3 ms·

I was in a very negative space earlier this year due to the current direction the US is heading. Mostly because I am someone that doesn't want to hear problems

I was in a very negative space earlier this year due to the current direction the US is heading. Mostly because I am someone that doesn't want to hear problems without a call to action I can actually engage with. The things that are happening at the national level are very hard to do anything about but I did realize that I could engage at my local level so I decided to just start showing up. I now regularly attend my local city counsel meetings. I don't go and make a bunch of remarks but I have, on a few occasions, added to the public comments and, I think, I was listened to. If you want to effect change my recommendation is to show up. At a minimum you will get far more informed but you may just find that you can actually make a change too.

beeflet 1y ago
[flagged]
- tomhow 1y ago
  Please don't ever post mean swipes like this on HN, not matter who or what it's in reply to, but especially not something as benign as that comment. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
nutribueno 1y ago
> If you want to effect change my recommendation is to show up. I have reservations about this line of thought. For one, the people at the local city counsel have been showing up for a long time, all over the country in fact. If the actions they took have brought them here, of what use were the actions? And second, I would like to see some hard evidence that you have in fact effected/enacted change by showing up beyond just being more informed and participating in what can otherwise be (from personal experience) either a snooze-fest or an echo chamber.
- cj 1y ago
  Why discourage people from attending their local city meetings? Sure, it might be a "snooze-fest", but you're not there for excitement.
  - beeflet 1y ago
    The kinds of people who have time to attend city meetings are out of touch it's worthless
- ranyume 1y ago
  Keeping local communities habitable is each individual's responsibility towards the community. This much should be ingrained in everyone. If you treat yourself and act as an individual you will never accomplish anything. I don't intent this comment to be a "you're wrong" comment. I'm only saying that OP's POV runs on an assumption that can be damaging.
- vel0city 1y ago
  > For one, the people at the local city counsel have been showing up for a long time, all over the country in fact. Yeah, and they're a big part of the reason why housing is a messed up as it is.
- pj_mukh 1y ago
  I say this as an immigrant: But if you're not an immigrant, a medicare recipient or maybe in the military, your state and municipal governments have significantly more influence on your life than your federal government and most people rarely pay attention to this level of politics. This lets the people who do pay attention have complete capture. You know your rent is high? Yea that's mostly your state and municipal government doing the bidding of landlords and landed gentry.
  - beeflet 1y ago
    Unfortunately it is impossible to institute a single land-value-tax without federal change
    - gottorf 1y ago
      High housing prices are probably 5% caused by economically inefficient uses of land (e.g. surface lots in downtown areas) that an LVT would solve, and 95% by zoning and other building regulations. Though perhaps you're right that if the only tax allowed to be collected was LVT, zoning would automatically cease to be an issue.
- scarface_74 1y ago
  The smaller the unit of government, the more it transcends politics and becomes about good governance and getting things done. At least I thought that when living in GA and saw most of the modern governors both Democratic and Republican weren’t bat shit crazy. Kemp (Republican) is still sort of trying to hold the line against the GA MAGA wing of the Republican Party. But then I moved to Florida…
tomlockwood 1y ago
I absolutely applaud this. I doorknocked a thousand doors for my local state election and came out of the experience more optimistic than ever. Real people, listen. Real people want to make the world better. Getting out there is the antidote to doomerism.

beeflet 1y ago

[flagged]

tomhow 1y ago
Please don't ever post mean swipes like this on HN, not matter who or what it's in reply to, but especially not something as benign as that comment. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

nutribueno 1y ago

> If you want to effect change my recommendation is to show up. I have reservations about this line of thought. For one, the people at the local city counsel have been showing up for a long time, all over the country in fact. If the actions they took have brought them here, of what use were the actions? And second, I would like to see some hard evidence that you have in fact effected/enacted change by showing up beyond just being more informed and participating in what can otherwise be (from personal experience) either a snooze-fest or an echo chamber.

cj 1y ago
Why discourage people from attending their local city meetings? Sure, it might be a "snooze-fest", but you're not there for excitement.
- beeflet 1y ago
  The kinds of people who have time to attend city meetings are out of touch it's worthless
ranyume 1y ago
Keeping local communities habitable is each individual's responsibility towards the community. This much should be ingrained in everyone. If you treat yourself and act as an individual you will never accomplish anything. I don't intent this comment to be a "you're wrong" comment. I'm only saying that OP's POV runs on an assumption that can be damaging.
vel0city 1y ago
> For one, the people at the local city counsel have been showing up for a long time, all over the country in fact. Yeah, and they're a big part of the reason why housing is a messed up as it is.
pj_mukh 1y ago
I say this as an immigrant: But if you're not an immigrant, a medicare recipient or maybe in the military, your state and municipal governments have significantly more influence on your life than your federal government and most people rarely pay attention to this level of politics. This lets the people who do pay attention have complete capture. You know your rent is high? Yea that's mostly your state and municipal government doing the bidding of landlords and landed gentry.
- beeflet 1y ago
  Unfortunately it is impossible to institute a single land-value-tax without federal change
  - gottorf 1y ago
    High housing prices are probably 5% caused by economically inefficient uses of land (e.g. surface lots in downtown areas) that an LVT would solve, and 95% by zoning and other building regulations. Though perhaps you're right that if the only tax allowed to be collected was LVT, zoning would automatically cease to be an issue.
scarface_74 1y ago
The smaller the unit of government, the more it transcends politics and becomes about good governance and getting things done. At least I thought that when living in GA and saw most of the modern governors both Democratic and Republican weren’t bat shit crazy. Kemp (Republican) is still sort of trying to hold the line against the GA MAGA wing of the Republican Party. But then I moved to Florida…

tomlockwood 1y ago

I absolutely applaud this. I doorknocked a thousand doors for my local state election and came out of the experience more optimistic than ever. Real people, listen. Real people want to make the world better. Getting out there is the antidote to doomerism.