carol Rosen

What is the best thing about living in America, and what is the worst thing? (Asked at Nob Hill)

“The best thing is everything. I can stand here and have this conversation with you. I can’t think of anything on the worst side, especially around the Fourth of July.”

Charles Gibson, 50-plus
Campbell
Mountain View Parks Manager


“The best thing is all the choices we have, and the worst thing is the cost of everything.”

Cindy Hayes, 43
Saratoga
Self-employed


“The best thing is that we have so much available to us from grocery stores to activities to our freedom to travel wherever we want to go. The worst thing is neighborhood violence.”

Marilyn Periandri, 54
San Jose
Administrative assistant


“The best thing is our freedom. The worst is George Bush and Dick Cheney.”

Peggy Smith, 67
Fort Bragg
Retired/part time in a gallery


“The best thing is our freedom and the United States Constitution. There are a number of worst things, for example intolerance, pardoning Scooter Libby and the current administration. We need to bring the troops home as soon as possible and ending the war. Right now the current administration needs to earn back some credibility across the world, which they have severely compromised.”

Betsy Burrows, 42
Campbell
Homemaker


“The best thing is all the freedoms we have, the worst is that we tend to forget that we have a lot to appreciate.”

Betsey Souder, 51
Campbell
Administrative assistant at Stanford University


“The best is that we are free to do whatever we please. I’m unsure how to characterize the worst thing. I guess it’s the war [in Iraq]. My cousin served over there and the people I know don’t seem to come back the way they were before they left.”

Sal Colhour, 24
Campbell
Carpenter


“The best thing is all the opportunities we have here. We are free to seek and reach our goals and it’s easier to reach our goals [than it is in other countries]. The worst is it’s hard to be away from my family that still lives in Iran.”

Faye Shahdaei
Campbell
Dental assistant