News & Events
November 1, 2006
To Do List
1. Winterize the house, 2. Save a city, 3. Rake the leaves. . .
Sure it’s a busy season. There’s family coming to town, holiday shopping to kick off, vacation to plan. It’s also, coincidentally, a great time to take some practical steps toward improving the quality of life in your hometown. Here at the Suburbs Alliance, we completely understand how hectic life gets, especially when school, work and home all seem to be developing crushing priorities. Nonetheless, there are really important issues that need your support and attention – revenue sharing, clean water, public safety, and on and on. We don’t expect you to dedicate a whole lot of time to these things, so we’ve developed a call-to-arms for those of us who really only have time to think about our pressing regional challenges on the drive home but who also want to have a part in making southeast Michigan thrive.
It’s called the 8-Minute Activist, and we’ll do our best to really identify concrete actions you can take in eight minutes or less that will have an impact on an issue that affects our region. It may be hard to believe that that is even possible! The average American spends less than five minutes a day even thinking about public policy. Well, we think you’re special! We think that you’ll take that time and an extra three minutes every week or two and turn thinking into action.
We want to make it easy, and we want to be effective. The kinds of things you’ll see us ask for might include calling a state representative to urge a vote for better financing of our cities, throwing in your two-cents on eminent domain via a survey, or chatting up a neighbor about voting in the next city council election. As it’s November and politics are on our minds, let’s kick off with a few simple ones . . .
It’s Your Patriotic Duty . . .
On Election Day next week (Tuesday, y’all), do your part for the region and vote. Our election coverage includes encouragement to vote down three ballot proposals that would seriously damage the region’s ability to make progress on social equity, economic prosperity and environmental sustainability. Furthermore, you can check out three gubernatorial candidate statements on suburban issues.
Meet Your State Lawmakers . . .
On November 8th the 2007-08 Legislature will be decided and 138 men and women will exercise enormous influence over our cities. Some are old hands and others fresh faces. The most important thing you can do before they take office officially in January is introduce yourself as a concerned citizen. You don’t have to ask them for anything, just shake their hands and say you look forward to working with them over the coming two years. Drop me an email (conan@suburbsalliance.org) and I’ll help figure out when your lawmakers are in town and where you can have a short chat with them.
Make a Contribution . . .
And last, help out our fall campaign and join the Suburbs Alliance! You’ll become part of one of southeast Michigan’s most innovative partnerships of government officials, business leaders and citizen advocates. We need your support to unify the region and elevate the concerns of inner-ring communities. I hope you’ll consider a year-end gift and help us boost activism in 2007!
Our charge from our board and our members is to organize, organize, organize. We know, however, that we can’t truly make a difference without your help, even if it’s only eight minutes a month. So next time you find yourself wandering around the house putting off that last leaf-raking or gutter-cleaning, use the 8-Minute Activist as the perfect procrastination excuse and help bring about some change!
