3 Questions To Ask Your Council Member as a Strong Towns Advocate

You know what they say about hindsight: it’s 20-20. I definitely felt this recently as I walked in the hot summer sun back to my car. I had just spent the last hour in conversation with a council member. It was one of those moments that reminded me of something I appreciate about living in Waco: how easy it is to foster conversation with elected officials and city staff.

But it was also a reminder of one of my biggest character flaws: I get so excited about ideas and love to talk about them so much that I forget to stop, pause and listen. Conversations with local decision-makers are an essential part of advocating for stronger cities, and over the next day or two, I wrestled with the feeling that I could have asked better questions instead of giving a mini-speech.

Here are three questions I wish I had asked:

1. What Are the Constraints You’re Working Within?

It can be so easy to jump into a conversation with a list of ideas burning a hole in your pocket. I definitely get overeager, ready to talk about Strong Towns themes or other compelling policy recommendations. The thing is, the person you’re meeting with might agree with you and may even share your enthusiasm, but they also have background knowledge about the constraints that determine what is actually feasible that you don't. They might not be able to share everything, but taking time to ask them about the constraints surrounding the topic you care about will give you helpful insight into how city leaders are approaching certain challenges. You might not agree with their priorities or their approach, but their insight will position you to refine your ideas even further and could even help you develop creative workarounds.

2. What Problem Are You Hoping To Solve?

Grand plans and developments are often presented as solutions to some kind of problem, but in many cases, that problem won’t be obvious. Similarly, there will be cases where you think the problem is obvious, but you might be completely off the mark. To be more effective in your conversations, it’s helpful to consider starting off by asking your council member to articulate the problem from their perspective, rather than presenting your solutions to what you think the problem is. You might be surprised by what you learn, and their response could inspire other ideas and solutions that are more relevant to the issue at hand. Again, don’t expect to agree with their framing of the challenge or with the proposed solution, but you’ll make more headway in your conversation if you’re at least starting on common ground.

3. What Do You Think It Would Take for Our City To [Insert Idea Here]?

You might be surprised to discover that your councilor agrees with you on a particular approach to solving a problem. That’s great. Don’t stop there. Recognize that they have valuable insight into the way change happens in your city, and ask them point-blank what they think it would take to move in a particular direction. They might be able to direct you toward a meeting to give comments at, a person to talk with or an internal process to research. Take their advice seriously: Being involved in your community is often more guesswork than anything, so any advice they can give you on the “how-to” side of things will save you immense measures of time and energy.

Final Thoughts

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from hosting The Bottom-Up Revolution and dipping my toe into the world of civic participation, it’s that change happens through conversation. Learning how to ask the right questions is part of the process, so if you blunder once in a while like me, don’t quit. Take notes and use those experiences to improve your next conversation.

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