I get sucked into these wrangles between developers, residents and town officials routinely. If one believes your refutation of local political strategy, then one must accept, almost in a syllogistic way, the disunity, and with that, the inevitable wrangles. It’s systemic.

And for the very reason you’ve been innocently drawn into the fray, that’s why public servants enshrine “anonymity”, at least in senior levels of government. Otherwise, public administrators get lynched at every public/political opportunity. But anonymity also flies in the face of social media tenets of dialogue and transparency.

I’ve come to accept the inescapable reality of getting beat up once in awhile…for being NEUTRAL.

What I like about this post, however, is its indefatiguable faith, that social media holds some hope for a better way.

I subscribe to that hope. And now I subscribe to your blog. How’s that?

bob

I used to do community relations for a PR firm in Southern California. Whether you’re for or against a project, you need to get at the grassroots level and mobilize support for your cause. That means meeting with neighborhood groups (or getting an ally that lives in a neighborhood to start one), organizing coffees, petition drives, email campaigns and other means to let the people making the decision know there is an organized, vocal and active group of residents either supporting or opposing the measure. Also get to the local paper and even the zone in the Globe dedicated to your area and generate some stories.

You say in your blog the community needs a discussion, not a sales pitch. Unfortunately, just like negative advertising in elections, whoever has the best sales pitch, and the most vocal and organized support, usually prevails. As Tip O’Neill said, ‘All politics is local.’ You and your fellow residents are involved in a political issue, which can and often does get ugly. I suppose that’s the price of living in a democracy and standing up for what you believe in.

Hope that helps.

Cheers,