Quick election note for transit, bike and street safety advocates

I'm taking a brief break from book-writing (keep an eye on Island Press for more news) to put out this quick reminder to transit, bike, and street safety advocates because there is ONE WEEK left until the election.

Supe up your advocacy by volunteering to help a candidate’s election. Ideally a local race. The goal is to help the politician understand that being good on transportation issues will directly benefit their political career. The truer and more obvious you can make that statement, the better. Right now is the final push before the election, candidates are looking for all the help they can get. You reaching out to their campaign saying, “I like what you did/been saying on transit/bike/street safety issues, how can I help the campaign?” will make a big impression.

And if your Councilmember, Mayor, County Supervisor or local state legislator has done absolutely nothing about those issues that you like, check out their competition. Reach out to the competition’s campaign and ask about their transportation priorities and if you like their answers, sign up to volunteer.

Lastly, if the competition is terrible, and you'd otherwise like the candidate running for re-election, you can reach out and say “I'm here to help. I care a lot about issues like X,Y, and Z and hope you'll prioritize them more in your next term.”

To win the changes you want to see in your community, you need politicians to do stuff. Politicians have a million issues to focus on and there are all sorts of people/groups encouraging a politician to focus on that group's “special interest.” Once elected, the groups who helped out the most will be first in line for getting what they want from the elected official. You can, and should, still make demands of your elected officials, but they will be thinking of Janet Jackson's famous song, “What have you done for me lately?”

In transportation politics, almost every day is an opportunity to build relationships and good will. The last week before the election is an especially good opportunity.

So, get out there and help a local candidate whose transportation work you like (or one who you think could be motivated to do good transportation stuff)!

Need help winning transportation changes in your community? I’m here to help! Whether you want a 1-on-1 training session or a group workshop, let’s talk. Email me at Carter@carterlavin.com to set something up. Here’s a bit about what training sessions are like

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Thanks to a generous donor, 1 free advocacy training session is now available for a person who wants to advocate for better transit and/or bike and street safety in the Memphis Tennessee area. Interested? Let me know.

Interested in sponsoring the training of an activist working on an issue you’re passionate about? Let’s chat. Carter@carterlavin.com

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Beyond the Ballot Update!

My boardgame co-developer and I just got back from Big Bad Con where we ran over 20 playtests of our game prototype – Beyond the Ballot. In Beyond the Ballot, players launch and manage campaigns to win a change they’d like to see in their community. At the conference, campaigns ranged from getting “The Intergalactic Republic to ban mech fighting pits” to getting “the nursery school teacher to implement ‘story time.’” The game plays 1 to 4 players and players build political power, deploy a variety of tactics, and compete to win the Decision Maker’s favor. 

We got lots of great feedback, endorsements, and multiple people said they’d like to buy the game. Now we’re doing some quick tweaks before my partner takes it to the Metatopia convention in Morristown, New Jersey for more playtesting. If you’re in the area and interested in playtesting, let me know and we’ll see about potentially setting up an opportunity where you can try it out. The game takes an hour if you’re being leisurely about it. 

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And with that– it’s back to finishing up my manuscript! My “how to be an effective transportation activist” book is due to Island Press on December 1st so I’m officially in the sprint to the finish line.