College Avenue in Oakland and Berkeley, CA has, over the years, become
an upscale shopping street. Many small expensive restaurants, small
shops with expensive clothes and shoes.
Over the past 18 months, beginning gradually, store fronts have
sprouted "For Lease" signs. Now the sprouting is quite rapid. And
the vacancies stay vacant.
Vehicle volume on the street is clearly down. The upscale restaurants
have gradually had open tables and now look quite empty many evenings
-- a sharp contrast to a year ago when people waited on the sidewalk.
A very popular breakfast and lunch place --- not expensive for its
neighborhood -- seems now half empty at lunch time, in sharp contrast
to its always-packed appearance of a yeat ago, and its crowded
appearance of six months ago.
From this local observation it appears the economy has really
tightened its grip on the middle class or upper middle class. Having
ignored the downturn for months they are now cutting spending,
meaning, to me, that we are beginning the next down leg of the
depression.
Elsewhere in these two cities things are tougher.
Gene Coyle
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