'Make it easy to say yes': Two mayors' advice for advocates

So there you are, just an ordinary frustrated citizen, wanting to give your city a kick in the pants.

What do you do? How do you convince a municipality, or the elected leaders who supposedly run it, to do the things you think it should do. In other words, how does one become an advocate?

Recently, we spoke to two former prominent advocates who now sit on the other side of the fence. Langley City Mayor Nathan Pachal and New Westminster Mayor Patrick Johnstone started as blogger-advocates before winning political office.

You can read our story here.

During a joint interview for that story, we asked the two mayors about how their experience as vocal community advocates affects how they view public criticism. A handful of Current Insider members also sat in on our interview with Pachal and Johnstone and chimed in with their own questions—including one on the the advice they’d give for anyone wanting to become community advocates.

So today, we’re sharing two mayors’ advice for getting the attention of local politicians.

FVC: Do you feel that your past as an online public critic affects how you view online public criticism today?

Patrick Johnstone: “I was better at it than they are now. No… [Laughs/Is clearly joking]

Nathan Pachal: “There’s certain things I was pretty critical of, but what I understood is that if people don’t know who you are as a person, then the criticism may not be as well-received. So when we started our advocacy groups, which [met] in-person, so that’s the real important part. Yes, there’s the online [component], but it needs to translate to in-person. So I got to know the counsellors in the city and the township. So if I was presenting a comment, they might say ‘Oh, it’s Nathan.’ At least it’s not ‘Who’s this random person?’ I think people understood that I was coming from a good place. Yes, we need to look at everybody’s feedback equally, but as humans, I think if there’s a personal connection, we’re more apt to listen.”

Patrick Johnstone: “One of my activist groups in town before I was elected was the New Westminster Environmental Partners. I was president of that organization and part of my work there was talking to [members and saying] ‘Look, when we’re talking to council, let’s not walk in there and criticize. Let’s make it easy for them to say Yes. Let’s give them the tools they need to say Yes, toward the thing that we’re looking at right. Or if they want to do A and we want to do B, make it easy for them to do B and let’s not criticize them because they didn’t do B enough.

I think I always took that approach that elected folks are trying to make the populace happy, and as an activist coming to that council, if you give them the tools to make the populace happy—and then when they do the thing you want, thank them for doing it instead of just moving onto the next thing—that was an effective way for me as an activist to move the dial a bit and build the respect of the people on council a little bit … [and so they would] recognize that it’s not just Patrick complaining about a mid-block crosswalk again, it’s an organization who helped us out with this recycling information stuff and they can be partners in moving the community forward.

Pachal: When we were doing the cycling stuff, for example, we would have the city or the township say ‘We’re applying for this grant, do you mind sending a letter as a community organization for this grant?’ And we’d be like: ‘Of course.’ You’re building that relationship. It doesn’t mean we have to agree on everything, but it’s not ‘Oh, it’s him again.’”

FVC: But you are coming back and you’re there on an ongoing basis, which I imagine helps because they put a person to the name….

Johnstone: “There’s a line between that and the frequent flyer. I think being part of an organization and having that organization [is useful]. It wasn’t just me representing the New WEst Environmental Partners; it was other people in the community doing that and I was just one of those voices in the community. I think every council has one or two people who show up at every meeting and at some point that starts to erode as well.

Pachal: “It’s understanding how to use your voice. That’s what’s really important. If you’re always giving feedback, then sometimes people will not listen to that feedback anymore.

“Even in the role as mayor, or in my role on the [Metro Vancouver] Mayor’s Council, it’s always the thing I struggle with where I’m new and I always feel like ‘Am I saying too much? Or too little? Will people just say ‘Oh, it’s just Nathan from tiny Langley, do we really need to listen to him? He’s young and weird and he doesn’t own a car.’

“So it’s really important that I internalize that and try to look at the regional level. So I think that comes from the advocacy side, where we had to be really careful with how, as advocates and advocacy organizations, we were being presented. So when we did South Fraser OnTrax, we showed up and we wrote a lot and used the opportunity for written submission to the annual report for local governance. Nobody ever writes in. We as an organization did write in and we said “We wanted to thank you for this and this program in your budget, we think it’s great,’ and just submitted that as part of the feedback. Simple things.

At the close of the interview, FVC member Jeremy asked Pachal and Johnstone what their advice would be for citizens who want to move into advocacy.

Johnstone: “Do your homework. Like actually understand the issue you want to advocate on, and try to understand who you are asking to make a decision. Is it the local government, is it the provincial government, is it the federal government? Who should you be advocating to? And do your homework. Learn a little bit about the topic and what you’re actually asking for. It’s surprising how few people take that extra step to actually understand what they’re asking for .

[If you say] “I want a midblock crosswalk.” Well, actually, I want people to get safely from this side of the street to that side of the road. Do your homework on ‘OK, why isn’t there one there.’

Do research a little bit ahead of time and be respectful. Recognize they’re slow to respond and most local government people are just citizens who are trying to do the best for their community, so give them the space to do that. And don’t expect a fast response from the mayor because mayors are really busy. Sorry! My emails are crazy.”

Pachal: “I think the other advice practically is: Is there more than one person that wants to advocate for this. If you have a handful of people, that is super useful. Then the other side is if you come to council—like Pat said, make sure it’s a council issue—but two, come forward with some solutions.

So if you’re like ‘Traffic sucks, do something about it,’ that’s going to be less effective than ‘Hey, we studied this thing and we think the city should consider implementing X.’

Johnstone: “Make it easy to say yes.”