How to complain more effectively to get the bike and transit improvements you want!

Complaining can be a joy in itself, but it’s better if it results in change

CARTER LAVIN

AUG 28, 2023

This might not come as a big shock, but I love to complain. Depending on what it’s about and how it’s done, complaining can be one of life’s joys. A good complaint to no one in particular can be soothing– (I’m a big fan of saying “I’m so tired and I have no idea why”). More importantly it can also be motivating! For me, complaining can be a key part of the process of doing the task. Complaining heightens the perceived size of the problem, or helps uncover the extent of the problem, which in turn helps me get motivated to take on the problem. When done properly, complaints can also be used to motivate others. 

One way this happens is when a complaint alerts a person in power of a problem whose solution is both within their power and their general interest area. For example, pointing out to a transit agency’s communications department that it’d be more helpful if they had a particular sign or piece or information available at a station. In those situations, it’s barely a complaint and more like a helpful suggestion said in a whiny way. 

A well-executed complaint can also motivate someone in power to resolve a problem they don’t care much about simply because complaints are often annoying and the person in power just wants to get the complainer to stop! This is particularly effective when it doesn’t cost the person in power much to satisfy the complaint. A lot of official resolutions or proclamations can get their start this way.

And some complaints can motivate quick response if they create a documentation trail of negligence or legal liability of the person in power. For example, a broken bit of sidewalk that someone breaks their leg on might not get the city in much trouble. But a broken bit of sidewalk that has dozens of complaints about it in the official record that someone breaks their leg on will get the city in much more trouble. 

Regardless of the type of complaint you have, here are some ways to make your complaining more effective:

  • Know why you are complaining. Are you complaining for the sake of seeking comfort, validation, or building an interpersonal connection? Or are you complaining because you actually want that person’s help to fix the problem? Knowing why you are complaining will help you figure out how you should be complaining. Do you want the politician to respond to your complaint by saying “I feel your pain” or do you want them to take action to actually resolve the issue? 

  • Complain to the right person. Match your complaint to the person you are complaining to. Remember– just because a person is open to hearing your complaints does NOT mean they have the power to resolve your complaint. The staffer at your city’s public works department is probably also annoyed that they don’t have the ability to make that street safer. But even though they are the one coming to the public meeting or on Twitter, that doesn’t mean they have the authority to fix the problem. You might think they do since they are the ones implementing street safety or bike lane changes elsewhere in the city, but they are following orders. They could go rogue but that will look different than what you might be looking for. If you’re mad at some government agency’s action or inaction, the main people to complain to are the elected officials who set the budget and policy priorities of that agency. 

  • Complain specifically. A baby crying could mean any number of things. The more specifically you can make your complaints, the easier it is for others to understand what you are complaining about and potentially take action. “The bus is always late” is not a particularly helpful complaint to make to a person in power. “The 12 bus on Grand Ave keeps getting delayed having to pull in and out of traffic for the bus stop” is a better complaint because it helps focus the attention on the specific problem.

  • Offer solutions. If you don’t know the answer to the issue that’s been bugging you for a while, it’s unlikely that a person in power will know the answer either. Asking that they do the work of finding a solution slows down the process of getting the problems fixed. At a minimum, it puts your complaint lower on the priority list than other complaints which have been presented with a solution. Make it easier for people to make you happy. So when you say “The 12 bus on Grand Ave keeps getting delayed having to pull in and out of traffic for the bus stop” add in “and so we need to put in bus boarding bulb-outs so the bus doesn’t have to pull in and out of traffic.” Also, if you only provide a problem and not a solution, you might not like the solution you are offered! (e.g. “Your right, the bus IS always late, let’s reduce the number of stops to speed it up–starting with your stop.”) 

  • Offer to help. Depending on your complaint, you are likely not the first person to have noticed the issue and presented a potential solution to the person that you think can fix things. When your complaint is met with “I’d love to, but I can’t,” “yeah, we’re scheduled to fix that in about 5 years,” “that’s impossible,” or “we don’t do that here” or “people would go berserk if we did that” then you’ve hit on a problem that persists because the solution is hard and politically tricky. The good news is that YOU can make that solution easier. Offer to help! However, the person might reject your offer, not be allowed to accept it, not be allowed to talk about it, or not have the situational awareness of what to even do with your offer— but that doesn’t mean you can’t help. It means you need to think a bit more creatively about how to help and that your help will very likely need to be political. In these cases, the most likely things you can do to help are generate political support for the idea and potentially demand funding and/or policy changes that would make it easier for your desired solution to happen. For example– a city staffer is not going to tell you “we could do that, but the local businesses would flip out and then the mayor would tell us to stop. So the way you can help is by getting the businesses and other community groups on board with the idea first.” But you CAN still help by doing that community organizing and getting people to complain to the ultimate authority– the top politician.

  • Complain in a way that makes it easier for people to want to help you. This one is extremely tricky and very important to get right. There are lots of ways to complain that unfortunately inspire the person in power to tune you out. That can be a huge problem! If you are able to complain in a way that doesn’t trigger a defensive response, you’ll have an easier time being heard. Try to think of it as it is you and the decision maker against the problem. THEY aren’t the problem, the situation is the problem and you want to work with them to fix it. This can be particularly hard if the decision maker is especially defensive and so your complaints might be hard for them to hear. This can also be hard if you come across as someone who is never happy and an irrelevant jerk. If you are never happy, why should a person with limited time and energy waste it trying to make you happy? Sometimes one of the most politically effective things you can do is compliment someone for doing something you like. Relatedly, if you are just 1 friendless angry person, why should a politician try to make you happy? But if anger is your vibe, at least show up with a huge crowd of people on your side if you want to be taken seriously (you also might be viewed as a threat which is a whole OTHER set of things). Be something who is worth satisfying and the likelihood of getting the solution you want goes way up. 

All in all, complaining isn’t just a way to pass the time or make a friend. It is a powerful political tool and the better you get at using it, the more you will wield it and win bigger & faster. If you want help in improving your skills and strategies for winning bike, transit, or pedestrian safety improvements in your community, let me know! I provide 1-on-1 training sessions and group workshops. Let’s talk. Email me at Carter@carterlavin.com to set something up.