So you've been operating your retro game store for a few months now and things are going better than you could have hoped. Customers are happy, new stock is getting traded in on a regular basis, bank account is moving in the right direction. Nothing can bring you down. Cue Bylaw Enforcement Officer..........
[img width=700 height=432]https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3887/15272550855_6148935ed4_o.jpg[/img]Part I:http://www.rfgeneration.com/blogs/crabmaster2000/Blog-Quest-Getting-Political-Part-I-2967.php
Part II:http://www.rfgeneration.com/blogs/crabmaster2000/Blog-Quest-Getting-Political-Part-II-2990.php
Since my business was seated in the core of our downtown, I contacted an agency called the Downtown Business Initiative. They are funded by the city to encourage businesses and consumers to be in downtown Prince George. I asked them if they would be willing to provide me with a letter of support and allow me to present to them a dry run of my speech and offer advice on it. The letter of support never materialized, but I did get to run my speech by their president. She offered a lot of suggestions to change and cut different areas. After finishing my speech, I had a lot of people I trusted read over it and offer advice. Everything seemed in place now, so I just had to keep gathering signatures, practice my speech, and make sure I was prepared to respond to any potential concerns that council may bring up prior to my delegation.
A couple weeks before I was to speak, two sitting council members visited me at the store before opening one day. They came to see what all the fuss was about and hear what my concerns were. One of these two men was a mayoral candidate and the other was our most popular council member. This was a very encouraging visit. However, when I suggested that I was going to attempt to fill the council chambers with supporters, I got the impression that they were skeptical, and rightly so. Even for very polarizing public issues like water fluoridation and oil pipe lines, they often didn't get a full house. This worried me a bit, but I still felt I had a strong speech and the petition was surpassing all of my expectations.
Finally the day of the delegation came and I closed the store a little early to ensure I could make it there on time. I urged people on our Facebook page one final time to meet us at the council chambers as I started the seven block walk from the store to City Hall. I had a group of about 20 people meet me at the store and walk down with me. Twenty people was okay, but the council chambers can seat about 150-160, so I was hoping more were going to meet us there when it started. We showed up and a few more friendly faces started to materialize. In the waiting room, it was hard to tell how many people were there, but it was loud and busy. Even radio interviewers were walking around the room getting statements from supporters while we waited for the council session to start.
We were the second delegation of the night and we stayed in the waiting room after the first had started in order to not disrupt their presentation. When I entered the council chamber, I was surprised to see that the gallery area was nearly empty. It would have been nice to have some other locals there supporting other issues to help pad our numbers. Oh well, nothing to be done about it at this point I thought. I found a seat near the front with my wife and son and patiently waited for my turn to speak.
[img width=700 height=525]https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8743/16934362962_28b467cf62_o.jpg[/img]
This photo was taken by one of the council members and forwarded to me. He was very impressed by the showing of support from the community and our ability to fill the gallery to the point they ran out of seats and people had to standI gave my speech and I felt like it went well. I was primed and ready to respond to any concerns that were brought up. Much to my surprise, the council members actually seemed largely in support of my proposed changes. They offered to send this bylaw to city staff to have them look into my proposed changes and come back during the next council meeting with a staff report. As I stood up to get up from the front and return to my seat, I was taken aback by applause from the gallery and looked up to notice that the entire room was full to the point that people had been standing in the back because there were no more seats available. It turns out that the gaming community here showed up in full force to support me and my store. This was easily one of the proudest and most touching moments of my life. I never for a second thought I had the ability to reach out to so many people and bring them together like this.
We quickly dissipated into the parking lot and I talked with as many people as I could about how they thought the night went. Everyone seemed pleased with the showing.
Bylaw changes are slow processes though. First, the staff report had to come back with suggestions for changes, and then council members would decide which one would be best for the community. After that, there are three separate readings and votes to make sure nothing is overlooked. Finally, after a 4th reading, the old bylaw is removed and the new one takes effect. So I eagerly awaited the staff report hoping that my suggested changes were the same ones contained within it……
Stay tuned next month for the exciting conclusion to our struggle against the forces of bureaucracy.......same Bat-Time same Bat-Channel!
. Hopefully those politicians get their asses in gear and don't leave you hanging to long.