Cover Story: How To Raise Hell At City Hall

RULE I: Don’t act like you’re raising hell.

Parents cringe and ignore the requests of whiny kids the same way council members brush off cantankerous citizens.

“One thing that really turned me off was when people made threats of political repercussions,” former Atlanta Councilman Derrick Boazman says. “Sure, this is a democracy, but you are only one vote. Threatening me alienates the issue, it makes natural allies not want to deal with you.”

Besides, we are all adults here ... well, most of the time. As longtime neighborhood activist Don Bender points out, “Sure, some people in government inspire a lot of emotion, particularly at the local level. People are human and should be appealed to with reason and with respect in most cases, though there are certainly exceptions.”

RULE II: Do your homework.

Council members like to see citizens who have put in the time to properly research an issue.

“You have to do your homework,” says Peggy Harper, president of Atlanta’s Neighborhood Planning Unit-V. “You have to have written documentation or facts that prove your points are from reliable sources. It can’t just be an opinion. Words aren’t good enough.”

Doug Abramson, who has led opposition to the proposed Piedmont Park parking deck, did his homework. “You can’t say, ‘We don’t like the parking deck,’ without an alternative answer or a way to articulate why.” So he helped prepare an action plan that pinpointed each person who was involved in the approval of the parking deck and outlined an approach to gain their support.

RULE III: Be clear.

Presenting your council member - or, for that matter, legislators and county commissioners - with 1,000 neatly penned signatures protesting an ordinance won’t accomplish much. It takes five seconds to sign a petition. Elected officials prefer to see that someone invested the time to share his or her personal point of view.

Equally ineffective are 300 pages of research because no one is going to read it, except maybe some poor intern. Instead, Boazman suggests, “boil it down to the lowest common denominator.” An example he gives is Atlanta’s massive sewer repair project. The average citizen doesn’t understand the technical aspects, but “you understand your water bill tripling.”

RULE IV: Talk to the right person.

Knocking down Sonny Perdue’s door isn’t the place to start. Besides, you’ll probably get punted out of the building before you can say “Piedmont Park.”

Jim Kulstad, a veteran lobbyist for do-gooder organizations, says the first step is to “talk to your individual council person [or legislator, if it’s a state issue]. It’s a matter of courtesy and attention.” Make sure you point out to your elected official that you’re a constituent.

And figure out a council person’s or legislator’s opinion before calling (have you already forgotten Rule II?). State Sen. Vincent Fort, D-Atlanta, says the worst route is that of “the uninformed people. Make sure before you call you know your council member’s position. I’ve had people call when they didn’t realize I supported their position in the first place.”

RULE V: There is power in numbers.

If you really don’t want that eerily glowing waste dumped onto the lot down the street, it’s safe to bet your neighbor doesn’t, either. Spread the word. Get as many people as you can to call your council member.

Sen. Fort says that “when a legislator gets 20 calls, that’s an earthquake.” Another tactic is to use your neighborhood planning unit. NPUs are neighborhood-elected, citizen-run boards that serve as liaisons between neighborhoods and Atlanta’s city government. They take positions on local issues such as zoning variances and allowing a new liquor store to move into a neighborhood.

Since NPUs are city-sanctioned, Abramson says, “it’s important for a citizen to use them because they are the voice of the people and can carry great weight with the council members.”

Abramson and Boazman, two leading opponents of the Piedmont Park deck, feel confident about their cause because 15 of the city’s 24 NPUs already voted against the deck, sending a pretty strong message to City Council.

RULE VI: Be persistent.

That’s what longtime activists say is the most effective technique for influencing the city’s movers and shakers. Abramson, despite his seemingly endless crusade against the parking deck, still has a positive attitude. “You have to have confidence in the system, even though you feel you are butting your head against a wall and even though you run into people who are unsympathetic and uncaring, You may lose, but you can’t give up on the system.”