A step-by-step guide to getting your permit to do bike, transit or safe street activism
Having the right paperwork in order is vital.
AUG 10, 2023
Advocacy is serious business. Successful advocates can redirect millions, and potentially billions of government dollars. Successful advocates can get laws and codes changed which physically reshape their communities to make it easier for everyone to get around without a car. Advocates can unseat incumbent candidates for office and help get their allies elected.
Advocacy work can include contacting people across the community– often without an invitation to do so, building contact databases, and oftentimes even fundraising from those contacts. Successful advocates are able to speak on behalf of their community, make demands of elected officials and government staff, and affect the lives of countless people.
So, you can imagine that the permitting process to be a bike, transit or even a safe street advocate can be notable.
But what makes it notable is that you don’t actually need a permit at all. You can just do it! You can just make a petition, make coalition letters, make an organization, host a rally, send out a press release, make demands, hold politicians accountable and tons of other activities that help bring about the change you seek.
And if you’re the kind of person who feels more comfortable if you get an explicit invitation or permit to do something: I, Carter Lavin, do hereby invite you into the world of advocacy and give you permission to take whatever legal actions you want in order to advance the causes of transit, biking, and safer streets for all.
All joking aside, some things are illegal, or a bit riskier, or at the very least are more likely to get people pissed at you. Here are some tips on navigating along those lines. (Disclaimer: laws vary depending on location, this is not legal advice.)
As long as you are on the public right of way, you are generally OK to do a lot of things. Public property is generally OK too depending on what you’re doing, and private property is fine as long as you have permission from the property owner. So you can pass out flyers on the sidewalk. Doing it in a park is generally OK. Doing it on the property of some business is only OK if you have their permission. However, the business doesn’t own the right of way in front of their property most times. If you are confronted by someone, an apology and moving along generally resolves any confusion– or point out if you are in the right of way. This is especially helpful to know about public events. Set up near the entrance to the event and you’ll generally be fine.
If you are selling something, then things get really complicated really quickly. Best to avoid any sort of vending if you don’t have to do it.
Don’t put political campaign stuff in people’s mailboxes. Mailboxes are technical USPS property— don’t mess with them. It’s a bit more complicated than that, but generally speaking, don’t do it.
You can form a group without needing to form a 501c(3. If you make one, more stuff becomes tax deductible, but it comes with a host of other rules. Unless you are going to be doing a lot of formal fundraising, you generally don’t need to form one.
You are generally allowed to door-knock and try to educate and engage people (but not sell). But considering we are in a pandemic and people generally feel iffy about doorknockers anyway, approach this tactic with caution.
Finalize the language on your petitions and coalition letters before getting signers. Once you get the signers, you can’t change or update the language (besides fixing a minor typo).
Stuff around donating to candidates can get complicated pretty quickly. It’s generally much easier to just do it as an individual and follow all those typical rules. You can always invite your community to a candidate’s event as individuals or invite a candidate to come meet you.
Those are some of the main red lines, but generally speaking you have a lot more freedom and flexibility to push for what you want. Go out there and get to it!
Interested in improving your skills and strategies for winning bike, transit, or pedestrian safety improvements in your community? Let’s talk. Email me at Carter@carterlavin.com