How to Fight City Hall, Even If You're a Village or Town
You might need to learn how to fight city hall at some point in the life of your community organization. We hope not, as good relations with your municipal government are an advantage to your group in many more cases than not. If you found your way to this page as an individual, Step 1 is to find yourself an organization. Start one if you have to. Don't try to do it by yourself. If you exhaust personal face-to-face meetings, petitions, letters to the editor, speaking at council meetings, and so forth, and you decide you need to stand up and fight about an important issue--not an unimportant emotionally charged issue, but an important issue--here are the basics.
If you exhaust personal face-to-face meetings, petitions, letters to the editor, speaking at council meetings, and so forth, and you decide you need to stand up and fight about an important issue--not an unimportant emotionally charged issue, but an important issue--here are the basics. As a note of caution, of course take into account the cultural context of where you are located. Some people around the world reading this may think that we are going teach you literally how to fight city hall, but I assure you we are speaking figuratively. But in New York City, for instance, the habit is contentious meetings in some contexts, so if that's the culture, you may have adapt these hints. 1. Use your most well-respected supporter as your only or first spokesperson. Keep the discourse civil, rational, respectful, but state your opinions, and especially facts and evidence, assetively. Explain your case using photographs or video, logs of activity observed, eyewitness accounts, and plenty of examples. Teach all your supporters the facts as beset you can. 2. By all means, bring a large crowd of emotional supporters to the meeting. While emotional, inflammatory, and accuatory statements or questions aren't how to fight city hall, you can bet that themost emotional people are going to show the most expressive facial and body language too. Their postures will tell the story. The exception to using the rational folks, well-respected people, and good speakers are your representatives in a public hearing or comment period is when you have a rare eyewitness account that has surprise value. This is especially effective if the person is a sympathetic figure, and the damage to him or her was significant. 3. Understanding how to fight city hall when the issue is money is especially important and a fairly unique circumstance. Many cities have been forced to make major cuts in services or eliminate grants altogether, and often neighborhood organizations are casualties. If you need your funding reinstated, a small step toward fundraising yourself would be a good gesture. In this case, being assertive in a way that acknowledges and even empathizes with the difficulties officials are facing is how to fight city hall. In all cases, do your homework. Know exactly the process and procedures you will face, and instruct your supporters to be mannerly--whatever that might mean in your community. Know the facts, the laws, and the numbers. For additional tips and a different slant, you might want to look at our page on opposing a rezoning. Play dirty outside the meetings, taking advantage of the situation if you are friends with the mayor's wife, for example. (Wherever you are on the planet, however, we hope you don't make bribery a part of your fight. That practice needs to die.) If the stakes are high enough and the government wrong enough, sometimes you must be a little manipulative inside the meetings as well. But usually that's not how you win with a local government. Return from How to Fight City Hall to Community Organizations
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