THIS is the key. The work is hard and stamina is required. You have to really believe in what you're doing or you will declare defeat just to get out of doing any more work.
My civic work revolved around land-use in rural communities. Over the years, our rural network successfully opposed prison construction and expansion. We kept kids off buses, by keeping schools in poor neighborhoods open (and watched school boards and district spending like hawks). Instead of building new schools near isolated housing developments outside of town, we drove local tax dollars back into traditional population centers. Soon enough, money was focused on neglected neighborhoods and the streets, infrastructure and public spaces rapidly improved. We formed a coalition of business and industry (including big oil, big ag, even WalMart signed on) and successfully lobbied for affordable housing.
It took years, but we finally reached the critical mass necessary to reach for the biggest land use goal of all. I am happy to report, we succeeded. We got rid on zoning (won some big awards, got called leaders too). Hundreds of hours of crowded public meetings (called charrettes) later, citizen-designed community plans were approved.
A 200-unit affordable housing development came before one of our planning commissions and put the new plan to the test. People rushed to oppose the project throwing out the typical threats (property values, overcrowded schools, crime, congestion, “our way of life” OMG the world would end). Since this was low-income housing, the opponents argued, the community pool, clubhouse and recreation facilities had to go. Gated-community amenities don’t belong in low-income housing (said the people who lived in gated communities).
The community designed plan held; the planning commission, then the city council approved the project with all amenities.
The Sierra Club helped finance opposition to WalMart. We, rural liberals, fought to keep the project on sewers (which meant inside town limits). The cost difference was in the millions. After a five year long court battle, WalMart got built in town limits and attracted people from cities 50 to 75 miles away. And do you know where those new “minority and low-income” employees are moving? Yup, they are moving into the affordable housing developments a mile away from their new jobs and a few blocks away from their kid’s new schools. Having spent 30 years working my ass off to make that happen, I gotta tell you, satisfaction feels great.
I retired and moved to a small town in Kentucky near my oldest daughter. Umm, there is work to be done here.
Surprisingly enough, there are some seriously effective liberals in rural America. Find us and let’s sit down and talk. In the meantime, please don’t count us out. It may not look like it to city folks, but we are here and we are working.
Just to be clear, you have good reason to be wary in rural towns. Its much worse right now, than city people know. We are careful, watchful and quiet, making ourselves targets serves no good.
