Friday, May 29, 2009

Community Organizer

Margaret Mead said “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.”

Ten years ago a small group of neighbors banded together to back down a giant. The giant was Q Prime, a well-funded corporation from New York that was committed to build an amphitheater in rural Scott County, between Shakopee and Jordan. It had purchased 100 acres and were ready to begin construction later that year. Q Prime also had started the process of obtaining the necessary permits with the planning commission. But what it had not planned on was the spirited opposition it would face from people committed to protect their homes from an invasion.

I attended Q Prime’s propaganda meeting where they tried to sell the local citizenry on the concept. They assured us that the sound emanating from the amphitheater would be barely audible, and that the traffic would be at manageable levels. We were promised that the outdoor theater would be a benefit to us with the added jobs, increased tax base and all-around good times. I guess they thought because Minnesota had elected a former fake fighter for governor, its residents would believe anything. We didn’t.

Our own informational meeting was held and everyone within earshot of the proposed amphitheater was invited. About a hundred people showed up to listen to our side of the story and to learn what they could do. From that meeting, about a dozen committed souls gathered every week for the next several years. They devoted a good part of their lives and income doing what they could to protect our treasured way of life.

Because we had banded together for a common cause I got the chance to meet some of my neighbors. Out in the country a neighbor can be anyone who lives within a couple miles of you. In our small group we had everything we needed: There was a guy who understood the lexicon of engineers, a woman who had a passion for legislative affairs, a woman skilled as an administrator and logician, men who enjoyed hanging out in garages at night building signs, a guy who knew a guy who owned “Herman” (the large advertising bull on wheels), an environmentalist who had friends in the valley, a guy comfortable with public speaking, a poetic president of a homeowner’s association, and people whose families had lived and worked on the same farms for generations. Plus there were hundreds of concerned citizens supporting the cause.

But we also had a county government that cared. The county administrator, the county board of commissioners, and the staff were approachable and available. From the beginning our homeowner’s association had decided that since “you can’t fight city hall,” (presumably the adage applied at the county level as well) we would work within the accepted limits of polite society.

We had fun. We marched in parades, we hung out at the county fair, and we got involved in helping to shape the future of the county. It was worth the effort. We won.

We didn’t bother to implement the strategies found in “Rules for Radicals” by Saul Alinsky. In that book, which seems to be the handbook for the current administration, the author begins with “What follow is for those who want to change the world from what it is to what they believe it should be." But we weren’t out to change the world – we just wanted to hang on to what we had. I only wish that those in Washington were interested in the same thing.

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