On October 6th, 2009, around 40 people or so gathered at the intersection of 24th Street and Camelback near the Biltmore shopping center to show their support for healthcare reform. I was informed of this as my friends were heading there to show their support, so in typical geek fashion, I used my cellphone camera (as I did not have my actual one with me), and I loaded the photos into my laptop via bluetooth, that is my excuse for the color being weird on all of these.

The group was there to accuse United Healthcare of crimes against patients, and wanted to serve them a subpoena to appear in court regarding those crimes. But as is typical of corporations wanting to protect their interests, security guards from the building which houses their offices were dispatched to stand guard outside and not allow in the protesters to serve them.

The group had at first used tape that said “It’s a Crime to Deny Our Care” to block the front of the building from a bus stop to the street, but they were asked to move by a police officer, citing a call he had received from someone who wanted to sit there. The person who made the call looked on guiltily as I realized that he had made the call. The only reason he should feel guilty is that he did not ask us to move instead of wasting resources and calling in an officer.

The Billionaires for Wealthcare showed up to heckle us, as they are a spoof on the tea party protesters in a sense, and a reincarnation of the Billionaires for Bush groups that I remember from years ago in another sense. They are great mascots for getting the protesters riled up, and very fun to argue with. They shouted things like “You young people need to lose some weight, that’s your free healthcare!”

Several news stations showed up to film the crowd, and they shouted slogans in English and Spanish depending on which language the news channel predominately uses.

It was a very diverse crowd, and it was great to see people from all ages and all walks of life gathered to show their support for the rest of the country’s well-being.

The event was organized by Health Care for America Now (HCAN), and supported by the Arizona Advocacy Network, whose Facebook page you can fan here: AAN

I’ve decided to start geotagging photos in Flickr in order to have visual data of the different activities that I participate in around town. The reason that this particular location was chosen by the group is because of its proximity to United Healthcare’s office. On a side note, I’ve also noticed that the area is a hot spot for protests because of its location near one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in Phoenix, and some of the poorest just to the south of it. It is also a very busy intersection during rush hour.

To view the location and all of the photos pertaining to the protest, please click here:Geotagged Flickr Photos