Community Activism

I have been involved with a citizens group which is initially acting out of concern over some of the proposals for the Mountain View Corridor. We have met with representatives of UDOT to voice our concerns and today we received the report that they are now more seriously investigating/considering the options which we viewed more favorably for the project – namely the northern freeway alignments. We know that our job is not finished, but it is nice to see that we can have an impact when we get together.

I have previously mentioned this group, and I briefly had a poll on this site where the group could choose an official name. That is still ongoing, but I would like to talk a little more about the group as an example of how democracy and activism should work. First of all, it is local. Activism on a national level has its place, but too often issues which should be managed locally are getting shoved onto a larger stage. Second, the purpose of the group is not a single issue – such as the road we are discussing right now. Our purpose is to help create the best community that we can. Having a goal that is too narrow tends to create short-lived groups, or else the groups are prone to make poor choices that forward their view at the cost of a greater benefit that can be achieved. We hope that by actively considering the long-term good of our community and by proactively working with those who make decisions that affect us we will be able to avoid making choices that are good in the short term but which we will have to correct or reverse later.

This initial impact on the road gives us hope that we can be an influence for good now and in the future.