Deal with complainers the way ‘City Hall’ does
You have a complaint about something City Hall has done recently. Some of you might make a phone call, e-mail or write to staff — or a City Councilmember — and voice your opinion.
Or, say you’ve heard that City Hall is planning something you don’t like. You go to the “public input meeting” and despite all the public relations rhetoric from staff and their like-minded consultants, you disagree with their course of action and let them know it. Or you speak at a City Council meeting and get blank stares.
Like most of us, you probably have found that your criticism and comments are ignored or dismissed.
So, you up the ante, distribute flyers and write letters to the editor. This gets their goat because you’ve gone public and created an issue in front of thousands of citizens. The powers to be know the heat is on.
It doesn’t make any difference if you’re critical of a council person’s proposal, a staff proposal, a grand scheme put forth by special interests such as developers, labor unions or a business group, City Hall’s reaction to criticism occurs in a predictable and well defined five-step process.
Step one: Deny, deny, deny. Ignore, ignore, ignore. “Problem? What problem?” “We’re unaware of this.” “It’s news to us.” “We’ll get back to you...” and all you can hear is the silence. Example: Speed bumps don’t slow down fire trucks and paramedics. In city lingo this is “ignore and conquer.”
Step two: Go away, you’re bothering us. “You’re the only one complaining about this.” Example: You have a drunk in your carport? “We’ve had no other complaints.” “Funny, you’re the first person to ever mention this.” Ever? In other words, nobody else has ever brought this up, therefore, you are unique and different and an anomaly. This is “divide and conquer.”
Step three: You don’t understand or you’ve been misinformed. “You’ve got your facts wrong.” Example: Overdevelopment doesn’t cause traffic problems. “You don’t comprehend the entire issue.” “You’re oversimplifying.” The strategy is to make you think you’re making a fool out of yourself. You question your own intelligence and just go away. It’s “dismiss and conquer.”
Step four: The lunatic fringe. “You’re crazy, an oddball or a nut case.” Example: People who think the city’s homeless programs are a failure. “You have no credibility and don’t know what you’re talking about.” In other words you’re a drooling, babbling moron and evil incarnate.
You’re still complaining and you now have allies with you. Others have joined your cause and they’re speaking up, too. There are two options in dealing with the leader of an unhappy group.
Step five, option one: Co-opt and make promises. Those in power suggest that you’ll be appointed to a city board or commission — if you stop your carping and get with their program. They might even suggest that you’d make a great candidate for City Council or school board and they’ll back your run — but, not if you continue your wicked, wicked ways. Drop it or you’ll be blacklisted, never work in this town again or ever be appointed to any city board or commission. Banished. Forgotten.
Step five, option two: The counterattack. This is when City Hall unleashes its own public relations campaign and goes on the attack to win the hearts and minds of the citizenry. Newspaper articles, the front page of the city newsletter, The Seascape, and councilmanic proclamations all scream, “This is great and those who disagree are so wrong.”
I’ve experienced all of the above ranging from e-mails from council persons who are clearly wrong themselves, to specific threats from unknown sources. I was actually told to stop campaigning when I ran for City Council last year, or experience the fates described in option one above.
There are lots of real neighborhood activists — as opposed to the phony ones named on political flyers — who have similar stories to tell. We all wear our experiences like badges of honor. Sometimes we win and sometimes we lose, but the fun is in the game and it’s especially thrilling to catch someone in City Hall with their pants down.
Yeah I know. Just another wacko spouting off. Just keep on believing it. (Bill Bauer is a Santa Monica resident who is currently on assignment as a Red Cross volunteer in the Gulf region.)
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 17, 2005. Read the original PDF.