The regents of my university want to redevelop the land holding the student apartments where I live. There's a public meeting on the subject this Friday and I've signed up to speak. I'm fine with speaking in public, but I'm clueless about participating in local politics — never gone to a school board meeting or called my congressperson or anything. What can I do to make my comments as effective as possible?
posted by nebulawindphone on Nov 7, 2007 - 17 answers

What should I do when a local political campaign invades my front yard without my permission? [more inside]
posted by Alison on Apr 12, 2005 - 30 answers

I live in a small town of 8,000. It is really a development plopped in the middle of some fields. Like many developments it was sold as a planned community. Currently, however, the city government is selling the town to the highest-bidding developer, rewriting the city code to encourage stupid levels of density, cramming the city center with unvariated low-income housing, and in general being the toady boy of developers. Oh, and the mayor is a "consultant" to developers. Makes $8k a year. Is building a big mansion on the golf course. The city just removed the $500 cap on campaign donations, and the last election was purchased by a single developer. Other than shrugging my shoulders and saying, "It's Chinatown" (reference to movie, not ethnicity) or uprooting my family, how can I best fight this pestilent, corrupt fascism and still have time for my hobbies? (mostly reading Metafilter). Oh, the town is Eagle Mountain Utah.
posted by craniac on Feb 10, 2005 - 15 answers