Edit: Jesus Christ this is way longer than I expected. TL;DR – small, tangible changes that are actually implemented are important to maintain the momentum and community engagement of an administration while the more difficult, longer-term issues are hashed out.
————————-
We all know that developing local solutions for state- and federal-level problems like homelessness is going to be an uphill battle, (some would say unachievable with current resources) but to start off strong and create near-term change people will feel, towing company regulations seem like an achievable, well-encapsulated issue which will benefit working people.
So many people have experienced the cartelism, lack of enforcement for violation of extant regulation, and dishonest practices of these companies, and trying to bring attention to them feels like screaming into the void. SPD doesn’t give a damn, and if you don’t have a relative with attorney’s letterhead, you will never recoup losses you shouldn’t have incurred in the first place. For working people with stretched budgets, an improper fine can be devastating, let along losing one’s transportation to work, school etc.
While huge, high-priority issues are important, I think it’s also important to find ones that are actionable with modest effort and time. One of my biggest gripes about the Harris campaign is that they hid people like Lina Kahn away rather than putting her on a nationwide press tour about things like click-to-cancel.
Far more Americans have online services with deceitful cancellation policies (e.g. phone call, certified mail etc) than own stocks. Instead of platforming a tangible change eliminating an annoyance from people’s lives, it felt we got a vague gesture to a line going up which most Americans were not party to. Americans wanted transformational change, and only one party offered it. It was a transformation for the worse, but it was the only one on the table and it seemed people were willing to gamble maybe it would be unfair in their favor for once.
Obviously the election wasn’t going to be won on a single pro-consumer act, but I often feel like politicians overlook the importance of actually changing anything rather than just promising the idea of change.
Incremental, tangible changes that actually happen are more valuable to me than grand unfulfilled promises and low-effort, performative gestures.
This devolved into a rant thanks in part to the Black Friday scotch, but if you had to pick a single issue solvable with a 5-person team within 6-9 months, what would you pick?
I’d like our city to get better bit by bit even as we hash out the big problems.
submitted by /u/CamStLouis
[link] [comments]