Second suggestion: be involved in local government. Go to the city council meetings, zoning and variance boards, etc. We all love to complain about the local go

Second suggestion: be involved in local government. Go to the city council meetings, zoning and variance boards, etc. We all love to complain about the local government not having enough money, but lots of local governments end up wasting money on projects that nobody needs simply because they don't know the communities needs. They can do studies to try and figure it out, but it's a lot better if a significant portion of the community just shows up and tells them. Yes, it's boring, and of course it can be hard if you have work and what not, but that's civic life for you and it can improve the situation drastically. If you don't want to go to every one, or have work on some days, etc. try to get a few neighbors together and just make sure you send a single representative from your neighborhood to every meeting. EDIT: also, thank you for asking the question. It made me very happy to see someone thinking about this!