Oh my - too funny!  Our company works specifically in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York only - all very special in their own way ... just ask them!

One aspect of our work that I had to adjust to was this sense of privledge and the unfortunate "god ol' boys" mentality that goes on in all of these places.  After bucking the system for years we finally realized that we wern't doing ourselves any favors ... quite the opposite.

Without going in to too much detail I must confess that we now have - to a large extent - an 'if you can't beat em - join em' philosophy.  After many years we now enjoy a position of privledge at the offices and can get things done a lot faster and more efficiently than 'the public'.  Yes it feel icky sometimes and we are often forced to draw the line as to what sort of advantages we are willing to accept, but to some degree that is what we all must do I suppose.

It is unfortunate that it is often more important who you know rather than what you know in these jurisdictions.  It is a symptom of an overall government problem IMHO.

... and if you think San Francisco is bad, you should try Los Angeles and New York!!!  Fugittaboutit :-)