This week, I am continuing my exploration of a topic that is near and dear to me: how can interested persons be effective in the public policy arena? I hope my thoughts will provide some practical assistance to those who would like to get engaged in the vital land use policy debates that will help shape the future of the Monterey Bay Region.

Will the City of Santa Cruz opt to live within the natural limits of its water resources, or will it decide to embark on the process of “manufacturing water” through a desalination process, thus escaping the need to conform future growth to resource constraints? Will Monterey County preserve or pave over its productive farmlands, and will it protect or develop the wild lands of the former Fort Ord? How these questions are answered will determine the economic, and environmental future of our region.

Step one for those who want to be engaged in the decision-making process is to “get organized.” Step two is to “get the facts.” The third step seems obvious: “make a plan.” If you and your group want to accomplish a public policy objective, you will need to have a plan for how to do that. You’ll need to know the facts about the issue, and understand the legalities, too. Democratic decision-making is a “legal” process. It’s all about following the law and making the law. It wouldn’t hurt to get a lawyer involved!

More Information:

• Gary Patton’s Blog: Two Worlds

Getting organized, getting the facts, and making a plan are the first steps towards effective community action. There is an unspoken assumption in all this, however, and that assumption is that the group of people that assembles to try to affect public policy is actually willing and able to spend the amount of time necessary to do what needs to be done. One of the reasons more people don’t get involved is that it does take a lot of time.

Time management is a necessary component in any serious plan to achieve your public policy objectives. One technique I use, with the groups with which I work, is to establish a regular meeting time (often a conference call meeting time), with each such meeting following a “standard agenda.” The group has a plan, so it knows what it wants to accomplish, and it knows the various activities that the group will need to engage in to get to the goal. If the standard agenda outlines the different activities that need to be accomplished, and if the group meets regularly, and goes over and discusses each one of those activities, setting out specific tasks, and checking off tasks completed, it is surprising how much even a fairly small group can get done.

By the way, a group of between five and fifteen people is perfect for getting seriously engaged in affecting public policy. Get together with your friends; get the facts; make a plan, and manage your time. Something positive usually gets accomplished.

More Information:

• Gary Patton’s Blog: Two Worlds

If you want to affect public policy decisions you need to know the difference between procedure and substance. We often turn out to be a bit weak on procedure. We know the substantive result we want, but we may not know exactly how the agency operates, and what procedures will guide the agency as it reacts to our demands, or as it seeks to do something that we may oppose. “Getting the facts” definitely includes getting the facts about the procedures that will govern agency deliberation and action.

Here’s another point: the courts are often much more willing to enforce procedural rights than they are to dictate substantive results. If a City Council or Board of Supervisors doesn’t follow the correct procedures, a court will often reverse a decision coming from such flawed procedures. However, if the procedures are fully compliant with the law, and a court is asked to reverse a substantive decision with which you disagree, it’s often much harder to get the court to rule in your favor.

The courts are legally bound to show deference to the substantive decisions of elected officials. This is in recognition of the essential nature of our representative democracy. If you don’t like the decisions being made by your elected officials, you should elect somebody else. As a general rule, the courts will overrule the decisions made by elected officials only if the elected officials didn’t follow the correct procedure.

More Information:

• Gary Patton’s Blog: Two Worlds
• Gary Patton on “deference”

“Public policy” is another way to say “politics.” People often think that “politics” and “politicians” are bad, or tainted, or corrupt. I ought to know; I used to be a politician. In fact, “politics” is simply the process by which our communities make difficult decisions and tough choices about what they want to do.

Should we pave over farmlands around Watsonville, so we can invite a big box retail center into the community? There are definitely arguments on both sides. Should we stretch City water supplies to allow the University of California to expand its Santa Cruz campus? Again, there are some arguments on both sides, and we really can’t have it both ways. Our communities need to make basic public policy choices, and these choices will affect our future.

My “unhidden agenda” is to encourage listeners to get more personally involved in that “public policy” process. I continue to believe that it is our American “democracy” that makes us different (if we are different), and that we won’t be able to maintain democracy and self-government unless more of us are willing to get involved ourselves.

A basic “time management” question is being posed. If we don’t make the time to get personally involved in issues that we care about, someone else is going to make the choices for our community, and it’s usually someone who will profit personally from the choice that’s made.

More Information:

• Gary Patton’s Blog: Two Worlds

Next week, I expect to be back with lists of meetings you should go to and events you should attend. For the past week or so, I have tried to focus on what you could do, personally, to become effective in the public policy arena.

As you may remember, the first step is to “get organized.” Individuals can make a difference, as individuals, but we actually do live, as Bob Dylan says, in a “political world.” The institutions upon which we rely, including government, are shaped by our joint actions. If you care about a public policy issue, get together with others who care about the same thing. Then, get the facts. Know what you want, and make a plan. Margaret Mead has said, “never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.” I’m with Margaret.

I also want to associate myself with our Commander in Chief, President Obama. President Obama is the first President in our history to have been, explicitly, a “community organizer.” He still is a “community organizer,” if you think about it, and what a tough community to get organized!

At the local level, where land use decisions have such a profound impact on the future of our communities, it’s easier to get organized than at the national level; it’s easier to have an impact. I said “easier,” not “easy;” but it can be done. And it has been done. And it must be done!

More Information:

• Gary Patton’s Blog: Two Worlds
• Margaret Mead Quotation